Which Sales Strategy Is Best For Your Startup?

Our series Versus pits two competing concepts against each other. In this episode, Y Combinator Visiting Group Partner, Pete Koomen, explores two common B2B sales strategies: Top Down and Bottom Up. Pete helps define each and discusses how a startup should choose and build their sales motion.

00:00 - Sell your product: Bottoms up and Top down
00:23 - Top down sales
02:44 - Bottoms up sales
05:21 - Wrap-up
06:00 - Outro

[mPajuhaan]

Sales for startups are the topic I really like to hear more about it.

[chapterme]

Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) -
00:00 - Sell your product: Bottoms up and Top down
00:23 - Top down sales
01:07 - Biggest advantage
01:34 - Biggest downside
02:06 - How to build a top down sales motion
02:44 - Bottoms up sales
03:47 - Advantages
04:30 - Building a bottoms up sales motion
05:21 - Wrap-up

[ycombinator]

Who is your startup selling to? Are you going top down or bottom up?

[themartdog]

Seems like some products would need bottom-up sales to polish their products with the end-users who would use it. Then make the big sale to the top, selling how all of that job title in their enterprise should be using it

[LaduramVishnoi]

Both approaches are amazing. The Top-down is primarily outbound, and the bottom-up is mostly inbound. Great video Pete, love to see more.

[chrislloyd]

Okay, YC companies are split evenly in terms of their sales strategy. Now let's see that split among successful YC companies.

[GavinTye]

To tell top down you really must become an expert in the 3 stages of creating demand. It's only when you demand in the sales process will you consistently close sales this way...and this isn't a marketing function, it shouls form part of the overall sales strategy...

[cdb]

For top down… is that $10k to $100k price figure monthly or annually?

[benholmquist]

You said "$10K price floor for mid-market, and $100K floor for enterprise". Is there a clear definition of the two? How do we know which we are? We are looking at around a $25K price for deals that we sell to colleges.

[OfficialClintJames]

Came here for the tops vs. bottoms comments...

[AI_news_ru]

Funny that this video has singificantly less views then any other video. Nobody wants to do sales)))

[ibrand]

It also seems like you will need to employ a bit from each model eventually, depending of the startup?

[ACCA]

Thanks for making clear of top down approach and bottom up approach in such a short video. Deeply appreciate it.

[jeremiahdeleon]

Bottom up is hard now because they need approve from there team now before they try tools!

[monaiqbal]

Hey have seen your website and have few questions:
How can we know that a specific startup is funded or not?.

[MrKaugaban]

Can it be both and meet at the middle?

[amanciocohen]

This is so stupid. In a startup the founder should be doing the sales directly. This is very against Paul Graham's advice

[juliuspreloznik]

What’s the difference between top down / bottom up and PLG/SLG?