New episode on the Vibescaling Podcast - Adam Ali, SVP of WW Revenue @ Rox, an AI “revenue agent” that helps to automate parts of the entire sales process from lead to close for large enterprises.
Been awesome working with the Rox team for recruiting efforts as well as throwing an event in SF with them in May, similar spin to the “Agents in GTM” one we did with Clay in March in NYC (see video here).
Thank you all for the kind words on the pod - we'll keep shipping these weekly.
See below for past and future guests:
Some of our previous guests:
Todd Busler, Enterprise Sales Leader @ Clay - see here
Raphael Parker, former CRO @ Mandolin (former founding GTM hire @ Segment) - see here
Kyle Parrish, former VP of Sales @ Figma, see here
Liam Mulcahy, Head of Sales @ Parallel (former GTM Operating Partner @ Kleiner Perkins), see here
Pat Forquer, CRO @ Legora, see here
Mike Donohue, CRO @ MavenAGI, see here
Tomer Chernia, VP of GTM @ Cursor, see here
Jack Gashi, VP of Sales @ Avoca, see here
Eleanor Dorfman, Head of Commercial Sales @ Anthropic, see here
Ghazi Masood, CRO @ Replit, see here
Kyle Norton, CRO @ Owner.com, see here
Jason Gelman, GTM Operating Partner @ Primary Ventures, see here
Evan Cassidy, VP of Sales @ Decagon, see here
Jason Miller, VP of Sales @ Unify, see here
Some of our future guests for Season One:
Jaquelyn Goldberg, VP of Sales @ Unframe (recorded, in edits now)
Rob Saliterman, VP of Sales @ Harvey (recorded, in edits now)
Mark Ebert, SVP of Revenue @ Profound (recorded, in edits now)
James White, VP of Sales @ Rogo (recorded, in edits now)
Glenn Rachlin, VP of Sales @ Blockaid (formerly Alchemy) (recorded, in edits now)
Graham Moreno, VP of GTM @ Parallel
Mark Goldberger, VP of Sales @ Metaview
Roy Matthew, VP of Sales @ Gumloop
Navid Zolfaghari, CRO @ Zapier
Dini Mehta, former CRO @ Lattice
Bryan Cox, VP of Sales @ Braintrust
Nick Bogaty, CRO @ Vercel
Darren Moffat, VP of Sales @ Langchain
Ben Sabrin, CRO @ Arcade
Becca Lindquist, Head of Sales @ Clay
Simran Duggal, VP of Sales @ Juicebox
Erica Anderson, CRO @ Notion
& others from our portfolio companies @ vibescaling
And many more in the pipeline - if you know any good leaders who fit this, shoot me a DM on LI or reply to this email. We’ll keep openings rolling and be super open to suggestions for similar guests.
We film in-person in SF & NYC at legit podcast studios and have hired a new post-production agency, so the quality will be high - see below for a snippet in-studio behind the scenes.
Interviewing the awesome James White for this episode, VP of Sales @ Rogo, in our NYC studio in April
Links To Sections
Adam’s Background
Adam Ali is the SVP of Worldwide Revenue at Rox, an AI-native revenue operating system backed by Sequoia, GV, and General Catalyst.
He joined in September 2025 after being named Glean's Top Sales Leader of 2025 and leading the entire company in total revenue growth, net new enterprise logos, and time to productivity per rep.
Before Glean, Adam spent six years at Rubrik, joining when the company was at $20M ARR and helping scale to over $700M ARR. Before that, he got in his early reps at SAP, where he was #1 in the sales academy every week.
Unlike most people in sales, Adam didn't fall into it. He started the sales program at the University of Arizona before graduating and was prospecting his way into jobs as a student.
Interesting Takeaways
1. The $100 bill test that changed his career
When Adam interviewed with Rubrik's CEO Bipul Sinha, the meeting took a hard turn at the end. Bipul slid a $100 bill across the table and asked what Adam would do with it. Adam threw out crypto, real estate, random stuff. Bipul's response: "You're willing to take a big risk with a small amount of money, but the most valuable thing you have is your human capital, and it's sitting in a savings account at SAP." Shook his hand and walked out. Adam took the job.
2. Most reps build champions wrong
The real test is whether your champion looks at you as an advisor every time you talk. Adam breaks it into two jobs: helping them build a case for change (to get the project funded) and a plan for change (to operationalize it). If you're not doing both, you built a coach, not a champion.
3. No pilots
Adam doesn't run open-ended pilots in top-down enterprise deals. The failure mode he sees constantly: rep rushes the product to a mid-level user, hopes they love it, hopes they sell it up. "If you're hoping the product sells for you, it won't." Instead: get to the EB first, align on the movie before they watch it, then deliver.
4. Shadow selling is where deals are actually won
The meetings matter less than what happens between them. Calling your champion after every call to ask what you missed, what they're worried about, what the exec is really thinking. Coaching them on how to handle objections when you're not in the room. Most reps skip this entirely and then wonder why momentum died.
5. Micro momentum > macro momentum
Everyone tracks deal stages and MEDDIC. Adam tracks momentum inside a single call. Customer confused in the middle? Momentum dropped. Objection you fumbled? Momentum dropped. Most reps don't notice, push for the next step anyway, and get a Dear John email two days later.
Discussed In This Episode
Why Adam knew he wanted to be in sales before he ever graduated and what made him so intentional about it from day one
The $100 bill story: what Rubrik's founder taught him about human capital and why it changed his career
His "test first, build second" philosophy on champion building and why being on a texting basis isn't the signal you think it is
The difference between a champion and a coach
Shadow selling: what actually happens between meetings that separates great reps from everyone else
His no-pilot stance: why EB go/no-go alignment matters more than any POC
"Tell them the movie before they watch it" and how to run a proof of value that actually closes
Breaking the deal: why asking for the business early is the fastest way to find out what's real
Executive presence training and what it taught him about stillness, eye contact, and body language
How Rox fits into the AI sales tech landscape and why he believes pre-built agents win over custom builds
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro & Adam's Background
(02:08) Being Sales-Pilled Before Graduation: Starting the Sales Program at U of A
(06:02) Landing at SAP & What Big Company Sales Actually Teaches You
(07:33) Executive Presence Training: Stillness, Eye Contact & Body Language
(09:58) The Manager Who Left for Rubrik & Planting the Seed
(14:40) The $100 Bill Story: Human Capital & Getting in the Game
(18:56) Champion Building: Test First, Build Second
(22:01) The Difference Between a Champion and a Coach
(23:35) Shadow Selling: What Happens Between the Meetings
(25:53) How to Test Whether Someone Is Actually Your Champion
(29:14) The No-Pilot Stance: EB Go/No-Go and Proof of Value
(36:17) Tell Them the Movie Before They Watch It
(38:37) How to Build Momentum Inside a Single Meeting
(41:04) Breaking the Deal: How to Find Out What's Really Going On
(45:33) Rox, AI Sales Tech & Where the Landscape Is Heading
(51:57) What an Agent Swarm Actually Means
(57:35) Why Adam Made Two Bets on AI Companies
(1:00:35) How to Get Hired at Rox
Thanks for tuning in!
If you enjoy it, please give us a rating, review, or follow on Spotify/YouTube/Apple Podcasts - it really helps us grow this.
For those who are new, my name is Chris Balestras, partner @ Vibescaling - a GTM advisory, recruiting, media, and investing firm, working with seed through series C AI-natives to help them grow.
Where to find Vibescaling:
We work with many of the hottest AI-native startups in various capacities, and for those who are interested, shoot me an email at [email protected] or a DM on LI.
🫡 cheers,
Chris