For many SaaS founders, sales begins as a necessity. In the early days, there is no dedicated sales team, no playbook, and often no proven market. Founders become the first salespeople because nobody understands the problem, the vision, or the product better than they do.
In a recent episode of The Nobel Podcast, we sat down with Bart Verhulst, co-founder of Presspage, a company that spent more than fifteen years helping some of the world’s largest organizations manage corporate communications, investor relations, and newsroom content. Having recently exited the business, Bart reflected on the evolution of founder-led sales, enterprise selling, scaling commercial teams, and why helping customers buy is far more important than trying to sell them something.
Watch the episode below:
Why Founder-Led Sales Is So Powerful in the Early Stages
When Presspage was founded in 2008, Bart naturally took ownership of the commercial side of the business. While his co-founders focused on product and technology, he became responsible for bringing the product to market, driving international expansion, and winning customers. Even after growing the company to more than 300 customers worldwide, Bart remained heavily involved in sales. According to him, founder-led sales is fundamentally different from traditional sales because founders operate with a different level of conviction, credibility, and flexibility.Founders are able to sell a vision long before a company has all the answers. They can make strategic decisions in real time, discuss product direction, and create trust by demonstrating deep commitment to solving a problem. This creates a sales motion that is often difficult to replicate through traditional sales processes. At the same time, Bart acknowledged that founder-led sales can become a limitation if founders fail to build scalable commercial structures around themselves. Knowing when to transition from founder-led sales to a repeatable sales organization is one of the most important challenges a growing company will face.
The Hidden Challenge of Scaling a Sales Organization
One of the most fascinating parts of the conversation focused on the emotional side of scaling a company. As organizations grow, sales inevitably becomes more process-driven. Messaging becomes standardized, playbooks are introduced, and commercial teams need repeatable frameworks that can be taught and measured.For founders, this transition can be uncomfortable. Bart explained that when other people begin selling a product differently than the founder would, it can feel strange, even when the process is more scalable. What was once an art form built around storytelling, relationships, and vision gradually becomes a system designed for consistency and growth. This is where many founders struggle. Not because the new approach is wrong, but because it no longer feels personal. Successful founders learn to separate their personal identity from the sales process and allow professional sales leaders to build the next stage of growth.
Enterprise Sales Has Changed Dramatically
Having sold to global brands including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and KLM, Bart has witnessed firsthand how enterprise sales has evolved over the last fifteen years. When Presspage first entered the market, one of the biggest challenges was convincing companies that cloud-based software was safe and reliable. Today, that conversation has disappeared almost entirely. The modern challenge is different. Decision-makers receive countless vendor pitches every week, making it significantly harder to capture attention. While demonstrating product value may only take one or two meetings, navigating procurement, legal reviews, compliance checks, and security assessments can add months to the sales cycle. According to Bart, the enterprise buying process has become far more complex than the initial sales conversation itself. For many SaaS companies, the real challenge begins after the customer has already decided they want the product.
Why Procurement Is Now a Competitive Advantage
One of Bart’s strongest pieces of advice was directed at sales professionals selling into larger organizations. Too many account executives focus exclusively on the product while neglecting the contractual and operational aspects of the deal. In today’s enterprise environment, understanding legal agreements, service-level agreements, compliance requirements, and procurement processes has become essential. Bart believes every sales professional should know their company’s terms and conditions inside out. They should understand how their product is governed, how contracts work, and how security requirements are addressed. Companies that prepare thoroughly for procurement conversations create significantly less friction throughout the buying process and ultimately close deals faster.
Reputation Is the Ultimate Sales Asset
Throughout the episode, one theme appeared repeatedly: trust. Bart does not believe large enterprise accounts are won through mass email campaigns or automated outreach sequences. Instead, he attributes much of his success to building a strong reputation and maintaining a trusted network within his industry. Many of Presspage’s opportunities came through introductions, referrals, and relationships built over years of delivering value. This approach requires patience, but it also creates a level of credibility that cold outreach alone rarely achieves. His philosophy is simple. Great salespeople do not force people to buy. They help people make informed decisions. Sometimes that even means telling a prospect that your solution is not the right fit. In the long run, protecting your reputation creates more opportunities than chasing short-term wins ever will.
Why Industry Expertise Matters More Than Ever
As markets become increasingly crowded, Bart believes the most successful sales professionals will look less like traditional salespeople and more like industry experts. Customers want to speak with people who understand their challenges, their market dynamics, and the realities of their day-to-day work. Product knowledge alone is no longer enough. Throughout his career, Bart positioned himself first as an expert in investor relations and corporate communications, and only second as a software founder. This expertise allowed him to have deeper conversations with customers and build credibility long before discussing product features. In an age where information is readily available, genuine expertise has become one of the strongest competitive advantages a salesperson can have.
Letting Go Can Be One of the Hardest Leadership Decisions
Eventually, Presspage reached a point where professional management was needed to take the company to the next level. For Bart and his co-founders, this required an honest assessment of their own strengths and limitations. They recognized that while they were effective at building the business, other leaders were better equipped to scale it. This self-awareness ultimately helped create the conditions for a successful exit. Rather than holding onto control, they focused on building an organization capable of growing beyond the founders themselves. For many entrepreneurs, that may be one of the most difficult but important leadership lessons of all.
Final Thoughts
Bart Verhulst’s journey with Presspage offers valuable lessons for founders, sales leaders, and SaaS professionals alike. From founder-led sales and enterprise growth to procurement, trust, and reputation, his experience highlights the importance of balancing vision with scalability.
The strongest takeaway from the conversation is that sales is ultimately not about convincing people to buy. It is about understanding their challenges, earning their trust, and helping them make the right decision.
In a world increasingly driven by automation and technology, that human element may be more valuable than ever.
Follow Bart Verhulst on LinkedIn.
Listen to this episode on Spotify.
