Enterprise Sales: How Blings Landed McDonald's in 9 Months | Blings

Summary of Enterprise Sales: How Blings Landed McDonald's in 9 Months | Blings

by Omer Khan

45m•January 15, 2026
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Overview of Enterprise Sales: How Blings Landed McDonald's in 9 Months (SaaS Podcast with Omer Khan)

This episode features Yosef Petersil, co‑founder and CEO of Blings, sharing the company’s founding story, how they landed McDonald’s after a nine‑month push, and the repeatable sales and GTM lessons they learned while scaling a video personalization platform for enterprise brands. Blings uses a novel video format (marketed as “MP5”) to render highly personalized, interactive videos in real time on the end user’s device — enabling scale, interactivity and reduced data exposure for regulated customers (e.g., banks). The conversation covers product validation, POC best practices, events & lead follow‑up, channel partners, when to hire salespeople, and early metrics.

Key episode highlights / metrics

  • Company: Blings (founded Dec 2019)
  • Founder/guest: Yosef Petersil (co‑founder & CEO)
  • Team size: ~19 people
  • Revenue milestone: $1M ARR in 2023
  • Notable customers: McDonald’s, Mercedes, Meta, Rocket Mortgage, Tim Hortons, Live Nation, Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Signature win: First proof‑of‑concept with McDonald’s CMO; took ~8–9 months to close the POC paperwork while bootstrapped
  • Product motion: Enterprise sales + emerging product‑led growth (beta app: app.blings.io)

Founding & validation story

  • Idea originated from cofounder Yonatan’s experience at WSC Sports and a clear market gap: brands want to use video in first‑party channels (email/SMS/in‑app) but can’t scale personalized video affordably.
  • Early validation approach:
    • Conducted dozens of customer interviews (initially targeted Customer Success people).
    • Used automation to reach prospects on LinkedIn to drive interview volume.
    • Learned CS often had no budget → pivoted ICP to marketing (CRM/email/loyalty teams + CMO/buying committee).
  • Early lucky break: a cold phone number to McDonald’s CMO led to a short‑notice call and a custom demo video that became their first POC and design partner.

Product / tech (what Blings does)

  • Core value: scale personalized, interactive videos without rendering millions of distinct MP4s.
  • Approach: a template‑based, client‑side real‑time render format (marketed as “MP5”) that composes scenes dynamically, enabling millions of unique, interactive videos with minimal data exposure.
  • Business benefit: scales personalization, keeps customer data private (useful for banks/regulated industries), and lets Blings reuse a central “skeleton” to deliver brand‑specific videos quickly.
  • Recent product move: soft launch of a PLG self‑serve editor (app.blings.io) so bottom‑up users (CRM managers) can try for free.

Sales & GTM lessons (what worked and what didn’t)

  • POCs
    • Never run a POC without clearly agreed success KPIs and a defined test scope.
    • Never test the full database — pick a percentage (e.g., 10%) to preserve runway and defensibility.
    • Charge for POCs (even small fees like $3k–$5k): it creates skin in the game, forces procurement/legal engagement, and increases buyer commitment. Yosef: “If you give anything for free, you’re just bottom of the food chain.”
    • Convert the POC to commercial quickly: avoid duplicative negotiations. Blings’ workaround: 13‑month contracts with an exit clause after month 1 so a successful test auto‑moves into a commercial term.
  • Events & lead follow‑up
    • Big mistake: attending many events at small scale, returning with lots of unprocessed leads that go cold.
    • Better approach: concentrate budget on a few high‑quality events, own the stage (masterclasses, client panels), and return with higher‑quality, pre‑qualified leads.
    • Have lead scoring and follow‑up sequences ready before the event; intake and nurture are almost a full‑time job.
  • Channel partners
    • Use “door‑opener” partners (people with longstanding network) to access enterprise opportunities.
    • Make commissions attractive, especially first‑year commission, to incentivize partners early.
    • Build a one‑pager and simple partner onboarding so partners can convert quickly.
  • Hiring & sales org
    • Don’t hire sales until you have a repeatable, documented playbook that a mediocre rep could follow to close deals.
    • Early hires failed because Blings didn’t have a scalable sales process yet; great reps can mask product/playbook issues.
    • Key: map the stakeholders and steps in a typical enterprise deal (who signs, procurement/legal steps, required integrations) so hires can replicate founder‑led sales.

Practical POC playbook (condensed checklist)

  • Pre‑POC:
    • Define success metrics and duration with buyer in writing.
    • Agree on a limited scope (e.g., 10% of database or X users).
    • Charge a nominal POC fee to secure commitment and trigger procurement/legal.
  • Contract design:
    • Use an agreement structure that allows fast conversion to commercial terms (example: 13‑month with exit clause after month 1).
  • Execution:
    • Instrument results and reporting so stakeholders can validate success criteria quickly.
    • Keep the technical integration minimal for proofing value; productize reuseable templates/scenes to speed delivery.
  • Post‑POC:
    • Use documented outcomes to accelerate conversion and to sell referenceability / case studies.

Scaling product & delivery efficiently

  • Productized template approach: break video into configurable scenes and stitch them for brand‑specific flows so each enterprise feels bespoke without custom builds each time.
  • Keep tight product discipline on feature requests: prioritize features requested by multiple customers; otherwise say no to avoid scope creep.
  • Combine top‑down enterprise selling with bottom‑up PLG: enterprise deals are high ACV, but CRM managers can discover the product and surface it upward.

Notable quotes & takeaways

  • Yosef: “If you give anything for free, you’re just bottom of the food chain.”
  • Yosef on hiring sales: “Don’t hire until you have a repeatable process… once you can bring a mediocre sales rep, you’re ready to scale.”
  • Founder mindset: “Nothing for free” (advice from his mother, used to avoid cancellations and ensure commitment).
  • Janis Joplin line Yosef likes: “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

Actionable recommendations (for founders selling to enterprise)

  • Run many customer interviews early to validate ICP and budget; asking for advice gets access.
  • When running enterprise POCs: charge a fee, scope the test, agree KPIs, and design contract flow to avoid duplicate negotiations.
  • Prioritize a few high‑quality events where you can present vs. many small booths; plan lead intake and scoring beforehand.
  • Recruit channel partners as door‑openers with a high‑first‑year commission to accelerate early enterprise traction.
  • Only hire sales when you can document a repeatable playbook that a mediocre rep could follow to close deals.

Where to learn more / links mentioned

  • Blings: blings.io (self‑serve beta: app.blings.io)
  • Guest on the show: Yosef Petersil (reachable via LinkedIn)
  • Host’s community/resources: sasclub.io (newsletter, launch, mastermind)

This summary captures the concrete tactics and hard lessons from Blings’ journey from bootstrapped startup to serving global enterprise brands. The largest practical takeaways: charge for POCs, define success and scope clearly, focus event spend, use door‑opener channel partners, and don’t scale sales headcount until you have a repeatable playbook.