Penmetsa: Early founder-led sales traction rarely repeats in the broader market
Arun Penmetsa · The #1 Mistake Killing B2B Startups | Arun Penmetsa, Storm Ventures · Jul 21, 2026 · at 50:26
Arun Penmetsa, Partner at Storm Ventures, explains why enterprise B2B startups struggle to scale sales after reaching early revenue milestones.
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“The founders can often get traction that's not repeatable, right? Because, you know, the founders, obviously, they have the passion. They know the space. They know the product. They can say, we'll build this for you. And when you, when you're selling at that stage, typically, you also tend to get early adopter customers. There are customers who are like, I like working with startups. I believe a product like this should exist. But that is not the vast majority of the market. The rest of the market is much more clinical in how they decide to evaluate or buy a piece of software.”
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