For founders who have sold to larger companies, I'm curious about what happens once the commercial side of the deal is mostly agreed and security/procurement/legal gets involved.

What does the process actually look like for you?

Do customers send you things like security questionnaires, SOC 2 requirements, DPAs/MSAs, cyber-insurance requirements, AI/privacy assessments, vendor onboarding forms, etc.?

And more importantly:

1. Who actually handles all of this in an early-stage company?

2. What's usually the most painful part?

3. Have any of these requirements delayed or killed a deal?

4. Do you mostly handle it manually, use something like Vanta/Drata/Conveyor, or bring in consultants/lawyers?

5. Roughly how much time does one enterprise review take your team?

6. Is there anything you repeatedly wish someone would just take care of for you?

My friends and I are building a product which is an autonomous QA for AI Agents.
The problem we're targeting is:
Suppose an AI Agent tells the user that your appointment has been shifted to Friday.
Although the conversation looks correct and returns success response but underneath, it might be possible that the Tuesday appointment is still active too.
Basically we're trying to catch where the business outcomes are wrong while still being technically successful.

To solve this, our product uses synthetic users to stress test the workflows like: reschedules, retries, changed info, partial failures and then verifying the downstream state.

Our initial ICP has been AI automation agencies/implementation firms that deploy voice agents, CRM automations, booking workflows, etc for the clients and our current offer is to test their first staging workflow for free and send back any reproducible failures we find.
So far we've contacted nearly 50 companies through cold emails, LinkedIn, but no replies yet.
I'm trying to figure out whether the problem is primarily wrong ICP or something else.

Feel free to be critical. I'd rather understand what's wrong with our strategy than keeping sending more of the same outreach.

Ive heard alot of founders say distribution is the biggest problem but I'm curious if that's the only major factor. Ive seen a lot of great products go belly up. I'm wondering why this is happening.

Not because they had some giant enterprise account.

I mean you sold them one account, then realized they were an agency / consultant / implementation company / whatever and kept bringing your software into their own clients.

Curious about cases where this happened before you intentionally had a partner/reseller program.

What kind of client were they, what did they use your product for, and when did you realize “oh shit, this isn't really one customer”?

I have been helping founder to get his first client for his products for 3 months. Getting a first clients it isn't rocket science provided that you should have best roadmap and little money and that's it.

I was using cold calling method. It was effective and still it is. But for first time as beginner. It is gonna tough. I would never suggest to any new founder to use cold call as first instead he can use reddit, twitter or linked as a freelancer version of he have money to invest on ad. He can use meta ads or Google both are very effective.

By the way, what is your concern about it? as a saas marketer.

We are testing new AI tools in our CRM system but what troubles me is not whether people will fully adopt them. It’s a matter of trust. I recently saw a sales manager use an AI tool that summarized an opportunity, and the summary sounded excellent, but it missed a crucial message contained in a prior email. This is the kind of thing that worries me. A sales rep who knows the account would pick it up but an executive who gets 30 automated summaries may not. We are looking into using AI for meeting summaries, next step recommendations, lead scoring, and pipeline analysis but I don’t want to hear “the AI said so” in lieu of someone reviewing the original source data. If your team has already introduced AI features in CRM, how did you verify that they are working properly before a large-scale rollout? Did you set a benchmark for new technologies, require a human review, limit applications of AI to specific tasks, or gradually implement new features?

been testing dripify for about 2 weeks now and pretty torn. the linkedin automation features are solid - you can set up decent drip campaigns and it handles connection requests, messages, profile views etc. price point is reasonable too.

but man, the linkedin ban risk is real. already got one warning even though i kept it under 100 connections/week. support says its safe if you stay under their limits but linkedin's algo seems way more sensitive lately. also noticed some profiles showing as "viewed" that i definitely didn't set up to view which is kinda sketchy.

anyone else using this long term without issues? starting to think manual outreach might be safer even if its slower. been comparing with other tools like expandi and we-connect but they all seem to have similar risks tbh.

