A few weeks ago, I shared the first part of this guide designed to help founders effectively present their sales methodology and processes to investors—key elements for scaling from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and ultimately to millions in revenue. Today, we’ll wrap up the series with valuable insights and a special bonus for those who stick around until the end. 😉
While there’s general consensus that early-stage sales should be founder-driven—allowing for direct market access and firsthand product feedback—the transition to a specialized sales team happens quickly. As a founder, it's essential to start thinking about how you'll structure and lead this team from early days.
Team Structure
We evaluate the structure of the sales team, ensuring there are clearly defined roles and responsibilities, both for the present and to accommodate future growth. A solid hierarchy should be in place, with room for evolution as the company scales.
Leadership
Is the current leadership equipped to take the company to the next level? We examine whether the team structure is aligned with the type of sales required—whether the level of sophistication of the sales team is often determined by the type of client you might have. Does the leadership team have the right skills for this growth phase?
Investors review the experience and backgrounds of the sales team, with a particular focus on leadership. It's important to assess whether the team’s expertise aligns with your industry and business needs, as well as whether they have a proven track record of driving growth.
Not obvious - anticipating future needs is key but don’t rush into filling executive roles. Allow people to grow into their positions, while leaving space for a senior hire if needed down the line.
Competitor Benchmarking
Use LinkedIn to check out the leadership backgrounds of your competitors. It’s a great way to see if your own team stacks up or if there’s room to level up. When it comes to competitors, the key is to clearly articulate how you win against each of them.
One super useful tool for this is a competitor battlecard. It’s a simple, living document that highlights your competitors' strengths and weaknesses. This helps your sales team anticipate client objections and craft stronger pitches. Plus, investors love seeing this kind of strategic prep. Just make sure to keep it updated regularly!
Regional expansion
It’s crucial to understand the unique sales levers/ playbook for each country or region to optimize strategy and execution, then the type of hire you need in order to do so, is it more a builder or an executor? How scrappy do we need this person to be?
Not obvious - If you’re planning to hire someone senior —especially if your current team needs additional support—prepare a detailed job description for the role. Bring an example or LinkedIn profile to the meeting with investors and ask for candidate introductions.
In today’s fast-paced environment, having a tech stack that maximizes sales productivity is more important than ever - as the tech barriers are going down and everyone will be able to do so, this needs to happen from day 1 and there are many options out there to make it happen without spending much.
Sales Funnel Review
Investors need to conduct a comprehensive review of the entire sales funnel, identifying strengths and weaknesses at each stage - finding where the bottleneck sits. This includes examining the process from lead generation to deal closure, ensuring it is somehow repeatable and scalable for future growth.
Pipeline qualification
We assess whether the team is employing established sales qualification methodologies, investors need to evaluate how effectively these frameworks are integrated into daily operations. You need to explain what type of lead is coming to the pipeline, what filters have been used.
Not obvious - Here is a criteria I have used in previous lifes:
CHAMP Qualification Components:
· Challenges (Lead Fit): Assess whether the lead's specific pain points and challenges align with your solution’s offerings. Understanding their needs ensures a strong lead fit.
· Authority (Decision-Making Power): Identify the key decision-makers within the organization. Ensure you're engaging with individuals who have the authority to approve or influence purchasing decisions.
· Money (Budget Availability): confirm the lead has the financial resources or allocated budget to invest in your solution. This helps avoid pursuing leads that cannot afford your offering.
· Priority (Urgency and Timing): determine the lead's level of urgency and the timing for addressing their challenges. Prioritize leads that view solving their problem as an immediate or high-priority action.
CRM Systems
No brainer you need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in place, ensuring that it is fully utilized for tracking customer interactions, managing leads, and generating accurate reports. The goal is to confirm that the CRM enhances both visibility and decision-making, if someone leaves the company the information stays there.
Not obvious - Be prepared to log into your CRM system during an investor meetings to discuss the next steps of any deal and provide a granular view of the deal lifecycle within your funnel. Highlight where deals are getting stuck and, more importantly, explain what actions you’re taking to address those bottlenecks.
Sales Enablement Tools
There are a whole bunch of solutions out there to help the sales team become more effective. We like to see the suite of sales tools and software used by the team, including email automation, lead generation platforms, and sales intelligence systems. We ensure these tools are well-integrated and efficiently utilized.
We evaluate the onboarding and training programs for new hires, ensuring they are comprehensive and effective, and think about the ramp for the new members to get up to speed. We also verify that ongoing training and professional development opportunities are in place to maintain and enhance team productivity.
As our company scales, transitioning from early adopters to mainstream customers could become key to survival. Investors need to understand the typology of clients especially if you move beyond niche markets and appeal to a broader, more standardized customer base.
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
By combining insights from formal customer interactions and back-channel feedback, we try to understand the future Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This ensures alignment with our long-term growth strategies and positions the company to target the right customer segments.
