Bonus: How Jordan Kennedy Uses Go-to-Network

Transcript:

At my last company, Botify, I oversaw revenue. One of the biggest drivers of our success was referrals and leveraging our network. In fact, the largest deal in company history came directly through this channel.

We had a process: every month or quarter, we’d sit down with advisers and board members and map out their networks. We’d look for introductions to the businesses we wanted to work with. There was one Fortune 500 company we had been chasing throughout my entire tenure. We had been rejected multiple times, but then we discovered one of our board members knew the president of one of their divisions.

That connection changed everything. The board member set up an introduction, joined us on the call, and suddenly we were speaking directly to a key decision-maker. That accelerated the entire process. Within four or five months we had a pilot, and three or four months later we closed a deal worth over $4 million across two years. For a deal of that size, the speed was incredible—and it never would have happened without our network.

Since founding Jump, my experience has been similar. Our fundraising efforts, our earliest customers—they’ve all come through my network. Aside from LinkedIn, I don’t really rely on other channels. For me, referrals and relationships are the primary way to drive business.

I’m a big believer in the power of networks. You don’t need to worry about getting in front of a Fortune 500 president when you’re 23 or 24 and just starting as a BDR. The key is cultivating relationships with the people around you. That’s what I did early on: staying close to colleagues from my first job, getting to know people personally, and building trust. Over time, those peers became leaders and opened doors.

One day you wake up and realize the people you built relationships with are now executives at top companies—or know people who are. That’s the payoff.

The other thing I’d emphasize is: get out there and meet people. If your company has clients, meet them. Stay in touch, even if just occasionally. I wish I’d kept a more systematic record of my contacts—maybe in a simple spreadsheet. Instead, I managed it in my head.

Start small: get to know your coworkers. That’s the easiest entry point. Then extend it to clients. And if there are people you aspire to be like—say you’re a BDR who wants to become a CRO—figure out how to reach out and learn from them.

Most people don’t take that initiative, but when someone does, it stands out. Back at Spotify, if a junior reached out saying they wanted to learn from me, I’d have gladly taken the call. That kind of proactive networking is how careers—and deals—get made.

‍