The hottest Sales Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Business Topics

Why We Make the Exeter Hammer

The American Peasant • 2715 implied HN points • 27 Oct 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. The Exeter Hammer was developed over three years to create a lightweight, balanced tool ideal for furniture makers. It combines good design and functionality to improve woodworking tasks.
  2. The hammer's design process involved scrapping an earlier project that felt too similar to common hammers on the market. This led to creating a unique hammer that meets specific needs of woodworkers.
  3. The first 400 hammers sold quickly, showing a strong demand and approval from users. This success suggests that thoughtful design can resonate well with the target audience.

#54 - IT Services Client Leaders: Your Buyer Has Moved.

OSS.fund Newsletter • 56 implied HN points • 26 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Buyers have shifted — they are more informed, hypothesis-driven, and expect fast, measurable results instead of broad discovery or generic workshops.
  2. AI-native competitors win by showing up narrow and pragmatic, offering tight scopes, quick proofs, and practical data-governance that remove friction.
  3. Traditional IT services can stay relevant by upgrading commercial skills with hands-on drills that turn messy account context into next steps, tighten proposals, handle governance, and prove value quickly.

Downstream Problems

The Breaking Point • 199 implied HN points • 29 Oct 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Focus on solving the root problem, not just the surface issues. Fixing the wrong thing will only lead to more problems.
  2. Quality leads are crucial for a successful sales process. Even a flawed process can succeed if the leads are strong and motivated.
  3. Looking upstream for solutions can help fix multiple problems at once. If you improve one area, other issues may also resolve.

Sell Me This Pen

Astral Codex Ten • 11975 implied HN points • 08 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. The content is behind a paywall and requires a paid subscription to access.
  2. The title "Sell Me This Pen" indicates a focus on sales, persuasion, or pitch-style techniques common in marketing and interviews.
  3. Published on Jan 08, 2026, the entry includes engagement numbers that suggest modest reader interaction.

Problems at Yelp (YELP)

The Bear Cave • 1096 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Revenue has stalled and recently turned negative, with ad clicks falling — a clear sign the business is losing momentum.
  2. Rising competition from social platforms and the move from web search to AI agents are making Yelp less relevant to consumers and advertisers.
  3. A high-pressure, often sleazy sales culture and many angry or disgruntled merchants are harming Yelp's brand and making growth harder.
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The Pinhole View of AI Value

Software Design: Tidy First? • 1811 implied HN points • 04 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Seeing AI’s value only as labor replacement is too narrow; AI also raises company value by increasing revenue, shifting timing of cash flows, and creating optional future paths.
  2. AI can boost revenue and growth by scaling human work, enabling personalization at scale, and adding new features customers will pay for, not just by cutting headcount.
  3. AI creates optionality and timing benefits—like deferred hiring or infrastructure, access to new markets and business models, and faster experimentation—that increase value beyond immediate cost savings.

Perceived Value

The Breaking Point • 279 implied HN points • 17 Oct 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Value is based on how the buyer sees it. For example, ice cubes can be very valuable on a hot day, but not so much on a cold one.
  2. Customers often find high value in features that are easy to create, rather than the complex ones. A simple 'Export to Powerpoint' function ended up being super useful for many users.
  3. Sometimes, the reasons customers buy a product aren’t just about how useful it is. They might buy it for the customer service, prestige, or other factors that might surprise you.

The $1000 side-project

Tiny Empires • 306 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Pick a tiny, focused product you can build and sell quickly so you learn what customers actually want instead of spending months on something no one buys.
  2. Solve problems you personally understand and validate early by selling manually to your first customers; direct feedback from those first sales beats fancy marketing funnels at the start.
  3. Price your product properly, keep costs minimal, and commit to one compounding marketing channel so revenue can grow sustainably — higher prices and low expenses make $1k/month actually useful.

