GTM 69: Behind the Scenes on Building and Selling Wisely for $187 Million with Mike Vichich

The GTM Podcast

Mike Vichich is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wisely, which he successfully sold to Olo for $187 million in 2021. Currently contemplating his next move, it will involve embarking on the journey of being a second-time founder. With the experience of building Wisely under his belt, he is looking to avoid making mistakes from his first venture and avoid common traps. He resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife and three sons.
What You Will Learn:

• Insight on the behind the scenes to Mike’s journey building a company that sold for $187M.
• What worked and what did not in building Wisely.
• How to evaluate product-market fit from experience trying to find it for 4.5 years, including early indicators.
• Tactics to encourage resilience and determination and how Mike maintained a strong mindset throughout the journey, even when times got tough.

Highlights:
(3:45) Evaluating entrepreneurial ideas, including Mike's process of moving from first-time to second-time founder.
(6:33) Mike's entrepreneurial journey.
(9:46) Differentiating product-market-timing fit from product-market fit.
(14:58) The Wisely story - building and growing the company.
(21:22) Balancing personal life and self-identity when cash is running out and times get tough.
(28:54) Leveraging a network of decision making, rather than a hierarchy of decision making.

(31:37) Defining moments and things that Mike got right while building Wisely.
(38:41) First things Wisely did to accelerate growth once product-market fit was found.
(47:05) One thing revenue leaders believe to be true that Mike thinks is bull$***.
(51:49) One thing that is working for Mike in go-to-market right now.
Guest Speaker Link:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mikevichich/
Host Speaker Links:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ssbarker/
Newsletter: thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/

Referenced Resource:
Article by Jason Lemkin (SaaStr): The 48 Types of VP Sales. Make Deadly Sure You Hire the Right One.
The GTM Podcast
Features conversations with well-known tech executive, VC, and founders - the expert operators in the trenches who have ‘been there, done that’ to build some of the fastest-growing software companies. Every week, a guest joins Scott Barker to dissect their stories, revealing expert insights around what worked, what didn’t, and how things actually went down.
This podcast is produced by GTMnow, the media brand of GTMfund - sharing insight on go-to-market from working with hundreds of portfolio companies backed by over 350 of the best go-to-market executives. GTMfund is an early-stage VC fund focused on investing in the most exciting, up-and-coming B2B SaaS companies across the world. The LP network consists of VP and C-level Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success leaders from companies like DocuSign, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Snowflake, Okta, Zoom, and many more.
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