"Sell the Alpha, Not the Feature": The Enterprise Sales Playbook for $1M to $10M ARR | Jen Abel
SaaSSaaS Pulse

Lenny Rachitsky

"Sell the Alpha, Not the Feature": The Enterprise Sales Playbook for $1M to $10M ARR | Jen Abel

Lenny Rachitsky•Nov 9, 2025

AI Summary

In this episode, Jen Abel—GM of Enterprise at State Affairs and co‑founder of the Jellyfish consultancy—shares the playbook for scaling a SaaS business from $1M to $10M ARR by focusing on "selling the alpha" rather than individual features. She debunks the myth of a mid‑market segment, explains why landing tier‑one logos like Stripe and Tesla accelerates growth, and warns against pricing traps in the $10K‑$20K range. The conversation also covers the power of vision‑casting over problem‑solving, using services and design‑partner pilots to break into enterprises, and the optimal timing and profile for hiring the first salesperson.

Episode Description

Jen Abel drops a masterclass on $1-$10m ARR enterprise sales

Show Notes

"Sell the alpha, not the feature": The enterprise sales playbook for $1M to $10M ARR | Jen Abel

Lenny Rachitsky – Nov 09, 2025

Jen Abel is GM of Enterprise at State Affairs and co‑founded Jellyfish, a consultancy that helps founders learn zero‑to‑one enterprise sales. She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met on learning enterprise sales, and in this follow‑up to our first chat two years ago (covering the zero‑to‑$1 million ARR founder‑led sales phase), we focus on the skills founders need to learn to go from $1 M to $10 M ARR.

We discuss

  1. Why the “mid‑market” doesn’t exist – [04:38]

  2. Why tier‑one logos like Stripe and Tesla counterintuitively make the best early customers – [08:08]

  3. The dangers of pricing your product at $10K‑$20K – [15:35]

  4. Why you need to vision‑cast instead of problem‑solve to win enterprise deals – [10:50]

  5. Why services are the fastest way to get your foot in the door with enterprises – [36:55]

  6. How to find and work with design partners – [25:09]

  7. When to hire your first salesperson and what profile to look for – [50:24]

YouTube →

Also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Where to find Jen Abel

  • X: https://x.com/jjen_abel

  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/earlystagesales

  • Website: https://www.jjellyfish.com

References

  • The ultimate guide to founder‑led sales | Jen Abel (co‑founder of JJELLYFISH) – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/master-founder-led-sales-jen-abel

  • Mario meme – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/missing-meme-led-me-woman-johann-van-tonder-im6df/

  • Kathy Sierra – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Sierra

  • Cursor – https://cursor.com

  • The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell

  • Justin Lawson on X – https://x.com/jjustin_lawson

  • Stripe – https://stripe.com

  • Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-product-at-stripe-jeff-weinstein

  • He saved OpenAI, invented the “Like” button, and built Google Maps: Bret Taylor on the future of careers, coding, agents, and more – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/he-saved-openai-bret-taylor

  • OpenAI’s CPO on how AI changes must‑have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai

  • Anthropic’s CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next

  • Linear – https://linear.app

  • Linear’s secret to building beloved B2B products | Nan Yu – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/linears-secret-to-building-beloved-b2b-products-nan-yu

  • Gemini – https://gemini.google.com

  • Microsoft Copilot – https://copilot.microsoft.com

  • How Palantir built the ultimate founder factory | Nabeel S. Qureshi – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-palantir-nabeel-qureshi

  • McKinsey & Company – https://www.mckinsey.com

  • Deloitte – https://www.deloitte.com

  • Accenture – https://www.accenture.com

  • Building a world‑class sales org | Jason Lemkin (SaaStr) – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-world-class-sales-org

  • Peter Dedene on X – https://x.com/peterdedene

  • Hang Huang on X – https://x.com/HH_HangHuang

  • Hugo Alves on X – https://x.com/Ugo_alves

  • A step‑by‑step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford – https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting

  • Clay – https://www.clay.com

  • Apollo – https://www.apollo.io

  • Jason Lemkin on X – https://x.com/jasonlk

  • Gavin Baker on X – https://x.com/GavinSBaker

  • Jason Cohen on X – https://x.com/asmartbear

  • Baywatch on Prime Video – https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Baywatch/0NU9YS8WWRNQO1NZD5DOQ3I8W6

  • Playground – https://www.tryplayground.com

  • ClassDojo – https://www.classdojo.com

  • Jason Lemkin’s post about Replit – https://x.com/jasonlk/status/1946069562723897802

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