Selling SaaS Without Sales Experience to a $20M Series A

Nik Mijic had never sold anything in his life. As a former program manager at LinkedIn, selling SaaS without sales experience was the last skill he expected to need. But he figured it out - landing 20 first SaaS customers through his network and raising a $20 million Series A from Andreessen Horowitz.

If you are a technical founder selling SaaS without sales experience, this episode is your playbook. Nik shares how he closed his first deal for $2,500 at a dinner party, used LinkedIn alumni as warm leads, and learned to hire sales reps in pairs to benchmark performance. His founder-led sales journey proves you do not need a sales background to build a real pipeline.

Nik Mijic is the co-founder and CEO of Matik, a SaaS product that automates data-driven presentations for B2B teams including Asana, Glassdoor, and SalesLoft. Matik has raised $23 million total.

🔑 Key Lessons

• Selling SaaS without sales experience starts with your network - Nik landed 20 customers through personal connections and former LinkedIn colleagues at new companies.
• Price on instinct when you have zero data - Nik made up a $2,500 price on the spot and the customer said yes immediately, proving early pricing is about testing willingness to pay.
• Hire sales reps in twos when transitioning from selling SaaS without sales experience - two AEs or SDRs simultaneously lets you benchmark whether issues are people or process.
• Never fully remove yourself from startup sales - Nik stayed involved in deals after hiring a head of sales to keep the playbook evolving.
• Build a rotating support structure with three types of mentors - a sibling for venting, a parent for tactical advice, and a grandparent for strategic perspective.

Chapters

• Introduction
• Nik's favorite quote: don't let perfection be the enemy of progress
• What Matik does and the problem it solves
• Growing up as a Bosnian refugee and coming to the US
• Leaving LinkedIn and telling his parents
• Meeting co-founder Zach and testing the partnership
• Six months of research before committing
• Raising a $200K SAFE and $3M seed round from Menlo Ventures
• Landing the first customer at a dinner party for $2,500
• Overcoming the "will you be around" objection
• Learning to sell through advisors and iteration
• The LinkedIn alumni hack for finding warm leads
• Figuring out pricing through conversations
• First sales hires and hiring in twos
• Managing the sales team as a non-sales founder
• Building the sales playbook through iteration
• Scaling through expansion within existing accounts
• Challenges of scaling after raising a $20M Series A from a16z
• Staying even-keeled through emotional highs and lows
• Core values: trust and compassion
• The support framework for selling SaaS without sales experience
• Advice to first-time founders
• Lightning round

Resources

• Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/336
• Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email