We have a really exciting Snafu Conference coming up in 10 days, so today I wanted to share a few highlights from the agenda. We’d love to see you in person in Oakland — but if you can’t join us, the main stage sessions will be recorded. Look for those in a few weeks.
Coaching is Selling: How To Unlock Human Potential
Jeff Jaworski, former Google sales executive turned coach, joins former Chief People Officer turned coach Marie Szuts for a fireside conversation about the intersection of coaching and sales. Drawing on decades of experience building Google’s global sales coaching program and leading teams to peak performance, they’ll explore how coaching principles apply directly to selling — and why the two disciplines may be more similar than we think.
Everything Is Sales: Lessons from Product Development
David Shackelford, Head of Product at Asana, argues that product, leadership, and sales are built on the same foundation: understanding people, telling clear stories, and doing the follow-through most people skip. He’ll share how he “accidentally” learned to sell — simply by asking better questions.
How To Raise Money: Systems, Stories, and Relationships
Eric Bahn, Co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, pulls back the curtain on fundraising as a sales discipline. He’ll walk through the tactical systems he uses to raise capital from LPs, recruit team members, and convince startups to partner with Hustle Fund — all while keeping relationships human and high-performing.
Selling in the Age of AI: Selling With Purpose and Authenticity
This is a rare cross-generational conversation inside a single family. Dan Cavenaugh spent 33 years at Accenture building multi-million and billion-dollar partnerships. Jen Cavenaugh is the former mayor of Piedmont turned coach and consultant. Their son Jackson works in tech sales, navigating AI tools, saturated markets, and modern buyer skepticism. Together, they’ll explore what relationship-based sales looks like across generations — and how authenticity and AI can coexist.
Is AI Coming For My Job?
As AI reshapes how work gets done, we all find ourselves asking a familiar question: Is AI coming for my job? Ha Nguyen offers a reframe: What skills make us durable no matter what happens next? This session focuses on the reinforcing capabilities that increase agency, adaptability, and relevance in uncertain environments.
Navigating Uncertainty: A Founders’ Fishbowl
Patrick Thompson, Komal Ahmad, and Niels Hoven will explore how founders navigate ambiguity. These three founders rotate through real-world decision-making while a fourth “open seat” allows attendees to join the conversation.
Venture 3.0: Trust, Story, and Selling in Complex Ecosystems
In today’s noisy, complex markets, having the best product isn’t enough. Growth depends on trust, relationships, and the ability to navigate multi-stakeholder ecosystems. Robby Peters and Raquel Scott of SemperVirens unpack how venture capital is evolving - from writing checks (VC 1.0), to operational support (VC 2.0), to what they call Venture 3.0: an ecosystem-driven model that helps founders go to market through trust, relationships, and distribution.
Authenticity at Work: Lessons from Experience
Mandy Mooney, the VP of Internal Communications at Prologis and author of Corporating: 3 Ways to Win at Work, will explore how authenticity, creativity, and strategy intersect within large organizations. Through personal anecdotes, interactive discussion, and her signature theatrical flair, Mandy will share how to succeed in corporate work.
Founder-Led Sales in the Age of AI
I’ve been a fan of Gagan Biyani since he co-founded Udemy, and I’m delighted to sit down with him for a closing conversation. Drawing on his experience at Udemy, Sprig, and now Maven, we’ll explore founder-led sales, product growth, and marketing tactics in an AI-accelerated world.
I started Snafu — first the newsletter, now the conference — because I’m learning in public. To understand influence, durability, and what actually works in our changing world.
Whether you join us in Oakland or follow along from afar, I’m grateful to be on this journey with you. Let’s keep learning!
3 Things I’ve Loved This Week
Quote I’m Considering:
“It’s good to know who hates you, and it’s good to be hated by the right people.” - Johnny Cash
Article I’m Reading:
In a world that often feels overwhelming, I find it useful to reflect how good things are right now. This article does that by highlighting the objects we use everyday, and often take for granted.
Book I’ve Read:
With everything in the news about the Epstein Files, I decided I'd read some firsthand accounts of Epstein's victims. This book is dark and necessary to understand depravity that is all too common, and rarely discussed.
Want more?
Volunteer at the Snafu Conference
If you're interested in the Snafu Conference, but limited by the cost, we are still looking for a handful of volunteers who want to help make this conference exceptional. If that sounds like you, just reply to this email.
Until next week,
Robin
