Zip

Lenny's Podcast · Nov 24

The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel (co-founder of JJELLYFISH)

Messaged heads of procurement on LinkedIn and asked only for advice on the problems they had, using sales as research.

Lenny's Podcast · Apr 18

Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (YC)

After about six pivots, founder Rujul found procurement by searching for a hated incumbent. The team cold-messaged hundreds of buyers on LinkedIn, turned them into beta testers, and spent well over 20% of their time on customer calls.

Tips

• Pivot toward what you already know, not away from it▶ 15:35Brex was a VR headset startup and Retool was a P2P payments app called Cashew; both pivoted toward domains the founders knew and became huge.
• Spend 20 to 30 percent of your calendar on in-person customer meetings▶ 41:21Zip founders spent well over 20% of their time on customer calls, DMing people on LinkedIn for advice and doing hundreds of calls, and pre-sold before building.
• Look for ideas off the beaten path in your own experience▶ 23:03Whatnot built a marketplace for Funko Pops and Zip built procurement software, ideas few others pursued.
• Target hated large incumbents to find a knowable big market▶ 20:00Zip is now a billion-dollar business after about six pivots.