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Demand Gen First Principles to Acquire Your Earliest Customers

<h2>Startups are hard. Selling is hard. Selling at a startup is especially hard.</h2><p>Every founder and sales leader wants to operationalize a capital efficient sales motion, but many end up creating teams and processes that aren’t set up for success.&nbsp;</p><p>I launched Startup Sales Consulting to help founders and sales teams scale beyond founder-led sales and lay the foundation to capital efficient growth. If you’re a founder or sales leader and want to chat about GTM strategy, RevOps, sales coaching, or fractional sales leadership - email me at dan@yourstartupsales.com.&nbsp;</p><p>--</p><p>Finding your first paying customers and creating a scalable sales process is a colossal endeavor - at least that’s how it seemed to me when I first began working in sales at a startup. Fortunately, I had a network of mentors to guide me on strategies and tactics specific to my situation. They demystified this black box of an obstacle into smaller workflows and components that I could tackle one by one.</p><p>Over time, I learned that what they were sharing with me wasn’t esoteric knowledge, but proven best practices many companies follow to go from zero to one and beyond. Plenty of online communities were also talking about these standard techniques and sharing free resources.</p><p>My intention of this post is to share a curated list of resources for founders and early stage startup employees new to sales. Though not a replacement for having someone in your corner who’s done it before, the concepts here should be a helpful complement.</p><h2>Generic sales resources</h2><p>These are some of my favorite resources covering a myriad of sales and startup topics.</p><h3>Free online libraries</h3><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.gong.io/resources/" href="https://www.gong.io/resources/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gong</a> has an extensive library of templates, guides, and “cheat sheets”<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.30mpc.com/toolkit" href="https://www.30mpc.com/toolkit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30 MPC</a> has great tactical toolkits for prospecting and selling<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://gtmnow.com/" href="https://gtmnow.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GTM Now</a> (previously called Sales Hacker) - online resource library from the GTM Fund<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/sales/" href="https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/sales/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GitLab’s sales playbook</a> - example of what a “good” sales playbook looks like. Less relevant for early stage startups, but structured well so you can see all of the components that go into building a sales machine.<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://airtable.com/appGc0v7TfWslJP7L/shrX0gSEGYdasEu58/tblBOqYAGCSL9bVRC" href="https://airtable.com/appGc0v7TfWslJP7L/shrX0gSEGYdasEu58/tblBOqYAGCSL9bVRC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ZoomInfo GTM plays</a> - a list of low hanging fruit and growth hacks likely relevant to your team</p><h3>Books</h3><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.foundingsales.com/" href="https://www.foundingsales.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Founding Sales</a> by Pete Kazanjay (free online version) - as the title suggests, a great “how-to” guide for going from 0-1<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.com/Fast-Forward-Accelerating-Sales-Startups-ebook/dp/B0926S28Q8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MH3FTU0XNV1H&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ivhfHuyNR3eRmnsg7ms6Pbd6h_wuoqtC0i7KPq4la2TkDWHqhEQdJSZfwfGDfEAXXHLcKl2Ct6NsrYGMwb7pJ6-yXyyrZ7vxkp8T5Tm7xSW7QJf5rO7L04Ve-OGip_E7SUd-9ygL2pNAj2FIdhl4XVLBqrS2MDbyN_np-GFIVCXRxgHZrEekSnqHfhDMgBdIJcHer7wGJH9NupVieXIZPLnxlyLDkzT6JcHN_E9yG70.kK93QUosQrmZKlYVjerjUUZqO_aOvgO1VcKzHp761oA&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=fast+forward+accelerating+b2b+sales&amp;qid=1711552782&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=fast+forward+accelerating+b2b+sales%2Cstripbooks%2C86&amp;sr=1-1" href="https://www.amazon.com/Fast-Forward-Accelerating-Sales-Startups-ebook/dp/B0926S28Q8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MH3FTU0XNV1H&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ivhfHuyNR3eRmnsg7ms6Pbd6h_wuoqtC0i7KPq4la2TkDWHqhEQdJSZfwfGDfEAXXHLcKl2Ct6NsrYGMwb7pJ6-yXyyrZ7vxkp8T5Tm7xSW7QJf5rO7L04Ve-OGip_E7SUd-9ygL2pNAj2FIdhl4XVLBqrS2MDbyN_np-GFIVCXRxgHZrEekSnqHfhDMgBdIJcHer7wGJH9NupVieXIZPLnxlyLDkzT6JcHN_E9yG70.kK93QUosQrmZKlYVjerjUUZqO_aOvgO1VcKzHp761oA&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=fast+forward+accelerating+b2b+sales&amp;qid=1711552782&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=fast+forward+accelerating+b2b+sales%2Cstripbooks%2C86&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fast Forward: Accelerating B2B Sales for Startups</a> by Martin Giese and Matthias Hilpert - This is mostly complementary to the book above, and particularly relevant once you have your initial cohort of customers<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986" href="https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crossing the Chasm</a> by