Hey Founder: Testing your Sales Hypothesis

You gotta be brave enough to test a "sales hypothesis" in real time during the call

Selling successfully is about scaling. The ultimate goal is to simplify the process to a point of near autopilot, where you....

• understand the market pain (a universal and fundamental issue)

• understand the business pain (a targeted issue that affects business success)

• a value proposition that can be easily articulated that solves said pain (what you are selling)

• an ideal customer profile (who you wanna sell to)

• a fleshed-out business use case that provides ROI (a workflow that can tangibly improve the business)

• a process that cuts through the cacophony of sales messaging bombarding your ICP (a lead generation modality)

• a price point that is more valuable than the alternative (value for the money)

• a strong customer success/service team that makes sure they execute properly (manage the promises made before purchase)

It seems obvious to anyone who is in the field. But if it were this simple, then every company would be a unicorn. And unicorns haven't been seen in eons (if ever) for a reason; the perfect selling storm fails way more often than it happens.

Probably the most elusive question a founder faces when creating a successful business is how do you sell, build, and fly the plane in a resource-scarce environment where you are surrounded by competition, creating market distractions at every turn?

Enter the sales hypothesis...

What is a Sales Hypothesis?

A sales hypothesis is a strong opinion about how you think you can successfully connect and sell your value proposition to a market, a specific customer, an ideal customer profile, or even a tough expert who represents the hardest person to win over.

You believe this approach could work—but you haven’t proven it yet. It’s your best thinking, not yet validated.

Why Sales Hypotheses Matter

Too often, salespeople get locked into the mechanics of selling—working the process, pushing toward the close—without spending enough time testing and learning in real time. Sales professionals tend to be action-oriented and convergent: they focus on influence, execution, and forward motion. That drive is critical, but it can come at the expense of curiosity. Without curiosity, you stop exploring alternative approaches, and you risk getting stuck when results don’t come quickly.

Great selling is a balancing act. You must be assertive, refine your message, and relentlessly move toward the close—but you also need the space to think divergently. That’s where sales hypotheses come in.

1. They Change How You Listen

Walking into a meeting with one or more sales hypotheses shifts your mindset. Instead of only pushing to close, you’re also on a mission to learn. You start listening for evidence that supports—or challenges—your assumptions. This wider awareness lets you catch insights you might otherwise miss if you were only focused on advancing the deal.

2. They Let You Test in Real Time

Think of a sales hypothesis as an invisible stake in the ground—a mental declaration of how you expect to engage your audience. As the conversation unfolds, you’re actively checking whether that approach draws people in or pushes them away. This live feedback loop lets you adjust on the spot and collect data you can use to refine your strategy moving forward.

3. They Reduce Costly Mistakes

Even if you’ve perfected your pitch, markets shift and audiences change. What worked yesterday won’t always work tomorrow. Each vertical, ICP, and use case comes with its own nuances, and a “one-size-fits-all” pitch is rare. Constantly forming and testing new hypotheses keeps your message fresh, relevant, and adaptive—protecting you from stagnation and helping you grow as a dynamic, evolving salesperson.

Conclusion: Turning Sales into a Living Experiment

Scaling sales isn’t about memorizing a script and running it on repeat—it’s about building a repeatable process and keeping it alive. Markets shift. Competitors adapt. Customers evolve. The sales strategy that works today might be obsolete next quarter.

That’s why the sales hypothesis is so powerful. It forces you to listen differently, test in real time, and avoid the trap of relying on outdated assumptions. It turns every sales conversation into a learning opportunity, every deal into a mini-experiment.

The best salespeople aren’t just closers—they’re investigators, innovators, and constant testers. They don’t just “sell the plane,” they redesign the wings mid-flight when the market demands it.

If you want to sell successfully at scale, treat your process like a lab. Form your hypotheses. Test them. Measure them. Refine them. Repeat. Over time, this cycle becomes your competitive advantage—an engine for growth that no competitor can easily copy.