The Sales Test This Norwest Partner Gives Founders Before Invest
Executive Take
Jacobsohn is betting founders win by attacking legacy vendors' neglected side products, not their core suites. His sales-call test signals VCs increasingly judge CEOs on go-to-market skill, not just product vision.
Executive Summary
Norwest partner Sean Jacobsohn, a former WageWorks and Cornerstone OnDemand executive, discusses his investment strategy in an interview. He targets legacy players in CFO software, HR secondary products like benefits and workforce management, warns against AI doing math in accounting, and tests founders' sales skills before investing.
Why It Matters
HR and finance software leaders should watch which secondary product lines VCs think are vulnerable, since that signals where new competitors will attack. Startup founders raising capital now face sales-skill scrutiny before term sheets get signed.
Bizquad Perspective
Incumbents like Workday and ADP aren't losing ground on core payroll, they're losing on benefits and workforce management where they simply stop paying attention.