Would love to hear thoughts from HNers who hack AND sell.<p>For those who had to jump in on the sales/biz dev efforts at your startup, what are the biggest challenges you face?<p>Is it lead generation? Is it identifying the decision maker and figuring out how to get in front of them? Is it closing deals?
I find it the first two. Identifying prospects and finding who to contact. Especially when we don't yet have a mentor. I think if we had a mentor who knew the right people, how the industry works and what works, it would be invaluable. Building something was the easy part for us (well, not easy) but making a profit is the hard part.
Timing.<p>You need to know when you're selling yourself, and you need to know when you're selling your product. You can't sell your product until you sell yourself; if you try to, especially in B2B and smaller markets, you might lose your sale.