Dax Gulje

Dax Gulje came aboard RightScale during a difficult time as we tried to reposition ourselves from a traditional/SMB SaaS tool to an Enterprise-grade cloud management platform; Dax was instrumental in helping make the changes that ultimately resulted in massive success, and a successful recent acquisition by Flexera. In my career I’ve held many positions in IT, from Head of Professional Services, to CTO, to my current role as Vice President of Cloud Engineering; in all my time I’ve never come across someone with Dax’s unique combination of sales ability, conversational positioning, and technical acumen. During his time as the Director of Cloud Enterprise Sales & Strategy, Dax was routinely responsible for closing the biggest logos at RightScale/Flexera, year after year after year, with the largest contracts in the company’s history.

SaaS sales, and cloud software in particular, is incredibly complex. Success often eludes sales teams who are unable to articulate both the business outcome as well as explain the technical requirements for success; Dax was able to do this time and time again, in sales to customers as massive as JP Morgan Chase or Manulife, or more modern companies like Uber or Mindbody - his ability to bring together technical and business stakeholders is one of the most critical skills a person can bring to the table in our industry.

Enterprise SaaS in particular needs very alignment between what is being sold, and the delivery; customer success groups responsible for making it happen. This is another area in which Dax proved himself to be a leader over and over, due to his ability to understand the customers’ problems on a technical level, and how best to translate those solutions into something my team was able to deliver. There is often historical tension between groups like engineering, product, and sales - Dax is one of the very few sales leaders that I’ve ever seen able to bridge that gap and unite all groups in pursuit of common success. Dax enjoyed the respect and appreciation of every member of my team (not an easy feat for a salesman in a sea of engineers!).

The cloud and remote sales industry is one of the most rapidly evolving spaces in the history of IT, and throughout his tenure at RightScale and Flexera, Dax was able to work with the leadership team to identify changes in customer behavior and anticipate new market directions as opportunities before they became challenges - this is a critical secret to his success. As a former engineer and IT Director, he is able to put himself in the shoes of the customer, and help his own team position themselves to ‘skate to where the puck was going’ to help the company and its customers be successful over the long term. We don’t often see customers voluntarily asking to give feedback and recommendations for their vendors, but that was the case with Dax year after year at RightScale. I’m just glad we didn’t lose him to one of the many overtures customers and partners made to him over the years!

Finally, Dax adds a great sense of humor and fun to the teams he works with. As companies face the reality of remote workforces over the foreseeable future, I think this will become a critical piece to any team’s success. Dax’s team spanned the 6 out of 7 continents and dozens and dozens of countries, cultures, and timezones, and his ability to bring those disparate pieces together stand out alongside his reputation as a high-performing sales leader. It is my pleasure to recommend him to any team looking to bring him onboard, and would be happy to chat further if need be.

Although Dax and I have only worked together for just under a year, I can unequivocally state that he: Focuses on real opportunities – I have seen him first-hand qualify out opportunities in less than 15 minutes. I have seen him execute the “walk-away” to perfection, which led to us closing the deal within 10 days. Builds trusting relationships with prospects – During a POC for the largest manufacturer in the US, Dax had such a rapport with the client that I assumed they had known each other for years prior to the engagement. They had not, and the engagement had begun just a few days prior (and PoC resulted in a successful sale for a multi-million dollar, multi-year contract) Prepares meticulously – Pre- and post-calls are the norm. Roles and responsibilities on the account team (between Rep, SE, SA/TA/SME) are understood to the point that every engagement is a seamless orchestration for the customer's experience Collaborates as a team – I have been on numerous account strategy sessions with Dax and he is always working “above the line” – open to input and creative problem solving resulting in higher TCV & ARR for each customer. Demonstrates command of his accounts – I trust Dax to have a good read on the status of the account, to understand their buying process, and to be realistic in his forecasting. Provides actionable feedback – Ask any SE on the team and they will say that they enjoy working with Dax, and the reason is consistent – all the points above, but also the fact that Dax gives actionable, clear feedback - In fact, we trust Dax’s opinion so much that he is our go-to for interviewing SE candidates! I certainly have learned a lot from Dax over the past several months, and I look forward to learning even more. Any technology company would be lucky to have Dax consider joining them, as a leader, contributer, or board advisor - Dax has quickly become the kind of sales leader that I would want at my side in any organization I involved in!

I worked with Dax Gulje throughout my 5-year tenure at RightScale and subsequently at Flexera, post-acquisition. Dax started at RightScale about 6 months before I did, but by the time I arrived, it was clear he had already established himself as a sales leader. His reputation preceded him for good reason!

As the Director of Strategic Enterprise Sales & Strategy, Dax was routinely responsible for closing the biggest logos at RightScale/Flexera, every year. As a Solution Architect, I have had a front-row seat to observing how each salesperson has different approaches to a sales cycle. I can say definitively that Dax is the epitome of a Solution Engineer’s dream sales rep. His ability to drive any business challenge towards our solution was nothing short of artistry.

Dax is one of those people who makes you feel like you’ve known him forever, a trait that is invaluable when speaking with executives at Fortune 500 companies. What sets Dax apart, is his ability to transition from a “big picture” conversation with a CIO to a highly technical one with an Enterprise Architect. In my career, I’ve never met a salesperson who can make this pivot so seamlessly. Earning the respect of both of these personas takes a unique skillset, and Dax makes it look easy.

Dax is a true thought leader, in every sense of the term. During his time at RightScale/Flexera, he was instrumental in identifying the changing tides of industry trends before they happened and subsequently helped drive our narrative to account for the ever-changing landscape.