Geoffrey Moore - helpful for knowing the difference between selling to early adopters and the early majority<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Sale-Control-Customer-Conversation/dp/1591844355/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UH8SOHNXNEXJ&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IBLLG71VcbY4Sl9SfuFAkLjH64-U1ky3r-iBQHe7IsksHPetf2bSbMrM79SNzvuU6JOMZjPfdzBOjO7lc1NmP8xnTVNXoRdBq0gjWv97AFQDFOgbK-OQ0Eipcp_l2vmQ7Q31waxYBxb3t4PAm7pkJB7e6nMsury14hoKxGBDjGf2m6daQQk6ehvOFh-tlr8mr-qCVwBrWH37jSprgMgqSQX0piC5gqje9fM2cAmGELw.rh48M44kJ4_i-jyrvrJ86JEh26fBOin3s3h_e7sB_N8&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=the+challenger+sale&amp;qid=1711553184&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=the+challenger+sale%2Cstripbooks%2C97&amp;sr=1-1" href="https://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Sale-Control-Customer-Conversation/dp/1591844355/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UH8SOHNXNEXJ&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IBLLG71VcbY4Sl9SfuFAkLjH64-U1ky3r-iBQHe7IsksHPetf2bSbMrM79SNzvuU6JOMZjPfdzBOjO7lc1NmP8xnTVNXoRdBq0gjWv97AFQDFOgbK-OQ0Eipcp_l2vmQ7Q31waxYBxb3t4PAm7pkJB7e6nMsury14hoKxGBDjGf2m6daQQk6ehvOFh-tlr8mr-qCVwBrWH37jSprgMgqSQX0piC5gqje9fM2cAmGELw.rh48M44kJ4_i-jyrvrJ86JEh26fBOin3s3h_e7sB_N8&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=the+challenger+sale&amp;qid=1711553184&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=the+challenger+sale%2Cstripbooks%2C97&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Challenger Sale</a> by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson - the Challenger sales methodology is the preferred sales method by many high performing enterprise sales teams</p><h3>Podcasts</h3><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/show/28wBBJzGItlklSjZTIwqds" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/28wBBJzGItlklSjZTIwqds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30 MPC</a> (30 Minutes to President’s Club) by Nick Cegelski and Armand Farrokh - This is my favorite sales podcast, and I think it should be required listening by everyone new to sales. Every episode begins with four actionable takeaways. They have a great blend of ~30 minute interview style episodes with sales professionals and ~5-10 minute “playbook” episodes where experts share specific tactics.&nbsp;<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3M48nC6r29rITjQ1wFccdN" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3M48nC6r29rITjQ1wFccdN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Outbound Squad</a> - This should also be required listening by everyone new to prospecting and selling. Though many episodes are more relevant to growth and enterprise level teams, start-up sellers can learn a lot from JBay<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4eW3HflQ6JZGEDEKpaH8gC" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4eW3HflQ6JZGEDEKpaH8gC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Revenue Blueprint</a> - combination of interviews with tech leaders on their entrepreneurial journeys and actionable tactics from 0-1 growth experts Seth DeHart and Jason Lalk<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3zpRegH0Xo2r6JVKDYNBxv" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3zpRegH0Xo2r6JVKDYNBxv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Startup Selling Podcast </a>- great advice for founders and sales leaders on sales process and strategy</p><h3>Newsletters</h3><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.saastr.com/the-new-and-improved-saastr-newsletter/" href="https://www.saastr.com/the-new-and-improved-saastr-newsletter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SaaStr Daily</a> - Jason is a veteran and very plugged in to the SaaS ecosystem. His newsletter shares great bite-size stories and tactics from his experience<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://salesflo.substack.com/archive" href="https://salesflo.substack.com/archive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prospecting from the Trenches</a> - Actionable and effective tactics for prospecting<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/" href="https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The GTM Newsletter</a> - Scott’s write-ups are relevant and useful on what’s happening in the SaaS GTM community<br></p><h3>Training<br></h3><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellhoffman/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellhoffman/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hoffman</a> - Great bite-size content and webinars, and online classes are reasonably priced for individuals. I’d recommend founders new to selling take their three-part online class series that are each ~90 minutes (“Start the Deal”, “Work the Deal”, and “Close the Deal”)<br>-A lot of other sales training I’ve come across is better geared towards refining skills of sales professionals who have been selling for some time rather than founders or new sellers without much experience. If you’re at this stage, consider Sandler or other organizations offering training on Challenger, SPIN selling, or MEDDIC</p><h3>Communities</h3><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.pocus.com/community" href="https://www.pocus.com/community" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pocus</a> - Slack community for PLG folks<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://bravado.co/" href="https://bravado.