Over the years, Kfund has been dedicated to better supporting our portfolio companies as they grow, the key need that scale ups are looking for is growing their revenues. 1 additional million euros in ARR when you are finding product-market fit can define the valuation of your next round, the appetite of the market and the whole trajectory of your company.
From my personal journey, transitioning from a salesman to an investor, I’ve realized something crucial: we VCs just don’t have many of the answers founders need. However, what we can do is help founders figure out what the right questions are, drawing on our past experiences and the various perspectives we've gained in the past.
Now, let’s be a bit bold—sales isn’t primarily about talent! :)
I’ve witnessed way too many interviews where promising candidates failed, not because they lacked potential, but because they were underprepared. Too often, they relied on raw talent to improvise through questions, while interviewers were looking for a clear, structured plan of action to achieve targets. In my view, excelling in sales is about creating and following a process. If you add talent to that mix, you increase your chances of truly excelling.
This post is focused on helping founders present their sales methodology and process to investors—both of which are essential from day one as they transition from selling in the tens of thousands to hundreds, and eventually millions.
A little disclaimer: I’m particularly biased toward Enterprise sales, as we say in Spain, “la cabra tira al monte” (our roots will always remain). But of course, adapt these insights to whatever fits your business stage and customer profile.
I am splitting this post in 2 releases, as follows:
Here come the Part 1:
Showcase there is a real market out there waiting for you, your product or service. It is all about demonstrating that there are potential paying customers with real hunger and sense of urgency, who benefit from what you're building today. Investors need to validate your business model quickly, please be prepared to share real names, understandable examples of the use case and information on who you would run into competing for deals.
The problem
Make sure no one leaves the room without a clear understanding of the problems you aim to solve for your client. Be as detailed as possible—identify specific size, verticals, roles, and departments involved. Then, outline the tools you plan to use and the technology you’re building to support these solutions.
Not obvious - here are 2 ideas to generate a sense of urgency for your prospects. The cost of inactions, as how much money prospects are losing every hour for not using your product; The cost of technical debt, Illustrate how their technical debt is growing every hour, making it even more difficult and costly to switch to a new technology in the future.
Use Cases
Understanding what sets you apart from competitors and the true value you bring to customers often takes time. One approach is to focus on one or two verticals and explain your use case in more detail. Since there's rarely a one-size-fits-all pitch, demonstrate your ability to adapt your message to meet specific needs—both now and in the future.
Not obvious - Investors can also help generate pipeline for you—this can not only validate your value proposition but also provide potential leads. For example, at K Fund, we’d love to see founders come to the first meeting with a potential use case for some of our own LPs, like Telefónica, BBVA, Estrella Galicia, or Catalana.
Sales levers to accomplish business plan
Critical to think about how your sales levers today and how it will evolve over time. Consider both making things in a different way than the competition which will evolve, from VC-backed challengers to established incumbents.
Not obvious - a simple way to showcase this in your deck is to identify your top 3–5 sales levers today and describe how they will evolve or be replaced by new ones as you approach new, and perhaps larger, clients in the future. Some examples are the evolution for your partnerships, potentially VCs could help to access other startups and as the company upscale (eg: perks), eventually you will need to find incentives for system integrators which are going to help targeting Enterprise clients.
Market context
Be ready to discuss the current market conditions your clients face - you should know them well. These external factors will dictate the type of sales strategy you need, including the structure of your team, the processes you implement, and the tools you require. Tend to think that the solid VCs, the ones you need and want in your cap table, will find out eventually.
Not obvious - How do you plan to accelerate the sales cycle? Begin by recognizing the factors beyond your control and mapping them out as you guide prospects through the sales funnel. For instance, is the upcoming U.S. national election likely to delay your client's decision-making process?
Being a startup without an established reputation is vastly different from being a well-known player with a proven track record—what we call social proof. This distinction is especially significant in sales, where greater effort is required. It’s not just about knowing who you’re selling to within the company but also understanding the true strength of your relationship with that customer.
Sales complexity
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and sales complexity are closely intertwined. The more complex and intense the sales cycle, the higher the cost—especially when significant human involvement is required throughout.
Educational needs
Investors need to assess how educational the sales process is—whether the narrative aligns with the prospect’s level of understanding of the actual value proposition and the impact in their businesses. For example, when selling to larger customers or even mid-market, it's crucial that your pitch reflects their specific needs and challenges and go as granular as you can.
Not obvious - The investors you want on your cap table will be able to identify underperforming metrics, but if you proactively acknowledge potential issues, you not only open the door to discussing solutions but also demonstrate a strong command of your business. You can leverage industry benchmarks to show investors where you stand in terms of metrics like CAC (client acquisition cost), lifetime value (LTV), and annual contract value (ACV).
