Entrepreneurship Success Guide

This is a dangerous mindset that founders need to avoid: All you need is a good product and it will sell itself. At the beginning, one of my biggest misconceptions as an engineer turned founder was thinking that your product is your only competitive advantage. I never stopped to think that sales could be a competitive advantage. In the early days at AppDynamics, we managed to grow to several million dollars in annual revenue, primarily by landing a few big accounts like Netflix. But a fellow CEO pointed out the obvious: If we ever hoped to cross the $100 million threshold someday, we needed to get scientific about sales. For other founders who want to embark on a sales education, here are some steps I took: - Accept that sales actually matter. Once a company starts growing, sales, marketing and distribution are as important as the product itself. - Commit to learning — If a software engineer can learn programming, they can learn sales. That said, I won't sugarcoat it — learning sales is a years-long process and isn't something you figure out in a day. - Study the competition — I studied companies similar to mine that were 3-5 years ahead: How did that company run its sales process, and what kind of salespeople did it recruit? - Lean on experts — We were fortunate to have hired John McMahon, a top authority on enterprise software sales, for weekly whiteboard sessions. Eventually, I also hired a VP of Sales which was one of the best decisions I made as a founder. Sales should never be an afterthought and while this education requires significant time investment, it's well worth it. #Sales #FounderAdvice #Startup #Entrepreneurship

Less than 2% of venture capital goes to women. Two percent. And if you’re a woman of colour, the number gets even smaller. I’ve seen it firsthand. When I started fundraising for indē wild, I walked into rooms where no one looked like me. Where I was questioned more, doubted more, and had to prove myself in ways my male counterparts didn’t. I came prepared with numbers, a solid business, a brand that already had a community behind it, and still, the skepticism was there. And yet, research proves that when women-led businesses get funded, they don’t just succeed. They outperform. According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), women-founded companies generate more than twice as much revenue per dollar invested as those led by men. Forbes research shows that startups backed by First Round Capital performed 63% better when they had a female founder. Women-led businesses have also proven to be more resilient during economic downturns and foster higher employee engagement. Women aren’t lacking ideas or drive or results. We’re lacking access. That’s the part that needs to change. Funding shouldn’t be about who looks the part or who fits a certain mold, it should be about vision, strategy, and impact. Women don’t need more confidence. We need capital. And it’s time for investors to realize that betting on women isn’t just the right thing to do…it’s the smart thing to do. If you've been through this, I see you. If you're in a position to change this, I hope you do. #womeninbusiness #vc

20% of UK businesses are founded by women - > 2% get funding. If I were a female founder raising investment in 2026, this is exactly what I would do. 1. Register for SEIS and EIS immediately. These schemes let angel investors reclaim a chunk of their investment through tax relief, and for many angels, it’s the difference between a yes and a no. 2. Use LinkedIn properly. Most angel investors literally list their investments on their profiles. Search “investor”. Filter by industry, location, relevance. Start building relationships before you need the money. This is not networking. This is research. 3. Build your pitch deck around outcomes, not your passion. This is where most founders lose investors. They talk about how much they love the idea and forget to explain: – What problem it solves – Who pays for it – What the return looks like Lead with the outcome. Always. 4. DM people who’ve already done it. Raising investment isn’t some secret club. If someone’s raised before, you can find it on platforms like Crunchbase. Message them. Ask for advice. Build rapport. Then ask for introductions to their angels. That’s how doors open. Raising investment isn’t the only way to build a business. But if you’re a woman building something that does need capital, the system isn’t exactly designed to make it easy. So make it easier for yourself. Practical beats perfect. Relationships beat cold pitches. And visibility will ALWAYS beat waiting to be “ready”. Was this helpful? 💜 If we haven't met before, hi - my name's Amelia. I built a $4million revenue business off the back of my personal brand, now I post content about how you can do it, too. I've just dropped 52 videos detailing everything I did to get from 0 - 250k followers and $0- $4mil in revenue off LinkedIn alone. You can grab them here: https://lnkd.in/eauwCzGb

