Ask About the Problem Before You Pitch

The instinct on a first call is to demo immediately. Resist it. Koomen's rule: your job on the first call is not to sell your product. It's discovery. Ask how they handle the problem today, what it costs them, what they've tried, who decides, and what budget exists.

Discovery does double duty. It qualifies the prospect (no problem or no budget means politely move on), and it arms your pitch. When you do demo, you're telling a story about their situation with their context, not walking through a feature tour.

Founders skip this because talking feels like selling and listening feels passive. It's backwards. The prospect explaining their pain in their own words is doing your selling for you. Your product only has to show up as the obvious ending to the story they just told.