Peter Van Neste
Chief Revenue Officer
What I do at Pinpoint
Hi, I'm Pete. CRO at Pinpoint.
I look after the Sales, Marketing, Partnerships, and RevOps teams.
My job is to build a productive team that sets and exceeds hard goals, that every person is proud to be part of, and that's attractive to others to join.
I look after the Sales, Marketing, Partnerships, and RevOps teams.
My job is to build a productive team that sets and exceeds hard goals, that every person is proud to be part of, and that's attractive to others to join.
I do it by:
- Ensuring we're hiring the right people, and giving our best people the chance to progress fast.
- Ensuring roadblocks are removed in our team, and for other teams.
- Ensuring we're looking far enough ahead that we don't accidentally walk into stagnating growth.
Why Pinpoint
Things you should know about working with me
Seeing around corners is a superpower but some people think it's negativity
Sometimes I come across as negative as I will generally assess “what is the worst possible outcome here”. I’m not being negative though. I’m just making sure we have looked at the worst case and have done what we can to reduce the risk of it happening.
I have a decently large risk appetite, but prefer to make sure we’ve put in place the right measures to control the risk so far as we reasonably can.
I'm quite binary
I see things as either awesome or terrible and rarely see the middle ground. This means I can be a perfectionist but I understand the value of (and encourage) “shipping an 80%er”.
Typos and grammatical errors
I have almost zero tolerance for anything going out publicly with typos or grammatical errors.
I am also terrible at proofreading and I rarely spot my mistakes when I read my writing back. Ideally, anything that goes out publicly that I have written will be checked by someone else.
Install Grammarly.
Feedback
You should always know where you stand with me because I'll give you feedback regularly. If I think something's going well I'll let you know. If I have a view on something / I think something's going wrong I'll let you know.
When I'm tired I do slip into ruinous empathy mode. If you catch me doing it, let me know.
I’m far from perfect and I expect you to do the same for me. If you see me (or our team, or another team) doing something stupid please let me know. It’s kind to give constructive feedback.
I am heavily biased toward action
I find going around in circles without learning the lessons of the past (or applying that learning) hugely frustrating.
Long meetings debating problems and solutions can be valuable. But when we are 80% confident of the outcome I'd prefer to get on with it unless it's a trap door decision.
Seeing around corners is a superpower but some people think it's negativity
Sometimes I come across as negative as I will generally assess “what is the worst possible outcome here”. I’m not being negative though. I’m just making sure we have looked at the worst case and have done what we can to reduce the risk of it happening.
I have a decently large risk appetite, but prefer to make sure we’ve put in place the right measures to control the risk so far as we reasonably can.
I'm quite binary
I see things as either awesome or terrible and rarely see the middle ground. This means I can be a perfectionist but I understand the value of (and encourage) “shipping an 80%er”.
Typos and grammatical errors
I have almost zero tolerance for anything going out publicly with typos or grammatical errors.
I am also terrible at proofreading and I rarely spot my mistakes when I read my writing back. Ideally, anything that goes out publicly that I have written will be checked by someone else.
Install Grammarly.
Feedback
You should always know where you stand with me because I'll give you feedback regularly. If I think something's going well I'll let you know. If I have a view on something / I think something's going wrong I'll let you know.
When I'm tired I do slip into ruinous empathy mode. If you catch me doing it, let me know.
I’m far from perfect and I expect you to do the same for me. If you see me (or our team, or another team) doing something stupid please let me know. It’s kind to give constructive feedback.
I am heavily biased toward action
I find going around in circles without learning the lessons of the past (or applying that learning) hugely frustrating.
Long meetings debating problems and solutions can be valuable. But when we are 80% confident of the outcome I'd prefer to get on with it unless it's a trap door decision.
Who am I?
I built and sold two AV production companies between 2006 and 2016. I started them because I loved events and sold them because I realised I much preferred building businesses—and the AV business model isn't economically rewarding or scalable.
These businesses grew primarily through digital marketing (which I ended up running myself after a couple of failed attempts to outsource to agencies).
