At the Autumn Accelerator 2024, we sat down for a no-nonsense discussion about Go-To-Market strategies with two founders who’ve walked the walk: Donal Greene, VP & Global Head of Identity at Certn, and Pavol Magic, CEO & Co-founder of Zoniq. The session, moderated by Natalia Sachova, Head of Portfolio and Communication at ZAKA VC, was packed with hard-earned lessons about landing your first customers, scaling internationally, and making those crucial early hires.

The backstory: from zero to traction

Both founders have unique journeys, but they share one thing in common: they hustled their way to product-market fit.

Donal Greene first entered the technology sector in 2015 when he joined Innovatrics. In 2021, he founded Trustmatic, a Bratislava-based start-up focused on identity verification, initially bootstrapped. After raising capital from local VCs, Trustmatic was acquired by the Canadian company Certn in October 2023, where Donal has become VP & Global Head of Identity.

Pavol Magic cut his teeth in marketing, running campaigns across ten countries and even co-founding Slovakia’s Association of Digital Marketing Agencies. Later, he pivoted to product development at Sygic before founding Zoniq (formerly Mobilyze), a platform helping EV charging operators identify high-demand locations for new charging stations.

Why founders must take the lead in sales

Both founders, Donal and Pavol, are non-technical founders. Therefore, they stepped into many critical roles, such as customer acquisition, and doing go-to-market efforts.

Hiring an external salesperson before you truly understand your product and have validated your assumptions may not be beneficial.

Our speakers agree that especially in the early stages, founders must act as the head of sales. They need to be the ones talking to customers daily, gathering quick feedback, and learning critical information for further product development. Founders should also be capable of generating new business themselves.

Donal´s and Pavol´s hands-on approach in the beginning of their companies allowed them to shape the start-up’s success and drive early growth by understanding customer needs and refining their offerings.

When to hire your first salesperson

Only when your schedule is maxed out should you bring someone into the start-up - a junior or mid-level hire rather than an industry superstar, who may struggle to replicate their success from a larger company. Look for people with some experience and a strong drive to prove themselves.

Donal shared his experience at Trustmatic. He was the primary person driving the go-to-market strategy since the beginning, starting with the network he had built in his previous roles and reaching out through LinkedIn. When was the first trigger to hire additional members for the go-to-market team? After Trustmatic´s first fundraising round. For the hiring, Donal also emphasized the importance of industry experience, an existing network, and a proven track record.

In early-stage start-ups, it’s crucial to have someone who is multi-disciplinary, a generalist who can manage a variety of tasks. Start-up will (probably) not have enough money, thus you need to get people who sit on multiple seats and do multiple roles and have the right expertise.

First customers: hustle + luck

Pavol pre-sold the product. Pavol likes to sell products before actually building them, because that way he can validate the idea upfront. He never gives away products for free, even not at the beginning, to determine if customers are actually willing to buy the product. When building a company, you're aiming for something sustainable that can work in the long term, and you can't achieve that by giving things away for free. His first customer reached out to him when the start-up was in the project stage and needed advisory specifically for this problem, which led to the creation of the company.

Donal networked like crazy. Visiting events, especially side events, is another efficient way to meet your first customers. As an early-stage start-up, you can sometimes get free tickets to such events (but you need to show you are an exciting starting company and you are a prospect) or even have a stand there. There are many tech events across Europe where you can network. Donal randomly met his first customer at such an event in Barcelona - Mobile World Congress - during a chit-chat after the event.

Pro sales tip: master LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a start-up founder’s best friend, particularly in the B2B world.

1. ‍Shoot your shot. Reach out directly to decision-makers: C-levels executives, VPs, etc. Worst-case scenario? They won´t answer.
2. ‍Be a thought leader. LinkedIn is not just an outbound tool, but also a powerful inbound one. Regularly post sharp, informative and opinionated content about your industry. Even comparing yourself to competitors can drive engagement (and leads). Being brave on LinkedIn will only work to your benefit.
3. ‍Get the right tools. With the help of AI and new features, LinkedIn´s Sales Navigator consolidates everything a Sales Development Representative (SDR) needs in their tech stack, replacing the need for 5-6 different tools. It seems like one of the best investments you can make in your tools.

Partner up?

Partnership is another tool to generate new leads. When should you start, or even consider starting, partnerships? In reality, many IT solutions are purchased through partnerships. Partnerships can be the best option if your time and budget are limited, as they already have thousands of customers to whom they can introduce your product. Always consider the effort-to-reward ratio.

Early-stage start-ups are often hesitant to pursue this, but identifying the ideal partner profiles and initiating some conversations can be a valuable use of time. Once you’ve made some sales on your own, it’s completely okay to reach out to partners.

From local to global

The topic we concluded our discussion with the founders was international scaling. Should you go global right away, or stay focused on your local market first? Building globally can require a lot of resources, but if you focus on your local market first, you can validate your solution in that specific context.

Both paths come with challenges, but as Pavol puts it, “You don’t want to find out your product doesn’t scale after you’ve sunk time and money into going global.”

It really depends on the product, the value proposition, and the available resources and there is no exact answer to this question. If you have a product that’s global by default, scaling internationally from the start is much easier. It also helps if you already have an international network.

Final thought

‍The start-up journey is a mix of grit, adaptability, and good timing. You can’t plan for luck, but you can put yourself in situations where luck is more likely to strike - whether that’s reaching out to prospects, attending events, or testing new sales channels. At the end of the day, success comes down to doing the work and being relentless in your pursuit of growth. And as Donal and Pavol showed us, sometimes it’s the random, unexpected moments that end up making all the difference.

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