Explain the insertion point
Essentially, the "entry point" is where the business identifies an opportunity to make an impact or gain traction with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This involves understanding the technology stack your ICP uses and determining where your solution can seamlessly integrate. It’s about identifying legacy systems your product can replace or complement, ensuring coexistence where necessary.
Additionally, recognizing the technology your prospect already employs can provide valuable insights and enhance your chances of winning the deal by aligning your offering with their existing setup
Decision-Maker mapping
We ensure there’s a clear understanding of who is involved in the decision-making process. When multiple stakeholders are involved, it’s important to reflect this structure within your team—aligning technical experts with their counterparts and business experts with theirs, opening several communication channels would help.
Not obvious - clearly explain who the buyer and the payer are, if they are different. This distinction is crucial for investors to understand the sales dynamics, think about the capillary of one decision maker and many potential buyers within an organization, revenue ramp times, etc.
Customer churn
While some level of churn is inevitable, we proactively evaluate it to uncover the root causes. Setting some cohorts would help to elaborate on the reasons, break down customer behavior into more specific groups, provide a deeper understanding of the patterns behind, see the impact of previous changes and gain predictability.
Customer satisfaction
Investors actively gather and analyze customer feedback and satisfaction ratings to uncover patterns in complaints or areas that need improvement, it won’t be hard for anyone to find clients reviews out there. Alongside formal feedback channels, we also conduct discreet back-channel inquiries to gain additional insights.
There are several customer satisfaction metrics to help gauge loyalty and the likelihood of customers recommending your product to others. A simple yet effective one is Net Promoter Score (NPS), which provides insight into your growth potential. Investors are likely after more details, as you scale, it is a fantastic practice running a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) survey to uncover specific issues and areas for improvement.
Beyond these, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your churn rate, as it highlights how well you're retaining customers. To take it a step further, running cohort analyses can help you align your strategies and optimize the deployment of services for different customer segments.
Not obvious - When discussing the value you provide to a client, focus on being specific about the impact (ie: indicate a $ amount) in addition to how much revenue you make with them. Be prepared to suggest client names for potential introductions - mainly with a short list, investors would also need to conduct their own back-channel research and you can accelerate times.
When you're preparing for a funding meeting:
If you’ve made it this far through both articles, it means one thing: you’re truly passionate about mastering sales. To support driven individuals like you, we’ve created this deck, packed with everything you need to refine your sales strategy and elevate your future meetings with investors. I hope you find it both insightful and practical!
Are you a member of the sales team at a fast-growing startup? Feel free to reach out if you want to chat more—I’d love to discuss any of these points in detail!
borja@kfund.vc
A few weeks ago, I shared the first part of this guide designed to help founders effectively present their sales methodology and processes to investors—key elements for scaling from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and ultimately to millions in revenue. Today, we’ll wrap up the series with valuable insights and a special bonus for those who stick around until the end. 😉
While there’s general consensus that early-stage sales should be founder-driven—allowing for direct market access and firsthand product feedback—the transition to a specialized sales team happens quickly. As a founder, it's essential to start thinking about how you'll structure and lead this team from early days.
Team Structure
We evaluate the structure of the sales team, ensuring there are clearly defined roles and responsibilities, both for the present and to accommodate future growth. A solid hierarchy should be in place, with room for evolution as the company scales.
Leadership
Is the current leadership equipped to take the company to the next level? We examine whether the team structure is aligned with the type of sales required—whether the level of sophistication of the sales team is often determined by the type of client you might have. Does the leadership team have the right skills for this growth phase?
Investors review the experience and backgrounds of the sales team, with a particular focus on leadership. It's important to assess whether the team’s expertise aligns with your industry and business needs, as well as whether they have a proven track record of driving growth.
Not obvious - anticipating future needs is key but don’t rush into filling executive roles. Allow people to grow into their positions, while leaving space for a senior hire if needed down the line.
Competitor Benchmarking
Use LinkedIn to check out the leadership backgrounds of your competitors. It’s a great way to see if your own team stacks up or if there’s room to level up. When it comes to competitors, the key is to clearly articulate how you win against each of them.
One super useful tool for this is a competitor battlecard. It’s a simple, living document that highlights your competitors' strengths and weaknesses. This helps your sales team anticipate client objections and craft stronger pitches. Plus, investors love seeing this kind of strategic prep. Just make sure to keep it updated regularly!
Regional expansion
It’s crucial to understand the unique sales levers/ playbook for each country or region to optimize strategy and execution, then the type of hire you need in order to do so, is it more a builder or an executor? How scrappy do we need this person to be?
Not obvious - If you’re planning to hire someone senior —especially if your current team needs additional support—prepare a detailed job description for the role. Bring an example or LinkedIn profile to the meeting with investors and ask for candidate introductions.
In today’s fast-paced environment, having a tech stack that maximizes sales productivity is more important than ever - as the tech barriers are going down and everyone will be able to do so, this needs to happen from day 1 and there are many options out there to make it happen without spending much.
