Founder Learnings · Things I underestimated as a founder · Nº 05
Distribution beats product
Why I now tell founders they are the first salesperson.
Gregor Zehetner· 2 min read
"Build it and they will come" is the most expensive lie in startups.
I believed it for years, yet the world never showed up on its own. Meanwhile, products weaker than ours were accelerating – not because they were better, but because more people had heard of them, understood them and been sold on them.
Being the best is not the same as being chosen
It took me far too long to see it. Being the best is not the same as being chosen, because people can't choose what they don't know.
Distribution isn't a phase you reach after building. It is half the company, maybe more. And selling isn't only the sales team's job: everyone in the company sells, every time they explain what you do and why it matters. But the founder carries the heaviest bag.
At pre-seed, you are the CSO
I keep hearing pre-seed founders say they need to hire a CSO to run sales. At pre-seed, you are the CSO. Nobody sells the product, the vision and the mission like the person who started the company, and this early it can't be handed off.
Investors see this too. They aren't only betting on the product; they are betting on whether this team can sell it. They want to see at least one person who could sell fridges in Greenland – and they are hoping it's you.
Ego dressed up as focus
I used to treat selling as beneath the real work of building: something for later, for someone else. That was ego dressed up as focus. If you won't sell your own company, why would anyone else believe in it?
The founders who win are the ones who make people care – about the product, the mission and the reason any of it exists.
An Austrian company that gets this right today is fonio.ai. Sure, they put money into marketing. But what actually shows up in my feed is Daniel, one of the co-founders, still being the face of the company himself. Maybe I am biased, as I am specifically interested in the people behind a company, but that is how "good" differentiates from "excellent".
What I tell founders today
Build something worth selling. Then – or even before – go sell it, starting with yourself.
Are you building your product, or also its distribution?
Originally shared on LinkedIn as part of the series #ThingsIUnderestimatedAsAFounder.
Written by
Gregor Zehetner
Gregor Zehetner, exited SaaS founder (Tapkey) and strategic advisor based in Vienna. Supporting tech startups and scaleups with Strategic Sparring, Fractional CxO, Go-to-Market and M&A Advisory.
