Alper Yurder 🤝

Co-founder & CRO of Flowla, interactive deal rooms your buyers LOVE 👉 Follow our podcast #salestherapy by Flowla 🎙️ on spotify

Most B2B founders at $500K-5M ARR hit the same wall. Great product. Scaled with founder-led everything. Now you need to enter new markets, get the word out, and build a system that scales without you at every step.I’ve been there. 

As a founder & as a CRO/CMO.

At Flowla, I was the co-founder who became the sales team then marketing. Hired twice. Failed twice. £30K gone. 

The problem wasn't the people - I hadn't built the system.So I built it. Scaled to $1M ARR with zero paid ads. Just founder brand, content, and systems that compound. Flowla became a sales tool used by hundreds of sales teams, so I understand GTM from both sides: selling and enabling sellers.

Before that: Accenture &; Bain → MindGym (employee #20 → IPO entering new sectors) → General Assembly Expansion to UK &amp; Europe (acquired) → Witco GM for International Markets (seed to Series A, scaled UK & US from scratch).

Today I advise VC portfolio companies and teach GTM at leading European accelerators.

I run Forte Growth. We help B2B SaaS founders go from GTM chaos to predictable revenue in 120 days - system and strategy first, then inbound and outbound execution with my team.

How? Modular GTM engines - positioning, content, outbound, sales process - built with you in 12 weeks, then transferred so it runs without you. 

Or we stay on for ongoing execution. 

Check out our case studies &; testimonials from founders we worked with to date.

For founders who want a partner, not just a playbook, I offer fractional CMO / GTM leadership.

If you've built a great product but the market doesn't see it yet, DM me.

If you're entering a new market and don't want to burn £100Ks on failed hires and big-cheque CROs/ CMOs, DM me.

If you're a VC or Accelerator and need someone to guide your portfolio. Let's talk.

Co-Founder

Hey there, I'm an ex-sales leader turned co-founder, and I spend all day sharing ideas, solving problems and having #salestherapy with sales professionals from every sector and level. If you're after sales and G2M advice, you've come to the right place! And believe me, I've been through it all - from building SDR teams to closing multi-million dollar deals and everything in between. So, let's have some fun and chat sales!

💪 French PropTech. Series A. Zero UK presence. 

8 months later: £1M pipeline in the UK.

Here's what happened.

5 years ago today, I was handed a first man on the ground job: expand a French proptech into the UK and US. 

The problem? Nobody there had ever heard of us.

Nobody knew who we were.

We tried everything: 
👉 PR agency at £5K/month 
👉 SDR outreach 
👉 Cold emails 
👉 LinkedIn ads

Nothing worked like we wanted.

Response rate: low, closing not yet.

THE BREAKTHROUGH:

I mapped the market. And realized our strategy was off.

My immediate addressable market was only around 1,000 commercial real estate buyers or so.

They all go to the same real estate events. They all read the same magazines. 

They all know each other.

Spray-and-pray wasn't going to work.

So I changed the approach:

👉 Be at those events in Leeds, Manchesyer 
👉 Be in those magazines they read 
👉 Build trust before selling 
👉 Let inbound warm the outbound

Every week, step-by-step, we built presence in THEIR world.

Not ours. Theirs.

AFTER:

8 months later: 
✅ £1M Pipeline in the UK 
✅ 20+ enterprise conversations 
✅ 6 channels operational 
✅ UK team hired and trained

First deals closed in 4 months then in 8 we went to + £200K ARR with a system built generating consistent pipeline. 

This is the real world. 

No non-sense to the moon numbers for a product where ACV is 20K and sales cycle was traditionally 12 months,

The lesson:

Before you scale your sales effort in a new market, map where your buyers actually are.

Go there. Be visible. Build presence.

👉 And more importantly. Keep doing the right things every week!

Every week iterate-improve- build further!

👉 What market are you trying to enter? Where do YOUR buyers hang out?

Alper Yurder

Founder @ Forte | Cofounder-level GTM for B2B founders scaling from $1M to $10M ARR | Former SaaS Co-Founder | 20 startups, $200M pipeline + $60M Revenue (1 IPO, 1 Exit)

🚀 8 months ago, Forte was a one-man show.
Me, a laptop, and a hypothesis that B2B founders needed GTM systems not more tactics. 

