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© Louis Nicholls
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Learn to sell, find your first paying customers and grow a successful business.
An interview series for (technical) founders who are fed up of building products nobody wants to buy...
Your host, Louis Nicholls, interviews the best founders and salespeople out there. You'll learn how they found their first customers and grew successful businesses.
With a focus on actionable insights from every area of sales.
An interview series for (technical) founders who are fed up of building products nobody wants to buy...
Your host, Louis Nicholls, interviews the best founders and salespeople out there. You'll learn how they found their first customers and grew successful businesses.
With a focus on actionable insights from every area of sales.
29 Episodes
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Welcome to Sales for Founders, the podcast for founders who want to go from hating sales to making sales.
Today, Brendan is speaking with Daniel Zarick. Daniel is the co-founder of Arrows, a collaborative onboarding tool for high-touch customers. Before that he ran an app design studio and was the 2nd product manager at Twilio. You can follow Daniel on Twitter at @danielzarick.
We're talking SaaS onboarding in some detail, as well as early-stage sales. Daniel shares a particularly great (and swipeable) sales tactic from his Twilio days, along with insights into customer onboarding. And he shares a big win for Arrows.
And please feel free to ask us a question that we can tackle in an upcoming podcast, or say hi to us over on Twitter at @louisnicholls_ and @brendanmcadams.
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We're pleased to have Ben Orenstein in as our guest this week. Ben is the co-founder of Tuple, a pairing application for development teams, and he has deep experience as a tech founder.
In this quick and lively episode, we cover several common sales challenges for founders, like:
- Dealing with customers, behavior change, and getting things done.
- How to think about enterprise accounts, testing pricing, and establishing minimum thresholds.
- Discovering the 'fun' in being a technical founder that sells.
- How to think about hiring for that ideal sales replacement for the selling founder.
Ben is also the co-host of The Art of Product podcast, and you can find him on Twitter.
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Okay... It's time for that big initial sales call. You've booked, prepped and dialed in (or maybe you're in-person...right?!)
Now what do you do?
Plenty, actually. And a lot of it is simple, fundamental, easy, and actionable. And all of it can make that first sales call much more effective.
In this episode, Brendan and Louis break down the key practices, tactics and mindset that should be part of your sales process. There are a lot of great tips here that can elevate your sales efforts and help you pursue the right opportunities and minimize the wrong ones.
So please listen in as we go back-n-forth on kicking off the conversation, qualifying the customer, getting the information you need, and so much more.
Let us know what you think, share this episode with a fellow founder, and say hi to us (or ask a question) over on Twitter at @louisnicholls_ and @brendanmcadams
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Welcome to Sales for Founders, the podcast for founders who want to go from hating sales to making sales.
First impressions can make all the difference, and that's especially true when it comes to the first important conversation you have with a prospective customer. Things move quickly, you're still figuring each other out, and there are plenty of pitfalls to avoid.
In this episode, Louis and Brendan cover some of the key strategies, tactics and considerations that can help you prepare for that all important first sales call.
That includes things like:
... knowing who you're speaking with,
... having a strategy in place,
... setting the stage, and
... optimizing for success.
Make that first impression a good one while you set yourself up to maximize the potential.
Say hi to us (or ask a question) over on Twitter at @louisnicholls_ and @brendanmcadams
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Welcome to Sales for Founders, the podcast for founders who want to go from hating sales to making sales.
We have Brendan McAdams at the microphone today for a conversation with Joe Valenti, founder of BrokrBindr, a SaaS application that automates the various functions and processes in the operation of a mortgage broker business.
We're talking SaaS sales today, and particularly about:
... early-stage sales,
... the challenges of onboarding,
... how to think about product adoption and engagement,
... and buyer psychology.
You're sure to hear some familiar patterns in this episode, along with a few ideas on how to compress the sales onboarding process.
And please feel free to ask us a question that we can tackle in an upcoming podcast, or say hi to us over on Twitter at @louisnicholls_ and @brendanmcadams.
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Welcome to Sales for Founders, the podcast for founders who want to go from hating sales to making sales.
Louis is back behind the mic for another season of Sales for Founders...
... and this time he's joined by a cohost — sales expert and previous guest Brendan McAdams!
We're mixing up the normal format this series with a mix of real-life founder interviews and "expert chats" — where Brendan and Louis do a casual deep dive exploring a specific sales topic founders struggle with (and how to do it better).
This week we're talking sales process...
... what is a sales process?
... what does a good sales process look like?
... and why is it so important to have one?
We get to the bottom of it in today's episode.
Say hi to us (or ask a question) over on Twitter at @louisnicholls_ and @brendanmcadams
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Welcome to Sales for Founders, the podcast for founders who want to go from hating sales to making sales.
This week, your host Louis is talking to sales expert Brendan McAdams.
Brendan is the cofounder of Expertscape. He also has over two decades of experience working as a salesperson. And — last but not least — he recently released a book and runs live trainings on how to get better at sales.
In this episode, we talk about…
- ... how did Brendan make the first sales for Expertscape?
- ... what qualities does a founder need to become “good enough” at sales?
