Perry Nalevka – The Man Innovating and Leading the B2B Industry – Penguin Strategies
A lot is going on in the market globally and a company has to make sure that they have their product/service ready for the market. This involves a lot of work right from the ground up as it requires proper planning, a right mix of strategies, a perfectly timed execution, equipped with the latest technology and all this makes sure that a product/service gets the attention and market it truly deserves.
All of this sounds easy on the paper but it takes a lot of time, effort and skills, as one step wrong in the entire process could lead to the bigger problem making the whole effort go in vain. The problem arises mostly in the B2B tech companies as there are so many competitors in the market, also to find their niche in the industry and then coming up with the above-stated processes becomes a lot to handle for a particular company.
Penguin Strategies provides unique, efficient and impeccable solutions when it comes to B2B tech companies. They not only cater to the problems but the long-standing success and a very delighted customer base speak for the expertise and the respect this company has generated in this industry. Penguin Strategies has created a niche in the market with its unique and differentiated product. They not only provide effective, talented and skilled marketers but also help in planning out the marketing strategies, campaigns and other required solutions to slingshot their client’s products/services in the right market segment, making sure that they adhere to and break all of their client’s expectations, delivering the best in industry standards.
In conversation with the CEO of Penguin Strategies, Perry Nalevka. Let’s find more about his company, its products/services and much more.
Please tell us about Penguin Strategies, the challenges you faced and the reasons that led to its growth.
Penguin Strategies builds growth machines for B2B Tech companies. We do this by providing the right mix of strategy, execution and technology. Our customers build complex technologies that are being sold into medium and large organizations. They have a unique challenge in scaling marketing since both their products and buyer personas are highly technical. We help them solve for this by providing a team of marketers with relevant experience.
The initial challenges were almost the same as any young company faces but as Penguin Strategies is a unique niche in the market providing specialized and expert products/services, the major challenges faced by us were-
- Figuring out what type of people
- Convincing them to join
- Creating an environment for them to stay
Once we figured out the right employee and customer profiles we started to scale beyond my imagination.
Please tell us about Penguin Strategies’ products/services, how do you plan on taking them forward and if there are any new additions to the arsenal of products/services to Penguin Strategies.
The products/services we offer are not necessarily different but the process and the way we deliver them is 100% customized towards our very unique niche market.
Typically, new services are created from our employees working with customers and seeing new requirements. They then innovate to deliver and then share with the rest of our customer teams to allow them to help their customers.
We have developed an upgrade to ABM something we call micro-segmentation. Over the past year during COVID-19 it has been harder for our customers to reach their target customers due to there being no physical events. Standard ABM programs were not bringing the results they were hoping for so we developed a new program. What we do is map out their markets or accounts into smaller segments by defining all the players in influencing and deciding on purchasing their project. We then create specific messaging and campaigns for each micro-segment.
Please tell us about your professional experience and key achievements as an entrepreneur.
After 3 years in the Army where I was a medic in the paratroopers, I have spent the last 25 years working at and with start-ups. In my first 10 years, I was on the more technical side starting with programming then product management. Over the past 15 years, I have been in senior management working in sales and marketing. I co-founded Penguin Strategies 7 years ago.
In my opinion, the biggest achievement is to take the first step towards entrepreneurship which requires big sacrifices. This usually means leaving a comfortable job and a steady income. It usually also requires facing all the doubters who will be there to tell you how big of a mistake you are making.
I feel that once we got the business off the ground and profitable this was an incredible achievement. Every time we make progress towards our vision
Please tell us about your work culture and your take on employee relations.
One of my core drivers or visions to starting Penguin was to create a place that people were happy to come to work to. That being said this is a continuous work in progress. Here are some of the things we do:
- State that our goal is to create a great place to work so that employees can help hold us accountable
- HR (or CPO) is a strategic function in Penguin Strategies that reports to the CEO and gets the highest priority always
- Continuously look for better ways to onboard and help employees grow within Penguin Strategies
- Have a defined Culture Code that we use to make hiring and firing decisions
Your take on the competition in the market and its impact on you and your company.
Competitors are a fact of life. As investors like to point out if you don’t have competitors it probably means there is no market. We cope with competition by only selling to prospects that are a good fit for us and then talking about customers’ pain points and our approach.
As Simon Sinek says competitors are “worthy rivals” and I never talk ill of them.
Yes. Good competition keeps you fresh and on your toes. I don’t think it is the most important motivating factor to bring out our best I believe too many companies obsess about their competition rather than approaching them as worthy rivals.
