Building & selling a product into government is tricky — Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins shares critical advice for getting it right
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the co-founder and CEO of Promise, a modern government payment solution. She shares her advice for other founders building a product for government — from dealing with long sales cycles, hiring folks with industry expertise, and pivoting with purpose.
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Show Notes
Today’s episode is with Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, co-founder and CEO of Promise, a modern government payment solution.
In today’s conversation, Phaedra explores the ins and outs of selling a product into government. Phaedra pulls back the curtain of how she and the Promise team tackle the extra-long sales cycles, navigate layers of subcontractors, and convince risk-averse decision-makers to take a chance on a startup.
We also take a step back to traverse the winding road that led to Promise in its current form. Like plenty of founders before her, Phaedra had to pivot her way into product-market fit. She explains the signals that the first iteration of the product, a bail reform platform, wasn’t going to work as she’d hoped. She then doles out lessons for other founders in the process of pivoting.
You can follow Phaedra on Twitter at @phaedrael
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