Posted on by Phil

Tips for Founders Sales: Lessons From Starting Two B2B Startups

Thus far I’ve founded two bootstrapped B2B startups, and led sales on both.  One is off to the races, profitable, and growing.  We even hired a general manager so that I can free myself up to work on other projects.  The other is slightly more nascent, and just barely at ramen profitability.

It’s really hard to get started with founder led selling.  I’m a (slight) introvert, and had basically no sales experience before starting my first business.  While I have a business mind, and an MBA in addition to my programming skills, it was still very challenging for me to get started.

I used to view sales as this dark art that I could never master.  I’m not “salesy.”  I’m much more of a steak than sizzle person.  I’m too honest.  I don’t look, talk or act like the various stereotypes of a sales person.  And so, I thought it was basically unattainable for me to be successful with sales for the first year of my first business.

I’m proud to say that through a lot of struggle and learning, I’ve actually become a decent sales person.  For whatever I lacked in initial extroversion and unblended confidence, I make up for in understanding of strategy and product.  I’m even fairly confident I could hit quota for any post product/market fit b2b SaaS startup out there.

What I’ve learned about b2b founder sales

It’s been nearly five years now since I started the first business.  As a result, I get introduced to other founders every month or two who are starting to sell their products and want advice.  Coming out of these conversations, I find myself repeating the same themes.

So, in no particular order, here’s my advice when starting to do B2B sales at your startup:

  • Find a sales mentor who’s done pre-product/market fit selling before.  It’s essential that someone has done the selling at the earliest stages of a company’s lifecycle.  Even someone who led sales at a Series A company won’t have the proper mindset or experience to help you through this.  Ideally, it’s another founder who’s been through it, and actually done the selling vs the strategy behind sales.  Another bonus is if they’ve sold to the exact customer persona you’re trying to reach.
  • Network with account executives who sell into a similar persona.  Ask them to walk you through their entire sales process, from initial outreach to demo.  Give them your sales pitch, and listen to their feedback.  You’ll get good practice demo’ing, and some advice.  However, you should realize that most sales reps selling a post product/market fit product will have very little understanding of why someone buys their product, that’s really up to you to figure out.
  • Record your first 50 demos and listen to them each within 24 hours of the pitch.  You will start to make small adjustments in messaging, in how long you answer questions, etc.  Be your own coach and try to look objectively at your pitch.
  • Ask for demos for software you are thinking about buying.  Think about what the sales reps do well, and what they don’t do well.  Mainly do this because you will realize 90% of sales reps are pretty mediocre. They don’t show up on time.  They ramble. They don’t do any research.  They are too aggressive.  You can be 10x better than they are as a sales person, even if you’ve never sold before.  And, you’ll have to be to get started without a brand, and a product that is probably half complete.
  • Ask sales people you admire what books and blogs they read.  My recommendations: FirstRound Review’s articles, this book on founding sales, and the Challenger Sale are good places to start.  There is also a hilarious instagram account you will start empathizing with.
  • Spend as much time in person with your prospects as possible.  That means demos, as well as conferences, dinners, coffee, whatever you can.  This will allow you to build trust, and learn a lot faster about your customer than doing calls or even video calls. Working out of one of their offices side by side is a great way to hear how they talk, what they care about, etc. This is great for product development, and even better for sales.
  • Sales calls will probably become the most important way you will get feedback on your product in the next 6-18 months.  Keep track of the themes you hear, and start to think about how you can build those into your offering / start charging for them. Record the closed/lost reasons for no-sale in a structured way so you can see what % fell out of the funnel due to pricing, competitors, etc.
  • Sales can be a grind.  I used to get nervous before calls, and found that creating a routine pre-demo really helped – jumping jacks, review the script, and believe that the product I’m offering will help the person on the other end of the phone.  You also need to let go of any ego or expectations of being treated like a human being.  Most people view sales people as a nuisance.  You will get let down a lot by your prospects every single day, but that makes the wins so much sweeter.  Plus, it’s a thing that happens to everyone, not just you.
  • It’s going to take you a few months to make your first sales (assuming your product is >$1k/yr).  Don’t get discouraged.  Don’t think “we need to change the pitch/outreach/etc.”  If you’ve been thoughtful about your process from the get-go, just keep building your pipeline.
  • Celebrate the wins.  I’m so bad at this and have some sort of Catholic guilt about it.  When someone says “yes” – celebrate.  When someone signs the contract – celebrate.  When someone goes live – celebrate.  High five your co-founder.  Get a beer after work.   Tell your significant other.  Enjoy the moment and pat yourself on your back.

