I was fortunate enough to get an invite to Theory Ventures’ office hours, which featured Maggie Hott, the head of GTM for OpenAI. Before OpenAI, she led sales at Slack and Webflow and is now an advisor to top venture firms – Cowboy Ventures and Sequoia – and an angel investor.

Maggie shared a ton of great advice that startup founders should use when building their GTM motion and to avoid common pitfalls.

1. The CEO’s involvement is crucial throughout the deal process to ensure all necessary steps are covered.
2. Identifying decision-makers at the beginning of the sales cycle is essential for effective engagement.
3. Working with non-decision-makers can lead to prolonged sales cycles and wasted resources.
4. Asking the right questions upfront about the approval process can prevent complications later in the sales process.
5. Understanding the evolving dynamics of buying committees is important for navigating the sales landscape effectively.

Getting stakeholder buy-in is crucial in government sales—trust me, it makes navigating the complexity much easier. Secure support early; it’ll save headaches down the line. As Maggie points out, if you’re the CEO or founder, staying involved from the very start of the sales process helps ensure nothing important slips through the cracks.

In my experience, making it a habit to identify the real decision-makers early and clearly understand the approval process keeps you grounded in reality. I’ve seen too many sales projections built purely on enthusiasm from a discovery call—that’s not forecasting; it’s wishful thinking.

Instead, do this: Clearly lay out the procurement process and timeline with your future customer, secure their commitment to collaborate through that process, and allow some buffer for unexpected delays. If you follow this advice, you’ll minimize surprises later. It’s never fun explaining to your team and investors why you missed your numbers. Good luck!