1️⃣ 12 clients 
2️⃣ 5 fractional engagements 
3️⃣ 7 founders in coaching
4️⃣ And dozens of founders I touched in some shape and form 

later, we're ready to rock 2026!

🚀 New products launching next week
🙏 Working with B2B founders across UK, EU, and US. 
🙏 Connected to some of the best VCs and accelerators in the ecosystem. 

Building something I'm genuinely proud of.

Still figuring a lot out. But the foundation is real now.

Which means... we need more people.

Alin, Fatih, Boris based out of London, Sofia, Istanbul and I - all over the place! are looking for our new colleagues to join us!

We're hiring for two roles:

Content Specialist - LinkedIn content, lead magnets, blogs, visuals, video. Master AI tools like Claude, Gemini, Napkin. Work directly with me and founder clients.

AI-Led SDR / GTM Engineer - Build prospecting workflows with Clay, Apollo, Sales Nav. Engineer outbound systems that actually work. Learn the AI sales stack before everyone else.

Both roles: Remote, part-time with potential to grow into full-time if you like.

You won't be watching from the sidelines. You'll be building this with me.

👉 DM me or email alper@fortegrowth.co

p.s. Grateful to every founder who trusted me early. You know who you are.

Cofounder-level GTM for B2B startups scaling from <​$1M to $10M+ | Former SaaS Co-Founder & CRO | 20 startups, $60M closed, 1 IPO, 1 Exit | First SQLs in 60 days, bespoke system that scales by month 4

Join us at Forte 

💡 There's an emerging pattern in VC right now.

I was at the HubSpot for Startups' GTM event last month with investors from early stage VCs 

Same priority from all of them:

Great product people. Strong technical founders. AI and deeptech expertise.

Sitar from Connect put it bluntly: "We're obsessed with product founders. Technical is ideal, but product is a must."

Luke added: "At Series A, at least one founder needs to deeply understand the customer. That's what creates defensibility."

Will made another point: "For GTM, it's much better if that experience comes from the sector. If you've sold to defense or chips before, you get it."

Their logic: GTM can be fixed. Product can't.

And they're not wrong.

Then Gamma's founder got on stage.

He shared the moment they had to choose: invest in marketing or double down on product.

They chose product.

His logic: "If people aren't talking about your product organically, marketing won't fix that."

It worked. Gamma is everywhere now.

So yes. Product comes first.

But here's where it gets tricky.

GTM can be fixed. But not with just any hire.

I've seen this play out too many times.

Technical founder builds something great.
Raises money.
Hires a "Head of Sales" or "Marketing Lead."
Expects them to figure it out.

6 months later: nothing.

Not because the hire was bad.
Because GTM at early stage needs co-founder level ownership.

Someone who's in the trenches.
Someone who can make decisions without asking permission.
Someone who treats GTM like product. Test. Iterate. Improve.

A hire runs a playbook.
A co-founder builds the playbook.

That's the gap most technical founders don't see until it's too late.

Product first. Always.

But when it's time to go to market, don't just hire for GTM.

Find someone who owns it like a founder.

Brilliant sessions from Sitar Teli, Luke Smith, Will Wells, Uthish Ranjan among others.

Thanks to Anna Gordon and HubSpot for Startups for bringing this together. One of the best GTM events I've been to in London.

🤖 I've been running GTM workshops for VCs and accelerator portfolios for a year now. 👉 And I realize: While we are obsessed with AI tools, the "human" sales leaders I talk to are struggling with:

- How do I get my team to turn relations into business?

- How do I get them to follow up consistently?

- How do I build a sales process that actually works for my team, AI or not?

Last week I ran a workshop with the Tenity team on exactly this.

Tenity connects corporates with startups across Europe and MENA.

I work with their startups on B2B sales, growth and GTM.

👉 But like most teams, they wanted a framework to do it with more intention. A refresh of what sales means, why it's not a dirty word, how to do it better.

A nice change for me, from mentoring startups to mentoring the mentors :)

We covered sales essentials in 2 hours with 40 slides. Bit much, I accept!

Here's what we covered:

✅ The 30-second pitch: Problem. Solution. Proof. Ask. No jargon. Practice until it's natural.

✅ Matching your message to awareness: Most people give an Unaware prospect a Product Aware pitch. Then wonder why it doesn't land.

✅ Each channel has ONE job: LinkedIn posts build trust. Comments build reach. DMs book meetings. Email creates awareness at scale. Stop using every channel for "lead gen."