There are a million nuances to sales.  My first business was straight B2B SaaS where we were selling HR a product to help with their recruiting.  Getting headspace was tough.  Getting budget was tough.  Getting them to think about their job in a new way was tough.

In my new business, I’m selling to marketing.  It’s a completely different buyer that has more budget and is more likely to experiment with new products.  I also have an advantage in that I’m putting reviews of their software online, which means they care a lot more than if I was selling them a tool they can ignore.  This allows me to cut through the noise more effectively.  Of course, it comes with many other challenges, and some I haven’t even run into yet.

I hope you enjoy your journey to becoming an A+ sales person, which is a very attainable goal for any founder.  My journey has helped me build win new business, think deeper about product, and kickstarted my personal branding efforts. 

Good luck, and feel free to connect if I can be helpful in your journey!

9,661 Replies to “Tips for Founders Sales: Lessons From Starting Two B2B Startups”

  2. Having read this I thought it was extremely informative.
    I appreciate you taking the time and energy to put this information together.
    I once again find myself spending way too much time both reading and commenting.
    But so what, it was still worthwhile!

  3. Actually when someone doesn’t understand after that its up to other people that they will help,
    so here it happens.

  4. May I simply say what a relief to find somebody who really knows what they are
    talking about over the internet. You definitely understand how to bring an issue to light and make it important.
    A lot more people need to read this and understand
    this side of your story. I can’t believe you aren’t more popular because you
    certainly have the gift.

  5. I do agree with all the concepts you have introduced on your post.
    They are really convincing and will certainly work.
    Nonetheless, the posts are too quick for starters.
    May you please lengthen them a bit from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.

  9. I’m not sure where you are getting your information, but good topic.
    I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more.

    Thanks for fantastic info I was looking for this info
    for my mission.

  11. Hi! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my
    comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours
    and I’m having difficulty finding one? Thanks a lot!

  12. Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to
    assist with Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords
    but I’m not seeing very good success. If you know of any please share.

    Cheers!

  15. Hmm it looks like your site ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll
    just sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
    I as well am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to everything.
    Do you have any helpful hints for rookie blog writers?

    I’d really appreciate it.

  17. Hi! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any problems with hackers?
    My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing months of hard work due to no
    back up. Do you have any methods to protect against hackers?

  18. I am truly glad to glance at this website posts which contains plenty
    of valuable data, thanks for providing these kinds of information.

  20. Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading
    it, you’re a great author.I will make certain to
    bookmark your blog and will eventually come back in the
    future. I want to encourage continue your great work,
    have a nice afternoon!

  21. I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the structure of your blog?

    Its very well written; I love what youve got to
    say. But maybe you could a little more in the way
    of content so people could connect with it better.
    Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 pictures.

    Maybe you could space it out better?

  25. It’s in fact very complex in this full of activity life to listen news on Television, so I only use world wide web for
    that reason, and obtain the latest information.

  26. I really like what you guys are usually up too.
    This sort of clever work and reporting! Keep up the great works guys I’ve
    included you guys to blogroll.

  28. I read this piece of writing fully regarding the comparison of most up-to-date and
    preceding technologies, it’s amazing article.

  29. I was very pleased to uncover this site. I need to to thank you for your
    time just for this fantastic read!! I definitely liked every bit
    of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new things in your blog.

  30. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme.

    Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
    Plz reply as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from.
    cheers

  32. I was curious if you ever considered changing the structure of your website?

    Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a
    little more in the way of content so people could
    connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having
    one or 2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?

  35. Having read this I thought it was extremely enlightening.
    I appreciate you taking the time and energy to put this content together.
    I once again find myself spending a significant amount of time both reading
    and leaving comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!

  37. Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in reality was once
    a entertainment account it. Look complicated to more brought agreeable from you!
    However, how can we keep in touch?

  42. I don’t even know how I finished up here,
    but I assumed this put up was once great. I don’t
    recognize who you are but definitely you are going to a famous blogger when you are not already.
    Cheers!

  44. I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
    Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
    Plz answer back as I’m looking to construct
    my own blog and would like to know where u got this from.
    kudos

  48. Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.

    I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that,
    this is magnificent blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.

  49. Thank you for sharing your info. I really appreciate
    your efforts and I am waiting for your further write ups thank you once again.

Comments are closed.