Sales Funnel Review
Investors need to conduct a comprehensive review of the entire sales funnel, identifying strengths and weaknesses at each stage - finding where the bottleneck sits. This includes examining the process from lead generation to deal closure, ensuring it is somehow repeatable and scalable for future growth.
Pipeline qualification
We assess whether the team is employing established sales qualification methodologies, investors need to evaluate how effectively these frameworks are integrated into daily operations. You need to explain what type of lead is coming to the pipeline, what filters have been used.
Not obvious - Here is a criteria I have used in previous lifes:
CHAMP Qualification Components:
· Challenges (Lead Fit): Assess whether the lead's specific pain points and challenges align with your solution’s offerings. Understanding their needs ensures a strong lead fit.
· Authority (Decision-Making Power): Identify the key decision-makers within the organization. Ensure you're engaging with individuals who have the authority to approve or influence purchasing decisions.
· Money (Budget Availability): confirm the lead has the financial resources or allocated budget to invest in your solution. This helps avoid pursuing leads that cannot afford your offering.
· Priority (Urgency and Timing): determine the lead's level of urgency and the timing for addressing their challenges. Prioritize leads that view solving their problem as an immediate or high-priority action.
CRM Systems
No brainer you need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in place, ensuring that it is fully utilized for tracking customer interactions, managing leads, and generating accurate reports. The goal is to confirm that the CRM enhances both visibility and decision-making, if someone leaves the company the information stays there.
Not obvious - Be prepared to log into your CRM system during an investor meetings to discuss the next steps of any deal and provide a granular view of the deal lifecycle within your funnel. Highlight where deals are getting stuck and, more importantly, explain what actions you’re taking to address those bottlenecks.
Sales Enablement Tools
There are a whole bunch of solutions out there to help the sales team become more effective. We like to see the suite of sales tools and software used by the team, including email automation, lead generation platforms, and sales intelligence systems. We ensure these tools are well-integrated and efficiently utilized.
We evaluate the onboarding and training programs for new hires, ensuring they are comprehensive and effective, and think about the ramp for the new members to get up to speed. We also verify that ongoing training and professional development opportunities are in place to maintain and enhance team productivity.
As our company scales, transitioning from early adopters to mainstream customers could become key to survival. Investors need to understand the typology of clients especially if you move beyond niche markets and appeal to a broader, more standardized customer base.
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
By combining insights from formal customer interactions and back-channel feedback, we try to understand the future Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This ensures alignment with our long-term growth strategies and positions the company to target the right customer segments.
Explain the insertion point
Essentially, the "entry point" is where the business identifies an opportunity to make an impact or gain traction with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This involves understanding the technology stack your ICP uses and determining where your solution can seamlessly integrate. It’s about identifying legacy systems your product can replace or complement, ensuring coexistence where necessary.
Additionally, recognizing the technology your prospect already employs can provide valuable insights and enhance your chances of winning the deal by aligning your offering with their existing setup
Decision-Maker mapping
We ensure there’s a clear understanding of who is involved in the decision-making process. When multiple stakeholders are involved, it’s important to reflect this structure within your team—aligning technical experts with their counterparts and business experts with theirs, opening several communication channels would help.
Not obvious - clearly explain who the buyer and the payer are, if they are different. This distinction is crucial for investors to understand the sales dynamics, think about the capillary of one decision maker and many potential buyers within an organization, revenue ramp times, etc.
Customer churn
While some level of churn is inevitable, we proactively evaluate it to uncover the root causes. Setting some cohorts would help to elaborate on the reasons, break down customer behavior into more specific groups, provide a deeper understanding of the patterns behind, see the impact of previous changes and gain predictability.
Customer satisfaction
Investors actively gather and analyze customer feedback and satisfaction ratings to uncover patterns in complaints or areas that need improvement, it won’t be hard for anyone to find clients reviews out there. Alongside formal feedback channels, we also conduct discreet back-channel inquiries to gain additional insights.
There are several customer satisfaction metrics to help gauge loyalty and the likelihood of customers recommending your product to others. A simple yet effective one is Net Promoter Score (NPS), which provides insight into your growth potential. Investors are likely after more details, as you scale, it is a fantastic practice running a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) survey to uncover specific issues and areas for improvement.
Beyond these, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your churn rate, as it highlights how well you're retaining customers. To take it a step further, running cohort analyses can help you align your strategies and optimize the deployment of services for different customer segments.
Not obvious - When discussing the value you provide to a client, focus on being specific about the impact (ie: indicate a $ amount) in addition to how much revenue you make with them. Be prepared to suggest client names for potential introductions - mainly with a short list, investors would also need to conduct their own back-channel research and you can accelerate times.
When you're preparing for a funding meeting:
If you’ve made it this far through both articles, it means one thing: you’re truly passionate about mastering sales. To support driven individuals like you, we’ve created this deck, packed with everything you need to refine your sales strategy and elevate your future meetings with investors. I hope you find it both insightful and practical!
Are you a member of the sales team at a fast-growing startup? Feel free to reach out if you want to chat more—I’d love to discuss any of these points in detail!
borja@kfund.vc