✅ The daily habit that compounds 5 new connections. 5 meaningful comments. 1 real conversation. That's 15 minutes. Do it for 30 days. Watch what happens.

✅ Consistency beats intensity: If your TAM is 1000 buyers. Don't run spam campaigns. Know your buyer exactly and show up every day!
 None of this requires fancy AI workflows.

👉 Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of AI. We use 5-10 AI tools weekly for all our workfows at Forte

🤖 We build AI workflows for our clients to do GTM better and faster.

But first thing first, sales requires clarity on fundamentals and the discipline to execute.

👉 If you want the workshop slides, drop a comment or DM me. Happy to share.

👉 If you're a VC or an accelerator and would like me to run a workshop for your portfolio, send a DM

As usual great pleasure being in the company of you Tenity and thanks for inviting me to run this workshop for your team Eda Kaan Paolo Elif Ilayda Sabina Hilal Aysude

❌ Your outbound isn't broken. Your inbound is.
👉 And until you fix it, every cold email is fighting uphill.

Here's what I see constantly:

Founder at £1-2M ARR. Pipeline is inconsistent. Solution: "Let's scale outbound."

Hire SDRs. Buy tools. Send emails.

Response rate: 1-2%.

Then they blame the SDRs. Or the messaging. Or the tools.

But here's the truth: It's not your SDR or your messaging that doesn't work.

It's that nobody knows who you are.

You send messages, nobody knows you. It's cringe.

When you have inbound working:

Your name shows up in their feed before your email hits their inbox

They've already seen you solve problems like theirs

The cold email isn't cold anymore

When you send a DM, it actually works

The math:

Cold outbound to strangers = 1-2% response rate

Warm outbound to people who've engaged with your content = 15-30%

Same effort. 10x the result.

This is how you do it: Build your inbound. Build your presence. Then when you send that DM, it lands.

I did the same at series-A proptech Witco: 200+ enterprise conversations. Not spray-and-pray. Content that warmed the market first.

Inbound is the best outbound. 

Same system.

LinkedIn is cringe. 
Founder brand is cringe. Posting is cringe!
Until it's not 👉 Until your buyers discover you and book meetings.

And you build a $1M pipeline from it.

My friends tell me this all the time.

I used to think the same thing.

Then we built businesses on it.

At Flowla: £1M ARR pipeline. Zero paid ads. Just LinkedIn.

At Witco: We were paying a PR agency £5K/month. I started writing myself with one content person. Built £2M in pipeline in 180 days.

Here's what nobody wants to admit: It works.

Not the performative nonsense. The actual system.

20 likes? 5 comments?

Sure. If they're your buyers!

LinkedIn is a trust-building machine. Every post is a conversation with hundreds of potential buyers. Every comment is a relationship starting. Every piece of value compounds.

But most founders get it backwards.

They post company updates nobody asked for. 

They share "we're hiring!" announcements. 

They treat it like a press release channel.

Then after 2 weeks of crickets, they decide LinkedIn is cringe.

That's not LinkedIn failing. That's running tactics without a system.

Simple formula to build a pipeline on linkedin:

✅ Record your sales calls and what your buyers ask you
✅ Write your thoughts into posts -> which then become your blog -> your SEO -> engine for your paid ads!
✅ Turn it into thought leadership and content you share from this channel and others 
✅ Pick 3-5 topics you can speak to from real experience 
✅ Treat every comment like a warm intro

The best outbound is inbound. And LinkedIn is where unknown B2B companies become known.

❌ You don't need 1000 leads.
✅ You need a system that finds, converts, and multiplies the 5 buyers you have.

👉 Launching from zero?
👉 Entering a new market?
👉 Expanding to a new country?

Same system.

STEP 1: Message-Market Fit

Talk to 30 people. Don't pitch.

"I'm building something for [ICP]. Trying to understand [problem]."

Listen. Take notes. Use their words.

The goal isn't leads.

It's learning how they describe the problem.

That language becomes your website. Your outreach. Your pitch.

STEP 2: Demand Generation

Now you know the words. Use them.

Post content that speaks their language.
Comment where your ICP hangs out.
Send outreach that sounds like them, not you.

You're not generating "awareness."

You're generating trust.

STEP 3: Sales-Market Fit

Some will say "let me know when it's ready."

Others will say "can I see it now?"

Focus on the second group.

Close 5 paying customers.

