[Leadership] From sales to starting a company with Matej Metkovic

I think for me, how to position and deal with customers early on because you won't have people who are interested and who want to participate in what you're building. But the main thing is like managing expectations because the product is still not at the stage where we'd like to be and we'll definitely get there and we move faster than some of the bigger companies. But it's really managing expectations early on to get the early adopters, because low people are followers and the early adopters are the one that you kind of are grateful the most. And then for them, you need to really manage expectations because that sets the experience for them for the future as well.

Hey, we got another fun episode for you here today. This one is a little different in the sense where we've got a rep who made the transition to start his own company. So started a company. Wasteless bio. Pretty, pretty exciting. We talk about a lot of different things, but we'll sit out to unit.

I think there was a general theme that stood out for me, is that often when we're making change, it's a bit of a risk. And definitely from his story at the beginning, right, has a bit of risk, whether it's changing job, like starting a company, going into management, moving from sales, whatever it may be, that change always feels like a risk and often people step away from it. But I think if you lean into it and just focus on the activity of doing it, you can actually come out well. At the very least, you're going to come out with some great learnings. Right. That you apply. And I think there's a theme that goes through this and Mate's approach that there was a lot of education around that and specific skills that he said were useful as a rep in making some of those transitions.

Yeah, 100%. And I think even just like a couple of the little things we chatted through are useful for reps, sales leaders, anybody that's listening. So hopefully you all enjoy it. And yeah, if you want any other details to follow the company, you know, we'll throw them in the description. As always, should we dive in?

Let's dive right in.

I know you have listened to a number of episodes of the podcast. You know the question we always ask everybody to start, which is give us a crazy or funny story that's happened in your career.

I think I was thinking about this a lot, but I couldn't find maybe the right one. So I think the best one would be how I transitioned from the lab to the commercial side. And I knew I wanted to do something different. I applied to many different jobs, probably around a hundred, and there was one called account manager and I didn't know what that means at all. So I applied and I got through the first round somehow on the phone call. And then the last round was the third where I had to do market penetration. I had no idea what that means as well. So I basically in one weekend I spent 30 something hours to watched 5 hours of videos and read probably 400 of pages. And then when I came on, on, on the call, they thought actually I knew something and, and, and I end up getting the job against the person who probably has artist 10 years more experience than me. So probably they know, they, they thought I knew more. But I said, you know, it's, it's all in my hand and I, I could do as much as I can to, you know, I cannot change what happened. I can change what I tell you.

What though, I'd imagine by reading that much and learning that much that quickly, you may have done more learning than some reps that do spe role they've got on the job learning, but they don't always go looking for those additional resources. So yeah, it probably not practical, but it probably came across that you knew your stuff.

Yeah, yeah. So it's, it's really was kind of like putting yourself in the fire and you know, either you swim or dock, but in the end I had absolute insights.

And so like you were going through this process, you didn't know what the role was. Like when did you figure out like, oh shit, I'm in sales now or I'm going to be like in sales.

When I, when I first started the job. So that's what you got into the job. Even through the interview when I read all these descriptions, job descriptions, they're so like vague. I didn't know what to expect at the time. There was no AI to kind of help me out. So I was like, you know what, I'll do my best and see what happens. I really knew I wanted to do something different from the lab. And yeah, and I think I thought in sales you have power to do more in short amount time frame than maybe in the lab because it takes time for experiments and everything. But yeah, so it's kind of like only later I realized how little I knew about the role and everything. I had zero knowledge because I was, you know, usually in the lab in R and D, so I never really dealt with reps so I wasn't even aware of them too much or I didn't yeah, realized many of their emails.

One of my favorite quotes is I think it's Richard Branson who said it and he says if someone offers you a cheer opportunity you don't know how to do, say yes and work out how to do it. And I think that's probably one of the best examples I've ever heard of following that one.

Yeah, seriously for me as well. I think it was quite interesting the whole process as well.

Now you have started a new venture, right. Want to maybe give us a little background on that transition? So you made that transition from lab into sales without knowing what the heck you're getting into. Did you do the same thing again now or what's going on now?

I came from the lab to the commercial and then to the venture. We're doing races, biobuilding. When I was in the lab I saw how much things end up being in the delivery fridge. Never gets used and this is brand new products going to waste. Then when I was a commercial side people overproduce and never managed to sell because they have certain expiry date they guarantee to customers and then if it's not within that expiry they usually scrapped off. And I thought why there isn't a single place or this can be accessed for affordable price, avoid waste and be more sustainable. So that's how the whole idea came about to make VasisBio. It's kind of. I think the life science market is where the clothes were before vinted. So right now we're trying to make a channel like a marketplace for that. When I moved again, I think it's a little bit the same. We are learning as we go a lot but I knew at the time that if we want to do this right I need to go and dedicate all my time because building something is very hard and you want to keep focus on a single thing. You know, every job usually I left it was something on good terms. I enjoyed my time there but I think this was the right thing to do at the time. And really there's just. You can never be ready because there's so much to learn that you don't see Paul in a different role. But yeah, so that's how everything came about.

