I regret all the years I downplayed the importance of Sales & BD in a tech business. We all need each other to win long.
Every startup needs a salesperson. At validation stage, you may need to talk to lots of people to know if you are building something customers actually want.
Your b2c biz may do less sales in the early stage. As you mature and need to expand your rev/customer, most b2c will have look to enterprise for growth, and sales becomes a priority again.
Especially if you are building a company that caters to businesses (or will do so in the future).
It's hard to communicate differentiation via a site or an app when large $$$ are involved. Clients want meetings, presentations, case studies and demos. There's also nothing as reassuring as a human who says they will be with you every step of the way.
Some of your fav tech giants are sales and marketing companies built on top of really great tech. Microsoft, Facebook, LinkedIn. 27% of Google staff are sales.
Same product can sell for 10 - 30x by repurposing it for enterprise market. Less switching, more seats = more rev/customer.
In markets where purchasing power parity is low like Nigeria, lots of startups might find more succor in selling to business than individual consumers.
BD remains essential for all businesses at all stages - you can unlock new growth opportunities through partnerships and also distribution deals.
