Evans for Startups
Commercial thinking for founder-led B2B businesses.
Six pieces on the decisions that most often cost early-stage businesses money: when to hire, what to prove first, who to sell to, what to spend, and why a good-looking website still produces no conversations.
Startups & Early-Stage Growth
When Should a Startup Hire Its First Salesperson?
The first sales hire is usually made too early, for the wrong role, on the strength of hope rather than evidence. The decision is easier once you know what the founder has to prove first.
Startups & Early-Stage Growth
Founder-Led Sales: What To Do Before Hiring SDRs
Founder-led sales is not a stage to survive before hiring SDRs. It is the research that determines whether an SDR team will work at all.
Startups & Early-Stage Growth
How To Define Your Startup's Ideal Customer Profile
"Everyone who needs what we do" is not an ideal customer profile. It is the reason early-stage pipelines stay full of opportunities that never close.
Startups & Early-Stage Growth
How Much Should an Early-Stage Startup Spend on Sales?
There is no universal percentage of revenue that a startup should spend on sales. There is, however, a sensible way to decide — and it starts with runway, not benchmarks.
Startups & Early-Stage Growth
Why Good Startup Websites Still Fail To Sell
Most startup websites are not badly designed. They are written for the company rather than for the buyer, and they ask a cautious purchaser to take a risk on faith.
Startups & Early-Stage Growth
From Funding To Predictable Revenue: What Founders Should Build First
Raising money proves that investors believe the thesis. It proves nothing about whether customers will buy — and spending as though it does is how funded startups run out of road.
This is a deliberately short library. More will follow once there is real evidence from paying startup clients to write from.
Start with an honest read of where the business actually is.
The Startup Commercial Readiness Check scores thirteen commercial areas and returns priorities, the things to leave alone for now, and a recommended next step.
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