Build and Scale your 1st Sales Team with me 🪄 | Build your Own Fractional Business with the Fractional School 📕 | Follow me on Instagram @matteopapaluca

Most founders don't struggle with sales because they're bad at it.

They struggle because no one ever taught them how to build it properly.

I've seen this pattern for years - first inside fast-growing companies, and now alongside founders building from zero.

I started my career in B2B sales at Ryanair, LinkedIn, and Cloudbeds, between Italy and Ireland, where I spent 15+ years selling, hiring, and leading sales teams.

I've hired 100+ salespeople, owned revenue numbers up to €10M, and lived the reality of scaling before it becomes "predictable".

Then I stepped into the founder world.

In January 2023, I launched Inscaler with a simple idea:
💡 help founders turn sales from chaos into a system.

Since then, I've worked with 150+ startups, supporting founders as they move from:

→ founder-led sales
→ to their first real sales team
→ to repeatable, predictable revenue

What I learned  is this:

Founders don't need more advice. ⛔
They don't need lead gen agencies ⛔
They don't need wannabe consultants but real operators ⛔

We focus on enabling founders exit the founder-led sales and build their first sales team right.

No hype. 
No "growth hacks".
Just fundamentals, appropriately applied.

⸻

Why Inscaler is different 👨🏻‍💻

I don't believe in copying what works for Series C companies and forcing it on early-stage startups.

I believe:

✅ Sales is simple — when the foundations are right
✅ Growing people matters more than chasing revenue
✅ If the process is proper, the numbers follow

(And yes, I do all this with a Calabrian accent.)

⸻

What's changing now ♻️

After helping 150+ startups hands-on and 600K in revenue, Inscaler is evolving.

We're transitioning into a productized sales offering - built for founders who want:

👍🏻 Clear sales foundations
👍🏻 Proven frameworks
👍🏻 Hands-on guidance without agency dependency

If you're a founder navigating your first sales hires, your first pipeline, or the moment where sales can't depend only on you anymore - this is precisely what Inscaler was built for.

I share practical sales lessons, frameworks, and real founder stories every week.

DM me to start a conversation or more on inscaler.com

Matteo Papaluca ⚡️

Today I'm launching something new.

Inscaler 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀.

And honestly, this wasn't planned.

Since day one of Inscaler, I've helped 𝟭𝟱𝟬+ 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺.

I've always charged for services.

And I've never asked for equity.

Why?

Because diluting a cap table for sales execution never felt fair to me. (except for a few expectations).

Then something happened.

I kept getting the same question at home.

My brother, 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗼.

He's a doctor.

Far from the startup bubble.

Every time I told him about a founder I was working with, he'd ask:

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦?"
"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦?"
"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦?"

At first, I brushed it off as you would do with your old brother, you know.

Then I stopped and thought.

Who actually sees early-stage startups up close?

Not the pitch deck version.

The real one.

I do.

I sit with founders while they build revenue from zero.

I see how they sell.

How do they hire.

how they build their products.

If a company works, I know it early.

If it doesn't, I know that too.

That's when it clicked.

If I'm already putting my time, brain, and energy into these businesses…

Why wouldn't I put my own money behind the ones that prove it on the field?

So here we are.

Inscaler Ventures backs early-stage Italian founders.

Family-owned.

Small tickets for now.

More capital is coming.

We're officially open for pitches and applications.

If you're curious, all the details are on the 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 → 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀 → 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀.

And if you're a founder building something real,

You know where to find me.

Matteo Papaluca

Founder at Inscaler.com | Your First Sales Team Done Right | Helped 150+ startups

Inscaler Discovery Call Full Framework (Matteo at the whiteboard) 📋🖊️



#sales #coaching #whiteboard

Nothing beats a well-designed and clear sales cycle

My 1st YouTube video is out - not the best I know, but we're getting there 😅

👉🏻 https://lnkd.in/dfDMFgXh

I've seen founders lose their startup because of a bad hire.
Because of their *first* sales hire.

It happens more than you think.

