I left Salesforce 15 months ago to chase my dream. I became an Entrepreneur.
April 9, 2014, Denise a Salesforce recruiter sent me an email with an exciting opportunity — Salesforce was looking for the first Czech speaking person to join their European HQ in Dublin, Ireland.
This was the day when the ride started :-)
It took just a few weeks — 1st call with Denise, 2nd call with the hiring manager, and final — 3rd round — was a panel interview. I got a flight and a hotel booked. Friday, 2nd of May 2014 was The Day. I've never ever experienced something like that — super fast hiring process, all travel expenses covered — I was super excited. Career opportunity of my life!
I spent more than a week tailoring my presentation for the panel interview. Friday, 9 am, my panel interview started. For the first time presenting in English — my 2nd language. I was super exhausted after 50mins. So exhausted, that my brain just refused to remember what I prepared for the big final … my pitch.
A week later — I got a call from Denise (as she promised). Bad news. I was speechless. Normally I would be asking for a bit of clarification. I couldn’t.
A big disappointment. I really did my best. I did!
Even though — It was a RIDE! It was the BEST experience EVER! I have never ever experienced such an execution, they kept every promise and treated me in the best possible way.
2nd chance
November 11, 2014 — Denise approached me again. They had a new position! Wow! December 16, 2014 — I am standing against Hrvoje and Richard. I just nailed it. They didn’t let me leave. 30min later, the Vice President of SMB EMEA came to the room so we can have final chat before the decision.
December 24 — I got the BEST Christmas present ever! I got a call from the recruiter announcing good news! I should start on the 1st of Feb, 2015.
Ohana means Family
Everyone who is becoming part of the Salesforce ecosystem is joining Ohana. I have never ever experienced something like this! I was working for a company with about 20.000 employees and I felt like being part of one family. I got support from anyone! We really trusted each other (Trust #1 value of Salesforce). We were volunteering. Salesforce was the first company I worked for where employees are really living the company's values.
Salesforce was the first company I worked for where employees are really living company's values.
My 1st trip to the USA
At the end of my 1st month, I was sent to a week-long boot camp in San Francisco. My first visit to the United States! I didn't know I will return to the USA very soon :-)
Just in 3 months, I closed my first key deal! In just 6 months I closed a BIG deal. And then again … I closed 48 net new customers (not counting upgrades and add-ons from existing customers). That's on average 1 new customer weekly! I overachieved my sales quota and qualified for Peak Performers Club in Miami, Florida. Salesforce sent me to the USA again. This time with my whole family — we had an amazing week in 5* hotel Fontainebleau Miami Beach and a couple of days in Orlando in Disney World. Unforgettable!
I lived the OHANA culture, I lived the dream.
Goodbye, Salesforce!
I fell in love with Salesforce so much! I was not just selling copiers (as in Xerox) or Intel x86 servers (as in IBM). I was helping companies to transform the way they deal with customers — it was (still is) extremely energizing.
I realized Salesforce is my destiny.
The growth was phenomenal! Salesforce guidance for 2022 is to grow from $10B to $20–22B which will create 3,3mil new jobs (Why Everyone Wins in the Salesforce Economy). I felt there is a huge opportunity — for everyone!
After 12 years of intense career in sales, I felt I need to build something bigger. Bigger than just a career and personal brand, something that will last.
I started to think, I started to plan until the decision has been made.
I decided to quit and chase my BIG dream. I will set up a company where employees will be treated extremely well, a company that will be striving for quality, for customer success. My plan is simple — $5M annual revenue by 2022 with 50 employees across 5 European countries.
My goal is to disrupt existing Salesforce partners in Western Europe
My goal is to disrupt existing Salesforce partners in Western Europe — those average ones. With our TOP quality. With business acumen. With Flexibility. And last but not least with the price.
The fuck-up coming
October 2015, I had lunch with the Vice President of SMB EMEA after I closed a decent deal with a major Czech retail company. We discussed my future and I shared with him my dream — to became an entrepreneur and set up my own Salesforce partner. Without any specific date. That time I didn’t know I will make it happen quite soon :-)
June 1st, 2017, after 2,5 years in Salesforce, I became the founder of a Salesforce Consulting Partner. Together with 2 “partners in crime”. Oldrich was bringing his 10+ years of experience in Finance industry as an Enterprise Architect and Martin was bringing his decent Salesforce knowledge.
Together, we earned Silver status in just 6 months — fastest in the history of the Czech Salesforce ecosystem, probably fastest in the whole Eastern Europe.
But then…
First Oldrich and then Martin decided to leave. Just before Christmas, I was the only one who left… F**K! What am I going to do?
