Ask HN: Why is everyone spending time at Hackathons and not at Sellathons?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3698854

by SuperChihuahua • 14 years ago

8 12 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've learned that 5% of a business is the idea, 15% is the product, and 80% is the selling. The number one reason companies fail is because they do not know how to sell? Isn't it better to spend more time at "Sellathons" learning how to sell - and less time at Hackathons?

darkxanthos2• 14 years ago

I like what you're saying and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

How do we start that??

RollAHardSix3• 14 years ago

Where did you see newsletter at?

RollAHardSix3• 14 years ago

I fail to see why I was down-voted for this.

"I've learned that 5% of a business is the idea, 15% is the product, and 80% is the selling. The number one reason companies fail is because they do not know how to sell? Isn't it better to spend more time at "Sellathons" learning how to sell - and less time at Hackathons?"

There is absolutely nothing in here about a newsletter. I feel it's a valid question.

mapster• 14 years ago

or pairing up tech founders with skilled salespeople who want to work in tech.

sixQuarks• 14 years ago

How would you go about doing a sellathon?

SuperChihuahua• 14 years ago

You spend some time telling each other how you are selling/marketing your product/service and come up with new ways

chc• 14 years ago

Seems a bit beside the point. I mean, when you go to a hackathon, do you spend all your time telling each other how you hack and coming up with new ways to hack, or do you actually hack?

If there hypothetically were regular sellathons like you describe, I'd probably rather skip most of them and spend the time getting real practice selling. There already are conferences that fill the niche you seem to be thinking of.

bjstewr• 14 years ago

I like where this is going. Too many times there are great products out there that get little recognition because they don't go about marketing and selling properly. I could see this being great if there were some newer companies having sales issues and learning from sales people. Coming from a sales background, one of the hardest things is understanding who might be having the problem you are trying to solve and then going after them. There are plenty of very successful SaaS companies that didn't have a super viral launch but once they figured out their customer went and crushed it. (b2b applications come to mind)

tstegart• 14 years ago

It would be better but selling is scary and requires asking something of real people. Its not the easiest thing to do so I think people shy away from it.

Ask HN: Why is everyone spending time at Hackathons and not at Sellathons?

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