Not pilots. Not free trials. Paying.

Money is the only real validation.

STEP 4: Build the Playbook

Document what worked.

Which message converted?
Which channel performed?
Which objection kept coming up?

Your first 5 deals are your playbook.

Now you can multiply.

THE SYSTEM:

Message-Market Fit → Demand Gen → Sales-Market Fit → Playbook.

That's how you go from 0 to 5.

And from 5 to 50.

This is what we build with founders in 12 weeks.

Check out the slides for the first phase, and drop a comment if you find this content useful

First buyers in a new market

🔗 I ran a GTM webinar with Ekky and Rob from Scribe. Link in comments

50+ early-stage founders joined. One question came up 3 times:

👉 "I sent this to 200 people and only 2 replied." "Noone replied" "What's a good reply rate?" and so on.

While we do have industry standards for reply rates. that's not the main issue.

So I ask: do you know why?

Is it the product? Is it your messaging? Your positioning? Your targeting?

The answer is almost always the same: "Not sure."

Here's the thing:

"Nobody likes my product" is almost never true.

So there's a GTM issue somewhere. You just can't put your finger on it.

3 things I shared:

1. GTM is more than sending 1000 emails hoping for 1 meeting
👉 Outbound only works with inbound 
👉 Trust is the basis of sales 
👉 Authority & credibility are the bases of product marketing 
👉 Treat your GTM like your product. Test. Iterate. Improve.

2. There's a buyer for every product
The problem is rarely your product. It's usually messaging, positioning, or targeting.

3. Product-market fit isn't a moment. It's a moving target.

It evolves. It sharpens. It gets clearer over time.

GTM is the same. You iterate on it just like product & tech.

Treat go-to-market like a product problem, not just a sales problem.

Drop a 1, 2, or 3. Which one are you struggling with?

Full recording in comments.

💰 There's $500K+ pipeline hidden in your LinkedIn.

No ads. No massive following. No cold DMs to strangers.

Here's the system we've built for 5 startups in the last 6 months.

Every one of them generated new pipeline within 90 days.

Quick tactics, and a strategy that compounds over time.

STEP 1: Fix Your Profile (It's a Landing Page)

👉 Headline: Who you help + how (not your title) 
👉 Banner: Branded visual, crisp messaging 
👉 About: Speak to your ICP's pain 
👉 Featured: Pin 1-2 key posts or wins 
👉 CTA: "DM me X if you want Y"

STEP 2: Comment First, Post Second

👉 Identify 5-10 creators your ICP follows 
👉 Comment daily with real takes 
👉 Your comments = borrowed reach 
👉 Warm up the algorithm before you post

STEP 3: Connect Like a Human
👉 View their profile
👉 Like + comment on something real 
👉 Send connection with context 
👉 Follow up with value, not a pitch

STEP 4: The Conversion Loop
👉 Post high-trust content (POV, proof, playbooks) 
👉 Comment under ICP posts 
👉 DM warm engagers 
👉 Offer value. Book call. Close deal.

The best outbound is disguised as inbound.

I put the full playbook in a Notion doc. Profile templates. DM scripts. Content calendar. The whole system.

Comment "pipeline" and I'll send it over.

What's the one thing stopping you from doing this daily?

👉 Entering a new market? Trying to find new buyers?
❌ Don't scale. Test. 

Most leaders I work with want to skip this step. They go straight to: 
👉 Hiring SDRs 
👉 Running paid ads 
👉 Building SEO content 
👉 Signing BD partnerships

6 months later: "It's not working."

Here's what they missed:

LinkedIn isn't just a posting platform. It's a GTM testing lab.

5 things to validate before scaling anywhere else:

1) Message-market fit → before cold email
2) Content themes → before SEO or YouTube
3) Outbound hooks → before SDR scripts
4) Partnership signals → before formal BD
5) Distribution allies → before paid amplification

Why LinkedIn?

24-hour feedback. Real buyers. Free.

Test here. Scale everywhere.

I made a carousel breaking down each one. ↓ Save it. Share it.

linkedin testin to enter a new market

👉 A founder asked me last week:
"How many LinkedIn messages should I send? 10 a week? 100?"

My answer: "What's working right now?"

"I don't know."

That's the problem.

Most founders doing outbound have no idea what "good" looks like.
👉 What's a normal reply rate? 
👉 How long before you change the message? 
👉 When do you scale vs. iterate? 
👉 How many touches before giving up?

