Podcast · ~60 min

Founders: Here's How to Get Your Sales Pitch in Ship-Shape

Peter Kazanjy (host: First Round) · First Round Review Podcast (In Depth) Free Beginner

A practical, listen-on-a-walk companion to Founding Sales where Kazanjy walks through the actual anatomy of a founder sales call. Perfect for the technical or first-time founder who freezes on the phone and needs a concrete structure.

  • Selling is a learnable skill; practice 'turbo rapport' to get comfortable with strangers
  • Structure a call as rapport, discovery, solution framing, then a clear close for the next step
  • Leading with discovery questions is consistently the most effective approach
  • Get narrow on your ICP first, then expand the motion once it is proven
Open on review.firstround.com ↗

It answers 8 questions

  1. I'm a technical founder and I hate selling, do I really have to do sales myself?
  2. Who do I actually sell to inside a big company, and how do I find the decision-maker?
  3. They want a free pilot, should I do it?
  4. As a technical or first-time founder, how do I actually run a good sales call?
  5. What should my very first sales pitch actually say, and how long should it be?
  6. What are the biggest mistakes founders make trying to land their first customers that I should avoid?
  7. As a domain expert leaving my industry job, how do I turn my old network into first customers without seeming like I'm exploiting them?
  8. How do I sell confidently when I am the founder and also the youngest or least experienced person in the room?

Read with it

  1. The authoritative handbook on founder-led sales, written for technical/first-time sellers building B2B SaaS. Readable free... foundingsales.com Book · book (~400 pages) Founding Sales: The Early Stage Go-to-Market Handbook Peter Kazanjy
  2. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  3. Video · ~25 min How to Talk to Users Eric Migicovsky
  4. Jen Abel has coached over 300 early-stage founders through their first sales, so this is grounded in what actually happens when... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · About 1 hour 16 minutes The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel (JJELLYFISH) Lenny Rachitsky with Jen Abel
  5. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  6. A tactical follow-on covering the channels and motions top B2B startups scale after the first ten. Grounds distribution... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How to win your first 10 B2B customers Lenny Rachitsky
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