Founder Mode👨‍💼, The Extinction of VC💀, How to Build More Pipeline🚀

The VC Corner • 259 implied HN points • 15 Sep 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. The current landscape for venture capital is changing, and there are risks that could impact its future. It's important for founders to understand these shifts.
  2. Founders can take control of their growth strategies by focusing on building a solid sales pipeline. This can help them succeed even in uncertain times.
  3. Adapting to new growth approaches is necessary for SaaS businesses. Finding fresh methods can lead to sustained success and relevance.

Methods and Outcomes

The Breaking Point • 159 implied HN points • 08 Oct 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. When making decisions, it's important to separate methods from outcomes. If you mix them up, it can lead to confusion and endless debates.
  2. You can plan in two ways: starting with methods to estimate outcomes or starting with outcomes to figure out the methods needed. Both ways can work depending on the situation.
  3. To empower your team, give them clear outcomes and let them choose their own methods. This way, they feel involved and motivated to succeed.

OpenAI Frontier: The Implications

Enterprise AI Trends • 295 implied HN points • 07 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Incumbent vendors are aggressively bundling field engineering and white‑glove services to own the "last mile," which shrinks startups' ability to compete on go‑to‑market.
  2. New enterprise AI platforms that cut integration pain—like bundled agent solutions—make adoption much easier and can quickly displace niche vertical startups.
  3. Client demand for AI-driven cost savings is compressing consulting and services margins, threatening to commoditize the FDE/service model.

Cadeau : une formation gratuite

L'Atelier Galita • 79 implied HN points • 13 Oct 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. There's a free training available on how to sell if you don't like selling. It's a chance to learn useful skills without any cost.
  2. This training is available for a limited time of 24 hours, specifically for premium members. It's a special offer to appreciate loyal subscribers.
  3. The training focuses on the basics of copywriting, which can help improve selling techniques. Even if you're not a fan of sales, these tips can be valuable.

An outbound playbook for 2025

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 883 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. In 2025, successful outbound sales will focus on a mix of cold calls, email campaigns, LinkedIn engagement, and personalized outreach for key accounts. This shows that a balanced approach between automation and manual efforts is essential.
  2. Identifying and targeting ideal customer profiles (ICPs) is crucial. Businesses should develop a scoring model to define their targets and filter their outreach accordingly, ensuring focused efforts yield better results.
  3. Using signals, like website visits and LinkedIn engagement, can enhance outreach effectiveness. These signals allow businesses to connect with prospects who are already interested, leading to higher response rates and engagement.

The Ultimate Positioning Guide (+ Worksheet)

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 25 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Make a clear positioning bet now instead of waiting for perfect data; deciding what you are, who it’s for, and who you compete with creates the data you need to test and improve.
  2. Follow the 3-step framework: pick a primary anchor (Activity, Use Case, Product Category, or Competitive Alternative), add one or two differentiators, then combine them into a single positioning statement. This structure makes messaging, targeting, and comparisons much easier.
  3. Choose the right level of specificity so you’re not too vague or too niche, and pick only real, defensible differentiators. Use a decision tree and worksheet to map your ICP, use case, alternatives, and to create clear internal and external positioning statements.

16 Lessons on Selling (and Life) from My 5-Year-Old

Not Boring by Packy McCormick • 211 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Start selling early and learn by doing — every no is useful feedback, so write down what you hear and iterate on the product.
  2. Know who the buyer really is and price to match them — the kids wanted the toy but the parents had the money, so meet the payer where they are and be willing to adjust price.
  3. Small, practical details matter: pick the right time and place, use social proof, have cash/payment options, be friendly, and sometimes a kid’s pitch works better than an adult’s.

The best growth tactics of 2025

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 465 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Outbound/ABM, partner/ecosystem plays, and events/community were the biggest growth channels in 2025 — they generated the most pipeline despite the AI hype.
  2. AI-driven content and discovery plus product-led tactics also paid off, with wins from AEO/LLM work (JSON-LD, custom GPTs) and freemium/mini tools that captured high-intent leads.
  3. Execution mattered most: tried-and-true tactics succeeded when done exceptionally — examples include automated intent-based outbound, "give-to-get" partner programs, and intimate in-person or virtual events.

