Succeeding with sales from the start, the “2019 guide”

Oct 3, 2019

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On this week’s episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, we host Steli Efti, CEO and Co-Founder of Close about his new book on early stage selling techniques for startups.

If you have been in the SaaS space for a few years you have surely come across Steli at a conference somewhere. His signature talks - loud, filled with equal measure cursing and valuable lessons for anyone who does selling, are always unmissable. Steli moved to the US 14 years ago with a one way ticket and a dream to change the world. He didn’t quite achieve that with the first company he started in Palo Alto but he certainly is making waves with his second, Close. Started back in January 2013 to make salespeople more productive, it only recently got the keys for its comfortable .com home; that itself a fascinating story of grit and hustle on Steli’s part, which he shares on his second appearance on the SaaS Revolution Show.

Listen on to learn:

Why books have become such a pivotal part of Close’s success
A fundamental thing about early stage selling
What is the right model of selling that startups should adopt

Steli will once again grace the stage at SaaStock19, more than once in fact. He will be part of the sales bootcamp, which we will run on Monday the 14th. He will then give one of the opening keynotes on Tuesday, the 15th about the seven deadly lies founders tell themselves, which prevents them from succeeding and how to stop doing that. He is doing a workshop that same day as well as dropping by the Podcast stage, recording a live episode for Growth Everywhere, hosted by Eric Sui. Steli is one of many speakers who will delve into successful sales practices at the conference so if you want to improve your sales strategies, grab your tickets now while we still have them.

Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward:

🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe: 14-15 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland
Book tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/tickets/

🇺🇸 SaaStock USA 2025: April 2026 | Austin, Texas
Book tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/

🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)

🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)