Yeah. What are some of those things that like you were just. You're in a commercial role, you're in a sales role and then you're like okay, I have this idea, I kind of want to go start this company around it. I mean that's just not an easy leap for most people to make. Right. I'm sure there was maybe a trigger point that happened. You go and you do it and you're like, oh my God, did I make a mistake? Yeah, we'd love to hear some of that background.

I think it all started with the word document writing ID on paper and we still saved that I think two years ago or more. And then I was discussing with now my partners and they said why not? And that's really like how it started. So you have to build something with nothing to show some traction and build it more. So we just try to kind of use a little bit of a savings to show that it makes sense and then later we just keep expanding from there. But I think, you know, you don't. I think Hormozi likes to say a lot of these things. Where can I. It's ignorant optimism where like uninformed optimism. So. So that was the early stage. You don't know how complex things are. But I think the approach should be always a problem has a solution, it's all about trying to solve it and it's easier to do it with good team. I think having a co founder, one or two. I would say it's recommended especially if you don't have domain expertise. So yeah, depends who your co founder is.

Sometimes it's a. Yeah.

When your co founder like drags you down and slows you down getting. Yeah, yeah, it's awful.

And. And especially because, you know, we are building a kind of tech platform in the life science industry. So I'm coming from the life science side. But then tech is something that, you know, you haven't done much before. So there's definitely a lot of learning there to be had as well and. But yeah, it's all about kind of like believing in the idea first and then trying to do step by step. That's how I approached it.

Yeah. I think something to follow along with. I think obviously we've started something too is you. You at the beginning. I think what stops a lot of people making that leap is they're like, oh well this is a new thing. So I'm going to go over here and know nothing.

Right.

But we've all got transferable skills and education from what we've done. That means we're not starting from zero. So as a rep that's transitioned into a business owner and entrepreneur, however we phrase it now, what are some of those skills that you think were key that you took with you?

I think for me, how to position and deal with customers early on because you won't have people who are interested and who want to participate in what you're building. But the main thing is like managing expectations because the product is still not at the stage where we'd like to be, and we'll definitely get there and we move faster than some of the bigger companies. But it's really managing expectations early on to get the early adopters, because low people are followers and the early adopters are the one that you kind of are grateful the most. And then for them, you need to really manage expectations because. Because that sets the experience for them for the future as well. So that's, I think, the one. And I think, you know, if you're in sales, speaking to investors and trying to sell the idea, I think it helps. So I think that's something that is really a positive thing. And then also you tend to develop a network of people you can reach out eventually. So every sales role you are in, if you're doing, you know, be good and do good, it will come back. Because now when you have your venture, you might ask people, hey, do you know someone can introduce me? Can you give me even a feedback? And I really, I'm grateful for people who took their time to review our platform to give me a feedback. And I think those are good things that you can draw from the commercial side before you venture into maybe your own venture.

Yeah. But also, I think the other parallel that you just said too, is even if you go from role to role at different companies in the same sales, sales job like you're going to have, this industry is so small. Right. So you're going to probably end up working with similar customers, similar people. And so if you build up that network, you'll be able to like, and they know that you're a good, reliable person that they can turn to for more than just like, hey, here's our products and services. Which one do you want to buy? You're going to be able to leverage that network in future roles, future jobs, even if it's just for, like, introductions to people. You know, I think it's. So it's really important, I think, to think about that, even if it's not starting your own company, it's just even, even going from sales role to sales role.

And I think that's why it's very much easier for some people to build a second company, because when you meet a good person in their domain, be that marketing or product development or whatever, like you want to stick with those people forever as long as you can. I think you want to reward. You want to bring Them business I want to buy from them. Not only sell to you know, of course you're doing selling but I also want to buy and work with people that actually have reliable reliability and know their job. So I think having a group people in different domains is something that is very beneficial in that work work and.

Like Harrison said, having people trust you. When I was stood as a sole rep, the one thing that made me happier I was happy as a, as a PO which we all know how happy that makes a rep because it's commission based is when I heard somebody say things like oh I'm introd you to Nick. He's helped me before, he can help you because that or like next that guy to help me do X. Because when you've done that process and they see you as the person that helped, everything's so much easier.

Social, social proof is a big thing as well. Especially nowadays where everybody's trying to kind of self promote recommendation from someone that that his word is is has merit then I think that's very power powerful and I think that's very why we.

Talk about referrals all the time. I mean a lot of our business that we have comes from referrals or just from content like this that we put out or we're talking with you and you know, you make a comment in the pre show where you're talking about how you love our newsletter and all that kind of good stuff, right. Like things like that. But you put that goodwill out there, right and or you, you get those referrals and that is going to be those sales processes are going to go much faster, much smoother and it's just another reason to always talk about this stuff, always be asking for referrals. Even if somebody I don't know doesn't move forward with your product or service, ask them who they know because they might still be willing to refer you to somebody else. So there's all sorts of ways and opportunities to ask for this stuff and.

