| It seems that you already know the problem: sales and marketing. You've sent 1000 emails and tried LinkedIn and that's it? You have a lot to learn, especially when it comes to corporate sales cycles and B2B sales. But that's water under the bridge now. My advice: fire everybody that's not essential to your operations. You'd be tempted to think 'if I get one big client I will need the developers/accounting/HR/personal assistant, but 100K in the bank gives you about 2-3 months runway and you're going to need ALL that money to get that client. So: fire everybody, sell everything, start cutting costs everywhere. It's ramen noodles and water for you the coming 2-3 months. Now make a list of 5 clients that you want to have. They could be some clients that you already demo'd to, or new ones. Don't be overly ambitious with this step, don't aim for the Fortune 500 companies yet because they're not going to bet on non-proven stuff. Spend all your time, effort and some money on getting these clients. Get to know them, make sure that you understand what it is exactly what they're doing, and how your product can help. Next, think of a way to SHOW them how your product can help. Cyber security is all nice and great, but unless they know the risk of not having your product you're going nowhere. Maybe you can find a way to have a hacker break into their systems (with their consent, ofcourse!), show them how easy it is to get all client data or erase their client database. Cybersecurity is like fire insurance: you only realize you need it when your house is on fire. A couple of tips:
- Use the 100k to get a sales person with a proven track record to get sales for you. Sales is a profession just as programming, not something everyone can do
- people who say that your demo looks great is fine for your ego, but doesn't say anything. Most likely the just don't want to make you feel bad
- Sending 1000 emails and trying LinkedIn is not a marketing strategy
- Dont' say 'I'll send you sample emails that will bypass your existing technology'. Why in the world would I want that? I might as well hand over my creditcard data to you as well? Why would I put my company at risk so that you can sell me something? In short: cut costs to 0, focus on getting your first client. Oh, and some detention-work: write down the line 'Build it and they will come is utter BS' 100x. It's like rule #1 of entrepeneurship 101 and widely documented, there is no reason anyone would fall for this trap.
Good luck! |