Five Ways For Founders to Support Sales in Early-Stage Start-Ups

Selling is incredibly challenging, especially when one starts a new company and builds everything from the ground up. Getting first customers in is a hassle. Then, probably still searching for the product/market fit, the company starts building a sales team.

In the early stages, the sales function might be led by one of the founders (as in founder-led sales motion), or the company might have a sales leader working with founders hunting for new accounts. Regardless of the exact setup, founders must support the sales function as they seek traction and build for scale.

Sales is the lifeline of a company. Incoming revenue pays salaries and attracts investments, so founders should be highly involved with the sales team during the company's formative years. Here are some ways B2B technology company founders can support their sales teams.

Lead by Example

Founders who participate in sales activities (such as sales calls, customer meetings, and even cold calling) add value regardless of their sales skills. By participating, they share their vision, excitement, and energy with prospects and their team. If founders are experienced in sales, they can help their team improve their tactics and performance.

By participating, founders share their vision, excitement, and energy with prospects and their sales teams.

As the company and sales organisation grow, founders should gradually reduce their involvement and direct their energy towards strategically important opportunities. Founders' participation can make a significant difference by reassuring potential clients and expediting deal closures.

Facilitate Warm Introductions

Founders tend to have extensive connection networks gathered through earlier roles and studies. In addition to their existing network, a founder can create more connections by participating in accelerator programs, attending various trade, industry and startup events, and getting introductions from investors.

Founders can introduce their sales team to potential clients and partners in their network by making introductions and setting up sales calls.

Founders can support their sales teams by enabling them to tap into their network. Founders take an active role by introducing their sales team to potential clients and partners in their network by making introductions and setting up sales calls. These activities can shorten sales cycles and increase the chances of closing deals. On the other hand, sales teams can use LinkedIn to look for leads within founders' connections and ask them to open a conversation.

Share Deep Product Knowledge

In an early-stage company, no one knows the company vision better than the founder. A founder is most likely a Chief Product Officer and the visionary behind the business. Founders know the problem they set out to solve for their customers as well as the inner workings of their offerings, so they can speak about both at length.

Without founders sharing their knowledge, sales must learn the hard way, and that takes too much time.

The founders must provide the sales team with comprehensive knowledge about the product, the problem it solves, its value propositions and potential use cases. Without founders sharing their knowledge, sales must learn the hard way, and that takes too much time. Learning is not a one-time thing; instead, there should be a constant dialogue between sales and founders, especially when their sales team rapidly gains hires members.

Empower Sales with Marketing and Content Support

Building on the previous one, sales teams need and want warm leads, and marketing's job is to deliver them. Marketing can amplify founders' product knowledge and company vision both internally and externally. Working between marketing and founders can be structured and planned, or the marketing lead can, for example, shadow a founder in various discussions to hear how they present the company, problem and solution to others.

Marketing can amplify founders' product knowledge and company vision both internally and externally.

Marketing can collaborate with founders to create sales collaterals and marketing materials for the sales team. These resources equip the sales team to effectively engage prospects, address their pain points, and speed up internal learning. Especially in companies with less outgoing founders, marketing can step in, take raw material from the founders, and polish the message for the world to hear. More outgoing founders can become the face of the company through videos, webinars and trade show presentations.

Search for the Product/Market Fit

Last but definitely not least, founders are there to find the product/market fit. As founders interact with prospects, they are uniquely positioned to adjust their story and even the company's mission. As founders discuss prospective customers, they receive direct feedback and can adapt company plans accordingly when they spot a trend or opportunity. Instead of the feedback working through even one level of organisational structure, the founder receives it raw and unfiltered.

Founders can adapt company plans accordingly when they spot a trend or opportunity.

A founder should be running the point and fine-tuning the company narrative, whether it’s the first product/market fit the company is looking for, a need to pivot, or the company is expanding to a new market or industry. Once product/market fit is found, founders work with their sales team to sync on it and then scale.

Moving Towards Sales-Led GTM

As the company evolves and transitions from founder-led sales into sales-led GTM, founders step back and let professional sales leaders have the reigns. From the sales leadership point of view, a founder should be a resource to deploy when needed.

When someone in the sales organisation beacons, founders come to assist. The assistance they provide can include, for example, finding someone who can open the door to a significant account, earning a management handshake on a deal, and convincing a sceptical customer. After all, founders should share their vision, excitement, and energy whenever possible.