The Uncomfortable Reality of Business Development
Over the past few months, we’ve talked about hiring, managing finances, and surviving the early stages of building a business. These are all critical pieces. But there’s one area that quietly determines whether any of it actually matters:
Business development.
Most founders already understand this.
They know that early on, they are the business. They’re the one who has to start conversations, build relationships, and create opportunities. There’s no one else to hand that off to.
You’ll often hear that as a founder, you’re the first salesperson of your company. That’s not new information.
So the issue isn’t awareness.
It’s Not a Knowledge Problem
For most people, the challenge isn’t knowing what to do.
It’s doing it consistently.
Business development puts you in situations that don’t feel natural for a lot of founders. Reaching out to someone you don’t know. Following up when you haven’t heard back. Starting conversations without knowing how they’ll be received.
It’s not complicated work. But it is uncomfortable.
And that discomfort tends to show up in subtle ways:
spending more time preparing than actually reaching out
refining messaging over and over again
waiting for a “better time” to start conversations
On the surface, these decisions feel reasonable.
But over time, they slow down the one activity that actually drives the business forward.
The Emotional Side of Business Development
Business development isn’t just a process. It has an emotional weight to it.
Even when you push through that initial resistance, the experience itself can be inconsistent.
You can reach out and get no response.
You can have a good conversation that doesn’t lead anywhere.
You can spend weeks in discussions that never turn into real opportunities.
There’s often a gap between effort and outcome.
That’s where many founders start to lose momentum—not because they don’t understand what to do, but because it’s hard to stay engaged when the results aren’t immediate.
Why It Feels So Inefficient
Early on, it’s easy to expect a clear connection between effort and results.
Do the work → get the outcome.
Business development rarely works that way.
One conversation might not lead to anything now, but becomes relevant months later.
Someone who isn’t a fit today might come back under different circumstances.
Opportunities don’t always appear where you expect them to.
Progress is happening—but it doesn’t always look like progress.
That makes it one of the hardest parts of the business to stay disciplined in.
Staying in the Process
At some point, the shift is less about doing more and more about continuing to show up.
Not every conversation needs to convert.
Not every effort needs to produce a visible result.
But the consistency matters.
Because over time, relationships build, visibility increases, and opportunities start to connect in ways that aren’t obvious in the beginning.
What This Means in Practice
If business development feels slow, unclear, or uncomfortable, that doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong.
It means you’re experiencing it as it actually is.
It takes time.
It requires consistency.
And a lot of the work happens before you see any results.
Understanding that doesn’t make it easier.
But it does make it easier to keep going.
Understanding the challenge is one part of it.
Building a consistent approach around it is a different kind of work.
If that’s something you’re working through right now, feel free to reach out.