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Why we picked it If the word selling makes you flinch, this essay meets you there. Roy is an engineer who reframes sales as problem solving with another human, so the same instincts you use to debug a system (ask questions, test assumptions, actually fix the thing) become your sales method. It is honest that the discomfort is usually about authenticity, not about selling itself, which is the real unlock for a technical founder.
I'm Not a Sales Guy. I'm an Engineer Who Learned How to Sell
From Engineering Sales (Substack) by David Roy Short read, roughly 10 minutes
- Sales is just problem solving with another human, so your engineering habit of probing and verifying is already the core skill.
- Verify what a customer actually needs before you build or promise around it, the same way you would not code against an unconfirmed spec.
- You do not have to put on a sales persona, and trying to is what feels fake; showing up as the technical peer who fights for their problem works better.