They're not missing tactics. They're missing benchmarks.

Here's what I tell founders:
Send 50 messages with one approach. Track replies. Track objections. If reply rate is under 5%, change the message. If objections repeat, your positioning is off.

That's it.

The metric isn't "more messages." The metric is "signal per message."

Quick reference:
👉 Under 5% reply rate = change your message 
👉 Same objection 10x = change your positioning 
👉 No responses after 100 = wrong ICP or wrong channel 
👉 Good responses but no meetings = weak CTA

Stop asking "how much?"

Start asking "what's the data telling me?"

—

P.S. If you've sent 200 messages and can't tell me what the patterns are, you don't have an outbound problem. You have a tracking problem.

🚀 Let's make 2026 the year you stop wasting 18 months on GTM. Build a revenue engine in weeks, not years!

Hi, it's Alper. Happy New Year. Let's make 2026 the year you move from tactical wins to a GTM system that scales without you burning time, cash and yo

Open article: GTM Journal- January 2026 by Alper Yurder • 5 min read

audience & revenue growth tips for B2B startups and creators

My mission is to build predictable pipelines for B2B startups. I share what I learn along the way. 

Read more if you are ready to build your pipeline 👇

💡 I am super relevant if you are:

→ Indie Hacker
→ Freelancer
→ Early Startup Founder
→ B2B Sales Person
→ Creator (any profession)

✍️ I write about:

→ B2B sales
→ Go to market strategies
→ Signal-based prospecting

Little more about me:

Cryptocurrency Investor. SaaS Enthusiast. Agriculture Business Owner. 

Lived in 3 countries.

I'm a T-shaped growth person who has experience in sales, content marketing, and growth.

Drop me a LinkedIn message if you need any help.

We will keep it simple.

Twitter: @sehaokudan

https://calendly.com/sehaokudan/30min

Seha Okudan

Sales is stressful.
Turkey built an industry around it.

Every job is stressful. 

I get that.

But the stress of a salesperson is different.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲:

- Pressure
- Rejection
- Judgment
- Uncertainty
- Expectations

Still not convinced?

Every deal can die last minute.
Every “maybe” keeps your mind busy.
Every quota resets the clock.

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼:

-Detach from outcomes
-Handle rejection calmly

Don't lose your hair.

If this was your reality in 2025, I’ll see you in Istanbul this year.

I'm sure Turkish Airlines can help. 😅 

Jokes aside, what part of sales stresses you the most?

--
Inspiration: Tosin Jan

Building Outbound & RevOps systems for B2B companies

Prospects hate to give bad news.
(And it costs you time)

They don’t reject you.
They delay you.

They hope the problem fades.
They hope you stop following up.

Most sellers miss this.

You chase wrong deals for months.

Hoping to get positive news.

Bad discovery hides the truth.

One "I'm interested." costs you months.

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼:
-Get to “no” fast
-Pressure-test intent
-Disqualify with care
-Learn to walk away early

Money is in the follow-up. That's 100%

Not in chasing the wrong deals.

Bad news early saves months.
Good sales feels honest.

Agree or disagree?

Video Credit: @sales_humor /Instagram

BANT is outdated.
Here’s why 

BANT is a sales qualification criteria. 
Budget, authority, need, timing. 

Especially if it is outbound, the budget is rarely allocated for outbound as an example.

Last week, I saw someone in my network say,
 “BANT is the key to winning deals.”

Coming from an Enterprise C level, you'd believe.

Maybe 10–15 years ago, it was a silver bullet.

Today? 
Buying processes are no longer as simple as they used to be.


BANT is problematic because:

1️⃣ 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿-𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱

BANT was built for sellers, not for buyers. 
Buyers don’t want to be qualified for you
They want to be understood by you.

2️⃣ 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿

Buyers move in and out of priorities fast.
Your job is to show impact and move the solution up in the list.
Not learning if it's the right time.
It is rarely the right time.

3️⃣ 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆

If there’s real pain, the budget appears.
If there’s no pain, no number will matter.
Show how much their pain is costing them.

4️⃣ 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱

Usually, there’s no single decision-maker anymore.
Users, champions, legal, finance, etc.

Modern frameworks, such as MEDDPICC, shift the focus from qualification to alignment.

But religiously following a framework is a mistake.

Sales involve psychology and emotions.

Never forget that.

