{
  "id": 6416603,
  "title": "The Sales Test This Norwest Partner Gives Founders Before He’ll Invest",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/the-sales-test-this-norwest-partner-gives-founders-before-hell-invest",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-09T11:00:58.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Crunchbase News",
    "slug": "crunchbase-news",
    "url": "https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/startup-investment-qa-ai-hr-fintech-jacobsohn-norwest/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Sean Jacobsohn, a Norwest venture partner, shares insights on investing in finance software startups. He highlights the crowded market dominated by legacy providers and identifies opportunities in disrupting established players. He emphasizes the ease of selling to CFOs who make personal software purchases, compared to broader organizational purchases. Jacobsohn discusses the need for AI in finance while stressing the importance of precision and accuracy. He also examines areas ripe for disruption, such as ERP, sales tax, treasury management, and procurement. Lastly, he provides guidance on how startups can make switching away from established products like Workday and ADP more appealing.",
  "summary": "In an interview with Crunchbase News, Sean Jacobsohn, a partner at venture firm Norwest, discusses where he still sees openings in the crowded market for finance software, how far companies should trust AI with accounting work, why HR startups may be better off attacking the secondary products of large platforms, and why he tests a CEO's sales ability before investing.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}