For many early-stage company founders, achieving sustainable growth feels like catching lightning in a bottle. With over 90% of ventures failing to meet their potential, the path to success often seems unclear. Yet Colleen Pimentel, drawing from her diverse corporate background and experience generating billions in sales, is changing this narrative by helping founders shift their focus from chasing funding to building real momentums.
Building Success Through Experience
Having worked with prestigious companies throughout her career, Colleen brings a unique perspective to helping early-stage companies scale. “I actually have such a diverse skill set, and it’s not just the skill set, it’s the fact that I’ve done this in big companies and been very successful with it,” she explains. “When I go to a company, I’m not narrowly focused. I actually have a perspective of how one decision is going to impact other areas of the business itself.” This broad viewpoint has proven invaluable in her advisory work. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, Colleen helps founders understand how different aspects of their business interconnect and influence each other.
Common Pitfalls in the Growth Journey
When asked about the biggest blind spots founders face in building sustainable revenue, Colleen points to two key issues. “Everyone is looking for the silver bullet,” she notes, “but the truth is, there is no silver bullet. It’s putting a strategy together and sticking to it.” She encounters many founders who expect quick results, questioning their approach after just three months instead of focusing on building the right foundation.
The second major challenge? “Ninety percent of founders’ time is focused on getting funding. They want more and more money because they think they can build this engine,” Colleen shares. “However, when you go to a VC and you really don’t have an engine running, what happens is you are valued less. VCs care about momentum.”
Creating a Successful Sales Engine
Colleen emphasizes the importance of building value before seeking investment. “Do you want to go to a VC and then take 20% equity and give you a million dollars, or do you want to go to a VC and for them to give you $5 million and take 20%?” she asks. By showing momentum and proven results, founders can negotiate from a position of strength. Her approach to building this foundation is methodical. “You don’t scale until you’ve actually done this manually and it works,” she advises. “That builds confidence because everyone can see if you’ve gone through this process manually, you’ve figured out your ideal customer profile, you’ve built everything, it’s working, then it’s just automation – you’re amplifying success.”
Colleen outlines several key factors for building a reliable sales pipeline:
- Understanding Your Customer: “The first thing is understanding who your ideal customer profile is. I would actually suggest that you redo it again and validate that really is your ideal customer profile,” she emphasizes. This involves analyzing data and conducting prospect interviews.
- Focus on Branding: “Of the money that you spend, 80% you will not see results from branding right away,” Colleen explains. “You may see it months from now, two years more.” She stresses the importance of consistent, long-term brand building.
- Systematic Approach: “In the lead development space, you have to have a regimen. You have to be consistent,” she notes. “The only way to make the engine work is continuously having a routine and continuously doing the same things to get leads out of the system.”
The Human Side of Building Companies
What drives Colleen’s passion for helping founders? “It is so difficult to become a founder,” she reflects. “Most founders have a lot of self-doubt. They have impostor syndrome. You don’t necessarily see it, but do you know how hard it is to actually go and push through that? That’s what inspires me – it’s their resilience and their drive to do something, to make something better in the world.” Her ultimate goal isn’t to create dependency but to empower founders. “For me, ultimately if I can leave a company and they have an engine that’s going, I have been successful,” she shares. “My goal is to build the right foundation so that you can actually manage this yourself.”
For those just starting their entrepreneurial journey, Colleen offers this wisdom: “Focus not on the end result, but on the journey and where you are and taking that next step, because things unfold as you go along which may take you someplace that you didn’t think you were going.” To learn more about Colleen Pimentel and her approach, check out her LinkedIn profile.