You're a founder.
Limited sales background.

You know you need to build your first sales team. 
So what do you do?

You hire the senior salesperson.

Big CV.

From a competitor.

Investors like it too.
They feel safer when you're not the only one selling. 🙈

Let's call her Maria.
You pay her a lot.
More than anyone else.
3x your founder salary.

Maria joins.

You give her the title: Head of Sales. CRO, whatever.

A few months go by.

Maria is slow.

She doesn't really get it.

After the first quarter:

❌ No deals closed
❌ No outbound pipeline (she has no time…)
❌ Blame it on your product
❌ Didn't hire or built anything meaningful

She doesn't fit.

You are back in sales, involved in all deals + on Maria's deals.

After two quarters, it's almost over.

No trust.

On either side.

She thought it would be easier.

You thought the same.

You ask around.

You bring me.

I assess Maria and find critical miss on her leadership skills. 
She never managed reps or built a process from the ground up.

She never been in a startup, either, only in safe corporations where everything is ready.

Shortly after, she leaves.
As expected.

The damage is done.

You lost 6 months and thousands of run rate.

Maria lost 6-9 months of her career.
She was successful before, but now she feels useless.

You start again from zero.

I see this story all the time in early-stage startups.

It's not your fault.
It's not Maria's fault.
It's about timing, system, and fit.

Wrong moment.
No structure.
Wrong role.

If you want to avoid this mistake, I put together 

the 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺.

✔️ questions to ask before hiring
✔️ A-players scorecards
✔️ 3 interview templates, including questions
✔️ Gsheet to track all your candidates without spending money on ATS

____

You can get it by signing up for my new YouTube channel.

𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 "𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗯𝗲" 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗗𝗠 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 to sign up (we must be connected).

It has 0 subscribers right now - just getting started with our weekly videos starting next week 📹

Inscaler Demo Full Framework (Matteo at the whiteboard) 📋🖊️


#sales #coaching #matteopapaluca #demo

One of the most promising industries I see in Italy right now -->
Marketing agencies 🦸🦸‍♀️

For the first two years of Inscaler, 90% of my clients were tech startups.

And most still are.

Then an agency founder showed up.

Smart. Forward-thinking. 

He thought he needed a more "tech-style" way of building his first sales team.

So I stepped in as their Fractional VP of Sales.

At the beginning, it was messy.

No qualification frameworks. No real discovery. 

Sales happened via referrals and face-to-face.

And honestly? The classic tech playbook didn't land.

So I stopped forcing it.

I adapted.

Instead of pushing BANT or any other qualification framework ⤵
I asked the team to slow down and 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆.

Before briefings. Before proposals.

We started with simple questions:

- 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴?
- 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘷𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴? 
(most projects are based on tenders or RFPs)

Nothing fancy.

Then came the most difficult shift.

Marketing agencies are used to sending out proposals with poor qualifications. 

This leads to:

❌ low conversions - very low.
❌ productivity issues where they *think* they are busy.

So I asked them to stop sending out proposals and ask:

"𝘋𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝟧𝟢% 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?"

Not 50? Okay.

40? 30 at least?

If the answer is no, don't send the proposal.

That one change alone saved time, energy, and morale. 💪

I love agencies ❤

The most significant upside often sits in industries that were left behind from a sales perspective.

Tech startups and scaleups know the playbook. 
Or at least they *think* they know 👀

Agencies were left behind. 

They used old sales tactics and a poor process. 

But now they are back on track.

That's why I'm excited to keep working with agency founders and their sales teams.

There's so much room to grow.





----

If you are an agency owner or a founder, I have a few spots open from February 2026

DM me for a free sales assessment or if you are not ready -> keep following Matteo Papaluca and Inscaler for more tips on how to build and scale your first sales team.

Inscaler's solo business crossed 600K in total revenue.

Here are 3 mistakes I wish I hadn't made 👇🏻

𝟭. 𝗗𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱

I love admin.

GSheets. CRM updates. Invoicing.

Most people hate it. I enjoy it.

What don't I enjoy?