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bravado</a> - Online anonymous community for sales professionals. Like Reddit but for sales<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.revgenius.com/" href="https://www.revgenius.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RevGenius</a> - 45k+ member Slack community of RevOps and sales professionals</p><h2>Functional specific content</h2><p>Here I’ve curated specific podcast episodes, articles, and other resources relevant to functions within the “startup sales” umbrella.</p><h3>Prospecting</h3><p><strong>Email</strong><br></p><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6w3OyZVjxHCtLnG9l8JfMN?si=PfGUQ92rQ-Cb6ngCgg6JIQ" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6w3OyZVjxHCtLnG9l8JfMN?si=PfGUQ92rQ-Cb6ngCgg6JIQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cold email playbook</a> (26 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/5m9xizZBMYMtin4TyG5vAF?si=YyXZD6kJTTKmSNg5WIeItQ" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/5m9xizZBMYMtin4TyG5vAF?si=YyXZD6kJTTKmSNg5WIeItQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Personalizing outbound email at scale</a> (30 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jasondbay_sales-prospecting-dailyprospectingtips-activity-6696746117104836608-0lHL/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jasondbay_sales-prospecting-dailyprospectingtips-activity-6696746117104836608-0lHL/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Personalization triggers</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.gong.io/resources/templates/sales-template-email/" href="https://www.gong.io/resources/templates/sales-template-email/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Email templates from Gong</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.gong.io/resources/guides/7-laws-of-highly-effective-sales-emails/" href="https://www.gong.io/resources/guides/7-laws-of-highly-effective-sales-emails/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Laws of highly effective emails</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.gong.io/resources/guides/cheat-sheet-43-highly-effective-email-ctas/" href="https://www.gong.io/resources/guides/cheat-sheet-43-highly-effective-email-ctas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Effective email CTAs</a><br></p><p><strong>Cold calling</strong><br></p><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6YJRcnm7w5osSuC74URri0?si=C74D0iqiQNWDBtSBCt7H8Q&amp;nd=1&amp;dlsi=fe55483259fb4cd3" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6YJRcnm7w5osSuC74URri0?si=C74D0iqiQNWDBtSBCt7H8Q&amp;nd=1&amp;dlsi=fe55483259fb4cd3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cold calling playbook</a> by 30MPC (26 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2H6VWhrNYVJuU7erUC7VeX?si=0nsHbx_iT_Oj8nwv7iWb-g" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2H6VWhrNYVJuU7erUC7VeX?si=0nsHbx_iT_Oj8nwv7iWb-g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How Gong’s top rep makes a cold call</a> (7 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://tactics.30mpc.com/morgan-ingrams-cold-call-script?_gl=1*r443pw*_ga*MjA0NzY1OTg0LjE3MTE1NjI0Njc.*_ga_W5HG2ZJ5PM*MTcxMTU2MjQ2Ni4xLjEuMTcxMTU2Mzg1Ni4wLjAuMA.." href="https://tactics.30mpc.com/morgan-ingrams-cold-call-script?_gl=1*r443pw*_ga*MjA0NzY1OTg0LjE3MTE1NjI0Njc.*_ga_W5HG2ZJ5PM*MTcxMTU2MjQ2Ni4xLjEuMTcxMTU2Mzg1Ni4wLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Morgan Ingram’s Cold Call Script</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jasondbay_sales-prospecting-outbound-activity-6796042132621799424-Pg_Y/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jasondbay_sales-prospecting-outbound-activity-6796042132621799424-Pg_Y/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cold call opener guideline</a> (9 min. video)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.gong.io/resources/guides/cold-calling-cheat-sheet/" href="https://www.gong.io/resources/guides/cold-calling-cheat-sheet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gong’s cold call cheat sheet</a><br></p><p><strong>Conferences</strong><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6EGt3WS9gkID2TDfPyc7zB?si=vFfFfzT-SNasVNfd6gTpZA" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6EGt3WS9gkID2TDfPyc7zB?si=vFfFfzT-SNasVNfd6gTpZA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conference prep </a>(8 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://tactics.30mpc.com/30mpcs-floor-hunting-template?_gl=1*34owz8*_ga*MjA0NzY1OTg0LjE3MTE1NjI0Njc.*_ga_W5HG2ZJ5PM*MTcxMTU2MjQ2Ni4xLjEuMTcxMTU2NDIzMC4wLjAuMA.." href="https://tactics.30mpc.com/30mpcs-floor-hunting-template?_gl=1*34owz8*_ga*MjA0NzY1OTg0LjE3MTE1NjI0Njc.