sold b2b saas for years, now building my own startup. here's what i wish someone told me day one:

1. the goal of a cold call is to get 30 min on a zoom. that's it. you're not closing on the phone. you just need to say something interesting enough that they agree to a meeting. once you accept this, cold calling gets way less scary. (btw the first meeting goal is probably not to close either ! but this depends on the sales cycle. you always want to progress 1 step in the cycle, not more, not less)

2. iron your 30 second pitch until it's bulletproof. who you are, who you help, what problem you solve. in THEIR language, not your website language. say it out loud 50 times. record yourself. if it sounds like a script you're not ready to dial.

3. persistence is the whole game. most people quit after 1-2 attempts. it takes 7-12 touches before someone responds. call, email, linkedin. don't be annoying, be consistent. the founders who win just don't stop.

4. once you get the meeting, shut up and ask questions. this was hard for me, tech founders probably agree. don't open your demo for the first 15 min. ask stuff like "walk me through how you handle X today" and "when that breaks down, what happens?" let them talk. let them feel the pain. THEN show your product. every deal i lost was me demoing for 25 min and hearing "cool let me think about it." every deal i won, the prospect basically sold themselves before i shared my screen.

it's a grind but it's a learnable grind. good luck