2 builders who never spoke to each other

Sell into a budget that already exists

Getting a company to open a new line of spending means finding a contact, reaching whoever holds the money and waiting on an internal argument you cannot attend. Aim instead at spending that already happens, and qualify buyers by what they visibly invest in.

The method

1. 01

   Only pursue problems your buyers already pay to solve, because getting a company to open a new line of spending is far harder than people assume.

2. 02

   Second question: is money already changing hands over this problem? If the market currently copes with spreadsheets or free tools you need to be at least ten times better, and if they do not even recognise the problem, abandon it.

3. 03

   Price in the internal politics of any company bigger than one person, where your buyer has to go and win an argument with their boss about spending money they currently do not spend.

4. 04

   Qualify prospects by what they already invest in: heavy equipment spend, trained staff, high-value customers of their own and a long-term outlook mean they'll buy; minimal kit and low-value work mean they won't.

5. 05

   Aim the pitch at the hiring budget instead of the software budget, because the pool is larger and managers already have a ritual for approving a hire.

What it returned

• Locating a first contact, then reaching whoever controls the budget, then waiting on internal sign-off is enough friction to destroy the funnel; selling into a category with an existing budget line is much easier

• Contrast of a long-haul delivery company (truck, trained drivers, big freight contracts) with a solo bike courier.

• Argued as the reason Sierra and Harvey pulled ahead: headcount budget pools dwarf SaaS budget pools, and line managers know how to procure, evaluate and dismiss a worker.

• The author cites Clean Power Finance succeeding in that market on exactly this basis

Sources

• Don't sell to beginnersJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Don't sell to beginners · undated
• AI Employees: Named Personas, Cautionary Tale, Outcome Pricing - Trends.vcDru Riley · trends.vc · 🔑 Key Lessons · 2026-05-21
• How to Get Startup Ideas: The Meat Grinder Approach - Tyler TringasTyler Tringas · tylertringas.com · Are people currently spending money on it? · 2016-04-23
• Closing SolarList: a cleantech post-mortem - Tyler TringasTyler Tringas · tylertringas.com · Going it alone · 2014-11-14
• Chapter 2: What Makes A Good Micro-SaaS Idea? - Tyler TringasTyler Tringas · tylertringas.com · Be 5x better than customers currently pay · 2016-10-28