Matt Plank

He doesn't know how to transform his brilliant thought into a consistent, repeatable sales playbook. He doesn't know how to do that. That's not his thing. And so he's involved in the direction. You know what I mean? He gives a lot of feedback. He's kind of like, this is what I think. But if I push back on him, there's friction and it's good. Friction is good and that kind of stuff.

But eventually he'll get to a point where he's like, Okay. Okay. Okay. That makes sense. He'll start from a place of extreme pessimistic view. Like, I think that's wrong. I think that's wrong. Here's why, here's why. And then if you like defend the position and you convince him of why you think your way is the right way, eventually he'll just be like, okay, that makes sense.

But eventually he'll get to a point where he's like, Okay. Okay. Okay. That makes sense. He'll start from a place of extreme pessimistic view. Like, I think that's wrong. I think that's wrong. Here's why, here's why. And then if you like defend the position and you convince him of why you think your way is the right way, eventually he'll just be like, okay, that makes sense.

But eventually he'll get to a point where he's like, Okay. Okay. Okay. That makes sense. He'll start from a place of extreme pessimistic view. Like, I think that's wrong. I think that's wrong. Here's why, here's why. And then if you like defend the position and you convince him of why you think your way is the right way, eventually he'll just be like, okay, that makes sense.

You like convinced me that that's better and you should do it that way.

You like convinced me that that's better and you should do it that way.

You like convinced me that that's better and you should do it that way.

when you're a founder from day one, first of all, I think you should hire salespeople way sooner than conventional wisdom. And there's a lot of salespeople that will tell you that that's not true. Like, hey, you're a founder. You got to make sure that you can sign customers up and you have product market fit.

when you're a founder from day one, first of all, I think you should hire salespeople way sooner than conventional wisdom. And there's a lot of salespeople that will tell you that that's not true. Like, hey, you're a founder. You got to make sure that you can sign customers up and you have product market fit.

when you're a founder from day one, first of all, I think you should hire salespeople way sooner than conventional wisdom. And there's a lot of salespeople that will tell you that that's not true. Like, hey, you're a founder. You got to make sure that you can sign customers up and you have product market fit.

Like, don't hire this poor VP of sales to come in here who will never be successful because like your product, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? Like, I don't believe in any of that. Like, I believe that I mean, I started at Parker's house when there were four engineers literally in the basement of his house. There were no customers, there was no CRM, there was no anything.

Like, don't hire this poor VP of sales to come in here who will never be successful because like your product, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? Like, I don't believe in any of that. Like, I believe that I mean, I started at Parker's house when there were four engineers literally in the basement of his house. There were no customers, there was no CRM, there was no anything.

Like, don't hire this poor VP of sales to come in here who will never be successful because like your product, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? Like, I don't believe in any of that. Like, I believe that I mean, I started at Parker's house when there were four engineers literally in the basement of his house. There were no customers, there was no CRM, there was no anything.

Granted, me and Parker had a relationship. And so would I have done that with a stranger? Probably not. But I knew that Parker was going to build the right thing. And I knew that he needed me to help him figure out, one, do the sales so that I could take that off his plate. But there was a trust there of like, as we're building stuff and you have constrained resources in engineering,

Granted, me and Parker had a relationship. And so would I have done that with a stranger? Probably not. But I knew that Parker was going to build the right thing. And I knew that he needed me to help him figure out, one, do the sales so that I could take that off his plate. But there was a trust there of like, as we're building stuff and you have constrained resources in engineering,

Granted, me and Parker had a relationship. And so would I have done that with a stranger? Probably not. But I knew that Parker was going to build the right thing. And I knew that he needed me to help him figure out, one, do the sales so that I could take that off his plate. But there was a trust there of like, as we're building stuff and you have constrained resources in engineering,

What is the most important thing to build first? How do you sequence the things we need to build? And a good go-to-market leader that you trust will help you figure that out. They're part of that journey. And so I think you should hire a sales leader very early on. You probably should have some customers that have paid you some money, but I think founder is way too long to hire a go-to-market.

What is the most important thing to build first? How do you sequence the things we need to build? And a good go-to-market leader that you trust will help you figure that out. They're part of that journey. And so I think you should hire a sales leader very early on. You probably should have some customers that have paid you some money, but I think founder is way too long to hire a go-to-market.

What is the most important thing to build first? How do you sequence the things we need to build? And a good go-to-market leader that you trust will help you figure that out. They're part of that journey. And so I think you should hire a sales leader very early on. You probably should have some customers that have paid you some money, but I think founder is way too long to hire a go-to-market.

And I think they do that because they feel like they can't hire a good salesperson potentially without a bunch of traction.