Every week, I advise founders on how to hit $10k MRR. On Tuesdays, I share my consulting notes from those private sessions. Learn from their mistakes so you don't burn your own cash.
He tried to hire me to sell his product. I said no.
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Hey Reader, A founder reached out to me last week with a "job opportunity." He had a finished product, a clean UI, and a pitch deck. He said, "Dmitry, I’ve seen your playbooks. You know how to talk to customers. I want to hire you to handle the sales so I can focus on building." I smiled. Then I told him two things he didn't want to hear. First, I asked: "If I’m the one finding the customers, closing the deals, and hearing the feedback — why exactly do I need you?" It sounds harsh, but it’s the truth of the early stage. If you outsource the "Value Exchange" (the sale) before you have Product-Market Fit, you aren't the founder anymore. You’re just a project manager for an idea that might not work. Then I asked the second question: "What do you think makes a founder?" Most people think being a founder is about having the idea. It’s not. Being a founder is about validating the idea. If you are "too busy building" to talk to your market, you aren't building a company — you're building a monument to your own assumptions. The Clarity Filter Insight The founder’s primary job isn't to write code or design screens. It is to be the bridge between a painful problem and a working solution. You cannot delegate the bridge-building until the bridge is solid. [Share on LinkedIn] | [Share on X] If you're afraid to sell, it’s usually because you don't yet believe your solution is a painkiller. Don't hire a salesperson to fix your conviction. Talk to your customers until that conviction is so high you’d feel guilty not selling it to them. Speak soon, P.S. Want to get to your first $10K MRR faster? |
Clarity Filter
Every week, I advise founders on how to hit $10k MRR. On Tuesdays, I share my consulting notes from those private sessions. Learn from their mistakes so you don't burn your own cash.
Hey Reader, Everyone talks about Product-Market Fit. Almost no one talks about Founder-Channel Fit. I learned this the hard way on LinkedIn. It took me exactly one year of trial, error, and painful silence to finally figure out how to drive real business from this platform. Most founders treat marketing channels like a light switch — they flip it on, wait two weeks, and if the room isn't instantly glowing, they flip it off and say, "LinkedIn doesn't work for us." They are wrong. Usually, it's...
Hey Reader, Time to talk about me. For a long time, my "inbox" was open to everyone. I’d spend hours every week in "quick coffee chats" and "free 15-minute brainstorms." I told myself I was being helpful. I told myself I was building a community. I was wrong. I was just avoiding my own main lever. I realized that by giving away 10% of my focus to fifty different people, I was stealing 100% of my intensity from the clients who actually moved the needle. I wasn't being generous — I was being...
Reader, We are days away from 2026. Right now, you’re probably making a list of goals. "Launch the startup," "Get to $10k MRR," "Quit the day job." But goals without a system are just wishes. If you spent 2025 "building" but not selling, don't repeat that mistake next year. You don't need more features. You need Traction. I built The Traction OS to help you validate your idea and get paid in weeks, not months. ⚠️ Important Update: Since launching last month, I’ve kept the price at a...