Projecting your value into your client P&L
It's essential that your value proposition is clearly translated into the client’s Income statement (P&L). Make sure you are able to effectively work it out in any meeting with clients - “lets project the impact I might be able to make” and show this to the investors. Be realistic, is there a budget line in your customers budget with your category named or do you need to create a new market for your product? No wrong answers here, just a different plan of action.
Not obvious - providing a custom P&L to your internal champions at the prospect’s company will make a stronger case for your solution. Since everyone understands revenue and costs, your champions will be able to show it to other stakeholders in the company involved in the decision making process.
Startups often grow quickly, it’s crucial to understand that business health is frequently measured by their most recent performance. However, founders should be able to articulate a coherent journey from day one and explain why the company is currently at a tipping point.
Revenues
Start by reviewing your historical performance—comparing actual revenue to targets and highlighting year-over-year growth. Most importantly, address the common question investors ask: “Why now?” Craft a compelling narrative that answers this, giving them a clear reason to believe in your timing and potential.
Not obvious - If you’ve shared a previous funding deck with this investor, they might cross-check your past revenue projections against your current actuals. Be transparent about your track record and open in explaining any discrepancies.
Team KPIs and Metrics
Review both team-wide and individual performance metrics. Explain how you set and adjust targets, how many of your sales reps are currently meeting those targets, and discuss the actual ramp-up time during onboarding. Don’t forget to discuss current performance, having all sales making quota will raise questions about how conservative you are setting targets. So, how many sales reps are making quota? Who are the best performers - plan to retain them? What is the seniority of the sales team members?
Sales Pipeline
Evaluate the strength of your sales pipeline by examining lead volume and quality, deal stages, and how inbound and outbound conversion rates are working differently. Forecast accuracy is crucial, so ensure you provide a view of your current pipeline coverage relative to your revenue target, including a weighted pipeline versus the target using your historical conversion rate.
Not obvious - Again…be prepared to acknowledge that sales teams are often only as good as their last quarter—it’s a tough reality! Bring this mindset into your investor meetings and demonstrate your energy, momentum, and ability to either maintain strong performance or turn challenges into opportunities.
Sales Health
Assess the overall health and profitability of your sales operations by analyzing factors such as discounting practices and the cost of sales at each stage.
Not obvious - building social proof often might require offering significant pricing discounts. Treat this as part of your marketing budget and clearly explain the rationale behind targeting certain customers over others and the plan to expand into those accounts.
So that's all, folks…for now! I will be publishing Part 2 in a few weeks. If you don’t want to miss it, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter here.
Over the years, Kfund has been dedicated to better supporting our portfolio companies as they grow, the key need that scale ups are looking for is growing their revenues. 1 additional million euros in ARR when you are finding product-market fit can define the valuation of your next round, the appetite of the market and the whole trajectory of your company.
From my personal journey, transitioning from a salesman to an investor, I’ve realized something crucial: we VCs just don’t have many of the answers founders need. However, what we can do is help founders figure out what the right questions are, drawing on our past experiences and the various perspectives we've gained in the past.
Now, let’s be a bit bold—sales isn’t primarily about talent! :)
I’ve witnessed way too many interviews where promising candidates failed, not because they lacked potential, but because they were underprepared. Too often, they relied on raw talent to improvise through questions, while interviewers were looking for a clear, structured plan of action to achieve targets. In my view, excelling in sales is about creating and following a process. If you add talent to that mix, you increase your chances of truly excelling.
This post is focused on helping founders present their sales methodology and process to investors—both of which are essential from day one as they transition from selling in the tens of thousands to hundreds, and eventually millions.
A little disclaimer: I’m particularly biased toward Enterprise sales, as we say in Spain, “la cabra tira al monte” (our roots will always remain). But of course, adapt these insights to whatever fits your business stage and customer profile.
I am splitting this post in 2 releases, as follows:
Here come the Part 1:
Showcase there is a real market out there waiting for you, your product or service. It is all about demonstrating that there are potential paying customers with real hunger and sense of urgency, who benefit from what you're building today. Investors need to validate your business model quickly, please be prepared to share real names, understandable examples of the use case and information on who you would run into competing for deals.
The problem
Make sure no one leaves the room without a clear understanding of the problems you aim to solve for your client. Be as detailed as possible—identify specific size, verticals, roles, and departments involved. Then, outline the tools you plan to use and the technology you’re building to support these solutions.
Not obvious - here are 2 ideas to generate a sense of urgency for your prospects. The cost of inactions, as how much money prospects are losing every hour for not using your product; The cost of technical debt, Illustrate how their technical debt is growing every hour, making it even more difficult and costly to switch to a new technology in the future.
Use Cases
Understanding what sets you apart from competitors and the true value you bring to customers often takes time. One approach is to focus on one or two verticals and explain your use case in more detail. Since there's rarely a one-size-fits-all pitch, demonstrate your ability to adapt your message to meet specific needs—both now and in the future.
