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Sales-savvy-co-founder of a bootstrapped company here. Stop. You don't need a sales person, you shouldn't be cold calling, or even selling over the phone. Wh

Sales-savvy-co-founder of a bootstrapped company here. Stop. You don't need a sales person, you shouldn't be cold calling, or even selling over the phone. Why? It won't be profitable at your current pricing model ($132/year) unless you are pursuing large universities or university buying groups that can purchase 75+ licenses per year (~$10k ACV). If your ACV for each sale is over $10k (even $5k but that's getting down there) then it makes sense to have a direct sales team. If your ACV is under $10k, then you'll need to find more capital efficient ways of reaching customers. Not my area of expertise, David Skok has a great post about sales complexity that'll do a much better job than I can [0]. If you're ACV is above $10k I'd be happy to offer some tips on building a sales team behind that (I don't charge for consulting). We have a product that you're a little too early for but may be able to help when you're further down the road. My details are in my profile, feel free to reach out if you'd like some advice. [0] http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/sales-complexity/ http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/sales-complexity/ Edit: Moving link to bottom.

gingerlime 12y ago
Thanks for the info. We're not thinking about direct sales to end-users, but also not to universities (who typically don't really care how easy or hard it is for their students to pass the exam, even though there are some image-licensing opportunities with universities... but that's not the main focus). We are hoping to reach medical student associations and offer some opportunity for affiliate programs. We've had some success with those, even though in all cases so far we were the ones contacted by those associations. We think those have the best reach to students in our niche market. A good sales person could find their way to reach those targets. Or that's the hope anyway. In any case, thanks again for the advice, and we'll look up the info and might take you on your offer.

gingerlime 12y ago

Thanks for the info. We're not thinking about direct sales to end-users, but also not to universities (who typically don't really care how easy or hard it is for their students to pass the exam, even though there are some image-licensing opportunities with universities... but that's not the main focus). We are hoping to reach medical student associations and offer some opportunity for affiliate programs. We've had some success with those, even though in all cases so far we were the ones contacted by those associations. We think those have the best reach to students in our niche market. A good sales person could find their way to reach those targets. Or that's the hope anyway. In any case, thanks again for the advice, and we'll look up the info and might take you on your offer.