How do you qualify prospects?

Build quality lists.
(Or outbound fails.)

Outbound is harder now.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲:

-Good offer
-Great copy
-Reliable infra
-Warmed up emails

None of this works if three things are wrong.

- Bad timing
- Wrong people
- Old contact data

You waste time.
You hurt deliverability.
You miss opportunities.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝘅𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀:

1️⃣ Pick intent that matters
2️⃣ Build pre-verified lists
3️⃣ Find real decision makers
4️⃣ Sync natively with your sequencer
5️⃣ Launch without cleaning chaos

I was part of the Prospeo V2 beta program, tested with one of my clients, and we LOVED it. (thanks for inviting me, Matthew!)

It did what outbound tools should do.

No hacks. No patchwork.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀:
99% contact data accuracy, up to 30% call connect.

That changes outcomes.

If lists are weak, outbound dies.

Check out Prospeo.io V2, you won't regret it.

----
PS: Clay ranks Prospeo as the most accurate data provider. Not a surprise.

Sales is easy.
(is it?)

"If the product is good, it'll sell itself."

Ok, fair enough.

If you're not in sales, it is easy.

- You send a message
- Book a meeting
- Send your pitch deck
- Impress with your product
- Send the quote
- Get the money

Oh, sometimes they even come to you to buy!

If you're on the buyer side, it is even easier to say it is easy.

"They just show the product, send a quote, anyone can do it"

But here is the part they don't see:

- You get rejected every day
- You lose deals to competitors
- Prospects ghost you after 4 calls
- Legal stalls your contract for weeks
- Champions go silent before signing

Competition is bigger than ever.
Everyone is building fast now.
Buyers have more power than ever.

Sales isn’t easy.

It just looks that way when it’s done right.

What part of the job do people underestimate the most?

The biggest sales mistake is simple.
(but still overlooked)

Talking too much about yourself.

Everyone knows this.

Some still forget it.

𝗡𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁:

- Your offer
- Your service
- Your product
- Your new feature
- How great you are

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴:
Does this help me hit my goals?

You learn that by talking less and by asking clear questions.

Sales gets easier when it is about them.

Not you.

Agree or disagree?

Selling a no-product market fit SaaS?
It is not a sales job.

It is a founder job without equity.

In those companies, your role is not just closing.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼:

- Find the real ICP
- Fix weak positioning in live calls
- Turn vague value into clear outcomes
- Surface feedback no one wants to hear

You'll face blockers that kill deals before they start.

Especially if you're working with a founder who loves the product.

They're going to blame you when you can't sell.

They’ll defend features.
They’ll call it a “sales problem.”
They'll call prospects stupid for not getting it.

Sellers can't sell a product nobody needs.

Only the founder can sell to his/her network.

Sellers don’t fail here.

The product does.

Is your problem a “sales problem” or a product problem?

Never pitch the solution first.
-here's why

Problems have many fixes.

An umbrella works.
A roof works too.

Both protect from rain.

But only one fits the buyer’s world.

If you pitch early, you guess.
Guessing kills trust.

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴:

-Fear they want gone
-Desire they want fast
-Challenge blocking progress

Then do one more thing.

Show the impact.

What breaks if nothing changes?
What slows down?
What costs them money, time, or status?

When they feel the impact, they pull the solution from you.

Not the other way around.

Sell less.
Diagnose more.

➡️ How do you diagnose before you pitch?

Sales sucks.
(It is true.)

Closing, prospecting, the whole thing sucks, too.

- You’re ghosted after a “great” call
- Quota pressure eats at your sleep
- You’re rejected 13 times before lunch
- People assume you’re pushy before you speak

All true.

The worst part? 

Some people see you as order takers.

Send email → show product → send quote → done

But here’s the thing.

It’s also a life skill.
There’s no way around it.

Start shifting your perspective.

Because it is also awesome:

- It can get very lucrative
- You meet cool people every day
- You get paid to solve real problems
- It’s the fastest path to building a business
- You build grit that most jobs will never teach
- You learn to read people better than a therapist

Most people can’t handle both sides.

But if you can?

Sales will change your life.

Be honest, do you love it or hate it?

Just "do more” is lazy manager advice.
Here's why:

Just do "do more" is a lazy manager advice.

5 difficult scenarios for salespeople:
(Even for the top ones.)

5 difficult scenarios for salespeople

5 worst sales discovery questions:

Outbound is changing.
Before 2019, spray & pray worked.

