The 7 Deadly Sins of the First-Time Founder

Sales is hard, especially if you've never sold anything yourself. I was lucky enough to start young, selling latest cell phones like Nokia 6600 in high school to my peers to get myself upgraded.

But selling tech products to busy leaders worldwide is a different game. Here are the 7 deadly sins most founders commit and how to avoid them.

1. Shying Away from Selling

You might think sales isn't your job.

Maybe you write code, design interfaces, or run operations. Thats wrong move.

No one knows the product like you do. Selling is the founder's job. Sales before product-market fit require vision, credibility and constant feedback loops. Both technical and non-technical founders need to sell their way through the startup life — from customers to investors to hires. You have to fell in love with sales OR find a job that suits you better.

Today we have a contractor BDR to help book meetings, but I do my own prospecting and we use Skarbe to share insights and best practices.

2. Talking to the Wrong People

I spent hours talking to anyone who would listen. It felt busy but didn't convert into sales and usually felt like wasted effort. Focus on those who need your product and can afford it.

Qualification is a key. In the beginning you probably don't have the ICP defined, but you get a sense of it quickly. Stick to your ICP. Target companies and people likely to suffer from the problem you solve and remember WHY you started the business in the first place. Use it as a filter. This focus saves time and leads to real progress. Eg we started Skarbe to help SMALL businesses to outperform bigger teams without clunky and expensive enterprise sales tools, so probably talking to VP sales from 1000+ employee round D startup is not an option. Don't build a tool for everyone and no one in particular.

We use Skarbe to pre-qualify prospects based on their company, recent posts, and digital footprint and company ICP — all automatically.

3. Ignoring the Customer's Needs

I used to dive into product demos, eager to show off features. But prospects often tuned out. Start by asking questions to understand their problems. Tailor your pitch to their needs. remember – you sell to a person with their needs and fears. Listen more than you talk – good reminder for folks like myself.

Understanding their pain points helps you present your product as a solution. I use Skarbe to coach myself after each call, getting better with objection handling and learning to listen. Using coaches is not a silver bullet, but if you make a consistent habit you will improve your skills and become much better in anything.

Consistency outplays intensity.

4. Underpricing the Product

Many fellow founders underprice their product, even giving it away for feedback. Not us. We started with a relatively high price point but quickly learned the pains of small businesses. So we experimented with the price tag and business model.

The traditional seat-based pricing models were locking small business owners into expensive contracts. We challenged that by charging per usage— you buy credits, you spend credits. The more colleagues you add, the better, but we don't charge for licenses. Don’t be afraid to test and adjust pricing based on customer reactions.

Make sure your business model makes sense and is part of the value proposition.

5. Assuming the Sale is the End

Closing a deal felt like the end. But when looking into engagement metrics (in our case, the number of reports generated per workspace), some customers hadn’t used our product.

We had no focus on self-service onboarding, and the product was still hard to understand. We use Intercom and Fin (their AI assistant) to help early users. We also have Slack and Telegram group chats where we actively engage with users to help them with any problems. Guide customers through setup. Ensure they see value from the start. The first session is critical.

Treat implementation as part of the sales process. Be proactive in helping them integrate your product into their workflow.

6. Misunderstanding Buying Processes

One deal dragged on for months due to multiple reviews from different stakeholders. I hadn’t asked the right questions upfront and was stuck when the deal didn't progress. Always inquire about the buying process early to avoid delays. Understand the steps involved and prepare for security, legal, and compliance checks. Simplify your legal documents to speed things up.

We've built a process with PandaDoc to sign NDAs before personalized demos, removing the step of getting people to connect their CRMs. The less friction you have in the process, the better your chances of closing.

7. Not Seeking Feedback from Real Customers

Its hard to go and get in front of the person that you don't know with your product. So most folks go to friends/ family/ ex-colleagues. Our early feedback came from friends and fellow startups, not the businesses we targeted. Their insights didn’t match our market needs. Engage with real potential customers for meaningful feedback. Establish trust and be authentic in your communication.

Please don’t slap sales messages into the prospect. Ask for feedback, do discovery, and don't send messages you wouldn't want to receive.

And don’t automate things before you get repetitive feedback from prospects. Test your product with the right audience to get useful insights and refine your approach.

Sales is a craft you can learn years and still find room to improve.

It's about understanding and solving customer problems and if you enjoy what you do – you will figure it out :)

Good luck!