The Founder Sales Diary

The honest version of what selling your own startup actually feels like. This category is the founder sales diary — the 4pm doubt spiral, the deals that go quiet, the awkward follow-ups, and the small Friday wins that make it all worth it. Less strategy, more solidarity. If you're the one carrying the pipeline in your head every day, you're in good company here.

Modern conference room with white table, black chairs, hanging lights, wall-mounted screen, and minimalist decor.

The Last Meeting Should Be a Formality. It's Almost Never a Formality.

The last meeting should be a formality. It almost never is. A founder's diary on the cruelest stage of any deal — the price you'd settled comes roaring back, and a stranger who was never on a single call appears to blow the whole thing up. Why it happens, and what a decade of closing taught me to do.

Jens Koester

2 days ago6 min read

A black desk lamp on a brown wooden table

Nobody Tells You That Selling Your Own Startup Is Lonely. So I Will.

Nobody warns founders that selling your own product is lonely. That you'll be the only one in the room when the rejection lands. A sales consultant's honest diary of the 4pm doubt spiral, the ghosting, the awkward follow-up, and the Friday call that makes it all worth it. With a survival checklist for the hard days.

Jens Koester

May 246 min read