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David W. Riggs

The Founder-led Sales Mentor 👉 Turning B2B Founders into highly-skilled sales pros 🎙 Host, Just Get Started Podcast 👶🏼 1 x Dad 📚 2 x Author ✏ 3 x/wk Blog 🧭 Follow your COMPASS to Just Get Started!

Most founders aren’t bad at sales.
They just don’t trust how they’re showing up in the conversation.

If you’ve ever left a sales call thinking:

“That felt salesy.”
“I talked too much.”
“I’m not sure what actually happens next.”

That’s not a confidence problem.
It’s a process problem.

Without a sales process you trust, you hesitate.
- You avoid hard questions.
- Deals stall.

And month-end revenue becomes a guessing game.


I work with early-stage B2B founders doing $10k–$100k in MRR who want to grow, but feel constant pressure because:

- Their pipeline looks full, but nothing feels real
- They hate pitching and don’t want to manipulate buyers
- They’ve been told they need more leads, yet win rates haven’t improved
- They don’t know why deals stall or how to fix them


Here’s what I believe:

Sales isn’t about pressure.
It’s about clarity and leadership.

I help founders:

- Lead buyer conversations without feeling salesy
- Diagnose weak deals early instead of chasing them
- Build a repeatable sales process that fits who they are (no scripts, no “bro” tactics)
- Replace month-end panic with a pipeline they can actually trust

No hype.
No scripts.
No pretending to be someone you’re not.

Just practical sales skills, clear systems, and honest conversations.

👉 Start here: Subscribe to Sales Skills for Founders - salesskillsforfounders.com
Or DM me “pipeline” if you want to take control of your sales process.

Brian Ondrako

My 13-year-old has over 3,000 YouTube subscribers and more than 1 million views.
Most adults I know would’ve quit long before that.

Not because they can’t do it.
Because they hesitate.

They post a few videos.
The views are low.
Nothing “takes off.”
So they stop.

But subscribers, likes, and views are just outcomes.
They show up after consistency, not before it.

What I’m proud of is this:
- His dedication to learning the craft of storytelling
- His curiosity to try new ideas
- His consistency to finish what he starts

None of that came from talent or luck.
It came from work.

He built everything from scratch:
- Started a YouTube channel with zero audience
- Learned thumbnails, titles, and descriptions
- Taught himself CapCut
- Organized other gamers to shoot scenes
- Figured out live streaming
- Started monetizing

No shortcuts.
No one telling him he was “ready.”
Just a willingness to start.

One day, I hope he remembers the success.
But more than that, I hope he remembers that he didn’t wait for certainty.

That he trusted himself enough to start.

That’s the part that lasts.

I help early-stage B2B SaaS founders double their close rate in 90 days▫️The “Just Get Started” Guy ▫️Podcast Host, ‘Just Get Started’

I've interviewed 350+ entrepreneurs over the past 8 years. Here are the cardinal sins people make when being a podcast guest. Avoid these and you're golden!

In no particular order...

Poor lighting 
Slurping a drink
One word answers
Wearing sunglasses 
Minimal to no emotion
Using fake backgrounds
Using the laptop webcam
Using a crappy laptop mic
Being in a loud, open space
Not prepping for the interview
Poor camera angle (straight on is 👌)
Kids / dogs disrupting the conversation
Long monologue stories with no ending
Uncarpeted room with nothing on the walls
Not having Phone / browsers on Do Not Disturb
Not sharing / promoting the episode once launched
Looking (or actually) like you just came from the gym


I'm sure I'll think of 6 more once I hit publish.

What have you experienced as a podcast host or guest you'd add?

Hope you knock your next appearance out of the park! ✌

17 years ago, January of 2009, I was close to $50k in debt (and climbing) and making less than $32k a year. The math was not mathing.

I was somewhere in the middle of frustrated, anxious, delusional and embarrassed. 

And then serendipity knocked at the door. 

My brother came to visit and gifted me 'The Total Money Makeover' by Dave Ramsey. He had used it to start climbing out of the debt hole he was in and thought I should take a look. 

There have been several key inflection points that led me to who I am today, this specific moment might have been the most drastic.

Because it wasn’t about the debt. It was about how I thought about money. I thought making money was bad. I sucked at saving, I sucked at making money decisions, and I sucked at making a plan to rid myself of the debt. It’s something I just dealt with. I resigned myself to the fact that this wasn’t going away and there was nothing I could do near-term  to change it. 

But, at that moment, it was one of the first times in my life where I called bull$hit on myself. I realized that if I wanted to tackle this it was going to take consistency and dedication, not something lucky pull of a lotto ticket.

In that moment, I took control. I finally committed to making a change.

- I read the book in a matter of days.
- I began to implement his baby steps and debt snowball.
- I started to sell stuff on eBay to pay down the debt (even my prized Tiger Woods signed Nike hat from his rookie year on tour).
- I worked with the bank on a payment plan
- I started thinking about what type of future the older Brian would have instead of dwelling in the suck of where I was currently.

But, that book didn’t teach me just about how to pay off debt, it taught me about discipline and living within my means and being thoughtful about the choices I made.

The advice spanned well beyond financial and I can’t discount it as a key part to my whole Just Get Started mission, to committing to health & wellness, to being consistent with the podcast or blog, or to building the life I wanted versus the life I thought was pre-determined for me.

That whole situation was confirmation that you can turn the corner at any moment and go in a different direction. You are capable to take control and commit to a new path. I don’t care where you came from or what you’re currently doing. 

Everyone has that chance. 

But, everyone won’t take it. So, what?…Who cares what everyone else is doing, the question is, will you?

Let this be that kick in the pants moment for you if you’ve been spinning in one area of your life. It won’t change by one flick of the light. But, it’s about starting now and showing up committed and consistent to set your life on a new path.

A path you took control of. A path you will be proud of.

just get started,
Brian

Do You Control What Google Says About You?

We often think personal branding is only for entrepreneurs or influencers. But in my latest Just Get Started  podcast I welcomed back Nick Gray to discuss why controlling your online presence is critical for everyone from middle managers to parents.

If you don’t have a personal website, you are leaving your reputation up to chance. 

Here are three takeaways from our chat on why you need to build your "corner of the web" today:

1. Recruiters are Searching: In a stack of hundreds of resumes, a personal website is a positive signal that makes you stand out to hiring managers. Even if you aren't looking for a job, being proactive now protects you later.

2. It Doesn’t Have to Be "Professional": You don’t need a portfolio of work to start. A simple bio, a list of your favorite local restaurants, or your hobbies makes you human and helps people know, like, and trust you.

3. It’s Cheaper and Easier Than You Think: You don't need a developer. Nick breaks down how to buy your domain and use tools like Carrd.co to set up a site for roughly $20 a year.

The mantra of this episode…."Do it before you need it."

Listen or watch our full interview below and let us know what resonated the most with you.

Spotify: https://lnkd.in/enmaCRYs 
Apple: https://lnkd.in/eUfF3gx7 
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eU8ENkvb

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David W. Riggs

Brian Ondrako

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The Battle

David W. Riggs

Brian Ondrako

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brian Ondrako's LinkedIn Performance

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