Founder Real Talk - Building Your Sales Engine for 2026
✨ Founder Real Talk — Build Your Sales Engine for 2026
📅 When: Thursday, October 10, 2025
⏰ Doors: 6:00 PM — Program: 6:30–8:30 PM PT — Networking: 8:30–9:00 PM
📍 Where: YesSF — San Francisco, CA
🎯 Theme: How to build a repeatable, VC-ready sales engine before you raise.
📣 Why this matters
Our last Founder Real Talk (FRT) for 2025!
Raising capital doesn’t fix a weak go-to-market. Investors back traction and predictable growth—so your #1 job pre-raise is to prove you can sell. This Founder Real Talk brings together seasoned sales leaders and VCs to give founders the playbook they actually need: how to hire, compensate, and structure a sales team; what early metrics investors care about; and how to design repeatable processes that scale in 2026 and beyond.
This is for founders who want a sales machine — not theory, but blueprints, tactics, and hiring frameworks you can implement today to grow revenue.
🔎 What we’ll cover (practical takeaways)
How to design a 0→1 sales motion for your stage (founder-led to first BDR/AE hires)
KPIs that matter to VCs (and how to present them in diligence)
Hiring & comp plans: when to hire a rep vs. hire a manager; equity vs. commission tradeoffs
Ramp plans & 30/60/90 deliverables for early sellers that actually predict success
Playbooks for outbound, inbound qualification, and scaling repeatable demos
Ramp-to-hire math: CAC payback, pay mix, quotas and what “good” looks like at each stage
Interview scripts, onboarding checklists, and the one contract clause that protects you from bad reps
👥 Format
Short, moderated panel with sales leaders + VC guests → 3 founder hot seats → tactical Q&A → networking.
90 mins of programming (high-signal, low-fluff) with hands-on frameworks you can copy and paste.
Intentionally small room to keep the conversation practical and the networking effective.
💡 Who should come
Pre-Seed & Seed founders who need to show predictable revenue growth
Founders transitioning from founder-led sales to hiring reps or sales ops
Early GTM hires (first AEs BDRs sales leaders) building processes and playbooks
Investors and operators who advise startups on go-to-market motion
🎟 Tickets
$10 Early Bird (limited to first 10 sign-ups)
$25 General Admission
$40 Last Call (3 days before)
Snacks, drinks, networking, and good vibes included.
🧭 Presented by
🔗 Register
🎤 Want to be a hot-seat founder?
Reply with a 2-line pitch: (1) Company & stage; (2) the most urgent sales problem you want the panel to tackle. We’ll select a few founders for quick, live feedback.