Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu tells techies to learn sales by facing rejection

Zoho chief scientist Sridhar Vembu has urged engineers, scientists and doctors who want to become entrepreneurs to start with sales calls, embrace rejection and learn directly from customers. In a social media post, Vembu wrote that the first step for technical professionals turning to business should be sales calls, arguing that selling forces better communication and builds respect for salespeople. "Please go on a lot of sales calls, face rejection if necessary, but persist," he said.

Vembu built Zoho into a major software company without venture capital, relying on product quality and direct customer relationships. His advice generated widespread reaction online, with some commenters supporting the founder-led sales approach while others noted that technical staff on calls can slow deals by turning conversations into feature requests. A third response argued that rejection provides "epistemic updates" by testing assumptions about product-market fit.

Vembu has recently posted on AI replacing coding jobs, tech valuations and the need for engineers to become domain experts. He consistently argues that technical skill alone is insufficient and that understanding customer problems is essential for building a successful business.