Send thousands of generic emails → get leads.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴:

- Deliverability got stricter
- Prospects got smarter (sales methods)
- Email channels got flooded

Now, in 2025, we can create high-quality emails in bulk.
With AI.

And yes, it still works for now.
(If your deal size is small + TAM is huge.)

You can also have the best cold email infrastructure.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻:
It is getting easier to create mass email campaigns,

So history will repeat itself.

-Buyers will get “immune”
-ESP rules will tighten (even more strict)

Even good emails will start to see fewer replies.

For me, sending mass messages isn’t sales. It is a form of marketing. And it’s starting to look a lot like paid ads, only through inboxes.

I think email service providers will regulate and monetize it pretty soon.

LinkedIn avoids spam as much as possible with InMail ads, Sales Navigator credits, message limits, and verifications.

What are your thoughts?

How are you future-proofing your outbound?

-
𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲:

Signal-based, hyper-relevant, multichannel approach. 

8-13 step sequences - 40-50 business days.
(cold call, LinkedIn, email)

And leveraging referrals, my network, and multithreading when/if needed.

Sales skill is a life skill.
(not just for more revenue)

Sales is not just a revenue skill.

It can help you:

- Negotiate better pay
- Build trust with people
- Sell ideas to your team
- Get buy-in from your boss
- Handle rejection with grace
- Build better personal relationships

Most importantly:
It helps you communicate with intent.

You can be a teacher, designer, engineer, or founder.

You’ll always move faster if you know how to sell.

Investing.
Copywriting.
Communication.

All life skills.

What life skill paid off most for you?

“Do you have a budget?”
(don’t ask this)

Yes, budget matters.
Every sales framework says so.

But asking it directly is lazy and self-serving.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝟮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀:

1️⃣ Outbound:

No one has a budget for something they just heard about. They didn’t plan for you. They didn’t ask for you.

So the answer is probably “no”, even if the pain is real.

2️⃣ Inbound:

Asking about budget too early kills momentum. You turn discovery into a price check.

𝗠𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲:
If there is a big pain, a budget can be found.

---

Asking “Do you have a budget?” is really asking:

“Do you have money for me?”

𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱:

“Why hasn’t it worked?”
“Who is affected by this?”
“What have you tried so far?”
“What happens if this stays unsolved?”
“What does success change for the business?”

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝗸:

“What priority would this have if it worked?”
“How do you usually fund problems like this?”
“Who would need to be involved to move forward?"

When the pain is clear, the budget becomes a logistics problem.

Budget is usually the outcome of good discovery.

How do you uncover budget without asking for it?

Objections are opportunities.
Many feel bad after an objection

I was like this back in 2018.

Telling myself:
"Not going to happen again."

I was terribly wrong.

You should feel good about objections.
They help you close.

𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻:

-Real interest
-Serious buyer
-Active thinking
-Risk awareness

Gives you a chance to discover more.

And SOLVE.
(or disqualify fast)

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲:

Asks nothing
Shows no concern
Says "great product
Says yes to everything

I learned this two months later. A prospect said they would buy. - “100% sure.”

Then they vanished.

Waste of time...

Handle objections well.

This gives you a chance to solve. Or disqualify fast.

Focus on better-fit clients.

Agree or disagree?

Ideas are worthless.
(until someone pays for it)

Building products is easy now.

Every day, we see a new SaaS project.

“Let’s build first. We’ll sell later.”
“People loved the idea.”

That is how you burn resources.

Selling is the only real validation.

7+ years in B2B sales.
One failed micro-SaaS.

Almost nobody told me that my product/idea is bad.

𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴:

1️⃣ Sounds like a great idea, we'll consider it when you build the product.
2️⃣ We'll subscribe when it is ready!
3️⃣ We'll try it once it is live!

None of this is validation.
None of it is good news.

Because people hate to give bad news.

𝗠𝘆 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
Make people take their credit cards out in advance.

Is it easy? Absolutely not.

This is why you can ask people to make small commitments first.
(Waitlist, for example)

Yes – people can buy later too, but that’s a big risk.

You might waste your time, energy, and resources.

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿:
Money is proof. Everything else is just talk.

If the money is not in your account, there is no deal.

If you don't have any sales before building;
Don’t build it.

How do you get real commitments from prospects?

What is one thing AI will never be able to do? 
(In sales)

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