Profile: Ryan Reynolds and Owning the Outcome

Creating Value from Nothing • 132 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Own inbound sales end-to-end by building systems that route leads quickly and make signing up simple, so growth doesn’t stall.
  2. Solve root causes instead of surface symptoms by creating repeatable workflows, clear handoffs, and measurable definitions of “good” so the team doesn't rely on heroics.
  3. A scrappy, cross-functional culture with a bias toward action and rituals that celebrate gritty execution helps teams move fast, learn from outcomes, and sustain improvements.

Lessons from $1/day challenge

Kenny’s Sub • 299 implied HN points • 22 Jul 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Haggling often doesn't work well in the long run. It's better to stick to your price and negotiate on other terms if needed.
  2. $1 can feel expensive to some people. They may not see the value in what they are buying or find it too much effort for a small price.
  3. You need to have products ready to sell. Without anything to offer, it's tough to make money. Planning ahead is crucial.

50% Off Lunduke Journal for August

The Lunduke Journal of Technology • 1723 implied HN points • 11 Aug 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. The Lunduke Journal is having a 50% off subscription sale for the entire month of August. This is a great chance to save money while supporting independent tech journalism.
  2. You can choose between a monthly or yearly subscription, with prices starting as low as $3 a month or $27 a year, making it very affordable.
  3. There's also a special Lifetime Subscription available for half price this month, allowing you to pay once for lifetime access to all content from The Lunduke Journal.

What's a Forward Deployed Engineer?

Technically • 26 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26
đź•ą Technology Sales
  1. A Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) is a highly technical, customer-facing engineer who embeds with customers to build custom solutions and then generalizes those learnings into the core product.
  2. The FDE model is exploding because deploying AI and other complex systems is uncertain and rapidly changing, so companies want real experts to clear the fog and make things work in production.
  3. Enterprise sales are slow and messy—security, procurement, legacy systems, and institutional inertia mean white‑glove support is often needed, so FDEs can help win big deals but they’re costly and not right for every startup.

The AI churn wave?

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 441 implied HN points • 10 Dec 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. AI-native apps have much lower retention than traditional B2B SaaS because many users are experimental and leave after trying the product.
  2. Pricing and distribution matter a lot: cheap, self-serve AI tools (under $50/mo) see massive churn while products above about $250/mo show retention similar to B2B SaaS.
  3. Sustained growth depends on durable retention. To reduce churn, focus on real-budget workflows, offer services or forward-deployed engineers, avoid overselling, accelerate adoption, and favor annual plans.

Why your marketing isn't working

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 425 implied HN points • 07 Dec 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Marketing needs a balance between great content and effective distribution. If you're creating amazing material but no one sees it, then you have a distribution problem.
  2. Product-market fit is no longer a final goal; it’s more of a constant challenge. As customer expectations rise quickly, businesses must keep up or risk losing their fit.
  3. Understanding your target buyer is crucial for success in selling your business. Different buyers look for different qualities, like profitability or growth, so tailor your approach accordingly.

How to use AI agents for marketing

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 544 implied HN points • 16 Nov 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. AI can help marketing teams improve lead enrichment by gathering more complete data from multiple sources. This makes it easier to reach out to better-suited customers quickly.
  2. Using AI as an 'inbound BDR' can automate personalized outreach and meeting scheduling, leading to more meetings and opportunities for sales teams. This saves time and enhances engagement.
  3. Creating a custom AI app layer for sales and marketing can streamline customer information and actions needed. This leads to faster responses and improved conversion rates for sales teams.

