DAVIS, Calif. -- The saying "it's not what you know, it's who you know" holds an indelible place in the job hunt. The accuracy of the aphorism remains the subject of debate among many experts, but the overall narrative stands: networking stands as an invaluable part of the world of work.

For Mitchell Layton, former Aggie running back and a 2018 UC Davis graduate in statistics, the "who you know" component paid dividends. He currently serves as a customer service engineer for Madkudu, a Bay Area startup in B2B SaaS, tech lingo for business-to-business service as a software. As seen in a previous Aggie EVO feature, Layton landed this job through former Aggie lacrosse star Hannah Mirza, one of the original employees of the company.

"You had the three founders, one engineer, then she was the first CSE," said Layton. "She reached out to me on LinkedIn about four months after graduation. I interviewed, it went well, and it got me my first job that way."

One can be forgiven for not knowing the Madkudu name. Though it has grown from its original five-person crew, it remains a small outfit. In fact, there were more players on the field during one of Mirza's lacrosse games (24) than there were employees on the company roster (23) when Layton joined. Furthermore, B2B companies do not operate in the consumer space; by definition, their customer base consists of other businesses. 

In short, Madkudu uses machine learning and data science to create algorithms that will help another company's sales and marketing teams more efficiently identify their customers. Think Moneyball, the transformative Michael Lewis book, only the Madkudu platform is the sabermetrician, and instead of ballplayers, the prospects are other sizable companies.

"My brother is a software engineer at Workday, an HR software company in human capital management," says Layton. "They want to sell their software to other big companies, like Amazon. Their marketing team would buy our software because they have thousands and thousands of prospects who are interested in buying Workday. Workday's marketing team needs to know which ones are most likely to buy their product."

And that's where Madkudu's software comes in. Their solutions might narrow down the prospect list purely based on demographics (known as the "customer fit model"); or on a more advanced level, on the way prospects initially engage with the product or website (the "behavioral model"). This process is often known as "lead scoring," and it has become a crucial way for companies to keep pace with a rapidly evolving technology market.

With so much at stake, Layton and his customer success teammates serve an important role to the company operations. Madkudu's customers are in it for a relatively long period of time – onboarding alone takes a month – so making sure their software is up to date and humming along smoothly is of vital importance. 

Yet Layton is quick to admit that when it came to the "what you know" side of the job-seeking process, Layton had little when it came to this industry. 

 "I had never heard of a customer success team, but they're pretty prevalent in B2B SaaS companies," he said. "The key things to understand are the industry, and the technicalities of marketing and sales with regards to B2B SaaS. There was a lot to learn when I first joined, but after about a year, it got a lot easier."

To his credit, Layton did not enter the workplace empty-handed. He graduated with a degree in statistics, although he admits he does not draw from his undergraduate studies on the job. ("It's not like there are heavy statistical concepts that I was able to leverage... only the really basic concepts apply.") 

Layton also completed summer internships at the California Energy Commission and PG&E. And no, these have no direct bearing on his current responsibilities, but they were key experiences nonetheless. In fact, the Energy Commission job came about through a neighbor who works there – once again, the "who you know" – while the PG&E internship marked his first venture into the application/interview process of landing a job.

As for Madkudu, Layton's mentor Mirza has since moved up Highway 101 to Facebook. However, he has found a way to pay it forward for the networking opportunity: when the company sought a web designer, Layton reached out to a high school friend, Ryan Visek, then a freelancer doing odd jobs in the Chico area.

"Connections... it's all about who you know," said Layton. "It's cool, I work with one of my best friends."

And although Layton largely missed out on the student-athlete outcomes system – his senior year at UC Davis was EVO founder Mike Lorenzen's first – he appreciates the value of the EVO Pro network. This component allows alumni to connect with current student-athletes and build a network by which Aggies can draw from the "who you know" side of the job-hunting formula. 

"Even if Aggie EVO didn't exist, one might assume, 'maybe I could reach out to an alum,' but I feel like we would never do it," Layton said. "Having that system in place allows you to really be proactive. You can now say, 'this network is in place, I have resources, and now I feel like I can reach out to an alum.' I think that's super-helpful."

As Lorenzen has said of the EVO Pro network, he currently only asks "talent and time" from the alumni. Layton is fortunate that Madkudu offers professional coaching for those looking for direction in their careers. Pinpointing skill sets, identifying short- and long-term goals, or even simply understanding oneself is part of the "what you know" side of career-building. Current Aggies can gain these skills through EVO in a way their predecessors did not.

"It's definitely a very important program," said Layton. "Once you're done and graduated, if you haven't taken part and looked to your future, it will be a huge opportunity missed."

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