- ... how has sales changed over the past few decades?
… and much, much more!
You can find Brendan on Twitter.
And don’t forget to check out the totally free fundamentals of sales course at SalesForFounders.com
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In this episode of the podcast, your host Louis Nicholls sits down with founder, author and all-round-business-expert Alex Hillman.
Alex has decades of experience helping people build successful businesses. From running his coworking community Indy Hall, to his course, 30x500, where he and Amy Hoy have coached hundreds of founders.
Now, Alex has distilled all of that experience and knowledge into his new book, The Tiny MBA. It's full of 100 short ideas to build your own business that lasts.
I was lucky enough to read a prelaunch copy, and it's easily the best value per word of any business book I've ever read.
Today on the podcast, Alex is going to walk us through three of my favourite ideas in the book.
You can find Alex on Twitter at @alexhillman, check out his writing at StackingTheBricks.com, and - of course - grab your copy of the Tiny MBA at Tiny.MBA
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In this episode of the S4F podcast we switch things up and I (your host Louis Nicholls) take some listener questions in my first ever solo session!
We dive into topics like...
... how to feel good about doing sales?
... when will the free Sales for Founders course be launching?
... what 'ask' should I be using in cold outreach emails?
... and more.
Also mentioned in this episode of the show are:
The Mom Test Book
Startups For The Rest Of Us podcast
The Sales for Founders course (sign up now for earlybird discounts and access)
This week's founder showcase: Abridge.io
Thanks to everyone who submitted a question. If you have feedback or a question of your own, let me know with a voice message (link below), or tell me on Twitter (@louisnicholls_).
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In this episode of the podcast, your host Louis Nicholls sits down with Nick Davies, cofounder and CEO of Dentally.
Nick and his cofounder James cofounded Dentally - a B2B SaaS product for dental practices - straight out of university. And, although they're now running a successful business with 18 employees and millions of dollars in revenue, finding the first 100 customers for Dentally wasn't easy.
In today's episode, we'll dive into...
how Dentally found their first customers
how they struggled with - and overcame - slow initial growth to make it to where they are today
and how they’re handling sales during the COVID19 pandemic - when all of their customers’ businesses as closed!
If you have a question for Nick, reach him at nick[at]dentallyDOTco
Nick's favourite source of sales tips for founders with $10k MRR+ is over at the excellent Close blog.
But check out our recent episode with Close team-member and sales specialist James Urie first!
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Finally, make sure to head over to SalesForFounders.com and sign up for actionable, free advice and templates on how to get good enough at sales to grow your own business.
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1In this episode of the Sales for Founders podcast, your host Louis Nicholls sits down with a Sales for Founders course alumnus... Frank Breckner.
Frank was previously the cofounder of a VC-backed startup, Lavanda, and is now working on multiple new projects.
A few months ago, Frank started work on a new business, Finalytic. And he's already grown it to 5 figures in MRR by doing outbound sales.
In today's episode, we'll dive into...
how Frank made Finalytic's first sales (and came up with the idea)
how he's handling sales in an industry devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic
how Frank launched yet another SaaS tool, Growth-Hacking.io and grew it from nothing to $2k+ MRR in less than a week
... and much more!
You can find Frank on LinkedIn - or shoot him an email at frank@growth-hacking.io.
And don't forget - you get 50% off of your very own Growth-Hacking.io account with discount code "S4F".
Finally, make sure to head over to SalesForFounders.com and sign up for actionable, free advice and templates on how to get good enough at sales to grow your own business.
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In this episode of the Sales for Founders podcast, your host Louis Nicholls sits down with Baird Hall.
Baird is a founder of two bootstrapped SaaS businesses: Waave.co and Zubtitle.
We dive into the story of how Baird used sales to grow both companies from zero to $50k+ MRR in just a few short years.
Including...
a real, inside look at what it took to make Wavve's first, tenth, and 50th sale
why most cold outreach fails, and how to make sure yours works
when (and how) to transition from outbound sales to inbound marketing
... and much more!
You can find Baird on Twitter at @BairdHall - or check out some of his amazing writing on entrepreneurship, sales and marketing at Lofi Ventures.
Finally, make sure to head over to SalesForFounders.com and sign up for actionable, free advice and templates on how to get good enough at sales to grow your own business.
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Today I’m chatting with Kristen Habacht. Kristen is one of the most successful salespeople I’ve ever met. From joining the sales team at Fog Creek, to basically building the sales department from scratch at Trello, and now killing it in her current role as global head of EDR sales at Atlassian - Kirsten has seen and been successful at every stage of sales in a company’s lifecycle.
In this episode, Kristen shares her advice on what founders *need* to know about a broad range of sales topics. Including enterprise sales tips, how and when to hire your first sales reps, and the positives (and negatives) of a freemium plan.
You can find Kristen on Twitter or LinkedIn.
And don't forget - the Sales for Founders course opens for enrollment on the 10th of December!
If you’re interested in checking it out, don’t wait 'til then - sign up for the earlybird waitlist at salesforfounders.com today, and on the 3rd of December I’ll be sending out the only discounts I’ll ever give on the course - and spending an hour video chatting and answering your questions about the course, and sales or growth more generally!
