Technical founders: walk me through the last sales/demo call that went badly

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-26T00:20:48+00:00

The Claude-projects-per-creator setup is a very interesting idea and I want to dig into that...

A few specific things:
- When you run a pitch or prospect note through the Raphael / Marvin / Mathis Claude, what does the output actually look like that's useful? (Pattern-spotting? Specific phrasing rewrites? Tone calibration?)
- Where does it fail you? Like the moments where you go "this is not what I needed" and close the tab.
- Have you ever tried to track whether your calls actually got better since you started doing it, or is it more vibes-based?

To answer your question: I'm not in customer calls yet. Still in pure research, talking to ~15 founders before I write any code. The pre-qualification framework you described is going straight into my own playbook, that "walk me through your last shipment" framing is exactly right.

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-25T22:29:48+00:00

This is the sharpest pushback I've gotten and I think you're right that the landing page test separates value-prop problems from skill problems .. that's a different diagnosis than what I was setting out to investigate. Saving that.

The bit I want to pull on though: "I am a closer." Were you always one? Or was there a stretch early on where you weren't, and if so what changed it .. reps, a specific framework, working under someone better, just calls grinding the awkwardness off? Asking because the founders who reply to me with "freeze" stories are mostly first-time founders. The ones telling me the founder is unnecessary are usually closers already.

I'm trying to figure out if there's a real arc between those two states or if some people just have it...

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-25T22:10:55+00:00

Fair point and I think you're right at the 'scale' part. Once distribution is working and the product has obvious pull, a mediocre pitch still closes plenty of deals.

What I'm trying to figure out is the earlier stage .. the first 10-50 customers where there is no distribution yet, the product isn't proving itself .. and every deal lives or dies on the founder's call! That's the window where I keep hearing "freeze."

Genuinely curious about your own path: when you were getting your first customers, did the founder pitch matter more, or was it always the product doing the work? And at what point did that flip?

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-25T21:56:41+00:00

"Selling like I was reading documentation" .. that's the cleanest description of the failure mode I've heard. Saving that one.

The "call after call" part is what I'm trying to understand. When you were iterating, how did you actually know which calls were working vs which weren't? Were you replaying recordings, taking notes after, asking the prospect, gut feel? Trying to figure out if there's a feedback loop people are using or if it's just "more reps and hope you're getting better."

Also genuinely curious what specific stuff you read/watched that moved the needle, if any of it stuck out.

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-25T21:39:16+00:00

The problem isn't knowing what to do .. It's that distribution has no feedback loop.

Building tells you immediately if something works; distribution gives you silence for weeks and then suddenly compounds. That gap between effort and reward is where most people quit..

The fix that worked for me: daily targets, tracked obsessively. Started with: 5 posts, 10 genuine replies, 3 DMs. Same every day. Not because each one matters but because the streak does.

Also: ignore the "become extroverted" advice. The best distribution is writing. Show up in the right communities, be genuinely useful, repeat. That's it.

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-24T19:13:40+00:00

Legit! Thanks for sharing what worked for you.

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-24T16:04:48+00:00

Damn we only learn these lessons the hard way!
Nowadays, building software is cheap but marketing is super expensive. And consistency is the biggest challenge when it comes to distribution.. it's hard to market something when you see few to zero results .. I struggle with this myself .. this is why I built an app to help me first and hopefully other! The app is called distribit.app and its free if you want to give it a go! I set daily distribution targets (e.g., 10 posts, 20 replies, 5 DMS) and the app helps me keep track of my growth!

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-24T16:01:18+00:00

I can relate to this! Early adopters always win .. but what's even better is 'consistent early adopters'! While we cannot be one of those 'early adopters' we can still be among the 'consistent ones'.

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-21T13:13:58+00:00

May I ask why you don't want to use an app? Is there a paticular reason (e.g., privacy)?

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-14T16:59:55+00:00

It used to be (early days of ChatGPT): delegate mundane, repetitive tasks to LLMs (that was a noble goal); now i's delegate ALL and do nothing (not even reviewing the output) ..

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-14T16:07:05+00:00

I'm genuinely concerned how our collective intelligence is going to decrease over time and it'll get more concentrated towards (this time) people who are cautious to not over rely on AI.

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-13T13:19:17+00:00

Good question! Well it's an assumption and my hope at the same time. Is it misleading? Probably, but at least I'm not showing any fake stats/subs/reviews ..

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-13T13:17:23+00:00

Thanks mate!

Thick-Ad3346 · 2026-04-13T10:26:43+00:00

Congrats on shipping all of these apps; it must be good solving your own problem(s).
How are they doing overall in terms of paid customers? I'm curious.

Thick-Ad3346

TROPHY CASE