Rocket Revenue
Rocket Revenue is a weekly podcast dedicated to pulling back the curtain on predictable and repeatable revenue models for startups.
Hosted by Rocket Shipping's CEO Gabe Pankonin and Head of Revenue Troy Barter, the show provides an inside look at constructing scalable revenue architectures without needing to rely on outside funding to expand your sales skills and/or sales teams.
Across episodes, Gabe offers his own experiences with bootstrapping companies from idea to profitability. With refreshing honesty and humor, he can dissect the financial mysteries of fledgling startups.
How do you transform an untested business concept into one raking in recurring revenue? How do you identify and court that first set of customers who will stay?
Structured as part masterclass // part business case studies, the Rocket Revenue podcast equips you with actionable advice for every growth phase as a startup founder.
For those still at the starting line, Barter zooms in on presale tactics to validate and improve product-market fit. He focuses on mapping realistic and repeatable pathways to profitability. While he draws extensively from B2B Saas business models, the revenue fundamentals hold true across most startups.
With so much illusion (...or delusion) surrounding startup success stories today, these episodes spotlight the gritty reality behind the scenes. It explores common revenue missteps, outlining how to avoid and recover from them. Mistaking vanity metrics for actionable ones, acquiring users without a path to monetization, growing too fast—why not break down how these pitfalls threaten sustainability?
For startups powered more by bootstrapping by their elbow grease and expanding their community than venture capital, the Rocket Revenue podcast delivers a vigorous revenue reality check.
Let's lay out a blueprint for scalable, repeatable revenue that can provide a startup like you with a compass to navigate the winding road from ideation to profitability! Tune in to each episode to find out more 🚀 #RocketRevenue
Our reminder to you: We want to hear from you! Connect with Troy Barter or Gabe Pankonin on LinkedIn and send over your questions, comments, or concerns to discuss in our upcoming episodes. Collaboration is key; let's build a community.
Rocket Revenue
Episode 1: From Selling Beats to Head of Sales
Welcome to Episode 1 of Rocket Revenue — Pilot edition 🚀
Let's start off our podcast with some introductions to Rocket Shipping's Head of Sales and revenue-building expert on the team, Troy Barter. As you'll find out in the episode, he didn't begin his sales career in the way you'd expect from a normal SDR...
So how does a battle rapper and door-to-door salesman become a feared sales MONSTER?
Barter reveals his against-all-odds journey from slinging rap beats online to leading an 8-figure sales machine in this premiere episode of Rocket Revenue. (AKA, you'll want to tune in.)
Through the episode, Rocket's CEO Gabe Pankonin talks with Barter to retrace early hustles selling mixtape instrumentals on SoundClick to pay rent. (Even though Barter didn't produce hot beats, he discovered a talent for moving them through relentless digital hustle targeting rappers.)
Think Wolf of Wall Street, minus the unethical practices, cocaine and penny stocks.
Grueling 12-hour days knocking on doors selling alarm systems, electricity plans, you name it. $750K top earner potential, but turnover and failure rate extreme.
Hear how Barter leveraged existing sales prowess to explode out of the gates, immediately becoming Fleetmatics’ top SDR...then AE...then Sales Director...and eventually leading cross-functional teams supporting 8-figure revenue.
And now at Rocket Shipping, Barter looks to replicate his success. How will the stage-based frameworks, motivation techniques, and hiring philosophies he’s learned building sales monsters translate to sales in freight?
Each raw, unfiltered episode chronicles their individual startup journeys as Gabe and Barter build a sales machine from zero to $10M+ revenue at Rocket. Buckle up, because it’s sure to be a wild yet entertaining ride to the moon.
#RocketRevenue #Episode1 #Pilot