This founder lesson punched me in the gut

Last week, I bought tomatoes from a guy who didn’t speak much.

He just looked at me, pointed to the basket, and said, “It’ll last four days, brother. Take it.”

No pitch. No fancy words. Just belief in his product.

And he made the sale.

I thought of this today when I met Vasanth again. He’s the Chief Strategy Officer of GUVI Geek Network and good friend. (I’m also tricking him to be my mentor, sushhhh)

One of those “always-on” strategy guys who thinks clearly and speaks straight.

We hadn’t met in months.

I quit GUVI in January.
Life got busy.
Building Stupidpreneur took over.
But sitting with him again felt like catching up with an old teacher.

I told him I was avoiding webinars because I'm not comfortable selling directly. One line he dropped hit me in the gut.

“If you can’t sell, you can’t be a founder.”

It sounds obvious, right?

But I’ve seen too many founders, especially the creative ones—hide behind product. They think great design will do the selling.

Or that “if it’s good, it’ll sell itself.”

Nope.

Selling isn’t just about money. It’s conviction. It’s clarity. It’s your belief transferred into someone else’s brain.

When you sell, you show up.
You speak up.
You risk rejection.
You push through the cringe.

I remember when I started Happy Beginnings.

I didn’t even have a deck.

Just showed people pictures of my first wedding decor project.

Said, “Give me a chance. I’ll make it unforgettable.”

I sold that dream before I had a team.

We often think strategy is about frameworks and slides.

But strategy starts with this: Can you convince one person to care?

If yes, you’ve got something. If no, you’re just polishing an invisible mirror.

The best founders?
They sell before they build.
They sell while building.
And when it’s built, they sell like their life depends on it.

Because it does.

So today’s reminder—straight from the streets and a CSO’s brain: Learn to sell. Or learn to suffer.

See you next week. Have a happy weekend!

– Shashank