{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Why AI Made Your Buyers Harder to Sell To","description":"After leaving a long sales career, David Rubenstein spent a year meeting more than 300 founders across 41 countries and turned what he heard into a framework for how companies sell now. In this episode of Founded &amp;amp; Funded, David sits down with Madrona's Anna Baird and Eric Wong to dig into why AI left buyers with more information and less clarity, why deals stall out of fear rather than disinterest, and how founders can cut through. The conversation covers selling against build-it-yourself AI objections, the return of in-person selling, and why the founder's own brand is more important to drive pipeline. This was originally an AMA with Madrona portfolio companies, but we wanted to share David's full sales playbook with founders, GTM leaders, and operators for a grounded look at how buying behavior shifted and where to focus when the old tactics stop paying off.  Full Transcript:&amp;nbsp; Chapters (00:00) \u2013 Why AI Made Your Buyers Harder to Sell To (01:30) \u2013 How David Met 300 Founders Across 41 Countries in a Year (03:06) \u2013 Why the Old Go-to-Market Math Stopped Working (04:40) \u2013 AI Gave Buyers More Information and Left Them More Confused (05:27) \u2013 The SPRINT Framework for Diagnosing a Stalled Deal (07:03) \u2013 Give the &quot;How&quot; Before the Number So Results Read as Proof (08:54) \u2013 The Question Every Executive Buyer Asks Late in a Deal (10:16) \u2013 3 Hidden Fears That Kill Deals During Implementation (12:00) \u2013 The Trigger Most Founders Leave Out of Their Customer Profile (15:24) \u2013 Why the First Seven Minutes of a Sales Call Are Wasted (16:19) \u2013 How to Sell Against &quot;I'll Just Build It With Claude Code&quot; (22:24) \u2013 Why AI Sales Prep Gives You the Average, Not the Edge (25:48) \u2013 Why Founder Brand Now Drives Pipeline (28:50) \u2013 Free vs. Paid Pilots and Why Skin in the Game Wins ","author_name":"Founded &amp; Funded","author_url":"https:\/\/www.madrona.com\/","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/42175155\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/88AA3C\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/item\/42175155"}