How Dan Fougere Scaled 4 Billion-Dollar IPOs (And What He’d Do Differently)

In this episode of THE PLAYBOOK UNIVERSE, we sit down with legendary CRO Dan Fougere, a pivotal force behind FOUR $1B IPOs.

From engineering roots to building elite go-to-market engines, Dan unpacks the battle-tested frameworks that turned great ideas into generational companies. He shares hard-won lessons from PTC, BladeLogic, Medallia, and Datadog—including how to scale a sales org, recruit world-class talent, and align GTM with visionary founders.

Whether you're a startup founder, CRO, or early-stage sales leader, this is a masterclass you don’t want to miss. Dan also reveals the make-or-break mindset shifts that helped him navigate adversity, imposter syndrome, and the constant pressure of building under extreme constraints.

 

This episode is packed with insights you simply won’t find in any sales playbook. 🙌 Thanks to our Sponsors! PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai Selr: https://selr.ai 🏹

Key Topics Covered

00:00 Intro 02:00 Dan’s 4 IPO Journey

06:45 Why Mentorship Mattered Most

12:00 Building Datadog’s GTM from Scratch

19:30 When Founders Should Hire a CRO

26:00 Go-to-Market Mistakes Startups Keep Making

32:00 The Wrong Way to Hire Sales Leaders

36:30 Datadog’s Hardest Challenges

42:00 Leading Through Pressure & Burnout

48:00 The Power of Having Great Mentors

 

💥 3 Biggest Lessons

1. Your job as CRO is to make the CEO successful. Leadership alignment and trust are the ultimate foundations for scalable growth.

2. Play the long game—optimize for learning, not short-term comp. Dan’s biggest career leaps came from choosing mentorship over money.

3. Don’t break what’s working—build what doesn’t exist. Great GTM leaders complement product momentum by filling strategic gaps, not overhauling systems.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

 

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

🌐 Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

🐦 Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

📸 Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

📝 Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

 

💬 Borrow These Quotes from Dan!

🗣 “My job as a CRO is to make the CEO successful. Period.”

🗣 “Great sales orgs win even with an average product. That’s the secret.”

🗣 “Don’t try to fix what’s already working—go build what doesn’t exist.”

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