Build, Scale, Repeat: 20 Years of Enterprise Sales Lessons for Startup Founders
Selling to companies 100x your size is not magic—it’s a system.
In this 60-minute session, Apurva Bhargava distills 20 years of enterprise sales and business development experience across global tech giants and venture-backed startups into practical moves founders can copy this quarter. From scaling one of HCL’s largest enterprise accounts to building TrusTrace’s U.S. sales engine from scratch, you’ll see what actually works when you’re the underdog selling into big logos.
You’ll walk away with concrete playbooks you can plug into your next outreach sequence, investor update, or GTM sprint—not high-level theory or generic “motivation.”
What you’ll walk away with
By the end, you’ll know how to:
Validate enterprise demand before you build
Simple tests to confirm buyers will pay, and clear signals it’s time to walk away.
Break into complex accounts without wasting months
A lightweight stakeholder map: who to find, what to ask, and how to keep momentum.
Stand up your first sales function the right way
What to do as a founder, when to hire SDRs vs. AEs, and where partnerships fit.
Use sales to improve your fundraising odds
How TrusTrace’s sales pipeline directly influenced its Series B valuation—and what investors really look for in “traction.”
Expand into new markets with fewer missteps
What it actually took to scale a European company into North America, including what they’d do differently.
You’ll also see real deal stories, mistakes, email and meeting examples, and frameworks you can adapt immediately.
Who this is for
This session is a fit if you are:
A B2B or SaaS founder (pre-revenue to Series B).
Selling—or planning to sell—to mid-market or enterprise buyers.
Entering new geographic or vertical markets.
Turning early traction into a compelling fundraising and board narrative.
If you’re pre-revenue, you’ll avoid common enterprise-sales traps that waste 6–12 months. If you’re post-seed, you’ll pressure-test your current sales motion and leave with a sharper, more repeatable approach.
Format and logistics
Format: Moderated, founder-focused interview + live teardown of frameworks
Interaction: Real stories, live Q&A, and practical examples (not slides full of jargon)
Delivery: Virtual (live, with recording)
Speaker bio
Apurva Bhargava is an enterprise sales and GTM leader with 20 years of experience taking technology products into new markets. He has led market entry, strategic partnerships, and revenue growth at global organizations like HCL and helped build TrusTrace’s U.S. operations from the ground up—playing a key role in its Series B fundraise by proving real, repeatable sales traction. His perspective is shaped by wins, losses, and two decades of hands-on selling into some of the world’s most demanding enterprise buyers.
💡 Got a specific sales challenge? Submit it by Tues 17th and we might feature it live. Apurva will do real-time teardowns of actual founder situations.
Email: nicole@aspir.ai with subject "Sales Challenge"
Good submissions are specific:
"I've had 3 meetings with warm lead, they keep saying 'interesting' but no next steps"
"My average enterprise deal is stalling at 4 months - what am I missing?"
Generic questions ("How do I get customers?") won't be prioritized.
Presented by Founder Institute Seattle
Led by Nicole Doyle, Aniket Naravanekar, and Jewel Atuel.
Founder Institute Seattle’s Spring 2026 Cohort launches April 22nd.
📅 Applications are open now at fi.co/seattle
🎓 This event is part of our public founder series