When we are working with our portfolio companies, we find that a big part of success is building a strong sales team. But what’s the best way to do that, and how should sales teams be rewarded and structured. Our guest today is Nabeil Alazzam , Founder and CEO of Forma.ai , a sales compensation platform that removes the guesswork of motivating sales teams and unlocks agility through a delivery-focused, AI-driven platform. About Nabeil Alazzam: Nabeil Alazzam is the Founder and CEO of Forma.ai . He began his entrepreneurial journey while studying Mechanical Engineering at Queen's University and continued through graduation as a consultant for ZS. During that time, Nabeil advised Fortune 100 companies on sales force effectiveness and strategy and saw first-hand the pain of poor enterprise sales compensation management. He saw a gap in the market and moved quickly to gather a team and found Forma.ai in 2016. A word from our sponsor: At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves.  The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees. Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cashback on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days. The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world. Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally. Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more. In this episode we discuss: 02:32 Nabeil’s journey to starting Forma.ai 04:16 Lessons Nabeil learned as a management consultant 05:44 How working with Pharmacuetical Reps shaped his view on the importance of data in the sales process 08:18 Pain points as VP of sales that lead him to starting Forma 11:35 How Nabeil views a proper compensation structure 14:14 What founders need to consider prior to rolling out a sales comp plan 17:22 How companies can implement strategies when limited data is available 20:35 What you should do to implement a new sales compensation plan 23:00 Creating feedback loops between sales and leadership 24:54 How early-stage startups can use Forma 27:37 Dealing with fallout from changing compensation plans 30:25 Communication strategies to sales staff 32:25 How quota and targets can lead to attrition 35:11 Organizations that hurt themselves with a poor comp plan 38:29 How Forma actually works 41:21 Methods which Forma collects data 44:22 How their recent series B came together led by ACME Capital, along with our good friends at Crosslink Capital, Golden Ventures, and Uncork Capital  Fast Favorites: 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Lex Fridman , All In 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Morning Brew 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Lelit Bianca 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Getting outside 📚- Favorite Book: Amp It Up 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: If it was easy, everyone would be doing it Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here! Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency