👉 Why Most Startups Fail: They Focus on Product and Forget Sales

In the ever-shifting landscape of European tech startups, founders obsess over product innovation, chasing the next big thing. Yet, in the very ecosystem where unicorns are born, the art of sales remains an underappreciated skill- often left in the shadow of its sexier counterpart, product innovation.

But a real business starts when the first customer pays up. That’s when you move from ‘cool idea’ to ‘actual business.’ A product without a buyer is like a rocket without fuel — it’s not going anywhere. I’ve seen it over and over: startups that built something “revolutionary” but never cracked sales, and they disappeared without a trace.

In every business I’ve been part of — whether scaling restaurant acquisition at Delivery Hero or investing early in Parloa, where they’ve built an exceptional B2B sales engine — sales has always been the driving force behind real success. You don’t build a billion-dollar business by waiting for customers to show up. You build a machine that actively wins deals.

So, how do you create a sales engine that turns your startup into a real business?

Develop A Sales Vision

Picture your business as a chessboard with three key areas: Online, Direct, and Indirect Sales. Within these, you’ve got your players — the Inside Sales team, the Field Sales warriors, and the Customer Success champions. Now, imagine layering this setup across various markets: Small and Mid-sized Businesses, Enterprise, the specialized Industry Verticals, and the diverse International markets. Now imagine the most expansive setup your organization could grow into and then start filling the initial positions, always having the big picture in mind.

Spark Your Sales Engine

Hire a minimum 4-person sales team — preferably inside sales because it is most efficient. Appoint a focused sales manager, its a must.

Equip and train your team with knowledge of sales methodologies, processes, and tools, supplemented by relentless coaching. Your team must know the buyer’s journey, pain points and processes intimately.

Commit a full year’s budget. Be patient and let things develop. Avoid the common pitfall of giving up early. Make sure to give it full founder attention and support.

Your initial lineup is not only your first sales engine but as well your testing ground. The data-driven performance metrics and feedback from each team member will pinpoint areas for refinement in your product, strategy, team composition, and recruitment tactics.

Implement The Dynamic Duo — CRM and Sales Pipeline

Implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and establish a Sales Pipeline — they are both fundamental for sales led growth.

The Dynamic Duo serves as the nerve center of your sales operations, capturing every interaction with potential and current customers, ensuring that no opportunities are missed. It organizes all stages of the sales process from lead generation over qualifying opportunities to closing deals, making the workflow systematic and efficient.

In addition to managing the sales team’s activities, it facilitates accurate revenue forecasting, monitors goal progression, analyzes conversion rates, pinpoints bottlenecks, and ensures efficient resource allocation.

Ensure diligent CRM usage by the team. If it isn’t in the CRM, it doesn’t exist.

Fuel Your Sales Engine with Quality Leads

With your dream team and the Dynamic Duo set up, boost your sales machine by consistently feeding it a stream of leads for building pipeline. “Feed the monster” was my mantra in my companies.

A proficient sales team, working with well-qualified opportunities, typically achieves a conversion rate of about 20-30%. Equipped with a pipeline triple the size of their goal, the team will hit its numbers.

It’s not about churning through cold calls to unqualified leads though — that’s like pouring low-grade oil into a high-performance engine. Its smarter to create content that attracts and pre-qualifies prospects, what not only turbocharges your conversion rates but also ensures that every sales effort is concentrated on engaging with prospects who have already signaled interest.

It’s a refined approach where quality trumps quantity, driving your sales machine at full throttle.

Turbocharge Your Sales Engine with Data Analytics

With the Sales Engine running full speed, now it’s all about keeping things on track. Your main dashboard shows all the key metrics you need to watch. If sales dip, you must act immediately to close the gap and get back on course. Everyone on the team knows their targets, quarterly targets have been broken down to monthly and daily targets. To keep everyone sharp and the energy high, you continuously roll out new campaigns- internally and externally.

You share sales numbers for everyone to see, and everyone’s expected to meet their goals. You are focusing on the data, analyzing what’s effective, adjusting what’s not through data analytics, and continuously improving. Based on numbers you are always tuning up your game. It’s like making sales a science — study, learn, and get better.

This is how you don’t just achieve your goals; you beat them and set new records.