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Access, sales & scenarios

Who do I actually sell to inside a big company, and how do I find the decision-maker?

Big companies have three roles you must map: the champion who feels the pain daily, the economic buyer who controls budget, and the blockers in security, legal, and procurement. Start bottom-up with the champion to prove value, then explicitly ask them to walk you to the person who signs, because a champion with no budget is a dead end. Do the org-chart homework before the demo, not after.

Go deeper

3 resources, 3 link-checked.

▶️ Video
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Pete Koomen took Optimizely from zero to $100M+ ARR, and here he breaks the enterprise funnel down for exactly the person who finds it terrifying: the technical founder who has never sold. It is the clearest short primer we know on how a builder starts closing real deals.

Enterprise Sales for Founders

On Y Combinator Startup School by Pete Koomen ~35 min

  • Founders can and should run enterprise sales themselves early, treating each deal as a source of product feedback
  • Map the funnel stage by stage and know which stakeholder you need at each one
  • Identify a real champion inside the account and use them to reach the economic buyer
  • A repeatable, learnable process beats charisma when selling complex software
Open ycombinator.com →
📖 Book
✓ Link checked Freemium Intermediate

The authoritative handbook on founder-led sales, written for technical/first-time sellers building B2B SaaS. Readable free online via membership, and covers the whole motion end to end.

Founding Sales: The Early Stage Go-to-Market Handbook

From foundingsales.com by Peter Kazanjy book (~400 pages)

  • Do ~50 demos and hit a ~20%+ win rate before hiring your first sales rep.
  • Discovery before demo, understand the problem before you pitch.
  • Dedicated chapters on prospect outreach and demo appointment setting.
  • Turn founder selling into a documented, repeatable, transferable process.
Open foundingsales.com →
🎧 Podcast
✓ Link checked 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.

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

On First Round Review Podcast (In Depth) by Peter Kazanjy (host: First Round) ~60 min

  • 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 review.firstround.com →

People also ask

How do I land my first enterprise customer when nobody has heard of us? 3 → How long is a B2B sales cycle and how do I not run out of money waiting? 3 → They want a free pilot, should I do it? 3 → Should I use design partners, and how do I structure the deal? 3 → How do I survive procurement, legal, and security reviews as a tiny startup? 3 → How do I price my very first enterprise deal without leaving money on the table or scaring them off? 3 →
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