Asher's Blog

One of the most terrifying moments in building a startup is not incorporation, not product design, not even fundraising, it is the moment you confront the question: who is actually going to pay for this?

As a perfectionist, I have often found myself overthinking this question instead of confronting it directly. I would obsess over features, polish workflows, refine UX, and debate positioning, all while quietly postponing the harder work of securing customers. Over time, I learned a truth that I wish someone had forced into my head earlier: the best time to think about sales is not after launch; it is at the beginning of product thinking.

Sales is not a downstream activity, it is upstream architecture.

When you think about go-to-market (GTM) from day one, you ask better questions. You speak to the right customers. You design features that solve real economic problems. Most importantly, you give your team clarity about what matters and what must be deprioritized. Product without GTM discipline becomes an expensive hobby.

GTM Is Not a Department. It Is a Mindset.

“GTM” is a term we throw around casually, but for me it has become embedded into how we build products. We no longer wait until something is ready before asking how it will be sold. We ask: Who exactly will buy this? What budget does it come from? What objection will they raise? Who signs the cheque?

When we started Eazipay, some of our earliest wins came from unconventional channels. We landed one of our first international customers through WhatsApp stories. It was not glamorous, and it was certainly not scalable in the traditional sense, but it worked. For months, I encouraged our team to post about what we were building on their social media timelines. The effort was inconsistent, and at times it felt like pushing a rock uphill.

In hindsight, I understand why. Few people believe deeply in an idea at its crude stagee because momentum is attractive. When something is already working, people are proud to associate with it. When it is still fragile, belief requires conviction. In those early months, conviction had to start with me.

Doing Things That Don’t Scale

We had absorbed the lesson from Y Combinator about “doing things that don’t scale,” and in the beginning, that principle was our lifeline. I called every business owner I knew. I scheduled impromptu meetings after networking events. I had conversations with HR managers after church services on Sundays. I followed up relentlessly.

At first, we priced low to reduce friction and validate demand. As our product matured and our processes strengthened, we increased pricing gradually. Customers came in trickles, which was encouraging but insufficient.

The mistake I made was assuming that because the first ten customers came through hustle, the next ninety would follow the same pattern. Early sales often come from proximity and founder energy. Scaled sales require systems. Founder-driven traction is not the same as repeatable revenue.

What I Would Do Differently after the first 6 Months (Especially for B2B)

If I were advising a B2B founder today, here is how I would structure sales intentionally from 6 months after launch

1. Push for Annual Subscriptions Early

Recurring revenue stabilizes the business. In B2B, annual contracts improve cash flow, increase retention probability, and reduce sales fatigue. Customer acquisition costs are significantly higher than retention costs, which makes long-term contracts economically smarter. Annual commitments force you to build something worth renewing.

Your script example should be: “We price monthly for flexibility, but most of our serious partners choose annual because it locks in value and ensures uninterrupted service.”

2. Use Education as a Lead Engine

Free webinars, value-driven workshops, and targeted networking events generate trust before you start selling your product or service. This is especially for B2B sales teams because  buyers want competence and insight before they want features.

You should host sessions around real pain points and make the sessions genuinely useful. 

3. Build Events Around Value, Not Selling

Nothing kills credibility faster than selling in desperation. People especially experienced executives can sense if your event feels like a disguised sales funnel, and these decision-makers will just disengage.

So instead of “Let me show you our product” try “Here are three patterns we’re seeing in your industry right now.” Over time, buyers gravitate toward competence and trust. 

4. Build a Real Sales System Early

Doing things that don’t scale is in phases and you must know when to start building a sales system. I will say when you hire the first sales person, start documenting what works and doesn’t work. And now, with AI, you can document your meetings. So, document your meetings automatically and review what works and doesn’t. In summary, you need to define your customer persona to not more than 5 most important characteristics, track leads and your CRM, define conversion stages, follow-up cadence, resell strategy and your retention checkpoints. 

A simple pipeline model works like this:
Leads → Qualified → Proposal Sent → Closed → Onboarded → Renewal → Upsell

So, document what worked for each outcome and repeat it, then make it the formula your company operates with. 

5. Train Sales and Customer Success Relentlessly

Your first sales hires will not be perfect so they must be trained continuously on Objection handling, Product and tehnical details, Industry regulation, Competitive positioning, and Closing discipline. Customer service is equally important because B2B revenue compounds through renewals. A churned enterprise client costs far more than a delayed acquisition.

In building our sales team and culture, the most important lesson was not tactical; it was psychological. Early wins can create false confidence, and you assume demand will continue if you simply build well. It rarely works that way. You have to think distribution, as well as product excellence, then branding, then customer service. All these contributes to growth so sales is not beneath product thinking, it is embedded in it.