Distribution Matters More

Most founders don’t understand distribution.

Instead, their focus is on product improvement. Adding new features. Improving screens.

History proves that distribution wins over product quality. No one loves McDonalds, but it sales more hamburgers than your favorite place. Same with Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and all the other companies winning their segment.

The first step is finding the problem to solve. Not a problem. A big enough problem that people buy today. After that, positioning with the Golden Message. Then distribution.

Your Golden Message makes growth a function of money. Meaning you can pay to get this message in front of more people to grow. This is distribution and the reason most founders raise funds.

Distribution is also accomplished with a partner. Such as Microsoft’s early deal with IBM. However, like Microsoft, founders must have multiple distribution strategies.

The first and easiest one is sales culture. Incentives based on over performance, company wide responsibilities for the pipeline, and hiring based on specific attributes.

After that, distribution partners may be the answer. For example, signing a deal with a consulting firm to resale your product to their clients. Or, providing an add-on to a larger product line.

Just be careful as reliance on a single channel can kill you.

That is with one exception. A strong sales culture. Oracle, Microsoft, Nvidia, and most others grew fast due to a relentless focus on sales. Not partners, not ads, but raw in the trenches sales teams grinding it out each day.

Sales is the pinnacle of distribution.

Building a strong sales culture is more important than making a good product.

That cannot be overstated, as most founders don’t get it.

Behind the bright colors, fun offices, and brilliant minds are people making cold calls, hitting quotas, and quietly amassing fortunes.

In my first company, we did not have the best product. Not even close. The best product was in Silicon Valley. It belonged to a well funded company using ads to reach our customers.

My co-founder and I did not have the budget to match them. Besides, it was a loosing game to try. Instead, we bought lists. This was 1999. Then we started calling.

After our first customers signed, we used our funds to hire SDRs. Buying chairs, small desks, and renovating a dental office as our headquarters.

I gave everyone a script, nailed a whiteboard to the wall, and divided the lists. We then paid them an hourly base with a bonus for every meeting generated. When it became too much for us founders to manage, we hired Account Managers.

Did it work? Yes. Less than a year later, we began getting exit offers.

Had we waited until the product was great or even worried about comparing it with competitors, that exit would have never happened.

Sales for Founders

Reply to this email for the complete Sales for Founders guide. It’s just $149 and covers everything from day one to hyper growth. Including a bonus on proven funding tactics.