I think that you guys are doing a great job. I mean I've listened to I think all of the podcasts and what I do is kind of the newsletter is really useful and I have my team and I really on onboarding process. I use the podcast in the first two weeks where there might be some gaps of things to do to give them to listen. I think it's a. Especially if they're transitioning from the lab based role into commercial. I think it's really interesting to listen to different people and their experiences. So I think it's I mean that's how you kind of, you know, you give stuff of value and then eventually it comes back.

That's how the weirdest thing is when I'll get on a call with somebody and they'll be like, oh, I just listened to like 10 episod episodes of the podcast. It's weird like talking to you now and I'm like, I'm like, I'm not like, we are not that interesting. We're not that famous where we should be getting that type of feedback. But it's obviously great. But I guess that also can be tied into a similar concept of if you put the content out there and you put information out into the world, your founder now you should probably be doing a lot of this stuff too, right? How can you be putting your brand, your company out so then people come to you and reps can do the same thing. Whereas if you put out interesting content, interesting resources, people are ultimately going to be attracted to that and then that you're going to get those types of people to come to you. In a world where it's harder to stand out, it's going to be, if you're able to do that, you're going to be able to then attract the right people that you are going to ultimately hopefully close a lot faster too.

One thing is key though is that don't do it just we're doing content, hopefully getting business, but don't do it just for that. Enjoy what you're putting out there. Try and add value because there's so much content out there. The stuff that's there just to drive leads and not add value is so see through. So do something that you're, you're, yeah.

And do it for an extended period. Like, I mean it takes a while to get traction on this stuff. Like, I mean there's still so many people I know that we just like they probably have no idea who we are. Like we have a decent following but like we're not that big and there's so many people that we still just haven't reached. We've been doing this stuff consistently for two years, you know, so takes the.

Game Eden takes should know who we are, idiot.

Yeah, I, I think you know, for, for this I, I, I tell to my team as well, like what do you read? Take a moment, stay back and why do you read that? And you should try and share something like this. I think we have to be useful and add value. That's the main thing. And I think LinkedIn did is full of Just copy paste things and then like where is this came from? What is the first principle thinking over there? So I also try to kind of engage more to really for people to make aware that we exist because what you offer is really kind of, you know, the best deals you can get in the life science market because the products that are just over ordered extra and just sitting on a shelf, people want to donate or recover some of the cost and do a good thing and make things more sustainable. But yes, I think the main thing in terms of value is really on LinkedIn to provide and I think that yeah it takes time and consistency which is the main thing. And this is also a characteristic of any company. You have to be consistent in what you do.

Let's take a quick break from the podcast to talk about what we have going on over here. At Succession we work with 40 plus life science sales companies to help them find more opportunities and close more deals. We provide a range of services to support your sales growth. So whether it's increasing top of funnel opportunities with done for you, lead generation in person or virtual sales training reinforced by personalized training plans, recruiting top sales talent or just building custom AI workflows to help make your team more efficient, focus on selling. So if you're ready to transform your sales strategy, visit Succession bio and schedule a call with Nick and I and we'll see how we can support you. Okay, so Ben, why don't we make a quick transition here, kind of talk through. Now that you're in this new role, leading a team, you've got a team. Now that you're managing, what are some of the maybe newer challenges? I think you were at a slightly more established company previously, so it's like you're probably facing newer sales challenges now where people have no idea who you are. Not at all. It's like how do you kind of balance or kind of go through these different challenges?

The new role to start first from the team is we have to move fast and do as best job as we can. So it really comes to prioritization. So how do we set up goals each week? And we try to deliver and prioritize because you cannot do everything. So I think it's really, it is a, you know, early stage, early stage company but you have to do a lot. So. But I also want my team to enjoy the work they're doing and really, you know, if they're there, I think they also believe in the mission that we are doing. So I think it's really the managing of the workload which is kind of the main thing and making sure what is manageable, what is not. So we don't have any false expectations. I think that's the main thing about managers where there's lack of visibility and expectations can be wrong. And I really try to kind of. But it's always a battle, you know, what's possible and what needs to be done. So I think that's number one. And then the second thing is like good word really is. Is is important. So referrals, as you said, is making sure that the customer service even this early on is on a high level. So even if the order is running late or things like that, we over communicate in certain areas for them to understand. Because if, you know, if you know, I don't know, a truck had an accident, then somebody understands, okay, something really bad happened. And not just oh, the order is late. So we try to give them more color to understand. And I think really managing expectations and trying to deliver, you know, the best service you can, I think is very important for people sharing the good word because then this gives you a bigger momentum as well as the kind of standard things around LinkedIn and such.

Yeah, I love that like kind of the transparency side of things because a lot of companies today try and like gatekeep some of that information or they don't try and share all of the details or I don't know, maybe they don't even give their support reps access to that type of information or they're just told to send these tepalcates.