Hey friend 👋

Something I’ve been thinking about lately:

I will (likely) stay in the sales tech industry for the foreseeable future. Here’s why.

For context, I started my competitive intel career at a sales tech company called ZoomInfo. After a few years, I left to build the CI program at ClickUp, which is in the project management space. Two years after that, I’m back in the sales tech space at a company called Apollo.io.

Returning to sales tech was a night-and-day difference from starting at ClickUp (which was a new space for me).

At ClickUp, I was starting from ground zero. Yeah, I was vaguely familiar with competitors’ tools… but there’s so much nuance in the project management space, so many use cases, and so much innovation I needed to pick up on that I was essentially starting from scratch.

This is a tough place to be in as a competitive intel leader because a lot of the value we bring to our companies isn’t just with our transferrable skills (e.g. how you work, connect with others, etc.), but it’s also with our knowledge of the space we compete in.

To be clear, ClickUp was a wonderful experience for me. Tons of great memories, great team, and great product.

But when I returned to the sales tech space with Apollo, it felt like I was able to hit the ground running and provide significantly more value on day one. I was already deeply familiar with our competitors, trends, and our buyer personas, and felt confident sharing my opinions with other leaders at the company.

I shared these thoughts with folks in the Healthy Competition community and got some interesting responses.

There were also a couple folks that shared interesting counterpoints to consider:

So TLDR, if you enjoy the space you’re in, and things are still competitive / interesting, then there are a lot of advantages to staying put and letting your knowledge compound.

BUT… (and this is where my subject line comes in)… this isn’t legal advice. Make sure that you’re aware of any noncompete agreements you may have signed so you’re aware of who you, legally, can and can’t work with.

PS: if you want to take part in conversations like this, check out the Healthy Competition community! 100+ competitive intel practitioners are in there sharing tips and experiences to help each other level up.

JUICY SCOOPS 🧃

What’s happening now

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• 🧑‍💻 | GitHub Copilot competitor raised $125M [more]

PEACHY MEMES 🍑

Stay Healthy, my friends.

💚Andy