Mark Cuban once said, “Sales cures everything.”
It’s a deceptively simple statement — but one that every founder should take to heart. Cuban wasn’t glorifying sales for the sake of it; he was pointing to a fundamental truth: no matter how strong your product, how smart your team, or how exciting your market opportunity, without sales, nothing else matters.
Why? Because sales is the engine that funds everything else in a business.
- Sales brings in revenue that pays salaries.
- Sales keeps the lights on while you refine your product.
- Sales proves that there’s real demand in the market.
- Sales gives you leverage with investors, partners, and talent.
You can build a great product, but if you can’t sell it, you don’t have a business — you only have an idea.
What Happens When Sales Isn’t Done Well
If sales really “cures everything,” then poor sales execution creates the opposite effect: it drains everything. Over the years, I’ve seen how companies suffer when sales isn’t taken seriously or managed properly.
- Cashflow stalls: Without consistent sales, revenue becomes unpredictable. Teams end up living month-to-month, unable to plan or invest in growth.
- Valuations collapse: Investors value traction above all else. Landing one or two big clients without a repeatable sales process doesn’t create enterprise value. Consistency does.
- Teams lose confidence: Sales leaks — whether in pre-sales, follow-ups, or closing — create frustration across marketing, operations, and product teams. Everyone feels the drag.
- Opportunities dry up: Without structured outreach and follow-ups, good leads fall through the cracks. The pipeline looks full, but conversions stay low.
- Scale becomes impossible: Tracking on Excel or running sales reactively might land small wins, but it will never scale. You can’t manage 100s of deals, across stages, with no system.
In short: if sales isn’t done well, the company doesn’t just lose deals — it loses momentum, credibility, and ultimately, survival.
Also Read: 13 Strategies on How to Increase Sales for Your Business
Lessons I’ve Learned as a Founder
Over 17+ years in tech sales, I’ve seen the difference between companies that thrive and those that stall. And it always comes down to how sales is approached.
1. Founders Must Sell
Most tech founders assume that if they build a great product, sales will follow. It doesn’t. In the early stages, nobody can sell your product the way you can. At least one founder has to lean into sales — it’s not optional.
2. Structure Brings Consistency
Landing a big client here or there is not enough. Without SOPs, sales teams fall back on reactive effort: updating Excel sheets, chasing warm leads, and relying on individual heroics.
That may get you a couple of enterprise logos, but it won’t get you consistency. Only when you implement structured SOPs inside a CRM can you see where the funnel is breaking, which leads need nurturing, and how to coach your team.
3. Small Leaks Cause Big Losses
In one audit I did, everything else in the company looked strong — except pre-sales. Leads were leaking at the very first touchpoint. In another, one salesperson was pulling down the entire team average. These small cracks go unnoticed without proper tracking, but they create outsized damage to growth.
4. Culture Drives Referrals and Retention
The most important lesson is this: sales culture matters more than sales targets. When your sales team genuinely cares about solving the client’s problems, referrals follow. Customers bring other customers. Retention improves. Revenue compounds.
You can push for numbers, but it’s sincerity that creates scale.
How This Shaped Kylas
At Kylas, we built our CRM around these truths:
- Helping founders lean into sales with clarity and visibility.
- Enabling SOPs and processes that scale beyond Excel.
- Surfacing leaks early, before they cost the business.
- Empowering sales teams to focus on client success, not just quotas.
Because Mark Cuban was right. Sales really does cure everything — but only when it’s done with structure, sincerity, and the right systems.
If you neglect sales, your company pays the price. If you invest in sales, it becomes the cure for every other problem you’ll face as a growing business.
By Vikram Kotnis
Founder & CEO, Kylas
