Chiedo

Here are 25 bite-size early-stage sales lessons/learnings we’ve collected at @jjellyfish_co ... 1. 0-1 sales talent does not exist. Founders, this is you. 2. Product/market fit is (almost) always found in adjacent markets. Don’t handcuff yourself to Day 1 market vision. 3. The demo should never be focused on the product. Hint: you’re not selling a product, you’re selling a problem. 4. You need to understand their buying process before you build/define your GTM. 5. Unlocking product/market fit is a process of elimination (like science), NOT a hedge. 6. If the problem is not currently being measured or managed, it’s likely not a priority for the prospect. 7. Specificity is fastest way to build market trust — “Wow, I feel like this was built just for me.” 8. The quality of your questions is critical for discovery; the quality of their questions is critical for intent. 9. Your niche is not a random starting point. It’s a GTM strategy to prove the experiment. 10. Building a working GTM will take longer than building a working product. 11. Give yourself 18-24 months in the market to be invalidated, rejected, and redirected. Founders will also be "Head of Sales" for this period. 12. Consistency is the only way to unlock repeatable themes. Controlled conversations (i.e., experiments) are critical. 13. 80% of early sales is getting them excited by YOU, the Founder — how you see the world (vision) and how you uniquely solve their specific problem today. 14. A seed-stage startup should never have a VP of Sales. Obvious, but wasn’t so few quarters back ;) 15. Channel partnerships are a colossal waste of time. If you haven’t sorted it, don’t expect someone else to … 16. Some of the best wedge strategies target an uneconomical use case for incumbents. 17. If the primary need is being over-served, focus on the secondary need. This is for ‘red ocean’ markets. 18. Someone asking for more features is never an early adopter. Easy and lightweight is how to test unproven partners ;) 19. Never join a startup where the sales team leads the product roadmap. This is leading indicator the startup has lost their way … 20. Speed to respond to a prospect/customer is critical — be attentive. 21. SMB is not easier than enterprise. One is high-velocity, and the other is about high-value, very different games and at parity re: challenges/effort to unlock PMF. 22. Never expect the user to sell to buyer on your behalf — go direct to buyer with insights you learned from users — in many cases users can be a blocker. 23. If you did not co-write the RFP, you are likely just a checkbox in their buying process — enterprise startups beware. 24. Larger organizations buy access to subject matter experts — they want to know you, the Founder, know their problems > 5% better than they do …remember: software + services 25. Enterprise deals are all about expansion opportunity — the land is important, but if you’re not expanding by min. by a multiple YoY someone is not doing their job — mental model: 80% of enterprise revenue is expansion capture