David Fastuca, Co-Founder and CEO of Ricavi AI, joins the show to unpack how enterprise sales has flipped in five years, from headcount-heavy SDR teams to a leaner bench of account executives running their own go-to-market motions. He explains why sales-led growth is making a comeback even at product-led darlings like Cursor, why salespeople have become "the new engineers," and what separates fast-ramping sales teams from the rest.
Expect real numbers on rep pay and ARR growth, a practical prospecting stack, and healthy scepticism about the AI hype.
Guest Introduction
David Fastuca is a serial entrepreneur with two SaaS exits worth $75 million combined. He co-founded Locomote, later helping buy the travel tech company back from Travelport, and is now Co-Founder and CEO of Ricavi AI (formerly Coach Pilot), an AI sales coaching platform.
Key Topics
- How the B2B sales org has changed since 2021: leaner headcount, with SDRs converging into account executives who now hunt their own deals using go-to-market toolingWhy uncapped commissions are producing account executives earning up to a million dollars a year, and why David calls this "the best time to be a seller"The Cursor case study: product-led growth alone stalled past $200M ARR, and adding a sales team helped push it past $4 billion in annualised revenue, with roughly $2.6 billion from enterprise deals sales closedRising paid acquisition costs, and why LinkedIn ads are mostly a brand play, as drivers of the return to sales-led growthWhat separates fast-ramping companies from those stuck at six to eight months: a documented sales process and a small tool stackDavid's prospecting stack: enrichment tools, multi-touch outreach, and signal-based list building triggered by funding rounds, hiring surges, or industry newsHow David mines historical CRM data to find his most profitable customer profile, from his experience returning to lead LocomoteWhy David is sceptical of "AI will replace your sales team" claims, and which AI tools have earned a spot in his stack
Resources & Links
People
- Ben Horowitz - Co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, author of The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Companies & Tools
- Ricavi AI - David's AI sales coaching platform (formerly Coach Pilot), built to cut manual CRM entryLocomote - Travel tech company David co-founded and later helped buy back from TravelportCursor - AI coding tool David cites as the strongest case for sales-led growth after adding a sales teamFirmable - Australian B2B enrichment tool David recommends for prospectingZoomInfo - International B2B enrichment platformLusha - International B2B enrichment platformlemlist - Multi-touch outreach automation toolBotdog - LinkedIn automation toolFramer - AI website builder David used to update Ricavi's site after its rebrandManus - AI tool David uses for document creation and internal thinkingTodoist - The to-do list tool David keeps returning to
Contact & Credits
Host: Shahin Hoda
Guest: David Fastuca
Produced by: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell
Edited by: Alexander Hipwell & Dave Somido
Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder
Podcast Co-ordinator: Jonah Igsie
APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth