Champion

Also called Internal Champion

A person inside a prospect's organization who believes in your product and pushes for it internally, helping navigate stakeholders, budget, and objections on your behalf.

Why it matters

In complex B2B deals, you rarely win without an internal champion selling for you when you are not in the room. Finding and equipping one is often the difference between a deal that closes and one that stalls.

For example

A mid-level manager who loves the product pushes it internally, gets the budget approved, and coaches the rep on how to win over the CFO.

Go deeper

The Startup's Guide to Customer Advocacy: How to Get Closer to Your Champions First Round Review · article This is a tactical playbook for turning a handful of happy customers into a channel of their own: reference calls, case studies, and advisory relationships that close deals cold email never could. It is aimed at founders who already have some customers and are wondering how to make them work harder for you, the exact moment the short answer describes. Open review.firstround.com →

Related terms

Also in Starting Up

See how founders actually handle this on Getting your first customers, part of the Starting Up hub.

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