Hacker News Reader

Comment by gameofcode | Hacker News Reader

I have just got the MVP ready for my 'analytics in a specific niche' SaaS product - I'd love to just pay someone cash to sell it for me and help me get from zero to one. I'd happily give recurring referral commission on top of cash. I can then work on refining the product with the first few customers.

What are my options? This looks promising but sadly I seem to fall under one of the "This course isn't a good fit for you, if..." points (last one). If anyone could direct me to other options I would be very grateful!

View on HN

Sales recruiter here. If you want to scale your company, and attract the help of any salesperson worth a damn, you need to go out and get some customers on your own.

Being a founder / CEO is the closest thing to magic in sales. While it's certainly hard moving into a sales role, you will come across as far more credible than any salesperson you'll ever hire.

Hell, your first and third sentences basically sums up your pitch. It's going to be a lot more convincing coming from you, the person who knows the infrastructure and the product than a salesperson.

Good founders tend to be involved in sales for a while. Not to say you will be doing it forever, but if you can't close customers, you'll also struggle to close candidates & investors. Sales is a critical skill that you simply must learn.

> I'd love to just pay someone cash to sell it for me and help me get from zero to one.

I've seen quite a few founders try this, and it normally ends badly.

There are two main drawbacks...

1. The salesperson effectively becomes the CEO. They understand the customers better, have the relationships, and may not get all of this across to you - especially in the event they leave suddenly.

2. If you hire a salesperson without knowing how to sell your product (and some results already), you'll never know if it's your salesperson or your product that is underperforming. And you'll have no idea how to fix it.

I don't know what the best solution for you is, but consider looking into the Mom Test book to help you learn how to get from zero to one by talking to customers. It's a great book, and required (included) reading as part of my S4F course.

Good luck!

Sometimes the advice you don't want to hear is the best advice, so thank you for giving me hard truths!

I'll check out the book for sure. Good luck with the course.

Hey best of luck. It took me a while to get started but with practice, it gets better. You also learn a lot from speaking with people about what works and what doesn’t that you won’t ever get from hiring someone else.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com