Entrepreneur's Startups Fall/Winter 2021

Of you are building a startup, then you are in sales. If you’re just thinking about building a startup, then you are also in sales! You may not realize it, and you may not be prepared for it, but the reality is that a company’s founder is also its first salesperson. And your sales job is the most complicated of all. Yes, of course, you’ll need to sell a product or a service to customers—but you’ll also need to sell your vision to potential partners, employees, and investors, and then you’ll need to sell all those people on the many changes your company will inevitably go through along the way. It does not matter what your background is or how you define your value. Maybe you’re the visionary, or the technical expert,…

1 Start small “We ask potential vendors about their sustainability practices to make sure our values are aligned. If they are, we experiment with small-batch orders, when possible, to ensure that any wrinkles can get ironed out early without affecting the supply chain and customer experience too much. Clear communication from those earliest days is an important part of creating lasting relationships.” —JUSTINA BLAKENEY, founder, Jungalow 2 Build foundations “I take a long-term approach to all partnerships. For example, I had been talking to one technology platform for two years, and we finally closed a deal. I had established a trusting relationship with them over the years, and when it made sense for us to invest in that kind of support, I knew they were the right partner. On the flip side, there’s a…

Stuart Landesberg started his career at Lehman Brothers and TPG sustainable-living industry. He’d grown up composting in his family’s backyard and had a vision of selling eco-friendly products online. “I was filled with the hubris of a 26-year-old guy who works in finance,” he says. So in 2012, he did what he thought he should: He looked for two cofounders, scrambled for meetings with investors, and showed off his grand plan for a company called ePantry. It would sell multiple existing brands. Nobody was interested. “It hurts me to even think about it,” he says, laughing. Those rejections turned out to be a great fortune, however—because they forced him to be scrappy and inventive and understand his customer in perfect detail. His business transformed as a result. But of course, he didn’t…

Does your company deserve press? Many business owners say no. I run tell me they believe their brand is too small, too fresh, or in some way unfit for coverage. But that’s not their real problem—instead, they just don’t know how to sell their expertise. Here are three scenarios that any thought leader or personal brand can use to successfully pitch media. 1 Name what you see Have you spotted a trend? Give it a name. This is a simple but powerful way to establish your authority. Things are always floating in the cultural ether as big groups of people have similar experiences—and when a professional gives a trend a name, they pull it into the public awareness. When people began quitting their jobs during the pandemic, for example, Texas A&M University professor Anthony Klotz…

When Jean Brownhill walked into her Brooklyn home in 2007 and she knew she was dealing with a renovation gone wrong. Brownhill had built a career in architecture and construction—and if she struggled to find a reliable general contractor, then she knew other homeowners must really struggle. To seize the opportunity, she launched Sweeten in 2011. It’s an online marketplace that matches homeowners with vetted general contractors and helps manage the relationship and the project. Consumers get transparency; reliable contractors get more business. Since launching, Sweeten has raised $20 million, completed thousands of renovations across the country, and has $1.8 billion worth of projects in its pipeline. But to succeed, Brownhill knew she’d need to do more than just create a smart service. She’d need to build trust in a very distrusting…

Q: So many brands have become content producers. Do I need to launch a podcast or a blog, too? —AZIZ, TORONTO Entrepreneurs feel a pressure to be everywhere, grabbing everyone’s attention. You may think it’s the difference between growth and decline. But that’s not true. How you make an impression on someone is just as important—and arguably more significant—than simply getting on their radar. I learned this early in my career, before I entered business, when I began as an aspiring journalist. People told me I needed “more clips,” which meant I needed more proof of my work. I hustled, taking every writing opportunity I could find regardless of quality. But I kept getting rejected for full-time jobs. It was frustrating and confusing, until one potential employer finally explained his disinterest: “You’re only…