"My co-founders think we should go for the enterprise." - founder "Why?" - me "We have one mega prospect that would make our number plus some if it closes. We have a big goal and an anxious board." - founder "What do you think?" - me "There is a lot we have to do to make these deals work that we're not prepared for." - founder Enterprise sales is a strategy to change the shape of a business... Not an experiment hoping to change the shape of yours. I’ve been fortunate to be part of and build my own enterprise sales teams throughout my career. I continue to help startups do this today through my executive search firm, ATP. A word to the wise... Building a strong, repeatable enterprise sales function takes at least 12–18 months if you're starting from scratch. Founders, before you embark on this journey, take a hard look at your runway and run rate and ask the following questions: 📍 Do you know your niche?.. The riches are in the niches 💰 📍 Have you validated your ICP (1 Bluebird customer/prospect is not validation)? 📍 Do you have the infrastructure to customize and integrate? 📍 Are you prepared to delight your customers to hang on to them? Only seek to scale up once you prove that what you have is repeatable. Trying to grow too quickly will only lead to mistakes in this market…and those are much harder to come back from with this type of customer. These are the 10 steps that never failed me as I was building this segment from scratch: 1. Calculate the opportunity within your niche, not just TAM 2. Know your Ideal Customer Profile + Personas like the back of your hand (ICP) 3. Prioritize accounts that are the best fit 4. Research your prospects like you're in the FBI 5. Map out the business and multi-thread up, down, and across the company 6. Focus on discovery... always 7. Be relentless to deliver on your promise 8. Land and expand 9. Communicate early and often... even when you step in a pile of 💩 10. Don't abandon the other segments paying your bills Validate first, nail, grow, and theeeeeeennnnnn scale. This is the formula for success. And it's not for the faint of heart. Pro tip: If you're running out of money and looking for a quick fix. This isn't the time to go after this segment. Avenue Talent Partners | High-precision executive search for startups #startups #enterprisesales #BuildWithATP

Let’s stop romanticizing alco-bev startups. This business is not for everyone. I’ve built two from scratch, so I’m speaking from experience—it’s not sexy, it’s not instantly rewarding, and it’s definitely not a shortcut to becoming a billionaire. In alco-bev: ✅ Regulations are brutal—every state has its own rules, its own licenses, its own roadblocks. ✅ Distribution takes years—you win market by market, outlet by outlet. There are no viral hacks. ✅ Brand building is expensive—ATL, BTL, consumer pull, trade loyalty—it all costs money. A lot of it. ✅ Founders need clarity—this is not a business you can flirt with or figure out on the go. ✅ Execution is everything—if you don’t know how to navigate ground realities, you’re just burning investor money. And let’s be honest—this business doesn’t throw up massive PAT margins like other FMCG categories. A large chunk of your revenue goes straight to the state exchequer. So if you think you’ll be strutting around with diamond studs in your ears and a unicorn valuation in three years, you’re in the wrong business. This game is about grit, patience, financial discipline, and deep understanding of policy, pricing, and people. But if you’re here for the long haul—and you’re ready to build, brick by brick—it’s a deeply fulfilling space. You don’t just build a brand. You shape culture. Hard built. Not hyped. This is alco-bev. #AlcoBev #StartupReality #FoundersJourney #DeepExecution #LongTermThinking #ConsumerBrands #FMCG #BrandBuilding #StateExcise #RealTalk #NeuWorldSpirits

In 1959, seven women in Mumbai came together with just ₹80 and an idea. The idea was too simple for any investor to chase: to make papads. No business degrees. No social media. There was just purpose, trust, and a belief in dignity through work. They built Lijjat Papad, brick by brick, while managing homes, families, and expectations. There was no CEO. No org chart. Every woman was an owner. Every hand that rolled a papad helped shape the business. Today, that ₹80 has grown into a ₹1,600+ crore cooperative. Their model is taught in MBA classes. There is neither a valuation hype nor a billion dollar tag. Just real impact shared by thousands of women across India. Lijjat was a revolution indeed.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘀. 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 Start with the Patient, Not the Plant Medical cannabis is medicine, not wellness or lifestyle. Your product must serve a real need consistently & safely, backed by data. Understand patient journeys, work with clinics & doctors, & embed yourself in the healthcare system, not outside it. Build GACP First, Then EU GMP or Equivalent Too many try to chase EU GMP without mastering GACP. Good Agricultural & Collection Practices are about how you grow. EU GMP is for post-harvest processing & pharma-grade quality control. Get the basics right, document everything, & then scale. Make Regulation One of Your Strengths If you don’t understand the regulatory landscape, you don’t have a business. Know your country’s cannabis laws, narcotics classifications, export rules, & patient access pathways. Compliance is not a department, it’s part of your product. Never Outsource Your Integrity There will be pressure to cut corners, overpromise, or take shortcuts. Don’t. One contamination, one false claim, one deal with a bad distributor and your business collapses. In cannabis, reputation takes years to build and seconds to lose. Trust the Local Team If you operate in another country, listen to the people on the ground. Local growers, engineers, regulators, and logistics teams know more than a remote HQ ever will. Many failed projects stem from ignoring local intelligence. Control the Supply Chain Medical cannabis isn’t just about growing. It’s about controlling drying, processing, lab testing, packaging, export clearance, & more. Own your chain or verify every part of it. You cannot afford surprises with patient-use products. Avoid Chasing the “Next Big Thing” There’s always a new hype, CBD for pets, infused snacks, luxury creams. These trends rarely survive strict medical regulation. Stick to your core business. Deliver clean, consistent, compliant flower or extract. Then grow. Document Everything This industry runs on traceability. You need clean SOPs, batch logs, validated results, cultivation records, & patient outcomes. If it’s not documented, it didn’t happen. If it’s not auditable, it’s not exportable. Raise the Right Money Work with investors who understand the timelines and risks. You need partners who can handle a 3 to 5-year return horizon and still back compliance over short-term revenue. Misaligned finance will kill your project faster than pests. Know When to Say No Sometimes the smartest move is to walk away. If the laws are too grey, your partners untrustworthy, or the facility isn’t ready, pause. Medical cannabis must be built with discipline and maturity. Forced projects fail. Focused ones succeed. Please ask me how to build or fix your cannabis business if you are unsure, stuck, or scaling. I’ve worked in this space for 9+ years, and I have seen what works and what wrecks good ideas.