B2B Product-Led Sales Guide

Elena's Growth Scoop • 3301 implied HN points • 14 Apr 23
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Acquisition channels are saturated and overloaded, making it hard to get noticed by buyers.
  2. Cost of acquisition is increasing due to heightened channel accessibility and competition.
  3. Product-led sales strategy focuses on enabling end-users to discover the product's value, leading to enterprise-level upgrades.

SaaS 2.0

benn.substack • 1534 implied HN points • 11 Jul 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Salesforce is more than just a way to store lists; it's also a guide for sales teams on how to navigate complex selling processes. It provides structure to help salespeople do their job better.
  2. Creating a personalized software solution might require more work, but could lead to better results than a one-size-fits-all approach like Salesforce. Custom solutions can fit specific needs more effectively.
  3. Instead of relying solely on software to manage processes, hiring experts can be a better option. Experts can use their knowledge to adapt methods for your unique situation and simplify tasks.

Insights from 15+ GTM audits

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 108 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Make your ICP a hard constraint across everything — homepage, CRM, demos, outbound lists and content — and enforce disqualification criteria so you focus on buyers who actually convert.
  2. Choose a clear product category or primary use case before you try to differentiate. Name the main alternative you replace so buyers immediately know what to compare you against.
  3. Treat GTM as an end-to-end system: design structured demos, a simple sales process with stage exit criteria, aligned buyer-facing assets, and a content strategy that targets high-intent buyers. Doing fewer, consistent things beats many disconnected activities.

10 Quick GTM Fixes You Can Ship This Week

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 34 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Know exactly who to sell to — document a five‑point ICP and a list of disqualifiers (ANTI‑ICP) and enforce it so your pipeline stops getting noisy.
  2. Pick one clear positioning anchor (product category or use case) and make it consistent across homepage, LinkedIn, demos, and sales materials; pause weak channels and focus deeply on the strongest one.
  3. Tighten execution with simple processes and metrics — add source attribution, track lost reasons, set hard open/close deal criteria, review demo recordings, and actively use case studies and referrals.

Ambition, fun and not

benn.substack • 1252 implied HN points • 04 Jul 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Starting a startup sounds great because you can choose your projects and team, but it comes with a lot of hard work and stress. Many founders regret getting into it despite the glamorous idea of freedom.
  2. Once startups grow into businesses, they lose some of their initial fun and freedom. The excitement of being a creator changes to dealing with corporate responsibilities and customer demands.
  3. Even if a startup has bold ideas, like Cluely's innovative concept, they often end up focusing on practical business solutions. This shift can make their original ambitious vision seem smaller than intended.

#45 - Thought Experiment - Your "flexible" is hiding operational debt

OSS.fund Newsletter • 94 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. What you call flexibility may be hiding operational debt: manual workarounds, spreadsheets, and institutional memory erode margins and create single points of failure.
  2. AI can encode client-specific rules and handle exceptions at scale, letting you deliver personalized experiences without increasing marginal human effort.
  3. Audit recent special deals, map their hidden workflows, and encode repeatable rules so agents handle predictable exceptions while humans focus only on true edge cases.

Homepage Teardowns: What 6 Top SaaS Companies Get Right (and Wrong)

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 43 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Make your homepage instantly clear about who the product is for and what it does, use contextual social proof and realistic product visuals, and guide visitors to deeper pages with CTAs and FAQs instead of dumping too much detail.
  2. A sales-led motion can work below €10k ACV if you meet the right metrics: fast CAC payback (ideally under 6–12 months), enough ARR per AE, win rates above ~20%, short sales cycles, and mostly inbound-driven demos.
  3. Use early sales as a learning channel: document a simple visual sales process with clear CTAs, qualification rules, and next steps so you can learn how customers buy, improve positioning, and scale repeatably.

Estimating Roche Shipments

ASeq Newsletter • 14 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. You can bound Roche's first-year instrument shipments by comparing to historical first-year shipments of similar sequencing platforms.
  2. Historical examples vary a lot — from roughly 20 units up to about 500 units in their first year — so Roche could plausibly fall anywhere in that range.
  3. Producing a useful estimate will require more data and clear assumptions about market demand, pricing, and manufacturing capacity.

