Founder-led sales

The founder personally selling to the first customers, before any sales hire.

Example

The CEO running every demo for the first 40 accounts.

Do not hire a salesperson to discover the sales motion for you. You cannot hand over a process that does not exist yet.

Prospecting — Finding and contacting people who match your ICP.
Sales pipeline — All your live opportunities, organised by stage, with a value and an expected close date.
Product-market fit (PMF) — The point at which you have built something a specific group of people genuinely want, evidenced by their behaviour rather than their compliments.

Getting your first ten customers — Not from a channel. From you, personally, one at a time — and that is the correct way to do it. (12 min)
Founder-led sales for people who hate selling — Selling early is not persuasion. It is finding out whether this person has the problem badly enough to pay — and that is a question, not a pitch. (12 min)
What a founder's job actually is — Not building. In the first year the job is finding out what to build, getting the first customers, and not running out of money — in that order. (10 min)