When I started my first business I thought having a great team meant that you worked really hard, were excited about what you were doing, and would keep going no matter what came your way. This is not what most people mean when they say you need a great team.

Not only are they saying you need the passion and dedication described above, but they also mean you need to have experience and, therefore, a network. Of course there are exceptions, however this is especially true in most B2B businesses.

Why is a network so great? Without a network it becomes difficult to get to the prospective buyer. But more importantly, it is difficult to know the right from the wrong prospective buyer. And, if you do know what characteristics to look for, you don't know who they are or where to find them.

Most importantly (since I have learned both of these things through trial and error), it increases the frustration, reduces your teams moral and may result in burn out. It's not that you can't sell, it's that by the time you learn how to find the right buyers and move them through a sales cycle, you may have been drained of your spirit, hope and passion.

To overcome a lack of network, I can suggest the following:

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Think about the personality of the founding team before you tackle an industry - it really does matter!  Some key components to consider are:

1. Sales Cycle vs. Each Team Member's Exit Time Frame
   
2. Exit Valuation  vs. Each Team Member's Required Exit to make it worth while (opportunity costs; one venture vs. another)

Our team is really starting to learn this lesson and it's not an easy one:
Before we started selling, we met with several key players in the space and other software entrepreneurs to learn about how the sales cycle worked in our industry.  One key message we got was, "the sales cycle is long."  Naturally, we thought we would be able to make the sales cycle faster because we would network well, be persistant and, among other things, work hard.  We've done all of these things in excess, yet we're wondering why we didn't listen.

Long sales cycles are frustrating.  Since we outsource a bulk of our development, we don't have enough work to stay busy all the time, want to see signs of success (monetary) and we're bootstrapping operations, which means cash is very low. For some of the team, dealing w/ the difficulty of a long sales cycle is a lot easier than others.  For example, a member of our team needs frequent rewards to stay motivated and keep going.  W/ a long sales cycle these rewards may not be present.  So, make sure you reflect on how well the people on your team matched the industry you're going take on.