Not obvious - Investors can also help generate pipeline for you—this can not only validate your value proposition but also provide potential leads. For example, at K Fund, we’d love to see founders come to the first meeting with a potential use case for some of our own LPs, like Telefónica, BBVA, Estrella Galicia, or Catalana.
Sales levers to accomplish business plan
Critical to think about how your sales levers today and how it will evolve over time. Consider both making things in a different way than the competition which will evolve, from VC-backed challengers to established incumbents.
Not obvious - a simple way to showcase this in your deck is to identify your top 3–5 sales levers today and describe how they will evolve or be replaced by new ones as you approach new, and perhaps larger, clients in the future. Some examples are the evolution for your partnerships, potentially VCs could help to access other startups and as the company upscale (eg: perks), eventually you will need to find incentives for system integrators which are going to help targeting Enterprise clients.
Market context
Be ready to discuss the current market conditions your clients face - you should know them well. These external factors will dictate the type of sales strategy you need, including the structure of your team, the processes you implement, and the tools you require. Tend to think that the solid VCs, the ones you need and want in your cap table, will find out eventually.
Not obvious - How do you plan to accelerate the sales cycle? Begin by recognizing the factors beyond your control and mapping them out as you guide prospects through the sales funnel. For instance, is the upcoming U.S. national election likely to delay your client's decision-making process?
Being a startup without an established reputation is vastly different from being a well-known player with a proven track record—what we call social proof. This distinction is especially significant in sales, where greater effort is required. It’s not just about knowing who you’re selling to within the company but also understanding the true strength of your relationship with that customer.
Sales complexity
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and sales complexity are closely intertwined. The more complex and intense the sales cycle, the higher the cost—especially when significant human involvement is required throughout.
Educational needs
Investors need to assess how educational the sales process is—whether the narrative aligns with the prospect’s level of understanding of the actual value proposition and the impact in their businesses. For example, when selling to larger customers or even mid-market, it's crucial that your pitch reflects their specific needs and challenges and go as granular as you can.
Not obvious - The investors you want on your cap table will be able to identify underperforming metrics, but if you proactively acknowledge potential issues, you not only open the door to discussing solutions but also demonstrate a strong command of your business. You can leverage industry benchmarks to show investors where you stand in terms of metrics like CAC (client acquisition cost), lifetime value (LTV), and annual contract value (ACV).
Projecting your value into your client P&L
It's essential that your value proposition is clearly translated into the client’s Income statement (P&L). Make sure you are able to effectively work it out in any meeting with clients - “lets project the impact I might be able to make” and show this to the investors. Be realistic, is there a budget line in your customers budget with your category named or do you need to create a new market for your product? No wrong answers here, just a different plan of action.
Not obvious - providing a custom P&L to your internal champions at the prospect’s company will make a stronger case for your solution. Since everyone understands revenue and costs, your champions will be able to show it to other stakeholders in the company involved in the decision making process.
Startups often grow quickly, it’s crucial to understand that business health is frequently measured by their most recent performance. However, founders should be able to articulate a coherent journey from day one and explain why the company is currently at a tipping point.
Revenues
Start by reviewing your historical performance—comparing actual revenue to targets and highlighting year-over-year growth. Most importantly, address the common question investors ask: “Why now?” Craft a compelling narrative that answers this, giving them a clear reason to believe in your timing and potential.
Not obvious - If you’ve shared a previous funding deck with this investor, they might cross-check your past revenue projections against your current actuals. Be transparent about your track record and open in explaining any discrepancies.
Team KPIs and Metrics
Review both team-wide and individual performance metrics. Explain how you set and adjust targets, how many of your sales reps are currently meeting those targets, and discuss the actual ramp-up time during onboarding. Don’t forget to discuss current performance, having all sales making quota will raise questions about how conservative you are setting targets. So, how many sales reps are making quota? Who are the best performers - plan to retain them? What is the seniority of the sales team members?
Sales Pipeline
Evaluate the strength of your sales pipeline by examining lead volume and quality, deal stages, and how inbound and outbound conversion rates are working differently. Forecast accuracy is crucial, so ensure you provide a view of your current pipeline coverage relative to your revenue target, including a weighted pipeline versus the target using your historical conversion rate.
Not obvious - Again…be prepared to acknowledge that sales teams are often only as good as their last quarter—it’s a tough reality! Bring this mindset into your investor meetings and demonstrate your energy, momentum, and ability to either maintain strong performance or turn challenges into opportunities.
Sales Health
Assess the overall health and profitability of your sales operations by analyzing factors such as discounting practices and the cost of sales at each stage.
Not obvious - building social proof often might require offering significant pricing discounts. Treat this as part of your marketing budget and clearly explain the rationale behind targeting certain customers over others and the plan to expand into those accounts.
So that's all, folks…for now! I will be publishing Part 2 in a few weeks. If you don’t want to miss it, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter here.
