Authors: Bojan Stojkovski and Bogdan Iordache
When talking to Prince Ghosh, you know you are talking to someone who has been destined to become a founder.
After studying aerospace engineering, he launched his career as an engineer and later advanced to work at NASA. His experience with factory partners and suppliers led him to create internal software to streamline workflows, which inspired him to start his first company, Workbench. The company merged with The Doorstep, a supply chain management agency, and for Prince it was time for round two.
Next, he founded Factored Quality, a digital quality control platform that helps consumer goods brands audit their factories and inspect inventory during manufacturing, providing visibility into global supply chains.
Today, Factored Quality supports over 100 global brands in running quality control, audits, testing, and compliance worldwide. The company has raised over $7.1 million, securing investments from Y-Combinator, Amity Ventures, Dynamo Ventures, and over 40 prominent founders in supply chain technology and e-commerce.
Doing things that don’t scale
“You can’t build a scalable sales process from day zero, but over time, you understand what is repeatable.”
Prince developed Factored Quality to help consumer goods brands manage global quality control, inspired by his supplier challenges and driven to ensure consistent product quality worldwide.
He focused on personalized efforts to understand the business and customer needs, in line with the “doing things that don’t scale” YC mantra. By engaging with early customers and refining the sales approach, Prince discovered his customers’ priorities, challenges, and habits. This hands-on strategy helped build a valuable product and scalable sales process over time.
“You can’t build a scalable sales process from day zero. But over time, you learn what’s repeatable—whether it’s with customer segments, sales processes, implementations, or onboarding. Slowly, you begin to standardize each part of the experience, resulting in a more repeatable and scalable sales process,” Prince explains.
One of the first challenges for Factored Quality was building the initial sales pipeline.
“You have to actively create opportunities. I believe in shaping your own destiny rather than relying on passive strategies like social media launches or news features. For us, this meant investing time in discovery and reaching out directly to potential buyers,” Prince points out.
To identify leads, they used the list of recipients to whom they were writing their monthly updates—about 30 investors and 70 supporters.
By exploring each person’s Linkedin network of around 3,000 connections, they identified VPs of operations and supply chain of companies they were targeting. By leveraging mutual connections, they sent personalized emails asking for introductions, making it easy for recipients to share information about Factored Quality with potential buyers.
The result? They secured their first 40 clients through network mapping, leveraging mutual connections for introductions. This strategy is very efficient for new companies, as cold emails often get lost among many daily messages, Prince suggests.
“We took control of the narrative by assuming everyone wanted to help, and we were proactive about seeking their support. While some might decline or feel uncomfortable reaching out, we made sure to do the heavy lifting. This approach is crucial in early-stage sales — you have to be aggressive. Many are too timid and passive, waiting for opportunities to come to them instead of going out and grabbing them.”
For Prince, the relationship between sales and the company/product is the structure of an arrow: sales represent the tip, while the company’s product forms the shaft or the tail end of the arrow’s structure.
It is also vital to match the sales process with the company’s growth stage. For instance, a $2 billion growth-stage company with strong marketing resources operates differently from a pre-seed startup. In the early stages, when brand and product recognition are low, the sales strategy should prioritize building visibility and credibility, he explains.
The vision is the first product
“A big part of sales is not just selling what we have today but also our future vision—where we’re going and how quickly we’re getting there.”
In the early stages, customers buy not only the existing product, but also the vision of what you are building, and how that future product will impact the customer’s life: “Many coming from traditional industry roles find this challenging—you can’t just sell the product as it is; you must also pitch its potential”, Prince says.
In the early days, enthusiasm can be a competitive advantage.
“Conveying that vision, that passion, that energy to the person who’s on the other side of the table, which is very different from scaled sales or inbound sales. This is a big part of the approach that I took”, Prince says.
Once you can illustrate the present state, future goals, and your accelerated progress, potential clients can connect the dots and recognize the trajectory. Convincing them of this vision is very much important in early-stage sales.
To implement this, both the CEO and the CTO should be actively involved in both selling and building. This dynamic allows them to understand the customer needs, contributing to the company’s growth until it reaches a certain stage.
“You need a strong engineering team capable of building and bringing a product to market. I also think that it’s hard to think about just prospecting in isolation, sales and product development. This is why I don’t believe that at the earliest stages, you can have a CEO who just sells and a CTO who just builds – both need to be in extremely tight alignment to understand what are you selling today and where it needs to be. Otherwise, it just creates chaos within the organization”, Prince says.
Focusing on customer feedback
“We had initial hypotheses about who our ICP would be, but we also discovered along the way who ultimately found the most value in our product.”
The stage of building the product is also crucial for discovering and refining the company’s Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), he explains.
“Initially, we had hypotheses about who our ICP would be, but through discovery, we learned who truly valued our product. The ICP evolves over time as the product develops, leading to a continuous cycle of adjustment and iteration. We started with a hypothesis targeting a specific ICP and adapted as we gained insights and feedback,” Prince says.
Customer feedback very much played a significant role in refining their product experience, which in turn shaped their ICP. Starting with the initial vision, they gathered feedback from customers, allowing them to adjust and improve their product over time.
As the product evolved and its scope expanded, they were able to attract a wider range of customers that fit within their ICP.
“I see it like a funnel—when you start, the product defines how wide or narrow your potential customer base is. As you develop the product further, you can widen the funnel to include more diverse customers. However, the challenge arises when you try to appeal to everyone, risking becoming irrelevant to anyone. Balancing this is crucial as you grow and refine your product.” Prince explains.