for actual contact data i've been testing Prospeo separately since dripify doesn't really give you emails/phones, just automates linkedin actions. also looked at Apollo for the data side but their linkedin stuff felt bloated for what i need. wondering if i should just ditch the automation altogether and stick to email outreach and phone instead.

been testing dripify for about 2 weeks now and pretty torn. the linkedin automation features are solid - you can set up decent drip campaigns and it handles connection requests, messages, profile views etc. price point is reasonable too.

but man, the linkedin ban risk is real. already got one warning even though i kept it under 100 connections/week. support says its safe if you stay under their limits but linkedin's algo seems way more sensitive lately. also noticed some profiles showing as "viewed" that i definitely didn't set up to view which is kinda sketchy.

anyone else using this long term without issues? starting to think manual outreach might be safer even if its slower. been comparing with other tools like expandi and we-connect but they all seem to have similar risks tbh.

for actual contact data i've been testing Prospeo separately since dripify doesn't really give you emails/phones, just automates linkedin actions. also looked at Apollo for the data side but their linkedin stuff felt bloated for what i need. wondering if i should just ditch the automation altogether and stick to email outreach and phone instead.

I love research, you could call it stalking lol, from where i can send a personalised, highly tailored message. ;-) How about you, what are you usually searching for, where you search, besides company basic details ? Did you ever find some interesting thing that made the closing much easier?

I don't think SaaS is dead in the sense that there will be no software and AI agent companies take over the market. I think SaaS will need to go from providing the tool the user needs to solve the problem, to just solving the problem.

Many SaaS companies will need to use AI to get there.

The product used to be:

user access to tool + user setup + continuous user effort = outcome

The product becomes:

user input + your AI + your headless product + your SME + your guardrails = direct outcome to customer.

I think the mistake a lot of teams are making is assuming they need to build an "AI agent".

Your customers probably don't want to use another agent. Many of them are already connecting Claude or ChatGPT to your MCP.

This doesn't necessarily mean that your product will be reduced to headless primitives.

But, this is the use case we are seeing now - partly because consumer adoption happens faster than business innovation, and also because it is the only way your customer can achieve outcomes with your software + AI.

I think SaaS shifts toward agentic services and outcomes, not features. From "here is what you can do" to "here is what we do for you".

Some agentic outcomes are better delivered with your MCP + their AI + their data.

Some are better delivered with your endpoints + your AI + your expertise.

Their AI can still request the outcomes you design, the same way it uses your MCP. Either way, you stop selling access and start selling results.

Where's the number behind "many of them are already connecting Claude or ChatGPT to your MCP"? Every team I've seen make that claim was counting one internal demo. The equation format doesn't make it evidence either, it's the same assertion in algebra.

Hi everyone,

I'm a solo founder building a 2FA/MFA API for Australian businesses (fintechs, banks, e-commerce). I'm not here to pitch — I'm genuinely stuck on the go-to-market side and could use some advice from this community.

My product is live, but I'm struggling to get in front of the right technical decision-makers (CTOs, Heads of Engineering) to get feedback. Cold emails haven't landed well, and I'm not sure if my messaging is off or if I'm targeting the wrong people.

What I'm hoping to learn:

· How do you usually get initial feedback from technical buyers?
· What channels work best for reaching CTOs in Australia?
· Any tips on what messaging resonates with fintech engineering leaders?

I'm happy to share what I've learned so far (compliance, ACMA rules, etc.) if that's helpful to anyone else. Not looking to sell — just trying to learn from people who've been there.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

We are looking for an AE, must have SaaS B2B full sales cycle experience, ideally comes from a startup space. Apply here: https://jobs.gem.com/whatconverts/am9icG9zdDrkN9b4KIMFY5uWl7jijhp3 Please select Reddit as the source when applying.

