The advantage of Top Down selling is that it follows a proven playbook, making it easier to find customers who will pay for solutions if you understand their problems.

Startups typically use a top-down sales motion to sell expensive products to executives at large companies and a Bottoms Up motion to acquire individual users, which can lead to sales to those executives.

Top Down sales begin with a decision maker high in an organization, focusing on identifying leads and validating their problems before navigating bureaucratic processes to secure contracts.

Scaling a Top Down sales motion typically requires building an expensive Enterprise sales team, which sets a high floor price for your product, often around $10K for mid-market and $100K for Enterprise.

To build a successful Bottoms Up sales motion, startups must engage with customers early, eliminate friction in the product experience, and continuously test and refine their offerings.

Choosing between top-down and Bottoms Up sales strategies depends on whose problem the startup is solving; if the pitch resonates with individual contributors, Bottoms Up is preferable, while top-down is better for executive-focused pitches.

Understanding who you are selling to is crucial. Imagine switching roles with your customer and identifying their top three goals. This can help you align your product with their needs.

Bottom Up sales start with the user, focusing on building a self-serve product that can be adopted without direct interaction with the company. This approach works well for startups that solve pain points for individuals or small teams, as products need to be easy to adopt and can spread virally within an organization.

Top Down sales work well for products that help executives achieve strategic goals, but they can be expensive to implement and require significant support.