Oct 2, 2026 · 56 min · 12 segments
Peter Kazanjy is the author of Founding Sales, the most recommended sales book for founders. Peter goes into: - Founder-led sales - How AI is changing go-to-market - What ambitious young people…
Peter KazanjyGuestJamesHostBryceHost... um, I, uh, I wanna go back to, uh, the founder-led sales factory quickly here because, uh, this is something you've... a curriculum you've, you know, started over the last couple months in your coaching founders in real time in a, like a school environment.
And I'm curious, like in this new AI era-
...
it can allow maybe founders to get a little bit more lazy 'cause there's, you know, the research is done, the outreach is done, the follow-up all through agents and that kind of thing.
What has this new era enabled founders to do, uh, that they weren't previously able to do before? And what, like what changes are you seeing when people apply your concepts from the book, um, in today's day? Like, what would you maybe change in the book?
So, um, I don't think that at least the current state-of-the-art models, um Do, um, they're, they're not really any substitute for kind of like the synthesis and analysis that, um, will come from having rich interaction with a, with a, a customer counterparty.
But, um, they can help with that, right? Like in, like help kind of form hypotheses around like, you know, these are the types of organizations that, um, would, like would get even more value out of your, out of your solution.
Example of this is, uh, my, my friend Boris Jabes and I did a, uh, ICP sharpening, uh, uh, workshop at YC's Startup School.
And, um, you know, that's the sort of thing where if you, if you think about like ICP definition or, or kind of sharpening, you-- o-one of the things that, uh, you know, is really helpful from a go-to-market standpoint is to be talking to people who have like, you know, extreme white hot, um, frustration and pain with whatever the problem is that you, that you solve.
And so then the question is like, okay, well, if we have lots of these types of organizations that could get value, what are the ones that are gonna be like, um, as my friend Rob Snyder likes to say, "Would be crazy for them not to buy," right? Not like, "Ah, they could buy, they could get utility." It's like, no, no, no, you'd be nuts not to, not, not to buy this solution.
And, um, you know, I think that's something that an LLM can kind of help, um, kind of help you synthesize and, and kind of refine there.
Cool, but the bigger thing is really just like a lot of the grunt work, right? So like as an example, one of the things that I do with founders, um, when I start working with them is h-help them synthesize like their product marketing narrative, right? Like product marketing mes-message, messaging, I call it like sales narrative.
It's like on their website, right? But it's in very kind of like all over the place.
Um, you know, maybe it's in some slides, maybe they don't have some slides, right? And so, you know, t- if you have that kind of messaging, and then there's like parts that are maybe missing, but then we talk it through and then record those tokens, like, you know, through a, um, you know, through call recording, whatever, and then you take like that, that conversational, you know, documentation of that narrative plus the website of it, and then munge those two sources of tokens together with like a product marketing framework of like what is the problem? Who has it? What's the cost associated with it? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
You know, like an LLM can do a really good job of just like, you know, work, like, you know, kind of trans-- like transmitting it over here.
And now you, you have something like a, a context object that is a lot more like structured, right? Um, that then downstream, uh, like consumers can index off.
Um, okay, great, now let's go ahead and, you know, write an email sequence off of that.
[mimics gun] Right? Um, let's go ahead and do that with like, you know, LinkedIn.
[mimics gun] Right? And then each of those kind of like renditions of that will have their own way of going about it.
... um, I, uh, I wanna go back to, uh, the founder-led sales factory quickly here because, uh, this is something you've... a curriculum you've, you know, started over the last couple months in your coaching founders in real time in a, like a school environment.
And I'm curious, like in this new AI era-
...
it can allow maybe founders to get a little bit more lazy 'cause there's, you know, the research is done, the outreach is done, the follow-up all through agents and that kind of thing.
What has this new era enabled founders to do, uh, that they weren't previously able to do before? And what, like what changes are you seeing when people apply your concepts from the book, um, in today's day? Like, what would you maybe change in the book?
So, um, I don't think that at least the current state-of-the-art models, um Do, um, they're, they're not really any substitute for kind of like the synthesis and analysis that, um, will come from having rich interaction with a, with a, a customer counterparty.
But, um, they can help with that, right? Like in, like help kind of form hypotheses around like, you know, these are the types of organizations that, um, would, like would get even more value out of your, out of your solution.
Example of this is, uh, my, my friend Boris Jabes and I did a, uh, ICP sharpening, uh, uh, workshop at YC's Startup School.
And, um, you know, that's the sort of thing where if you, if you think about like ICP definition or, or kind of sharpening, you-- o-one of the things that, uh, you know, is really helpful from a go-to-market standpoint is to be talking to people who have like, you know, extreme white hot, um, frustration and pain with whatever the problem is that you, that you solve.
And so then the question is like, okay, well, if we have lots of these types of organizations that could get value, what are the ones that are gonna be like, um, as my friend Rob Snyder likes to say, "Would be crazy for them not to buy," right? Not like, "Ah, they could buy, they could get utility." It's like, no, no, no, you'd be nuts not to, not, not to buy this solution.
And, um, you know, I think that's something that an LLM can kind of help, um, kind of help you synthesize and, and kind of refine there.
Cool, but the bigger thing is really just like a lot of the grunt work, right? So like as an example, one of the things that I do with founders, um, when I start working with them is h-help them synthesize like their product marketing narrative, right? Like product marketing mes-message, messaging, I call it like sales narrative.
It's like on their website, right? But it's in very kind of like all over the place.
Um, you know, maybe it's in some slides, maybe they don't have some slides, right? And so, you know, t- if you have that kind of messaging, and then there's like parts that are maybe missing, but then we talk it through and then record those tokens, like, you know, through a, um, you know, through call recording, whatever, and then you take like that, that conversational, you know, documentation of that narrative plus the website of it, and then munge those two sources of tokens together with like a product marketing framework of like what is the problem? Who has it? What's the cost associated with it? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
You know, like an LLM can do a really good job of just like, you know, work, like, you know, kind of trans-- like transmitting it over here.
And now you, you have something like a, a context object that is a lot more like structured, right? Um, that then downstream, uh, like consumers can index off.
Um, okay, great, now let's go ahead and, you know, write an email sequence off of that.
[mimics gun] Right? Um, let's go ahead and do that with like, you know, LinkedIn.
[mimics gun] Right? And then each of those kind of like renditions of that will have their own way of going about it.
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