Why the Best Product Doesn’t Always Win: The Power of Selling, Focus, and Real Value in Startups

In the competitive world of startups, having the best product isn’t a golden ticket to success. The real edge often lies in how well that product is sold, how clearly its value is communicated, and how effectively it aligns with the real needs of the market. This reality was the central theme of a recent Growth+ conversation between two Israeli tech entrepreneurs: Rotem Iram, CEO of cyber insurance firm At-Bay, and Ido Goldberg, CEO of the fintech startup Rainbow.

Hosted under the Growth+ initiative by Calcalist and Poalim Tech, this dialogue offered a raw and insightful look into the challenges early-stage founders face—from failing to meet market demands to struggling with focus, sales strategy, and scalability. More than a mentoring session, it became a crash course in hard-earned lessons for anyone navigating the startup landscape today.

Here’s a deep dive into the key takeaways.

The Startup Struggle: Key Insights from the Growth+ Conversation

Best Product ≠ Best Seller: Rotem Iram shared that At-Bay’s initial product didn’t sell—not because it wasn’t good, but because it didn’t offer tangible value to insurance agents. The product lacked better pricing or coverage, and agents saw no reason to switch. It wasn’t until they streamlined the purchasing process—cutting it from days to seconds—that they started gaining traction.
Speed and Efficiency Trumped Innovation: What ultimately made At-Bay attractive wasn’t a revolutionary product—it was a better user experience. Automating the sales process gave agents a practical reason to adopt the service, proving that convenience can be more powerful than feature sets.
Sales Is Not a Byproduct—It’s a Core Function: Ido Goldberg admitted Rainbow had focused too much on value creation and not enough on the ability to sell that value. This imbalance created serious gaps in growth. His pivot? Building internal sales processes and hiring talent to bridge the communication gap with customers.
The Sales Channel is Everything: Rotem emphasized a vital principle—understanding how your product fits into the sales pipeline is as critical as developing the product itself. A great product that doesn’t fit the existing sales channels is like a key that doesn’t match any lock.
Product-Market Fit Requires Sales Fit: Entrepreneurs often obsess over product features but neglect the art of selling those features. Without a clear path to the customer, even the most innovative product will fail to scale.
Speaking the Customer’s Language: Both founders echoed the importance of communicating value in a way that resonates with real users—not just early adopters. Crafting a message for a broader, often skeptical audience requires intentional focus and strategy.
Managing Investor Expectations: The conversation also veered into investor relations. Ido noted that aligning investor expectations is just as important as product development. Entrepreneurs must balance ambition with clear communication and realistic milestones.
Entrepreneurship in Times of Crisis: Michal Kissos Hertzog of Poalim Tech added broader context: with geopolitical instability and economic uncertainty, startups must build resilience. That means not just operational toughness, but personal well-being—mental, emotional, and physical balance.
Scaling Requires Mentorship: The Growth+ initiative continues to foster these conversations, matching seasoned entrepreneurs with early-stage founders to accelerate learning and avoid repeated mistakes.

What Undercode Say: A Deeper Look Into the Startup Reality

The startup mythos often idolizes innovation, yet real-world success tells a different story—execution eats innovation for breakfast. This conversation between Rotem and Ido peels back that myth to reveal a truth many founders learn too late.

The Sales-First Paradigm: No matter how brilliant your tech stack or sleek your UI, if no one buys it, it’s irrelevant. Founders must embed sales strategy into their product development lifecycle from day one.
Speed Kills (the Competition): At-Bay’s breakthrough—compressing a three-day sales cycle into 30 seconds—is a masterclass in product-market velocity. It wasn’t about having a radically better product; it was about enabling faster wins for the customer.
Sales Channels Define Success: If your product doesn’t fit into how people already buy, it’s unlikely to gain adoption. Founders must reverse-engineer products based on how their industry operates.
Customer Empathy Over Tech Obsession: Ido’s lesson speaks to a wider problem in tech—building things for customers without deeply understanding how to talk to them. Translating tech value into customer relevance is a skill founders must master.
Investor Reality Check: Beyond building a business, founders must become professional expectation managers. The honeymoon with VCs doesn’t last forever; alignment is key.
Personal Resilience = Business Resilience: Hertzog’s remarks are a vital reminder—burnout doesn’t build unicorns. Long-term vision requires a balanced life. Sleep, family, and mental breaks aren’t distractions; they’re strategy.
Mentorship as Multiplication: The Growth+ model—linking fresh founders with experienced mentors—does what accelerators often miss: real conversation without hype. This peer-driven guidance provides the frameworks founders can actually use.
Execution Intelligence > Technical Intelligence: Intelligence in the startup world is increasingly being redefined. It’s not about IQ or coding wizardry. It’s about knowing when to pivot, how to communicate, and how to align your story with the market’s current rhythm.
Broader Market Thinking: One takeaway that resonates is the need to stop building for edge cases and early adopters. If your business can’t sell to the mainstream, it won’t scale. Vision needs validation in the real world.
Don’t Just Solve Problems—Sell the Solution: It’s not enough to fix pain points. You need to package, price, and pitch those solutions in a way that resonates. In essence, sales is just storytelling with a closing metric.

Founders in 2025 are operating in a chaotic macro environment—geopolitical shocks, inflationary pressures, and rapidly evolving AI. Those who win will not only adapt quickly but sell effectively. And most importantly, they’ll define their product not just by what it does, but by what it delivers.

Fact Checker Results

The Growth+ initiative is a legitimate mentoring project by Calcalist and Poalim Tech, focused on strengthening Israeli startups.
Rotem Iram and Ido Goldberg are confirmed CEOs of At-Bay and Rainbow, respectively.
The business challenges discussed reflect common patterns verified across global startup ecosystems.

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