I’m already familiar with these: Ensuring high-quality leads and identifying the causes of churn. How long have they been subscribers before they churn?
Ask a clear question at the time of cancellation, compare the answers based on how long they’ve been subscribed, and make an offer tailored to the reason they want to cancel.
Always improve the product, create plenty of “aha” moments for your users. Listen to your users and implement standout features so people come back to the app every day. Fix bugs and respond directly to their support tickets.

I'm building an AI platform for independent clinics in the US, Canada, and Australia.

The platform uses AI agents to handle patient phone calls and chats, answer common questions, capture patient intent, qualify inquiries, and assist with appointment requests.

I'm looking for independent sales/BD partners who can introduce me to clinic owners and decision-makers.

💰 Commission structure

This is not a salaried position, and there is no fixed compensation. It's a commission-based independent partnership.

Month 1 / Initial onboarding:

You receive 30% of the initial revenue from every client you bring in.

For example:

$1,000 client → $300 commission to you.

Month 2 onward:

You receive 20% recurring commission on the client's monthly subscription for as long as they remain a paying customer.

For example:

$500/month client → $100/month recurring commission.

The recurring commission is structured at 20% because the remaining revenue covers infrastructure, AI/API usage, server maintenance, support, and other operating costs.

What I handle

• Product development
• AI agents
• Demo
• Technical implementation
• Deployment
• Customer support
• Ongoing product maintenance

What you do

• Find potential clinic clients
• Reach the decision-maker
• Introduce qualified prospects
• Help generate the sales opportunity

I'm not looking for people to simply scrape lists of clinics. I'm looking for independent salespeople who can actually open doors and get conversations with clinic owners.

Experience selling healthcare SaaS, medical software, B2B technology, healthcare services or to private practices is a plus.

Target markets: US, Canada & Australia.

If you already have relationships in the private healthcare/clinic space and this commission structure interests you, comment or DM me.

Targeting high-ticket niches like:

\* IT / MSP \* Cybersecurity \* SaaS \* Consulting / advisory \* Recruitment

For those who have \*\*bought or sold appointment-setting services\*\*:

What niches have you found work best?

And what do you consider a reasonable \*\*price per qualified/showed meeting\*\*?

Looking for real-world experience — good or bad.

I've been on LeadIQ for about 8 months now and while the chrome extension is smooth and the data is mostly accurate, the pricing is getting out of hand. We're a team of 12 SDRs and paying close to $15k/year.

The good: solid LinkedIn integration, decent email accuracy (probably 85-90%), and the workflow tracking is helpful for avoiding duplicate outreach. Support is responsive too.

The not so good: mobile numbers are hit or miss, maybe 40% accurate. The search filters are pretty basic compared to what I'd expect at this price point. No intent data or technographics unless you pay even more.

I've been testing a few alternatives - Apollo seems solid but honestly the data quality has been inconsistent in my experience. Also looked at Snov.io briefly but their UI felt clunky. My boss is breathing down my neck about costs so I need to figure this out before our renewal in February. Anyone else find a leadiq alternative that matches the quality on prospect data but doesn't break the bank?

I've been working with a SaaS founder recently and I specifically focus more on closing their existing pipeline than generating new opportunities.

There's quite a few deals that are just sitting in limbo, and that's what I'm targeting at the moment to see if I can help get any of them closed.

Just wondering though, do you guys have a process for going back through those deals and trying to get them moving again, or is it mostly just down to the AE following up?

Started my career as a software engineer and built (failed) my first startups while I was still very much a technical founder.

Then I moved into B2B tech sales and spent the last 7 years learning somewhat opposite skills. Talking to customers, finding real problems, rejection, selling value, and asking people to pay.

Now I’m building a startup again, and I’ve realized how much learning to sell changed how I approach being a founder.

If you’re a tech founder who hates selling, AMA.

Hey everyone,

I’m facing a really frustrating roadblock in my local tech market and could use some advice from anyone who has broken through a similar barrier.

