Master Founder-Led Sales with Jen Abel

Relying on sales tools too soon can distract from understanding your market and refining your outreach strategy.

\"So I say before you buy any tool, don't even think about tools. I feel like people get turn everything into this complicated mess with all of the tools that they start integrating... I think before you even overthink about the tools right now, can you manually find 30 people that you want to spend 15 to 20 minutes writing a rock solid note to, are there 30 people that you are deeply excited to learn from that you are willing to invest 15 to 20 minutes to write a really thoughtful note. Let's just start there.\"

• Begin with manual outreach to deeply understand your market.
• Investing time in personalized communication can yield better early results.
• Tools are helpful later but shouldn't replace foundational customer learning.

Understanding and navigating enterprise procurement is crucial for closing large deals and building long-term partnerships.

\"Procurement is a very interesting function. They are very smart, very very smart, right? They do this for a living like they are like professional buyers. So there's a couple of things that you need to be aware of, you need to sell them as well... Make their job easy. You are probably a very small piece into the very large deals that a lot of these people buy.\"

• Recognize procurement professionals as key stakeholders requiring tailored communication.
• Simplify your offering to make approval easier.
• Assisting procurement can expedite the sales cycle and build goodwill.

Offering services before selling your product can help educate the market and establish trust, especially in enterprise sales.

\"The co-author peep is co authorship piece is important for two reasons. It helps you understand where they are on their bio maturity... They can't buy technology yet, which means you need to sell them. And this is why I go back to you need to sell them some form of a service, right? Why you want to be the one in there. Educating, you also wanna get the logo, you also want to show the revenue while it's not recurring revenue, it still shows intent.\"

• When customers aren't ready to buy technology, offering services builds relationships.
• Services can generate early revenue and provide valuable insights.
• Being flexible positions you favorably when customers are ready to adopt your product.

Overcoming the fear of sales is essential for founders to engage with customers and grow their business.

\"If you have built something that you believe in, very hard to sell something you don't believe in. I think everyone agrees that if you built something you believe in and they have a problem. That's a beautiful thing truthfully. That's what makes the world go around is I have a solution to your problem.\"

• Believe in your product to naturally convey passion and confidence.
• Understand that sales is about solving problems, not just selling.
• Authenticity and honesty build trust with customers.

Hiring salespeople too early can hinder a startup's growth by disconnecting the founder from crucial market feedback.

\"I have this like theory that like, maybe you shouldn't hire any sales people until series A right, because seed is all about experimentation and proving out that experiment. And then obviously series A is about, you know, exploiting that learning. But I see so many people, I mean, early state hiring for early stage sales is the odd, like the odds are actually more against you than, you know, trying to get your next round of funding because it's just, it's truly, truly such a counterintuitive stage.\"

• Early-stage founders should lead sales to gather direct customer insights.
• Hiring salespeople too soon risks missing vital learning opportunities.
• Waiting until after achieving product-market fit can make sales hires more successful.

Effective lead qualification is critical to avoid wasting time and resources on prospects unlikely to convert.

\"It's qualification because if you spend your time on the wrong leads that equates to a zero. So if you don't get that first level, right, let me put this right. Everyone that I know says they have a bottom of funnel problem. It's never a bottom of funnel problem. It's a top of funnel problem.\"

• Prioritize qualifying leads early to focus on high-potential prospects.
• Misidentifying leads leads to wasted time and zero results.
• Most sales issues stem from the top of the funnel, not the bottom.

Avoiding the trap of pitching your product as simply 'better' is crucial for differentiating in a crowded market.

\"Yeah, better is a dangerous place. Yeah, like I, I invest in a bunch of start ups and I find it's impossible to get anyone to care if they're already, if things are good enough with what they got today. Like I'm happy not using the best possible product if my life is OK. And I have so many other things I got to do. I'll just deal with this good enough solution for now.\"

• Position your product as different or counterintuitive rather than just 'better'.
• Customers may not switch if current solutions are adequate; 'better' isn't compelling enough.
• Highlight unique value propositions that challenge existing beliefs to capture attention.

Crafting effective cold emails is essential for founders to initiate conversations with potential customers and validate their product.

\"So first and foremost, I usually like to open it with, which is why is this relevant for me and my role? Like, why are you reaching out to me? So first and foremost, is relevancy. I think that matters even more so than personalization right now... The second most important piece is really getting to that level of differentiation or counterintuitive nature... The most important piece is getting this done where if they get it on their mobile phone, which everyone is looking at their mobile phone and on email, they don't have to scroll.\"

• Focus on relevancy in cold emails to immediately capture interest.
• Introduce a counterintuitive insight to pique curiosity.
• Keep emails concise—3 to 4 sentences—to ensure they are read on mobile devices.

Harnessing the competitive advantage of founder-led sales can significantly impact a startup's success in its early stages.

\"I mean, it is the competitive advantage. Like I don't think people realize how much of a competitive advantage the founder led sales motion is for three kind of specific reasons. One is, is that the founder is the visionary. No one's gonna be able to speak to it like they can no salesperson really. No non founder.\"

• Founders can articulate the vision uniquely and passionately, making them more effective in early sales.
• Early customers are excited to talk directly with founders, boosting credibility.
• Founders can detect subtle insights that salespeople may miss, crucial for product refinement.

Understanding founder-led sales is crucial for early-stage startups aiming to find product-market fit and set a strong foundation for growth.

\"Founder led sales is really that first milestone that a start up goes through on the commercial side, right? Which is how do I go out and get my first few customers? Some people might say 0 to 1, which is how do I get my first million others might say, you know, how do I go out and get my first time customers? It's all kind of in the same game. And founder led sales is really, really, really important because in the very, very, very early days when there is no brand equity, when there is no marketing engine running, when there is limited to no reference ability, the founder is the product, right?\"

• Founders must lead initial sales efforts because they are the visionaries and the 'product' in the early stages.
• Founder-led sales aligns the founder's vision with market reality through direct customer interactions.
• Early involvement accelerates learning and builds a foundation for scalable sales processes.