Most importantly, Dax is a good man and a great teammate. Dax gets the most out of his team by lifting up the people around him. Success will continue to follow him throughout his career. I can recommend Dax without reservation.

As a Solution Engineer in software sales for over 15 years, I have worked with quite a few sales representatives in this industry.

There are the ones you are so thrilled to be partnering up with when walking into battle in a demo, and there are those you might be holding your breath at everything they say. There are also the sales representatives that are the natural leaders within the team, that everyone looks up to, as they have the experience, acumen, and tenacity that people want to follow.

I see Dax as both someone I will always want to go to battle with, and as a proven sales leader within our organization. Dax quickly builds rapport with prospects with his strategic approach to conversations; challenging the customer to ensure we are staying focused, and not wasting any time on what is trivial. This focus is respected by the prospect, and gives them the confidence to want to move forward and partner with our organization.

During his 5+ year tenure at RightScale, now part of Flexera, Dax was the Director of Strategic Enterprise Sales & Strategy, and the top performer on the global sales team securing 7-figure contracts from marquee logos such as Manulife John Hancock, Kronos, Aegon Transamerica, Wolters Kluwer, Uber, and The Hartford Insurance. Additionally, Dax was a key contributor in shaping our enterprise GTM strategy as RightScale successfully transitioned from a largely inbound freemium model to a direct-to-enterprise outbound sales motion. His efforts were instrumental in helping drive RightScale’s second significant growth phase that culminated in the successful sale of the company to Flexera.

At Flexera, Dax was the head of the overlay cloud sales “Tiger Team”, charged with enabling Flexera’s global enterprise sales org of 50+ quota-carrying sales reps around all things cloud. During his time at Flexera, Dax led the sales campaigns that secured critical logos, while enabling the team around him in the process & creating the sales framework for the cloud strategy. Dax immediately established himself as the top performer largely due to his unique combination of comprehensive technical knowledge spanning both datacenter and cloud, and sales acumen that enabled him to be equally comfortable engaging with CIOs and architecture or development leads. As a former network engineer, architect, and Director of IT, he brings to the table the unique perspective of having actually “done that”.

Having spent the last 5+ years on the cutting edge of cloud computing, he’s skilled at helping F500 companies embrace innovation, develop technology strategies, and disrupt the status quo. When your product is disruptive and challenges the status quo, it takes unique individuals to help others “see the light”; people who believe, challenge others’ belief systems, and teach them a better way. If your product is a better way, Dax is your man.

In addition to driving the enterprise sales division and its strategy, I often leveraged Dax for a variety of training and enablement programs we ran for customers and employees ranging from tutorials, sales scripts, objection handling, recorded demos and mentorship programs with more junior members of the sales teams (BDR, AMs, Inside Sales) and solution engineers.

I’m happy to recommend Dax and would gladly answer any questions you may have.

Dax and I met at RightScale where I was Chief Financial Officer, and part of the hiring committee that brought him on board to head up the newly created Enterprise Sales team. This was during an evolution in the company’s positioning as we moved from an SMB to a direct-to-enterprise sales model. Shortly after recruiting Dax to join the company I left to join the leadership team at AppFolio.

Though our time working together was relatively short, I have stayed in close contact with the executive team and several of the board members of RightScale up through and beyond their acquisition by Flexera in late 2018. As I suspected, Dax made significant and sustained impacts at the company that ultimately contributed to a successful exit. He not only significantly exceeded his sales goals but he also brought the right level of enterprise DNA to the traditional SMB sales model and was able to drive C-level conversations towards the business outcomes that were win-win for both the customer and the company.

I believe Dax has a unique combination of technical acumen and strategic business sense which enables his success in high-level SaaS sales and sales leadership. Dax was an instrumental leader in terms of helping his team understand the enterprise process, seeking out high quality deals and bringing those to a successful close. Another quality of Dax that contributes to his success is his ability to bring the voice of the customer forward and build coalitions internally amongst product and engineering groups, enabling ongoing customer success. This shows up in strong customer retention rates which benefits the business significantly.

I think Dax’s leadership skills, ability to listen to and understand customer needs, think win-win, align technical capabilities to bottom-line results in a consistent and repeatable way are valuable and hard to find. It is my pleasure to recommend Dax to any software company looking to build or supplement their enterprise sales leadership.

If necessary, I am happy to speak further about my experience, both directly & indirectly with Dax!

During his nearly 10 year tenure at Curvature (formerly Network Hardware Resale - NHR), Dax was a Senior Sales Executive on one of the top performing sales teams in the company globally. Coming from an IT background as former IT Director at UCSB, Dax brought to his position a wealth of technical experience that helped him assist clients with creative technology solutions and design across a wide range of networking and data center products and services. Whatever your technology or product maybe, you will find a valuable asset and expert in Dax.

Dax established himself as a top performer in Sales with his understanding and deep knowledge in the industry, and specifically based on his unique ability to connect people with and to our companies’ offering. When your product is disruptive and challenges the status quo, it takes unique individuals to help others “see the light”; people who believe, and can challenge others’ believe system, and teach them a better way. If your product is a better way, Dax is your man.

Dax built an extremely successful team by hiring, training, developing and mentoring additional members and roles, with specialized functions to maximize sales effectiveness and customer service. It takes leadership to build a team.

As the most technical sales expert in the organization Dax also participated in corporate technical sales training, and video shoots for Curvature’s tech blogs. Telling sales people what a product does is one thing, teaching them how your audience and customers can understand what it will do for them, is what Dax can help with.

Always happy to chat about great people like Dax if you’d like to discuss further!