Build #68 - How to scale your selling without losing your soul

Every founder knows what it takes to sell in the early days. Grit. Energy. Belief. You’re not just selling a product, you’re selling yourself, your story, your vision of a better future. It’s magnetic. Buyers feel it.

Many founders start companies as a natural evolution of their careers so they decades of experience in the field and are able to answer any and all questions and show they are highly knowledgeable.

“I wish I could just clone myself” is a phrase I hear about once a month from stretched founders.

But you can’t and eventually, if you are to scale this business you have to sell without being in the room.

Most founders hit a moment where they know they need to change something. The business is growing. Their calendar is packed. They don’t love sales but have learn’t to like it but they want to spend more time leading the company, not chasing deals. But handing over sales isn’t easy, especially when your identity has been so closely tied to it.

This is where many stumble. They either hold on for too long, or they let go too fast.

Founder sales does work, it creates just the right mix of passion, pressure and knowledge in a sales person that provides enough momentum for the business to take off. One that I’ve not seen be recreated by hiring a sales person on day one, no matter what the seniority.

But as we know founder-led sales doesn’t scale. You become the bottleneck. Every deal depends on you. And when you’re in fundraising mode, or hiring, or delivery or fire-fighting… sales slows down.

And that’s a big risk as at this early stage growth is everything.

The Myth of the “Perfect Sales Hire”

So what do most founders do?

They try to hire “a salesperson.” Often someone confident, interviews well with a solid CV and maybe some industry experience. They expect this person to come in, figure things out, and “just sell.”

This very rarely works. Not because the salesperson is bad but because they were set up to fail.

There’s a knowledge gap that founders often underestimate. You’ve spent years living and breathing the problem you solve. You know every edge case. Every buyer objection. Every pivot, every piece of language that resonates. That context can’t be downloaded in a week or two.

Instead of expecting them to sell like you out of the gate, the better move is to teach them to sell like you — almost.

That’s the 80% rule.

Building a Founder-Inspired Sales Process

Founder-inspired sales is the middle ground between founder-led sales and a fully autonomous sales engine. Here’s how it works.

1. Document Your DNA

Capture everything you’ve learned from selling. This includes:

• The story you tell and why it works

• Your ideal customer profile (ICP)

• Common objections and how you handle them

• Pricing conversations, pilots, and proof points

• The signals that indicate a buyer is ready

Treat this like a playbook, not a script. It’s not about word-for-word replication—it’s about transferring thinking and approach.

2. Design the Process

Map out your sales process with clarity:

• What’s the buyer journey?

• What are the key decision points?

• What tools and content are needed at each stage?

Even a lightweight CRM setup and a clear set of qualification criteria can make a huge difference. This lets your new hire focus on execution, not guessing.

3. Hire for Coachability and Curiosity

This is probably the most important point but when you hire salespeople, don’t just chase a track record and experience. Look for people who are coachable, who ask great questions, and who can absorb your approach.

You’re not looking for a guru, you're looking for someone who can become a near-expert with the right inputs.

You’re also not looking for a Head of Sales/Chief Revenue Officer or Commercial Director. You are looking for someone that is willing to do 12-24 months of on the ground, sleeves rolled up selling. Then they become the natural Chief Revenue Officer and can hire under them once revenues are right.

4. Train Like It Matters

Founders often underinvest in sales onboarding. But if your goal is to step back from selling, this is one of the highest-leverage activities you can do.

Build out role plays. Shadow calls. Share stories behind wins and losses. Make your thinking transparent. The more you teach, the faster they (and you) scale.

5. Create Feedback Loops

Sales is a source of insight, not just revenue. Set up regular reviews with this person. Look at what’s working. What’s not. Where buyers get stuck.

The goal is to evolve the process with them, not just hand them a script and walk away. It’s very unlikely they will do as good a job as you for the first 6 months and you need to be ok with that.

Why This Is Worth the Effort

Making this shift is hard. It takes time. It forces you to slow down, reflect, and package your knowledge.

But it’s also one of the most strategic moves you can make as a founder.

It unlocks growth.

It creates resilience.

And it frees you up to lead, not just sell.

When done right, founder-inspired sales become the bridge between early scrappy wins and long-term scale. Your story, your mindset, your approach—they don’t disappear. They just evolve into something that can live on without you having to be in every room.

It’s about building something that carries your voice forward, loud enough, clear enough, and strong enough to grow.

So treat founder-inspired like a serious medium term investment, take the time to invest in this person and it will pay dividends (literally).