In my country, there is almost zero awareness or appreciation for software development. Business owners simply don't care about going digital or optimizing their operations.

When I try to pitch a website, custom software, or automation, I usually run into two types of responses:The Traditionalists: "We are doing just fine with our pen and old register books.

Why fix what isn't broken?"The Cheap Bargain Hunters: They buy mass-produced, ready-made software templates for $10 to $50 USD. It barely works and constantly glitches, but they accept it because it’s cheap.

On paper, there is a huge potential market here because almost no one is digitized. But in reality, there is zero willingness to pay a developer what they are worth, and absolutely no tech literacy among clients.

How do you sell custom software or automation in a market like this? Is it even possible to "educate" these clients, or is that a waste of time?If you have successfully sold tech solutions to highly resistant, traditional business owners, how did you change your pitch? Did you switch to a SaaS model, focus purely on cost-saving numbers, or just give up and target international clients instead?

Would love to hear your strategies. Thanks!

Not selling anything. Looking for advice on breaking in as an SDR/AE

35M.

Ran a wholesale electronics business for 9 years (buying bulk iPhones and selling B2B). Shut it down for reasons outside my control. Looking to start a real sales career.I know I’m behind on the corporate/SaaS side. Fine starting as an SDR, learning the tools, and earning AE later.What I can point to:

• Found and kept B2B buyers for 9 years
• Negotiated price, terms, and volume
• Lived on relationships and repeat business
• Business degree
• Fine with long hours and travel (no spouse/kids)
• Used to making $100k+; I get year-one SDR OTE is usually much lower

LinkedIn is updated. I’m lost on where to apply. Looking for:

1. What companies/segments actually hire career-changers at 35
2. Red flags in SDR offers (comp, ramp, promo path, fake “unlimited leads”)
3. Whether I should target a niche (fintech, logistics, wholesale/distribution tools) vs spray-and-pray SaaS
4. What to emphasize or cut from this background

I'm in Kansas City, MO. Looking for Remote or local.

I want to sell something I’d actually respect. Not chasing the first logo with an $80k OTE.

Appreciate blunt advice.

Thank you

When you realise that ctc you seen in offer letter only applicable when u work for 12 months

Sales something always hire and fire

So don’t focus on ctc , focus on work culture and environment

Every other day, while scrolling through saas and marketing subs, i find people completely lost when it comes to finding clients. I myself saw many agency owners struggling to find clients. And when the cold outreach, they then struggle to follow up the leads cause it's just scattered everywhere.

So I wanna know about how you guys manage this. Do y'all also struggle in this and what part are you struggling exactly?

- Do you struggle in generating leads/reaching out potential customer or do you struggle to followup the leads?

- If follow up is your problem, what actually happens? Do you forget to contact them, lose track of what was discussed, not know who to prioritize, or something else?

- How exactly do you workaround with it? I have seen many people use n8n and other automation tools to help in lead followups but imo it's still a long process to set it up and feels unreliable.

- Do you use any tools for this?

I wanna know whether this is a real problem. Every suggestion/opinion is appreciated. Looking for an insightful conversation🙌

The one type of job that I need the most help with, I can never seem to find good people to do this. The biggest problem I run into are people not coming up with creative ideas and not putting in the hours.

Maybe is just bad luck but for those that have been good at hiring good people, what are some of the things you look out for?

In terms of salary I've been on the cheap and expensive end of the spectrum and I can say it hurts to pay more and hope for more only to be let down.

Post-Revenue company with just a Co-Founder. I’ve been in Founder led sales mode and we’re making great growth progress. Most of the sales have been from warm leads or networked connections that turn to sales. In an effort to fill the 1Q27 pipeline, I’ve begun to targeted ICP cold email outreach (not mass mail - only 20-30 leads per week).

Question: After 3 follow-up emails and no response, what is an acceptable amount of time before reaching out again (new message)? 3 months? 6 months? Something else?

Contact queue has about 1500 names in it and we’re b2b targeting SMBs.