Databricks co-founder shares his secrets for winning big enterprise customers

{"heading_1":"The Importance of Partnerships","paragraph_1":"Databricks co-founder Arsalan Tavakoli-Shiraji emphasizes the importance of forming partnerships with larger tech companies to gain access to their customer base and sales networks.","paragraph_2":"Tavakoli-Shiraji recalls how Databricks initially struggled to secure a meeting with UBS, the large Swiss bank, but later succeeded by partnering with Microsoft, which provided access to Microsoft's sales team.","paragraph_3":"He notes that partnerships can create both opportunities and challenges, such as the need to address features for countries Databricks hadn't expanded to, but also the benefit of having a larger sales network.","paragraph_4":"Tavakoli-Shiraji advises startups to sell under a bigger tech company's umbrella to leverage their resources and access to existing customer bases and sales networks.","paragraph_5":"He also highlights the importance of having a strong sales team, noting that Databricks' own sales team was instrumental in securing early deals and expanding their customer base.","paragraph_6":"Tavakoli-Shiraji emphasizes that partnerships should be strategic and mutually beneficial, with startups contributing their unique value proposition and larger companies providing access to their customer base and sales networks."}