Founders, You are Your First (and Best) Salesperson

Guest Post: Emma Sheyi, Immigify

NMotion Blog sponsored by UBT

I’ve always believed and aligned with the fact that in the early days of a startup, the founders must lead the sales effort. There’s no better crash course in understanding your market than being the one pitching, handling objections, and closing deals yourself.

When you’re the one selling, you gain a front-row seat to:
1, The friction in your product-sales cycle
2. The skepticism behind customer adoption
3. The emotional triggers that actually drive conversions

These insights are gold — and no sales hire can uncover them for you as deeply as you can.

Over the years (and across my third startup now with Ayodeji Adesola), one consistent truth has stood out: we grow fastest when we first identify what actually works in sales before bringing in a team.

Once we find the winning motion or channel, that becomes our baseline playbook for any new salesperson. It gives them a head start while they explore and optimize other growth levers.

Because here’s the thing — if you can’t sell your own product, you might not have a sales problem. You might have a product-market fit or ICP definition problem.

So before you rush to hire a sales team, spend time being the seller yourself.

You’ll come out with sharper insights, stronger conviction, and a sales motion that actually scales.

Visit the Immigify website today.