Raising Early Rounds and the Pre-Seed Tradeoffs

In this episode of the Playbook Universe, we speak with Kristian Kamber, CEO and co-founder of SPLX AI, about his journey from elite sales roles at AppDynamics and ZScaler to launching his own AI security startup. Kristian shares the inner drive and lessons learned, from a family restaurant business to the high-stakes world of Silicon Valley playbooks, that prepared him to lead a fast-moving, deeply technical company. He reveals the critical steps in finding the right technical co-founder, securing investment, and achieving product-market fit by listening intently to customers. This is essential listening for any sales professional considering the leap into entrepreneurship.

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🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

02:17 - The Inner Motivation to Be a Founder

03:44 - The Hard Decision: Leaving a Sales Career

04:47 - The Co-Founder Hunt and Validation

06:07 - Using Sales Skills to Vet an Idea

08:55 - The Turning Point: Securing Initial Investment

11:46 - The CEO Upskilling Curve: Investor Relations

15:28 - Sales Mindset as a Competitive Advantage

17:01 - Product Pivot: Listening to the Customer

20:19 - SPLX AI's Funding and Growth Timeline

24:30 - Evolving the CEO Role: From Sales to Strategy

27:38 - Hiring A-Players for an Early-Stage Startup

30:00 - The Unconventional Sales Mindset in the US

38:05 - The Importance of Moving Fast in Your Career

40:40 - Building Champions Outside Your Geo

47:49 - The 90-Day Product Innovation Cycle

50:46 - Advice for Aspiring Founders

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

The Best Founder is the Best Salesperson: A founder must be the best salesperson in the company, constantly selling to customers, investors, partners, and potential hires. Sales experience provides a crucial competitive advantage in validating the product, building trust, and driving aggressive motion.

Finding a Co-Founder is Non-Negotiable: A sales-focused founder must pair with a deeply technical co-founder to balance skills and gain investor confidence. Kristian used his sales network and deep discovery skills to rigorously vet his co-founder's technical genius and commitment to the idea.

Master the Market, Not Just the Playbook: While sales playbooks are essential, true success in a fast-moving market like AI security requires listening to customers and being willing to pivot immediately. Kristian's team shifted their product focus after realizing the European market wasn't ready, proving that market adoption dictates the product roadmap.

💬 Notable Quotes "I'm super coachable when it comes to things I don't know, but I'm super strict about things I'm 100% I know how to do it." "I knew I need to find the right co-founder who knows how to build a tech so I can do with him the business because I know what I can't do." "You should thank God you made your co-founder. That was the turning point for me. I said, wow." "I knew I need to sell before I even have a product." "The biggest job of an early stage founder is getting term sheets. It's the biggest job."

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Koutis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

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