These businesses grew primarily through digital marketing (which I ended up running myself after a couple of failed attempts to outsource to agencies).
After the second exit, I did consulting for a while (working on projects like implementing HubSpot in a traditional financial services company across 5 countries).
I met Tom (Hacquoil, CEO) while re-learning how to code (still a geek). I spent 6 months working out of the Pinpoint office (if Hacquoil ever offers your friend a free desk he's probably trying to hire them) then realised they were a good bunch of people building an interesting product and decided to join full-time as Head of Marketing. The rest, as they say, is history.
Advice for prospective candidates
Do what you say you will when you say you will
If you commit to something I expect that you’ll do it.
It’s fine to come back and say “I said I’d do x by y and I don’t think I’m going to make it for these reasons.” I’ll happily help out (really!). But I do like to get an update if it’s going wrong. I never want to feel that I have to start keeping track of things that I asked for, and you committed to doing.
If you screw up, own up and stay behind to fix it
I regularly mess things up. I’m a human. You are too. I don’t mind if mistakes are made or things go wrong. I do mind if they get covered up, we don’t learn from them, or we repeat them again and again. If something you’ve done (or not done) has caused other team members to miss their goals or work late be the one to stay and fix it with them.
Ask me questions
You need context to do your job well. I want to help you get that context. But if Google could’ve answered your question or the answer’s already in one of our systems (e.g. Guru / Slack / HubSpot) I’ll get annoyed fast.
Bring me solutions
If you have a problem that needs solving or want approval for something I prefer it to be set out as (a) a recommendation, (b) other options we could consider, (c) any supporting notes/data/documentation/research that I can dive into if I want to. Even if your solution isn’t great I’d prefer you to have brought an idea to the table.
Take initiative
If you’re on the team it’s because you have the right character and competence for the role. I’d rather you take the initiative and make a mistake that you learn from than rely on other team members to make every decision for you.
If you think I’m wrong or I’m doing something you don’t like tell me
I’m happy for you to be direct and voice your opinion. You should only be on the team if you're better at your job (or soon will be) than I am.
Please do present a problem, a recommendation, and (if appropriate) other potential solutions. Don’t just bring a list of complaints.
You might be right, I might be right. More often than not, a combination of our thinking will be right. I’d rather have a proper discussion about it and get to the right answer than not make the best decision for the team.
If you commit to something I expect that you’ll do it.
It’s fine to come back and say “I said I’d do x by y and I don’t think I’m going to make it for these reasons.” I’ll happily help out (really!). But I do like to get an update if it’s going wrong. I never want to feel that I have to start keeping track of things that I asked for, and you committed to doing.
If you screw up, own up and stay behind to fix it
I regularly mess things up. I’m a human. You are too. I don’t mind if mistakes are made or things go wrong. I do mind if they get covered up, we don’t learn from them, or we repeat them again and again. If something you’ve done (or not done) has caused other team members to miss their goals or work late be the one to stay and fix it with them.
Ask me questions
You need context to do your job well. I want to help you get that context. But if Google could’ve answered your question or the answer’s already in one of our systems (e.g. Guru / Slack / HubSpot) I’ll get annoyed fast.
Bring me solutions
If you have a problem that needs solving or want approval for something I prefer it to be set out as (a) a recommendation, (b) other options we could consider, (c) any supporting notes/data/documentation/research that I can dive into if I want to. Even if your solution isn’t great I’d prefer you to have brought an idea to the table.
Take initiative
If you’re on the team it’s because you have the right character and competence for the role. I’d rather you take the initiative and make a mistake that you learn from than rely on other team members to make every decision for you.
If you think I’m wrong or I’m doing something you don’t like tell me
I’m happy for you to be direct and voice your opinion. You should only be on the team if you're better at your job (or soon will be) than I am.
Please do present a problem, a recommendation, and (if appropriate) other potential solutions. Don’t just bring a list of complaints.
You might be right, I might be right. More often than not, a combination of our thinking will be right. I’d rather have a proper discussion about it and get to the right answer than not make the best decision for the team.