For founders & CEOs selling into the enterprise.
You shouldn’t be the sales department. You should be the founder.
I’m Ed Smith. I help you run the sales motion as fractional VP of Sales so you run the company again — and stop being head of sales.
Companies I’ve sold to
Same enterprise motion. Any vertical that buys that way.
Thirty minutes. We’ll map where sales is stuck — and how we’d work as partners.
Your product got you the meeting. Your sales motion is costing you the deal.
Enterprises buy through processes and committees. Founders win the first meeting on the product, then stall in ways they can’t see from inside the deal. I help you navigate all of that — and I champion the sales process with you.
The first meeting goes well and leads nowhere
Nobody mapped the deal, what each person needed to hear, or the next step. So there wasn’t one.
Ghosted after a good demo
You sold the person who liked the product. Nobody sold the people who can spend — or kill the deal.
Stuck below power
The champion is enthusiastic. The economic buyer has never heard your name. That isn’t late stage. It’s hope.
You’re on every call
Discovery, demos, status, price. That’s a founder calendar — and the buyer has learned to wait for you.
Fractional VP of Sales — the default.
I’ll help you run the sales motion: strategy, ICP, pipeline, forecast, discovery — plus competitive position, pricing, and the offer. You get back to being founder.
What I help you run
- The sales motion — qualification, pipeline and deals, planning and the forecast.
- The cadence — reviews, next steps, demo prep, discovery, and what “done” means.
- Competitive and market position, pricing, and completeness of the offer.
- Where you show up — the moments that move the deal. I help keep you out of the rest.
I also do one-off and special projects. Scope depends on the need — a system build, a named pursuit, or a hire and handoff.
Where the founder belongs
You and I work as partners. I help you show up in the moments that move the deal — and I help keep you out of status theater.
Three stages that need you
- The first real conversation with the economic buyer.
- Late-stage alignment, when residual risk is still sitting with the deal.
- The final commercial conversation on non-standard terms.
Three that only feel like they do
- Early discovery with mid-level managers.
- Demos, technical deep-dives, and status meetings.
- Price as a rescue — or because they asked for the founder.
What changes in 90 days.
By day 90 we’re running the motion with you — I’m not taking it away. You get time back to be a better CEO, and we put you in the best position to win and close. Partner, adviser, sales expert, technologist.
Standard AI — why this practice exists
Limited concurrent clients
I learned this selling into complex deals that weren’t built for startups.
I help you convert the pipeline you worked hard to build — with a process that fits your product and your deal. Complex technology doesn’t stall on the demo. It stalls on the motion: a pilot that never becomes a rollout, a champion with no budget, InfoSec late, procurement after “yes,” a partner who owns the door.
What that sale actually requires
- Map the buying process before the demo — economic buyer, IT, security, finance, procurement.
- Sell the rollout, not the pilot.
- Help keep the founder out of status theater and in the three moments that move power.
- Price and offer completeness before the RFP writes you into a corner.
I learned that selling complex technology — ERP, commerce, analytics, OMS, supply chain — and pivoting across platforms. Light proof: Kroger, P&G, Luxottica — then Toshiba’s Client Director running their largest client globally.
I won’t take the work if
- You only want lead generation.
- You need a full-time VP tomorrow, with no handoff.
- You want a deck-and-done consultant.
- There’s no executive budget for a contractor-rate fractional VP.