"Sales Cures All." --Mark Cuban.
http://blogmaverick.com/2008/03/09/my-rules-for-startups/
Edit: I shouldn't have pulled that card. Apologies. I'm not helping matters. There's already way too much vitrol going on in this thread.
http://blogmaverick.com/2008/03/09/my-rules-for-startups/
Edit: I shouldn't have pulled that card. Apologies. I'm not helping matters. There's already way too much vitrol going on in this thread.
But the problem is that "sales as strategy" as posed by the OP is most likely short-sighted due to "sales person motivations" , i.e. sales this quarter that affect my bottom line. These types of sales tend to drive one customer's needs versus the customer base. Not always, but that's where product management and engineering can provide a valuable perspective.
And all of that depends on your targets. If 400K is big money for you, go for it. But 400k is probably only big in the context of one or two people.