*_ga_W5HG2ZJ5PM*MTcxMTU2MjQ2Ni4xLjEuMTcxMTU2NDIzMC4wLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener">30MPC’s Floor hunting template</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/55fuSnR6DfMQZC1gImAfeQ?si=XpZDShzOSWu9CG41_1vOUQ" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/55fuSnR6DfMQZC1gImAfeQ?si=XpZDShzOSWu9CG41_1vOUQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nailing the day of the event</a> (6 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://elenaverna.substack.com/p/b2b-growth-irl-how-to-do-event-marketing" href="https://elenaverna.substack.com/p/b2b-growth-irl-how-to-do-event-marketing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to do event marketing right</a></p><h3>Sales</h3><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/5LK8Y39q4UOfnVuC38Bt3U?si=3fQw6v2jSiudep2sJCL0bw" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/5LK8Y39q4UOfnVuC38Bt3U?si=3fQw6v2jSiudep2sJCL0bw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kicking off sales calls </a>(6 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.gong.io/resources/guides/words-that-sell/" href="https://www.gong.io/resources/guides/words-that-sell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Words that sell</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://outboundsquad.com/ethan-parker7/" href="https://outboundsquad.com/ethan-parker7/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ultimate guide to discovery</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1c3IqTQvL60K6SgHQ0uwJw?si=a42000ceb9544670" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1c3IqTQvL60K6SgHQ0uwJw?si=a42000ceb9544670" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MEDDPIC master class</a> (49 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/0kHm6vVGkJgyFFPd5F4nJ7?si=9c3ba3551b5c4242" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/0kHm6vVGkJgyFFPd5F4nJ7?si=9c3ba3551b5c4242" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Objection handling tactics</a> (59 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2SUu2GRDL76bdQJabQcbVc?si=Nygss6PeTk-2kD3xM5zTMg" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2SUu2GRDL76bdQJabQcbVc?si=Nygss6PeTk-2kD3xM5zTMg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Selling to executives at the enterprise level</a> (30 min. podcast)<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6A0YBpgNSpE2xpcTLgWvmt?si=l1j3MLesScmIUHuzEKaszg" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6A0YBpgNSpE2xpcTLgWvmt?si=l1j3MLesScmIUHuzEKaszg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The negotiating playbook</a> (30 min. podcast)</p><h3>RevOps and Sales Leadership</h3><p>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.mirmeridian.com/0-to-10-saas-metrics" href="https://www.mirmeridian.com/0-to-10-saas-metrics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">0 to 10 SaaS Metrics Guide</a> - Metrics to focus on from 0-$10m<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.repvue.com/" href="https://www.repvue.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RepVue </a>- Sales compensation benchmarks<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.iconiqcapital.com/growth/updates/sales-compensation-101-designing-your-account-executive-incentives-program" href="https://www.iconiqcapital.com/growth/updates/sales-compensation-101-designing-your-account-executive-incentives-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sales compensation 101</a> by ICONIQ<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.iconiqcapital.com/growth/insights/the-go-to-market-reporting-guide" href="https://www.iconiqcapital.com/growth/insights/the-go-to-market-reporting-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go-to-market reporting guide</a> by ICONIQ<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.iconiqcapital.com/growth/insights/2023-growth-and-efficiency" href="https://www.iconiqcapital.com/growth/insights/2023-growth-and-efficiency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Capital efficient growth</a> by ICONIQ<br>-<a data-mce-href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/3URchw5JPQyJaV6xrKrDsV?si=4Spf_6NJSJKJ6gTBlcQhRg" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/3URchw5JPQyJaV6xrKrDsV?si=4Spf_6NJSJKJ6gTBlcQhRg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Running pipeline reviews</a> (30 min. podcast)<br>&nbsp;<br><strong>Lastly - perhaps my favorite category: niche sales-related social media accounts for relatable comedic relief</strong><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/corporate.bro/" href="https://www.instagram.com/corporate.bro/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">corporate.bro</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/unsubscribe.show/" href="https://www.instagram.com/unsubscribe.show/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unsubscribe.show</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/sales_bant_er/" href="https://www.instagram.com/sales_bant_er/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sales_bant_er</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/theangrysalesperson" href="https://www.instagram.com/theangrysalesperson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">theangrysalesperson</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/overheard_sales" href="https://www.instagram.com/overheard_sales" target="_blank" rel="noopener">overheard_sales</a><br>-<a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/life.long.sdr/" href="https://www.instagram.com/life.long.sdr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">life.long.sdr</a></p><p>--</p><p>If you'd like to receive my weekly blog posts delivered directly to your inbox, subscribe to The Startup Sales Newsletter <a data-mce-href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about" href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></p>

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