What GTM teams are doing with ChatGPT

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 851 implied HN points • 30 Jul 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. GTM teams are increasingly using ChatGPT because it helps streamline many tasks, making it the go-to tool for marketers. Instead of juggling multiple tools, many prefer this single platform for various needs.
  2. ChatGPT is versatile and can be used for a variety of functions like persona research, new product positioning, and creating content outlines. This flexibility helps teams save time and improve productivity.
  3. Using AI like ChatGPT reduces costs and enhances marketing efforts, such as localizing content and generating targeted event invitations. It allows teams to operate more efficiently and effectively reach their audience.

Lessons From Over 13 Million Naira Worth of Organic WhatsApp Sales

Day One • 758 implied HN points • 24 Feb 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Building trust and authority through valuable content is essential for selling products or services online
  2. Utilizing testimonials and free high-quality content can greatly persuade potential customers to make a purchase
  3. Addressing objections, providing ongoing support, and reducing buyer's remorse are key to maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty

Clouded Judgement 2.27.26 - The Poison of Inertia

Clouded Judgement • 14 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. AI is rapidly changing how work gets done, letting smaller, flatter teams and new tools replace old roles and prompting big reorganizations and layoffs to remove inefficiency.
  2. Large incumbents are crippled by organizational inertia and often need to rewrite playbooks or start fresh, untethered units to adapt to new platform shifts.
  3. AI will materially lower software production costs, so legacy players must proactively cut bloat and restructure their cost base or risk being undercut by cheaper, modern competitors.

From 0 SEO experience to an agency

Kenny’s Sub • 179 implied HN points • 11 Jun 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. To succeed, it's important to go all out and fully engage in your work. Learning from past experiences and caring about people can make business more enjoyable and rewarding.
  2. Staying committed to your daily routines helps maintain momentum. Missing a day is okay, but try not to miss two in a row to keep moving forward.
  3. Effective communication is key, especially in sales. By planning questions and being genuinely curious, you can connect better with people and help them achieve their goals.

[Launch] I wrote a book on Growth Marketing

Channels of Growth • 687 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. The book 'Channels of Growth' focuses on a Growth Marketing Framework for dominating channels and building better products.
  2. All users come from channels when it comes to growth, emphasizing the importance of understanding and optimizing these channels.
  3. The book aims to provide a personal Growth Marketing framework based on lessons from over $100M+ spent on growing products.

To PLG or not PLG?

Elena's Growth Scoop • 1218 implied HN points • 24 Aug 23
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. The post discusses whether to focus on PLG (Product-Led Growth)
  2. There is a new B2B Product-Led Growth & Product-Led Sales course available for enrollment
  3. Readers can access a 7-day free trial for Elena's Growth Scoop to view the full post and archives

Are we ready for AI sales reps?

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 528 implied HN points • 06 Aug 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. AI can now take on tasks typically done by human sales reps, like answering common questions and helping with pricing. This means businesses can be available to customers 24/7 without delays.
  2. Good support documentation is crucial for AI success. If the AI has clear and structured information to work from, it can provide better answers and have fewer mistakes.
  3. While AI isn't ready to replace all sales jobs yet, it can definitely help support the sales process by filling in gaps and increasing efficiency for small teams.

What's next for Enterprise AI Trends

Enterprise AI Trends • 105 implied HN points • 12 Dec 25
đź’Ľ Business Sales
  1. Consistent long-form writing is hard but can build credibility and an engaged audience, especially among executives and professional investors.
  2. A new Executive Tier targets executives and institutional investors with focused content on market-sensitive topics, competitive AI strategy, and sales plays, and includes a limited number of one-on-one advisory sessions.
  3. The paid newsletter stays focused on AI market and trends, with annual subscribers automatically upgraded to the Executive Tier and early supporters receiving complimentary upgrades.