Tactical advice on founder sales from product leaders (28 insights). Use when working on founder sales, founder-led sales, early sales, first customers. Category: Sales & GTM.
Jen Abel
"Founder led sales is really that first milestone that a startup goes through on the commercial side, which is, how do I go out and get my first few customers? ... the founder is the product."
Key insight: In the early stages, the founder's novel insight and subject matter expertise are the primary drivers of interest before a brand or product is fully established.
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April Dunford 2.0
"40 to 60% of B2B purchase processes end in no decision. If you scratch on that data, the majority of those aren't saying, 'Well, I'm not making a decision to buy something new because the old thing we were doing is better.'... the majority of those is they couldn't figure out how to make a choice..."
Key insight: The primary competitor in B2B sales is often customer indecision and the fear of making a high-stakes mistake rather than other software vendors.
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Dalton Caldwell
"The Collison Install is what often happens with customers, is that they say, 'Yes, I want you buy your product.' And then they do not implement it, they just go quiet. There's no implementation and this is very bad if you're selling software to someone... they would just install Stripe into the..."
Key insight: Early sales success requires 'white glove' service to ensure the customer actually implements and uses the product after the initial 'yes.'
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Geoffrey Moore
"Shut the God damn laptop. Just don't open it and start with... 'We're here because we've been working with some people in your industry and we understand there's this really serious problem... and we believe that your company might have it, is that true?'"
Key insight: Early sales to pragmatists should be diagnostic and focused entirely on the customer's pain rather than product demos.
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Pete Kazanjy
"The point is is that you can't outsource that behavior, the founder's got to do that stuff. A lot of people ask me that question, "Well, I suck at sales," or, "I'm afraid to talk to people," or, "Interfacing with non-friendly parties makes me uncomfortable." The way to think about it is... it's..."
Key insight: Founders cannot outsource early sales because they need the direct feedback loop to validate the product and message.
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For insights from all 16 guests, see references/guest-insights.md
| # | Question | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What made you decide to take this call? | |
| 2 | Tell me about the problem. How long have you had it? | |
| 3 | How bad is it? Who else does it affect? | |
| 4 | How do you quantify the cost/impact? | |
| 5 | Why haven't you solved it already? | |
| 6 | What is your budget? | |
| 7 | How do you buy software? Who decides? |