Stop Pitching. Start Helping. With Zoltan Vardy

If product‑market fit is king, sales is the oxygen that keeps the crown on.

That’s the main vibe of our latest LaunchPod episode featuring Zoltan Vardy — B2B Sales & Growth Mentor behind the best‑selling book The Launch Code and freshly announced speaker for How to Web 2025.

We sat down for an honest conversation about what it really takes to sell as a startup — especially when you’re unknown, under-resourced, and building fast.

Here are the most valuable takeaways from the episode. Plus a few tough questions every founder should ask themselves today.

1. Selling ≠ Manipulating

Zoltan opens the conversation by dismantling one of the most damaging startup myths out there:

“Sales is about pressure, persuasion, and pushing features.”

Sales — the kind that actually works — is about helping people solve painful, specific, costly problems. When you do that, you’re not pitching. You’re serving. And the process becomes not just effective, but enjoyable.

👉 Takeaway:
People don’t buy features — they buy outcomes. Shift your mindset from “closing” to “helping” and everything changes: your pitch, your confidence, your conversions.

2. Don’t Build First. Solve First.

One of the biggest mistakes founders make? Falling in love with their product and building for months… before validating the problem it’s supposed to solve.

Zoltan shares a real story about a team with cutting-edge streaming tech that couldn’t get traction — not because the tech was bad, but because they had no clearly defined problem to solve.

👉 Takeaway:
Start with the pain. Talk to 20 people. Validate that the problem really exists, and then build something to fix it.

3. Enterprise Sales Is a Different Beast

Trying to sell to large corporations as a small, unknown startup? Zoltan’s take is direct — and 100% on point:

“Enterprises want safety. Startups want speed. It’s a crash waiting to happen unless you bridge the gap.”

So how do you bridge it?

Zoltan’s enterprise sales playbook:

• Target ‘deer’, not elephants – go after mid-size companies that are more open to innovation
  
• Build trust through execution – polished decks, solid follow-up, reliable presence
  
• Find internal champions – people inside the company who believe in your solution
  
• Solve big, urgent problems – enterprise buyers won’t move for anything less
  

👥 Two worlds, two speeds:

• Enterprises optimize for safety – they’re risk-averse by design
  
• Startups optimize for speed – they move fast and break things

👉 Takeaway:

To close the gap, you need to embrace longer sales cycles, dial up your credibility, and give your champions inside large companies what they need to fight for you.

4. The Launch Code – Zoltan’s 3-Pillar Framework

After three decades in global sales, Zoltan turned his experience into a system that founders can actually use.

The Launch Code is built on 3 pillars:

1. Focus Your Offer & Message
   – Craft a value proposition so sharp it cuts through the noise.
   
2. Structure Client Acquisition
   – Turn outreach, partnerships, and inbound into repeatable systems — not guesswork.
   
3. Scale Operations
   – Set up dashboards, KPIs, and playbooks so your team can execute — and the founder stops being the bottleneck.
   

👉 Takeaway:
Sales isn’t magic. It’s a process. And The Launch Code gives you the blueprint.
You can download the first chapter for free at: zoltanvardy.com/book 

💬 Bonus: 3 Questions to Ask Yourself Today

1. Is your product solving a “need-to-have” or just a “nice-to-have” problem?
   
2. What’s the one line your customers will remember after a sales call with you?
   
3. Who could become your internal champion in the companies you’re targeting next?
   

See Zoltan Live at How to Web 2025!

Loved the episode? This was just the warm-up.
Zoltan will be LIVE on stage at How to Web 2025 in Bucharest, running a hands-on session that dives even deeper into startup sales, credibility, and how to actually get your product into the hands of big customers.

🎟️ Grab your ticket: https://howtoweb.co

🎧 Listen to the full podcast episode here: