What Great Founders Get Wrong About Sales with Liam Mulcahy

Few people have observed as many go-to-market strategies as Liam Mulcahy.The Operating Partner at Kleiner Perkins has led sales at MongoDB, helped founders at Unusual Ventures find product-market fit, and has a front-row seat to what separates breakout companies from the rest.In this conversation with Todd Busler, he shares how top sellers should evaluate startups before joining, what founders often overlook when building their first sales team, and why making fast decisions beats perfect ones in early-stage growth. He also explains why technical fluency is quickly becoming the edge for modern sellers and what the best GTM teams all do to stay ahead in 2025.In this episode, you’ll learn:How to vet an early-stage company before taking the jobWhy founders’ beliefs about sales can make or break your careerWhat the next generation of elite sellers will look likeThings to listen for: (00:00) Introduction(02:21) Liam’s background and role at Kleiner Perkins(03:27) How to pick the right company to join(05:59) Evaluating founders’ views on sales(08:24) Why signed contracts are the new competitive moat(10:31) The changing definition of “early-stage” in the AI era(12:22) What real market pull looks like(15:13) How to tell if a founder believes in sales(24:27) What top early-stage GTM teams do differently(27:16) Decision velocity over decision perfection(33:21) Challenger selling vs. Value selling(39:44) The rise of technical sellers and the 2030 prediction

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