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![[Office Hours] "I have my first few paying customers, now what?" - with Pat Walls, founder of Pigeon](https://s3.castbox.fm/d8/ac/5f/e14de70309255603c3658486fa0b1ad2de_scaled_v1_400.jpg "[Office Hours] \"I have my first few paying customers, now what?\" - with Pat Walls, founder of Pigeon")
This week I'm releasing a test episode for a new, shorter format of episodes - office hours.
For this test episode, I'm talking to Pat Walls, founder of StarterStory.com, about his new project, Pigeon.
If all goes well, I'll record and publish regular office hours episodes each Friday (alongside the normal expert interviews). We'll follow 3-4 founders who are facing the same challenges as you, growing their businesses from $0-$10k in MRR. I'll check in with each founder once a month, to hear how their business is growing and help them solve their biggest sales and growth challenges.
If you'd like to be one of those 3-4 founders, head over to SalesForFounders.com and get your email on the earlybird waitlist. Invites go out on Wednesday the 20th of November, 2019.
I'd love to hear your feedback on the episode (sorry for the sound quality) and what can be improved via email, or hit me up on Twitter.
You can also find Pat on Twitter @thepatwalls.
Thanks for listening!
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This week, your host Louis Nicholls sits down with Andrew Askins.
Andrew is the cofounder and CEO of Krit - a technical agency that helps non-technical founders turn ideas into functioning products.
In a new format for the show, Andrew will walk us through his sales journey - from a failed startup attempt to a successful digital agency doing over $50k in monthly revenue.
If you’ve ever considered consulting, freelancing or even setting up your own agency, this episode is packed with great advice. We talk about cold emails, productising client qualification, and how the sales process has changed over time - from outbound to a more reliable, inbound approach.
You can find Andrew on Twitter, and don't forget to check out the Krit blog for some super useful insights into early stage product development.
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This week, your host Louis Nicholls is joined by James Urie. And this episode is a bit different, because James isn’t a founder - he’s actually a full time salesperson.
But what made me even more excited for this episode is that James isn’t just any salesperson, he does sales at a SaaS company called Close, where he actually sells sales software to other sales teams!
So we’re going to get amazing insights into how a professional thinks about doing sales, advice on how and when to set up your CRM, and some awesome tips on using text messages to increase conversions.
You can find James on LinkedIn, shoot him an email at sales@close.com , and check out the awesome Close blog for tons of sales advice.
And don't forget - the new Sales for Founders course launches in just a few weeks!
So if you're thinking about learning enough sales to get from 0 to $10k in MRR, make sure to get your name on the waitlist for an earlybird discount...
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In this episode of the Sales for Founders podcast, your host Louis Nicholls talks to Nat Eliason.
Nat is the founder of Growth Machine and cofounder of Cup & Leaf tea.
He's also an expert on search-focussed content marketing. So we take a break from talking about outbound sales, and focus on what early-stage founders need to know about SEO-related content marketing instead.
Covering listener questions and topics like...
- When to make your first sales hire
- How SEO and creating content can help you find a product idea to work on
- What to do if you aren't a great copywriter
- ... and much more!
You can find Nat at NatEliason.com or on Twitter at @NatEliason.
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In this episode, your host Louis Nicholls sits down with multiple-time founder, YCombinator alumnus and author of 'The Mom Test' - Rob Fitzpatrick.
Rob's book is hands down the best resource on how to do customer discovery. It's full of actionable advice on how to talk to customers and learn if your business is a good idea - even when everyone is lying to you.
It's also compulsory reading for S4F course participants, and everyone who takes the course gets a copy included.
In our chat, Rob explains...
how to talk to customers and come up with a viable product idea
how to close your first sale
how to get people to talk to you in the first place
... and much more, including listener questions.
You can find Rob at RobFitz.com and get the book here.
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We kick season 2 of the Sales for Founders podcast off with a bang!
Your host, Louis Nicholls, sits down with expert conversion copywriter and email geek Laura Lopuch to talk all things cold emails.
We go deep on...
How to write emails that get a response
How to write cold emails when you don't have a product to sell yet
How to avoid the most common cold email mistakes founders make
Laura also has an exclusive 10% discount on her training and coaching offerings for S4F listeners - you can get that (and find out more about Laura) by using code "S4F" at lauralopuch.com
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Welcome to Sales for Founders, the podcast for founders who want to go from hating sales to making sales.
Louis is back behind the mic for another season of Sales for Founders...
... and this time he's joined by a cohost — sales expert and previous guest Brendan McAdams!
We're mixing up the normal format this series with a mix of real-life founder interviews and "expert chats" — where Brendan and Louis do a casual deep dive exploring a specific sales topic founders struggle with (and how to do it better).
This week we're starting at the beginning and talking about why founders don't like doing sales. Is it fear? Lack of skill? Or are you in such a bad sales mindset that you think all sales is sleazy?
We get to the bottom of it in today's episode.
Say hi to us (or ask a question) over on Twitter at @louisnicholls_ and @brendanmcadams
Thanks for listening!
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