[sf4lifer]

Sales at a startup trying to find product market fit is probably the worst job of all time. You have no marketing/brand/leads and if by some miracle you do land a deal your product probably isn't quite right and there is no customer success to handle the daily demands of an unsatisfied customer. That said, if you want to transition to sales, with 17 years experience (assuming no sales) this is probably your best option. The pay cut is typical, the upside is real, IF you can find product market fit. Sales is not presenting a solution, it's asking questions to find the problem and more importantly finding the person who the problem affects financially the most. It's a lot of fun and a unique skillset. I'd say not closing a single deal last year is a warning sign. I'd evaluate what you would do differently. Be objective and critical about why you will produce different results. Only advice I'd give is what I tell all sales reps, focus on quality daily outbound activity (calls, emails) and everything else will take care of itself.

[grvdrm]

Really great, thanks. Question: do you have advice/resources for pipeline development?

[sf4lifer]

In my experience, there is no silver bullet outreach. Until you have dozens of customers you shouldn't do anything at scale. Best thing (depending on customer) is call, linkedin inmail and/or emails. It typically takes 3-7 touches before someone will buy from you (no more than twice a week). You just need to patient and provide them value. Remember they have no incentive to look at your solution. Just send them personalized messages knowing they are busy and you're not a priority. I recommend using apollo (to get emails), streak gmail plugin (or hubspot if you have it) so you get email read reciepts. At least you know when someone opens your message. Keep trying different value props until something works across multiple users.