Sales isn’t a dirty word, it’s your most important strategy

Say “sales” and the image that pops up is the shiny‑suited forecourt shark with a quick-fire line. It seems like a harmless caricature, but I’ve seen firsthand how the stereotype blinds founders to reality: it’s sales, not product, that keeps businesses alive.

Most early‑stage teams pour their energy into refining features, tightening processes, and perfecting the parts of the business that feel safe. But none of that matters if you can’t sell. At ISH, we’ve seen beautifully engineered companies stall because the commercial engine was weak, and imperfect products thrive because the team could tell a compelling story and close deals.

Sales isn’t a department. Sales is your most important strategy!

Why founders get sales wrong

1. Sales is treated as something ‘less than’

Sales is a respected profession in the US. It’s a craft people study, refine, and take pride in. In the UK, it’s almost a dirty word. We picture the archetype hustler, the patter, the pressure, and for a lot of founders, it’s the last part of the business they want to touch. That mindset leads to underinvestment, late hiring and a belief that a great product will “sell itself.” But it never has and it never will. Undervaluing and overloading sales teams fuels churn, meaning the very function that drives growth, becomes the one you’re constantly trying to rebuild.

2. Product becomes the comfort zone

Founders often retreat into product because it’s where they feel competent and in control. Teams polish features, tighten workflows and perfect internal processes, but we’ve heard customers say time and again, the result looks and feels the same to them. In reality, what sets you apart is how you sell. You can have the slickest operation in the world and still have a pipeline that’s quietly falling apart.

3. Numbers get sidelined

I once sat across from a founder who quite casually admitted they’d never looked at their sales figures. It wasn’t intentional recklessness, they just chose to focus on everything except the commercial reality. But when you ignore the numbers, you end up flying blind. It’s that simple. Pipeline issues go unnoticed, conversion problems get missed, and decisions get made on gut feelings rather than concrete data.

4. Effective levers are overlooked

There are only four ways to grow: sell more of what you already sell, add a channel, add a product or expand geographically. Yet, founders often reach for the wrong lever first. Meanwhile, the obvious opportunities – the ones that would actually move the needle – sit untouched. If you’ve barely scratched the surface of your home market with your original product, you don’t need international expansion, a new line or a partner programme. You need to pick up the phone and call the hundreds of perfect-fit customers that are on your doorstep.

5. Systems get built instead of conversations

I’ve seen companies with immaculate CRMs, automated funnels and AI‑powered scoring. They have bells and whistles galore, but no one is talking to customers. It’s easier to perfect a workflow than to pick up the phone. But revenue doesn’t come from dashboards. It comes from conversations. Until the message is clear, the ICP is tight and someone is consistently following up, all the tech in the world is just decoration.

Why sales is the hardest function to fix

As investors, we can come into a business and fix most things. Technical debt, operational mess, financial process. They’re all fixable. But a broken sales engine is different. It’s never one problem. It’s marketing, lead generation, conversion and retention all interlinked. When it’s off, everything’s off.

Sales touches every part of the business, so when the commercial engine falters, the whole system drags. Pipelines thin out. Conversion drops. Confidence dips. And while you’re trying to rebuild it, revenue slows – sometimes sharply. That’s why sales is so hard to put right. It’s not a task. It’s the foundation of your business. And since it’s the foundation, putting it right takes more than a quick fix. It demands a shift in perspective.

What founders should do next

The shift starts with a mindset change: every strategic decision is a sales decision. Before you build, hire or expand, ask yourself: Does this make it easier to sell? Does it strengthen demand, improve conversion or accelerate revenue? If it doesn’t, it’s not a strategy. It’s noise. Once that lens is in place, the rest becomes clearer.

Invest in sales early and properly: Most founders under‑resource sales for too long. Two salespeople can’t carry a company, and one is a single point of failure. At ISH, we’ve seen teams with 15 engineers and two salespeople and when one salesperson leaves, the whole business wobbles. That’s what happens when you treat sales as an add‑on instead of your number one purpose. A real sales function has depth, rhythm and resilience. You build it alongside the product, not after, so the commercial engine grows at the same pace.

Resource marketing so it actually feeds sales: Most founders underfund marketing or point it at the wrong things. Worse still, measure and celebrate wins that don’t line up with the sales team’s needs. When you give it the people, time and budget to run consistent outbound activity, answer buyer questions and spark qualified conversations that convert into demos and trials, it becomes a genuine growth engine. When marketing is resourced and aligned with sales properly, it doesn’t just create activity. It creates momentum your sales team can convert.

Sell to the buyer, not to yourself: Too many founders lead demos with the feature they’re proudest of, not the one the buyer cares about. I’ve seen teams open with the flashy UI or the clever workflow, only to realise the real decision‑maker cares about reporting, compliance or integration. Start with the buyer’s priorities, not your own. It’s a small shift, but it wins deals.

Treat every touchpoint as a moment to differentiate: Preparation. Follow‑up. Care. Consistent delivery on the small things. These are the things customers remember. They’re also the things most companies are terrible at. Early in my career someone taught me ‘the one-minute warm up’. Before every meeting he’d skim any company updates and drop a specific reference into the pre-meeting small talk. While everyone else rambled about the weather, he proved the customer mattered. It’s just five minutes of prep. But it makes a massive difference.

Stop over‑engineering and start validating: When you put something in front of customers early, you learn faster, sell sooner and make better decisions. Performance comes from real customer interactions, not perfect features. A product that’s good enough to sell today will teach you far more – and far faster – than a polished version six months down the line. Take the plunge, make mistakes and learn quickly.

See Also

How institutional investors look at startups: insights from SXSW Pitch 2026

What it all comes back to

Your whole business moves faster when you treat sales as the organising principle not an afterthought. When sales shapes your decisions, your product gets clearer, your marketing gets sharper and your team focuses on what really moves the business forward.

Because you can have the best product in the world. You can have flawless processes.

You can have a beautiful design. But if you can’t sell, you don’t have a business.

So, here’s the challenge. This week, sit down and take an honest look at your sales function – not whether it exists, but whether it’s genuinely working.

• Are you investing in it the way you invest in product?
• Are your people doing the small things brilliantly and consistently?
• Do you know your numbers cold?

If the answer to any of those is no, that discomfort tells you something. Start there. Everything else flows from it.

Sales isn’t a department. Sales is your most important strategy!