Startup Sales — 5 Common Sales Mistakes by Founders
August 12, 2025
Founders are responsible for the first sales a startup will make. For many founders, this is one of their very first experiences of sales and mistakes are often made.
Today, we’re talking about your market size.
Many startups begin in a small market — $4b or less — either naturally or by focusing on a niche. But remember when talking to investors, you must paint a clear path from your current small market to a much larger market.
Plenty of founders will be comfortable pitching their small market’s virtues and a plan to monopolize it. Investors rarely buy this. They’d rather you be a smaller player in a bigger market.
Some common things you can suggest as your access points to those larger markets: distributing your product globally, adding more services — taking you to different, larger markets, or charging customers more because you’re underpriced now or you move to a customer profile that can pay more.
