Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!

Our guest for Episode 52 is Evan Seder, Head of Sales at Persona. Before joining Persona two years ago, Evan spent nearly five years at Stripe, where he was a founding member of the product sales organization.  

In this episode, Ross and Evan discuss the importance of owning your week, writing things down, and taking agency over your work. 

Listen to the episode here, and get the key takeaways from our conversation below.

Creating a run of the show for the week 

To set your week up for success, it's essential to prepare ahead of time and establish a clear "run of the show." This routine allows for clarity, focus, and alignment, ensuring the entire team is working towards common goals. Here’s how it works:

• Goal setting on Mondays: Mondays are all about setting priorities. "I ask everyone to post a status update in Slack, outlining their top priorities for the week," Evan explains. "This needs to be done by Monday morning. Then, during our team meeting midday, we review these priorities together, and I align them with the overall team objectives. Our goal is to focus on the 'big rocks' — the most impactful tasks that will move the needle." This step ensures everyone is on the same page, and the team knows exactly what to focus on from the outset.
• Team meetings to recap and align: After goal setting, the Monday meeting serves as a forum to recap expectations, discuss individual and team objectives, and solidify the weekly game plan. This alignment helps prevent miscommunication and keeps everyone accountable for the goals they’ve set.
• Early week forecasting: Evan’s team conducts forecasting on Tuesdays, giving everyone a chance to make sure Salesforce updates are current and deals or initiatives needing attention are identified. This way, any actions requiring immediate focus remain top of mind.
• Midweek feedback and adjustments: Wednesdays and Thursdays are reserved for one-on-one meetings. Evan uses this time to provide feedback on the week’s progress, addressing any concerns or roadblocks and reviewing ongoing work from previous weeks. These check-ins are an opportunity to course-correct if needed.
• Friday recap: The week wraps up with a recap on Fridays. This is a time to reflect on what’s been accomplished, review any outstanding items, and prepare for the upcoming week. The team repeats this structured process each week to maintain momentum and alignment, and drive consistent results.

By following this rhythm, the team stays organized, priorities remain clear, and progress is always being made toward larger goals.

Writing it down

In Evan’s experience, writing down important notes is key to clarifying and organizing thoughts. “I’m a big believer that if you can’t write it and explain it, you don’t understand it,” he says. For Evan, the act of putting ideas on paper forces deeper thinking and ensures that concepts are well understood before moving forward.

He encourages his team to document everything from weekly priorities to Salesforce updates and meeting preparation notes. “I always try to push my team to make sure they’re writing down what they need to,” Evan explains. “Of course, there’s a balance. I don’t want them spending so much time writing that they’re not getting the actual work done. But I do want them capturing their thought processes, key takeaways, and actionable insights.” This practice not only reinforces understanding but also serves as a valuable reference for staying on track and maintaining accountability.

For Evan, the goal is not to create unnecessary documentation, but to promote clarity, focus, and execution. 

Owning your work

For Evan, ownership is a critical trait he looks for when hiring. "I value agency in how people handle and approach deals," he explains. While sales is inherently cross-functional, having agency means taking full responsibility and making sure the work gets done — not just completed, but done in the best way possible for the prospect. "Even if you're not the one actually doing the work, owning your role means making sure the outcome is right for the customer. It won’t look the same for every prospect or every engagement, but when you take ownership, you own the outcome and figure out how to get there."

Evan’s approach to hiring reflects this mindset. “I ask candidates to tell me about a time when they failed,” he says. “I don’t want to hear about polished success stories disguised as failures. I want to understand how they’ve handled real setbacks because we’ve all failed, and what’s okay. I want to see how people learned from those failures and made changes so they don’t repeat the same mistakes. It’s this kind of thought process that shows someone has agency — they’re learning, improving, and ultimately owning their work.”

Ultimately, Evan views ownership as being accountable not only for the task at hand, but also the process leading up to it, and the outcome. He believes in taking initiative, learning from both successes and failures, and continuously finding ways to deliver the best outcomes for prospects and the business.

About Evan

Evan is the Head of Sales at Persona, where he oversees the sales organization across all segments, including startups, SMBs, mid-market, strategic, and enterprise accounts. Prior to joining Persona, he served as a sales leader at Stripe.