Happy Monday Alpaca!
I’ve been sitting with one number all weekend. 152.
Since we started selling, Alpaca has signed 302 new customers. Kaitlynn Kool brought in 152 of them.
Half. One person. Half of every school and district that has ever said yes to us said it to Kaitlynn.
Kaitlynn’s fourth year was her biggest yet. She closed 143 deals and had a huge impact on our revenue, including 71 brand-new customers. Last year’s letter bragged about 136 deals. This year, she beat it, and she did it in a year when we added four new sellers to the team. The rest of us (combined!!) closed 123 deals this year, and I’m counting myself in that group. Kaitlynn closed 143.
Here’s how this happened.
Last December, Kaitlynn said “I think I need to learn spreadsheets.” After asking a few more questions, I understood what she was after. Kaitlynn wanted to to be able to analyze data in real and useful ways, so that she could win more often in her sales role.
So we started Spreadsheet School. Once a week for eight weeks, after work, the two of us sat at M’s Pub for two hours and built spreadsheets. Then we tore them down and built them again. The data we used was her own sales performance: every deal she’d won and every one she hadn’t. She learned the formulas to do the analysis, then we learned together how to leverage AI tools to make that analysis faster and better.
Kaitlynn was relentless in her curiosity and tenacity. She wanted to know her own numbers well enough to change them, and she wanted to win, for Alpaca and for herself. Remember three years ago when she started doing sales because she wanted to save up enough money to take her first trip out of the country? And then that girl took herself to Paris?!
This was the grown-up, analytical version of Kaitlynn’s “own your own luck” mentality and career strategy, and it was SO MUCH FUN to be a part of.
Spreadsheet School is the latest in a long line of moments where Kaitlynn says the exact thing she wants to do, and then puts in the work to bring it to life.
Every year, Kaitlynn picks the next thing she can’t do yet, says it out loud, and does the work until she can. Our 151 customers she has brought to Alpaca come out of that habit.
And her customers stick around! The number of customers who rave about their experience with Kaitlynn is more than I can count. Kaitlynn’s customers stay with us year over year, and they find more and more value in our tools and in their experience with our team. In fact, two out of every three expansion deals are Kaitlynn’s. That shows quality, not just volume.
If you want to take one lesson from Kaitlynn, I’d tell you this: If there’s something you want to learn, say it out loud to someone — your manager, a mentor, or me. I’ll make time for anyone who wants to win big, if it’s something I know how to teach. If I don’t, I’ll help you find the right mentor.
Happy four years, Kaitlynn! I’m so grateful that half of our customers found us because of you - what better way to introduce our values as a company than through a person who lives them as well as you do.
So, Kaitlynn…what are we doing next?
❤️,
KB