I recently spoke with an early-stage AI app founder who was desperate to hire sales reps because he dreaded founder-led sales. This is one of the most common failure modes I see with technical founders—and it significantly impedes the path to product-market fit. Here's how to think about the right order of operations in early sales motions: Phase 1: Prototype & Validation In the earliest stage, the feedback loop between customer conversations and product roadmap must be extraordinarily tight—making founder-led sales absolutely non-negotiable. This phase is critical because you're identifying your true ideal customer profile (ICP) and learning how to effectively communicate your product story and address common objections. As you accumulate hundreds of demo repetitions (while refining your product based on feedback), you gradually assemble a winning process. Phase 2: Founder-led Sales Scale-Up Your mission here is to create the sales playbook that will guide future reps. You need sufficient pattern recognition to understand which messages resonate with which personas. I recall meeting Desmond Lim, CEO of Workstream, several years ago (not an Emergence portfolio company, but I deeply admire what they've built). He showed me the remarkable 60-page playbook he crafted documenting their entire sales process—before hiring a single AE. Every nuance. Every objection. Everything a new rep would need to succeed. While perhaps extreme, this perfectly illustrates the principle: scaling go-to-market requires mastering your ideal sales motion before delegating it. Phase 3: Hiring Initial Sales Reps Most founders default to sequential hiring—start with one rep, evaluate results, then proceed. However, we recommend hiring 2-3 sales reps with diverse backgrounds simultaneously, enabling you to effectively A/B test different profiles. Regardless of approach, ensure these early hires are "renaissance reps" with rapid iteration capabilities rather than purely "coin-operated" sellers. Mark Leslie has a great foundational article on the Sales Learning Curve provides excellent guidance. I'll link it below. So embrace the early sales work, even when it feels uncomfortable. It's fundamental to building a foundation for lasting success.

The minute you put "FEMALE" in front of "FOUNDER" the questions change. I’ve been in rooms where instead of asking about scale or market share, the questions were: “Do you have kids?” “What if you want them?” “How will you balance it all?” Questions no man in that room ever got. And here’s why that matters: those questions don’t just sting, they shape outcomes. Investors who ask defensive questions are 7x less likely to fund you. Founders who are framed as “risks” are given smaller checks, harsher terms, and less trust. And that ripples out into fewer women scaling to Series B and beyond. Sometimes the term female founder gets celebrated like a badge of honor. And yes, I’ll wear it with pride when it inspires someone else to step up. But let’s not pretend the label is neutral. It exists because women are still treated as outliers in entrepreneurship. And it carries baggage: That we’re more likely to build “lifestyle” projects. That we’re higher risk to back. That our ambitions are smaller or temporary. Women-founded startups still get less than 2% of VC funding. And that’s not because of performance. It’s because of perception. So where does that leave us? For me, the real badge of honor isn’t being called a female founder. It’s building, scaling, and proving you belong in the founder category, no adjective needed. Until the day the word “founder” automatically includes us.

If you’re a woman who wants to start a business today... with no funding, no network, no fancy background — here’s something I want you to know: You don’t need everything figured out. You just need a good product, a solid starting point, and the courage to begin small. The biggest opportunity I see right now especially for women entrepreneurs is... Quick Commerce. In the last couple of years, India’s consumption behavior has changed rapidly. People are buying local brands. They’re discovering new products every day. And platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart are making this easier than ever. They’ve become the new-age distribution channels. Ones that don’t require you to own a store, spend lakhs on setup, or build a massive team. All you need is a good product that solves a real need. You start small. You test it. If people love it... you scale. A great example? There are brands selling homemade snacks, pickles, candles, coffees, body care products... all built from home kitchens or small garages - that are now clocking lakhs in monthly revenue, just by leveraging quick commerce. No big ads. No investor money. Just a sharp product and consistent execution. And that’s what I love about the landscape right now. You don’t need to be “connected.” You need to be consistent. So if you're a woman reading this, wondering where to begin: • Identify a niche problem •Build a product people genuinely want •Prototype it, test in your local circle •List on a Q-commerce platform •Let the market guide your next step If the product is good, customers will come back. And once you have traction, you also have leverage... for funding, for partnerships, for scale. You don’t need permission to start. You just need a starting line. To other founders: What’s one category or space you think more women should explore right now? Let’s get this conversation going.