Sahil Mansuri

CEO & Founder at Bravado

Sahil Mansuri is CEO and founder of Bravado, which has built the world's largest online sales community of 300,000+ salespeople, known for his unique perspective on sales strategy and founder-led selling.

The Growth Architect The Growth Scientist

Dimension Profile

Strategic Vision 60%

Execution & Craft 60%

Data & Experimentation 45%

Growth & Distribution 85%

Team & Leadership 55%

User Empathy & Research 55%

Key Themes

sales in market downturns conservative planning with growth milestones retention over acquisition sales quotas and comp plans cold emailing executives founder-led sales techniques

Episode Summary

Sahil Mansuri shares tactical advice for adapting sales strategy during market downturns, including setting conservative plans with milestone-based growth unlocks and refocusing on retention over acquisition. Drawing on experience building the world's largest sales community, he covers quotas, comp plans, forecasting, and founder-led selling techniques including cold emailing Sheryl Sandberg.

Leadership Principles

→ When you have limited visibility, set a conservative plan with short-term milestones that unlock growth spending
→ Don't flail between 'we're screwed' and 'everything's better' — have a stable plan with unlock triggers
→ In downturns, refocus on retention and existing customers rather than pure acquisition

Notable Quotes

"When you have limited visibility, set up a really conservative plan and then have milestones — short-term milestones that unlock the ability to lean into growth based on hitting those targets."
— On how to plan sales strategy during a downturn

"You don't want to be unreasonably conservative because you don't want to be floundering from 'we're screwed' to 'everything's better' and back."
— On finding the balance between caution and paralysis in uncertain markets

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