After a year and a half at Pendo, I'm moving on as part of a company-wide reduction in force. 🙏 I'm proud of what we built, and I want to name it clearly. When I joined, value selling at Pendo meant a small team manually building custom spreadsheets for a fraction of the pipeline. By the end of FY25, we had rebuilt that motion from the ground up. 🏗️ What we delivered: ⚡ Deployed value at scale across the entire sales organization through Pendo's value platform, giving sellers a co-creation infrastructure to build business cases without needing a specialist in every deal. Every proposal now contains a value narrative leveraging the Command of the Message framework. 🎯 Built the "Goldilocks" engagement model. A three-tier approach covering low, medium, and high-touch value support so we could meet sellers where they were, based on deal complexity and seller needs. Not every deal needs the same level of engagement. Now none of them go without one. 📈 Launched a global value curriculum and bootcamp program that drove stage progression in targeted deals within weeks of delivery. 🌍 Grew the function significantly in a single fiscal year, with coverage extending beyond AMS to EMEA and APJ. Leveraging AI automation workflows, our small team did the same amount of work of a 10+ person value organization. 💰 The result: sellers who could articulate Pendo's business impact without leading with features, who held their price under pressure, and who discounted less because they believed in the outcomes they were delivering. Average selling price increased 30%. 🙌 To the Value Consulting team and everyone across Sales, CS, Enablement, and Product Marketing who partnered with us: you made the work worth doing. 🚀 I'm actively exploring Senior Director and VP-level roles at the intersection of GTM strategy, enterprise revenue, and business value, particularly at companies scaling their enterprise motion. ✅ If you want to help, the three things that move the needle most right now: → Leave a comment on the impact you saw me have → Write a recommendation on what it was like working with me on [fill in the blank] → Reshare this post to your network so it reaches more of the right people Appreciate every one of you. #GTM #ValueSelling #BusinessValue #OutcomeEconomy #OpenToWork
Mike, sorry to hear about this, but what you built at Pendo is a real proof point. The Goldilocks engagement model alone is something most VE leaders spend years trying to figure out. I saw firsthand how thoughtful you are about this space when you shared your perspective with me during my platform evaluation. That kind of generosity with your time says a lot. Whoever gets you next is lucky. Rooting for you.
I’ve actually never seen a Value Consulting practice as well-built and designed as what you installed at Pendo, Mike Samuels. Whoever’s next will be lucky to have you.
Really admired your leadership and approach to value during your time at ServiceNow, learned a lot from it.Great to see the impact you drove at Pendo as well. Wherever you go next, that team will be lucky to have you. Rooting for you.
Huge fan of Mike and the Value Consulting team he built at Pendo. I had the opportunity to learn directly from him and see firsthand the impact his team had on our Enterprise customers, helping them connect their Pendo investment to measurable business outcomes. That connection and clarity made a meaningful difference not just for customers, but for those of us in Professional Services delivering on those goals.
Commenting for visibility. I am so glad I worked with you at both Servicenow and Oracle and I learned better methods of realizing value from our discussions and shared presentations, you elevate conversations. Best of luck, my friend - your will continue to an amazing impact at your next company!
Commenting for reach-please let me know If I can make any intros
Mike, we didn’t even “officially” overlap while you were at Pendo but you still took time out to help me strategise a project I was working on and your advice was invaluable! I learned so much from you, I know you’ll make a huge impact wherever you go next.
All the best Mike. You are excellent at what you do an will be an asset to any company looking to build or develop a value practise
Mike, My time with you at ServiceNow was short, but you stood tall in the team because you always exceeded expectations. We were in a very talented team, but the ability to soar against the pressure set you uniquely apart. It’s time for a new challenge. Do not hold back. All the best!!
Replying for readability and reach. I had the pleasure and advanced learning opportunities of working with Mike Samuels in two different client facing roles at NOW, the first as part of the Inspire CIO advisory team, me in the strategist role and Mike as BVC. He was part of the Team led by Matt Denton and this was world class. I not only learned the art of "value engineering", I began to incorporate that into my own processes and methodologies and this came full circle as we built out the original Customer Success Practice and developed "value blueprints". I then also brought Mike into my accounts and more importantly to my team to discuss the "art and science of value". We have continued to and recently discussed this and where the future is. Mike is always looking ahead and that is a key inherent skill that you either have or don't, it is not easily learned