GTM Club Newsletter #6: Founders' Role in Sales in Early-Stage Start-Ups
Welcome to GTM Club Newsletter #6. We are back after the summer break, and we start the autumn by looking into how founders’ participation in sales changes when their B2B tech start-up matures.
Start-up founders wear many hats, sometimes even all of them. As the company grows, the daily responsibilities might change, but the founder must stay close to the customers when leading a B2B tech startup.
The best way to getting and staying close to the customers is by taking part in sales.
When meeting with customers and having discussions with potential ones, founders collect essential information about their product, customers’ evolving needs, and sometimes even insights into what competitors are up to. While at it, they help close some opportunities that boost the company's growth.
What investors, team members and sales representatives expect and need from founders changes over time.
Founders Kick-Start It All
A startup is founded as a collaborative effort of two, three, or more individuals armed with various tech and business skills. Founders with a business focus will start prospecting and reaching out to potential customers. When founders lead the sales efforts of a start-up, the motion is called founder-led sales.
In the beginning, founders sales-related mission is:
- Get initial customers in
- Find product/market fit
- Build a repeatable sales process
The founders should not wait too long to present their products to the customers. Hiding them from feedback too long might lead to making wrong presumptions and developing the product in the wrong direction—a mistake young companies rarely can afford! So, searching for the first customers should start sooner rather than later, even before the company is officially founded.
Developing the product to the wrong direction is a mistake young companies rarely can afford!
The search for the first customer relates closely to the other two aspects of their mission, finding product/market fit and building a repeatable sales process. Founders have the unique opportunity to think on their feet and adjust their stories and sales pitches. As founders discuss prospective customers, they receive direct feedback and can adapt company plans accordingly when they spot a trend or opportunity. The founders are the only people in the company with the power to decide to do this and a deep understanding of the problem and product to dare to do it.
