---
id: "quote-tension-urgency"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["\\\"§ With So Many Options", "They Struggle to Create Urgency\\\""]
tags: ["sales-tactics", "urgency"]
related: ["concept-tension-driven-urgency"]
speaker: "Dave Rubinstein and Vincent Onyemah"
speakers: ["Dave Rubinstein", "Vincent Onyemah"]
sources: ["commercial"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-commercial"
originDay: 5
articleStem: "hbr-ext-21-founders-new-sales-playbook"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/startup-founders-need-a-new-sales-playbook"
sourceTitle: "Startup Founders Need a New Sales Playbook"
---
# Tension Creates Urgency

> "If there is no tension built in a meeting, there is often no deal. Tension creates urgency."

**Speakers:** [[entity-dave-rubinstein]] and [[entity-vincent-onyemah]] (the authors).

**Context:** The core thesis on why educational or pleasant sales calls fail to convert into actual deals — the definitional statement of [[concept-tension-driven-urgency]] and the argument behind [[contrarian-engagement-is-not-intent]].