Strategic work. Questioning what works. Preparing for what's coming next.

For a long time, I hid behind tasks I liked.

Now I block admin time and force myself to focus on 1 or 2 strategic goals per period.

𝟮. 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗽𝘂𝘁

Since day one, Inscaler had one offer. I never changed the structure.

3 Packages based on live hours with me.

I never sold "hours".
But my SKU was hours.

That's changed now.

After helping 150+ startups build their first sales teams, I finally have the data and the information to commit to clear outputs.

I couldn't do it before.

It took time. Longer than expected.

𝟯. 𝗔𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 "𝗼𝗻"

If I had nothing to do, I worked anyway.

Even during holidays.

A few days ago, my wife Federica walked into my office and said it clearly:

"𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴."

She was right.

I worked on Christmas Day and when I was sick in bed.

I'm writing this at 6 am.
__

2026 will be a big year for Inscaler.
New offering. New structure.

I'm scared and excited at the same time.

The format works. That's clear.

Now it's time to step up.

Consulting and LinkedIn are full of noise.

My goal is simple.

Be the opposite of that noise.

We'll see.

VP Sales | Helping the world’s population live longer @ home

Leading EMEA GTM at Ashby. I’m passionate about building world-class teams & disruptive technologies that enable those teams to achieve great things. 

At Ashby, we’re redefining talent acquisition by providing a powerful, integrated platform designed for modern recruiting teams.

Hiring has become more competitive and strategic than ever, and we believe companies that excel at hiring have a significant advantage. That’s why we’ve built Ashby to streamline the entire hiring process—combining a best-in-class ATS with analytics, scheduling, and sourcing automation.

Before Ashby, I experienced firsthand the impact of strong recruiting operations on a company’s growth. That experience shaped my belief that recruiting deserves the same level of operational excellence as sales and marketing.

We’ve worked closely with top talent teams to create a product that enhances candidate experience, improves hiring efficiency, and provides deep insights through custom reporting. As we continue to evolve, our goal remains the same: to help companies build exceptional teams through data-driven, structured hiring.

Jack Hanratty

Ashby really is an amazing place to work & I say that as someone who’s been fortunate enough to experience what truly great workplaces look like throughout my career 🙏 

What makes Ashby stand out is our disciplined, thoughtful approach to hiring exceptional talent. As our CEO Benji, put so eloquently below.

We’re currently hiring for a Mid-Market Sales Leader in EMEA 🚀  

If you’re passionate about building world class teams & excited by the opportunity to work at a company with an exceptional product that customers genuinely love, check out the link below & apply directly. We review every single application using our solution. 

https://lnkd.in/gA9jN6pB 

Note: I'm not doing intro chats, but if you apply, feel free to drop me a quick note to let me know. Once the role closes, you'll hear from us about next steps.

Casper Bergmans Sam Tierney Tilly Fawcett Jowan Brown Jolijn van der Steur Jordan Osborne Paul Enault Ludovico Puccini Alessandro Mottini Thierry Do Rik Packer Konstantin D. Brian Macmillan Silje Amundsen Aki Mandhotra Kushal Gupta Ruth Cockshott

GTM Leader & Advisor - Enabling Hiring Excellence in EMEA through world class Technology

Building people software for high growth companies.

📈 Happy 2026!

I just sent out our December 2025 Ashby Investor update, putting the finishing touches on another amazing year (fun fact: this was our 82nd monthly investor update to date).

We beat & raised virtually every metric, every quarter, and ended up achieving 120% of our annual plan.

But I'm most excited about how we got there, as these inputs will be the driver for growth in the coming years. We continued to ship product at a very strong velocity, further upleveled how we serve customers, and invested a lot more in community (including Ashby One!). And probably most importantly, we remained very disciplined and diligent in hiring. We're going to cross 300 team members soon, and even at this scale, I continue to be impressed with the talent bar across the team.

I want to say a big thanks to all of our customers and our amazing team that got us here 💜 

There's plenty of hard work ahead - here's to an exciting 2026 🚀

taplio

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