Buying Right Beats Selling Hard, My VC said

I once sat with a VC who had built multiple successful startups. In the middle of our conversation, he dropped a line that stuck with me:

“Sales is easy. Purchase is tough.”

At first I thought he meant selling vs. convincing customers. But he explained something different:

Anyone can sell if they hustle hard enough. The real edge comes from where you buy, your sourcing, your supply chain, your unit economics. Because if you don’t figure out how to purchase efficiently, sustainably, and at the right terms, you’ll never have the margins to scale.

That’s when I realized:

A great sales pitch can win you revenue.

But a smart purchase strategy is what builds your moat.

This shifted how I think about startups. Instead of obsessing only on “how do I sell more?”, I also ask “how do I buy smarter than my competitors?” Because that’s where long-term defensibility comes from.

Question of the day: What’s one piece of advice you got that sounded simple at first but completely reshaped how you work?