By Larry Chiang
My film school professor mentored me: get in late, get out early. I went to film school in 1998 at USC after I retired in 1996. THIS article is about skirting, avoiding and ducking “startup death spiral“.
Plot spoiler: startup death spiral begins when two to three engineering cofounders hire a ‘V.P. of Sales’.
I have a mountain of startup evidence that someone could copy-paste a PhD in business. The evidence supports “startup’s die when startup founders outsource sales to a mercenary-they-hire”. There is an orgasm of evidence that states: death is right around the corner after you fire your first vp of sales. But let us focus on four very sales prolific white dudes:
Mark,
Mark,
Steve
And me.
This “research” I will curate and curated under #cs183s.
FTC disclosure: I financially benefitted from #cs183B being free at Stanford University. Sam Altman loaded up 20 #cs183b lectures up on my friend Chad and Steve’s website: YouTube.
![]() |
Larry Chiang (@LarryChiang) |
|
In #SiliconValley, the CS 183(b) is taught by a dude with a bachelors degree in CS (or a couple credit short I dunno
|
|
Mark Suster and Mark D Cranney:
![]() |
Larry Chiang (@LarryChiang) |
|
similar to no need, no trust, no momentum cc @msuster. Re; why buy, why you, why now @mdcranney‘s a16z.com/2014/05/30/sel… #cs183s Lec 7
|
|
I took the time to copy paste my Nalco Chemical sales trainers diagram. This appears at #cs183s Lec 7.

#LarryChiang. No rights reserved.
![]() |
Larry Chiang (@LarryChiang) |
|
Me, Mark @msuster, Mark @mdcranney all have eerily parallel sales mentorship: #NoNeed; #NoTrust; #NoMomentum #cs183s pic.twitter.com/HevV2TzYHE
|
|
Professor Blank…
![]() |
Larry Chiang (@LarryChiang) |
|
.@mdcranney in @StanfordEng MS&E 145; 245, bit.ly/sblank710 bit.ly/sblank711 bit.ly/sblank712 & bit.ly/sblank713
|
|
![]() |
Larry Chiang (@LarryChiang) |
|
similar to no need, no trust, no momentum cc @msuster. Re; why buy, why you, why now @mdcranney‘s a16z.com/2014/05/30/sel… #cs183s Lec 7
|
|
Download the Twitter app
![]() |
Larry Chiang (@LarryChiang) |
|
When 3 engineering cofounders ask to hire a vp of sales, what’s your answer? twitter.com/mdcranney/stat…
|
|
All four of us are right there.
All four of us are saying “do customer development cycle”

I’m the only one saying what’s on the other three guys minds: The technical cofounder must sell


Duck9 is a credit score prep program that is like a Kaplan or Princeton Review test preparation service. We don't teach beating the SAT, but we do get you to a higher credit FICO score using secret methods that have gotten us on TV, Congress and newspaper articles. Say hi or check out some of our free resources before you pay for a thing. You can also text the CEO:







