In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Sangram Vajre, co‑founder of Terminus and host of the Flip My Funnel podcast. Vajre shares the spontaneous napkin sketch that sparked the Flip My Funnel movement, emphasizing that great ideas can arise anywhere. He argues that authenticity is the key long‑term differentiator for salespeople, marketers, and entrepreneurs. Vajre stresses the importance of focusing on the problem you’re solving rather than the product, citing Salesforce and HubSpot as examples of problem‑first companies that can pivot effectively. He advises his younger self to be fearless and embrace rapid failure, noting that breaking safety nets unlocked his entrepreneurial drive. When asked about happiness, he distinguishes it from fulfillment, describing his pursuit of meaningful work and family time as his source of fulfillment. Vajre highlights the Holy Bible as the most influential book he’s read, crediting it with teaching servant leadership. He shares a favorite 19th‑century marketing quote about the mystery of spend effectiveness. Finally, he directs listeners to his daily LinkedIn posts and the Flip My Funnel podcast for ongoing content.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite makes the process of becoming a published bestselling author as simple as sipping your morning cup of coffee. You can learn more about Authors Unite at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Sangram Basra with us. He is the author of the book Account Based Marketing for Dummies, chief evangelist and co-founder of Terminus, and founder and host of the daily Flip My Funnel podcast dedicated to helping B2B marketing Sales and customer success professionals become masters of their craft. So welcome to the show, man.
I appreciate it, Tyler. Excited.
Of course, excited to have you here. We'll dive right into the first one. The first question I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
All right, so I'll try to make this a quick one. I was on a flight from San Francisco to Atlanta, sitting in a middle seat, Those of you who know, it's like a 5-hour flight, so middle seat is not fun, back very close to the bathrooms. Then the two people right next to me somehow were extremely drunk, so it wasn't a fun flight. But on that flight, the internet wasn't working either, and I had a piece of napkin and a pen, and I drew the traditional funnel and then flipped it on its head. That led to this whole idea of Flip My Funnel. That had turned into a movement with 10,000 people kind of part of the community, as well as, you know, 100,000+ people subscribing to the podcast that we do daily. So I guess the underlying theme there is that you never know where your best idea is gonna come. So whenever it comes, just take hold of it and just go for it. Yes.
Thank you for sharing that with us. And I'm excited for your answer on this one. What is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Authenticity wins. I think this is something that I've been talking and sharing a lot lately, is because a lot of people think about this as a buzzword, but there are countless examples around us where the most amazing people, the most admired people, the best salespeople who are breaking quota, or marketers who are doing amazing things, or entrepreneurs crushing it, they're all at the end of the day, more or less very much authentic, and you can see that in the long run, that's what pays off. Everybody may have short wins, but long-term wins really comes from being authentic all the way.
And I'm sure that could tie into my next question is, what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
Sure. I think, you know, for me, it has always been focusing on the problem that you are set out to solve as opposed to the product. I feel like a lot of people very quickly focus, start focusing so much on the product that that becomes their life, and then they get so invested in the product that they forget why they even started working on the problem. So if you look at the best and the biggest companies like Salesforce and HubSpot and others, they're all fixated on the problem, and that allows you to have the flexibility to pivot on the product because you're so clear on the problem that you want to solve.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would say be fearless and fail fast. I've been very afraid for majority of my life. As a matter of fact, I started Terminus when I'm— when I was 37. So I could have probably done another startup way before, but I was always afraid and there were always excuses and there was always safety nets. And the day I broke down all the safety nets, I'm like, it's okay, even if I'm married, have mortgage, and have two kids and all that stuff, I'm not gonna let that be the reason that's stopping me. I will let that be the reason that inspires me. So that single thing changed everything for me. So if I could go back and I'll just say, I wish I would be more fearless and be not afraid to fail so much earlier in my life.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I don't know if that's the right question, Tyler, because I think— yeah, because, you know, I don't expect myself to be happy all the time. I don't know many people who are always happy. They may be smiling, but they're not happy. And I don't know if the pursuit of happiness is what I see as the best thing. I feel like the pursuit of fulfillment is where I like to spend my time. So, for example, if You know, all day I'm going to work on things that I need to work on. I'm going to give my best shot and I'm going to spend the best time that I can with my family. I'm going to try to be the best husband and parent for my kids. And that will be fulfilling for me. I don't know if that's happiness because some days suck and I'm not happy about it. But I'm fulfilled because I put in an honest day's worth of work. And I think that's what I try to focus on.
Yes, I like that answer. Thank you. And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
You know, I love reading books and I've read a ton of books over a period of time, but I'm new to faith and in the last 3 years I've picked up the Holy Bible and I've never— it almost feels like every single thing that I could have learned in any book, any business leadership book, they all have come from this one book. And one that stands out more than others, I never thought this actually came from anywhere, was about servant leadership. And I feel like I've learned a lot from this. And I feel like if there was only one book, if there were 2, 3, I would give you a lot of the business books. But since it's just one, I don't know if there's a better book than the Bible.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
All right, my favorite quote comes from John Bonhamaker. He is someone from the 1800s. So it goes way back. And he said something about marketing which is really funny and interesting and so true, which is, "Half of the money we spend on marketing works, we just don't know which half." So I think it's still funny because that is true in most organizations even today.
Yeah. Dude, thank you so much for coming on, really appreciate it. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?
I post something daily on LinkedIn, so that's probably the best way. And as you said in the introduction, I run a daily Flip My Funnel podcast that you can find and be connected that way.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for jumping on. Really appreciate it.
Thanks, you.
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