The company also uses customer data to educate its sales team on the top challenges their potential customers are facing.
“Data helps us in actually doing customer education throughout the entire sales cycle, meaning anything that we need to better educate our sales team on why a customer is a good fit, we have a lot of alternative data that we fit in things about. In our case, we sell software that helps consumer goods companies manufacture higher quality products, so anything that helps that we do a lot of, such as grabbing data about brands, reviews from Amazon and other places”, Prince explains.
Setting up the initial sales team
“The quicker someone who isn’t the founder can sell the product, the stronger this is an indication that you’ve achieved product-market fit.”
Prince made the first sales hire when the company raised their seed round. It came at a time when he thought he could effectively manage the sales cycle—from generating pipelines to closing deals.
Recognizing time as a critical constraint, he decided it was essential to hire a head of sales. Finding someone capable of both selling and leading teams, with experience in team management and training, became a priority.
“The really important thing in hiring that first head of sales is finding someone who can be a player-coach. Someone who can both do the work themselves, but also has led teams before and has built teams before. Ultimately, this is the person who is onboarding and training the new account executives”, Prince says.
Often, early adopters are initially swayed by the founder’s exceptional sales skills and infectious enthusiasm. However, relying solely on this can lead to retention issues if the product fails to meet expectations.
“As time progresses, the focus shifts towards achieving more objective and scalable metrics. The ultimate aim is to develop a robust sales force and organization capable of sustainable growth”, Prince points out.
A key success factor is viewing each team within the organization as a foundational element of the company itself. For instance, the first head of operations not only sets up the entire operations department but also recruits and establishes its processes, essentially creating the operational backbone of the organization.
“They might not be generating profit, but the process they build effectively becomes the product they create. This principle applies equally to the sales and marketing teams. Therefore, I believe it’s critical to seek out entrepreneurial leaders who blend traditional expertise with founder experience. This mindset guides my approach to hiring leaders across engineering, product management, operations, sales, and even our chief of staff role”, Prince says.
At the same time, Prince doesn’t believe in the philosophy of “hire fast, fire fast.” Quite the opposite – he advocates for a cautious approach to hiring, emphasizing the importance of taking time in the hiring process to avoid the costs associated with frequent firings. While firing is a necessary lever, rushing firing decisions can erode company culture and trust.
“Firing is important, if needed, and it’s something that it’s a lever that you have to be able to pull as a founder. But you lose something in that process, which is culture and trust in a certain way. Trust is built on relationships that are forged over a long period of time of people working in the trenches together. And it’s really hard to get that if you’re a constant revolving door of employees and people. So, I think slowing down is really important”, he explains.
He is also aware that sometimes sales leaders are better at selling themselves than the actual product. During the interview process, he shares recordings of previous sales calls and asks candidates to analyze them thoroughly, explaining the product comprehensively. This method ensures that candidates not only have sales experience but also understand the product and why customers buy it.
“I understood that sales experience and knowing the process was crucial, but understanding why customers buy the product and their pain points was even more important. I looked for candidates who were passionate about delving into these aspects of the sales process”, Prince says.
He further explains: “The best salespeople don’t always come from traditional sales backgrounds. While it’s possible for them to, the most effective salespeople often possess a deep understanding of the product, market, and competition, as well as the importance of the solution they offer.”
A career in sales teaches you important aspects of the sales process, such as running effective qualifications, conducting thorough follow-ups, prospecting, closing deals, and account mapping in complex enterprise sales. However, regardless of your background, it’s essential to understand the product you’re selling, the market you’re entering, and the customers’ pain points.
“In sales, I approach it by sharing how I’ve solved a problem I personally experienced with a solution I built myself. It’s about conveying these experiences to others”, he adds.
Building a robust sales machine
“Sales is a brutal job because you have to be in front of customers and confront the reality every single day.”
In the early days, he personally led sales efforts, closing nearly 70 accounts before hiring a head of sales. While Factored Quality nowadays has a dedicated sales team, Prince’s hands-on approach remains a vital part of the company’s initial success.
Building and running a successful sales machine is primarily about putting in the effort. There is no getting around the fact that sales are tough—it’s emotionally and physically draining. Endurance and mental resilience are key, as showing up every day is essential for success.
“It’s about going out to find leads, closing deals, and almost willing success into existence. It’s about being in front of a customer and firmly saying, “I’m here to stay until we reach an agreement and get this done”, Prince highlights.
When it comes to sales infrastructure, he suggests focusing on simplicity and effectiveness.
“The most important thing in early stage sales is actually making sales. Initially, we used Google Sheets, then switched to a Notion document, and eventually moved to HubSpot when the first two methods became too slow. At the beginning, it’s all about acquiring customers”, he explains.
The best sales leaders, and effective leaders in general, are highly emotionally intelligent people.
They possess the ability to empathize with customers and discern their true needs. At the same time, customers are astute and will invest in solutions that solve their problems – “the challenge here lies in identifying those problems, as they may not always be aware of them”, Prince says.
“Half of sales involves empathizing with customers, guiding them to recognize their challenges, and illustrating simpler or more effective alternatives”, he points out.
The key to running a sales machine? It’s all about relentless persistence.
“You need nerves of steel and an enduring stamina to wake up every day for years, aiming to conquer each day or week. A lot of people are quitting because it’s not glorious, and you can often feel pretty miserable. But if you can stick with it just long enough and have that resilience and mental fortitude, there’s a lot of value that you get on the other side”, Prince emphasizes.