One of my failures as an entrepreneur—something I’m actively working to fix—is not spending enough time building my sales skills. Lately, I’ve been immersed in learning more about Sales and dedicating focused time to doing the work that will help me improve.
Founding Sales by Pete Kazanjy comes highly recommended in startup circles, and I’m currently reading it. I also came across a podcast episode where he dropped this gem (paraphrased):
Startups, whose strength is innovation, and incumbents, whose strength is distribution, are in a race. The success of a startup often comes down to whether innovation can figure out distribution before distribution can figure out innovation.
I was blown away by how clearly he captured the essence of startup success. That line gave me another strong reason to invest in building my sales muscle. I didn’t pour my heart into this startup just to watch incumbents win. And if sales is what it takes to build distribution — I’m all in.