I don't remember Christmas 2017. I was just re-evaluating my decisions, thinking of the future, trying to understand the lesson learned. I realized I was the only one who really lived the dream, who pushed the company forward, who sacrificed his career (with a salary over €100k) and even his time with family.
2018
I revisited all the plans, the strategy, and went through the list of potential candidates. The first two weeks in January I was desperate. I felt like I will cry every single day. It was intense. I knew what I should do — I need staff.
I was fortunate. Is there such a thing? :-) My first hire was Katka — she started the 1st of February. An amazing person with 3 years of Salesforce experience! I end up with 4 employees in August and 2 new joiners coming in September.
Our first company “kick-off” was on June 7, 2018. It was all about Trailblazers — we are on a Trail, we are brave enough to innovate, disrupt, and shape the world around us. We discussed our past success and also lessons learned (fails), what we may expect in the future, and mainly our company values. I prefer honesty rather than corporate bullshit. I am super-transparent to any stakeholder let it be my employee, my customer, or Salesforce itself. And last but not least — I strive for quality, therefore every mooza team member has to learn all the time. (I have 5 certs)
June was our strongest month to date - mooza inspire invoiced 938 612 CZK (approx $45k) in this month. My plan is to increase revenue from the expected $300k this year to $1M revenue in 2019.
September
I was screening the Czech & Slovak Salesforce ecosystem for quite some time. It paid off! My recommendation to any Salesforce Partner — Never stop hiring!
Next week — on Thursday the 6th of September a new person is joining me. I am sooo excited to have him on board. Pavel is bringing 15 years of experience in the CRM industry, he is 15x Salesforce certified including Application Architect, System Architect, Marketing Cloud, and very soon also Einstein Analytics/Discovery (just about 10 certified people worldwide as of now).
I want my employees to work anytime, anywhere.
A week after — Blanka is joining. Mother of twins. She attended my Salesforce workshop which I organized early this year together with Czechitas and Deloitte. I am super-excited we will have the first part-time person. I love to disrupt — and I want to disrupt employers in the Czech Republic — nobody is really supporting an alternative working scheme. I want my employees to work anytime, anywhere. If someone wants to work just 3 days a week — then why not? If someone wants to be a digital nomad and work on month from Thailand and the second month from Sri Lanka — then why not?
If you’re going through hell, keep going — Winston Churchill.
My wife didn't want me to leave Salesforce. I planned 12 months without any salary ($$$ = zero). Once I left, she was challenging me: “Go get a job and earn some money” to see whether I mean it seriously. I never ever doubt once. Even though she was against my decision, she was supportive from day one. Later, she started to believe in me more and more :-) I knew from my whole heart I will make it. I didn’t give up. Fortunately, I found people brave and crazy enough to join me :-)
I am the most fortunate man on the planet — my wife believes in me.
After 15 months of my intense work (on average 60–80 hours weekly), I can say it’s paying off. I see happy customers (from Norway to Ireland), I see results ($$$), I see the structure, I see amazing team learning with every new project.
We do have customers already in 5 countries in Europe (Nordics, UK&I, Czech Rep). Our customer satisfaction (CSAT) is 9.63 (out of 10). We earned Salesforce Rising Star Award and what I am most proud of is that we reached the status Salesforce Gold Consulting Partner — mooza is the only one Czech Gold Partner. In just 15 months since I started mooza! I hope we will make Platinum status next year by the 1st of June.
My 5 recommendations to future entrepreneurs:
1. Dream BIG!
2. Believe in yourself
3. Challenge your comfort zone (daily)
4. Plan, Execute and Adjust (don't forget to manage cash-flow since day 1)
5. Never give up!
Salesforce is my destiny
I spent nearly 20 years in Sales and 15 years in IT. I never ever experienced a company like Salesforce. You can’t compare Salesforce to any other company. It’s like comparing Tesla to any other car. You just can’t compare something unique with something “common”. It’s just Salesforce. It's the best CRM on the market mainly because of the unique culture Marc Benioff has created.
I am glad I was the lucky one to be 2nd Czech employee of Salesforce.
I am proud I became part of the Salesforce OHANA. It changed my life — FOREVER. I hope I will give back and change the lives of my future 50 employees.
Dear future employee — feel free to reach out to me anytime (e.g. on LinkedIn) or check our current openings.
Dear future customer — you have to wait for a month or two until we'll have an English website :-) Until then, reach out to me via email zdenek@mooza.io
My dear wife — THANK YOU for believing in me and supporting me all the time!
Denise, Hrvoje, Ed — thank you for hiring me :-)
