Craig Watkins’ Post

Startup moving away from founder led sales should not hire an SDR as their next sales rep (in most circumstances*). Why? -SDRs don’t have experience doing full cycle sales. -They need more supervision than you have time for. Here’s why you should hire an account executive: -they can ideally build out a sales playbook -find their own leads AND close deals -act as a player/coach -can bring on an SDR to supplement their outbound. -work autonomously *I’m referring to well capitalized venture backed startups *SDRs are helpful to supplement founder led sales, but not a good choice as the 1st sales hire when you are moving away from founder led sales. #hiring #sales

Cannot +1 this enough. The best Founders are in the trenches in early days for as long as possible. And in turn, these are the best opportunities for first sales hires. I’d also add that when the first sales hire joins, the expectation is the Founder will become a souped-up sales engineer.

4 reasons I’d NEVER join a startup as one of the first 3 sales reps: 1. The founder hasn’t sold the product themselves 2. The founder hasn’t found and closed at least 10 deals themselves (ideally outside friends and family deals) 3. The founder hasn’t taken the first 100ish sales calls themselves 4. The founder is expecting to hire a sales rep at this stage and step away from selling. I think you get the point... Founders / CEOs that aren’t in the trenches at this stage will 10000000% fail. Hiring ANYONE else to do it won’t work either.

4 reasons I’d NEVER join a startup as one of the first 3 sales reps: 1. The founder hasn’t sold the product themselves 2. The founder hasn’t found and closed at least 10 deals themselves (ideally outside friends and family deals) 3. The founder hasn’t taken the first 100ish sales calls themselves 4. The founder is expecting to hire a sales rep at this stage and step away from selling. I think you get the point... Founders / CEOs that aren’t in the trenches at this stage will 10000000% fail. Hiring ANYONE else to do it won’t work either.

Agree with this 100% Getting in the trenches and doing this yourself gets you perspective from all sides. You do the selling. (Sales) You use the tools. (Ops) You get requests/feedback. (Product) This is great advice for founders, cause it shows when you’ve never sold your own product…

4 reasons I’d NEVER join a startup as one of the first 3 sales reps: 1. The founder hasn’t sold the product themselves 2. The founder hasn’t found and closed at least 10 deals themselves (ideally outside friends and family deals) 3. The founder hasn’t taken the first 100ish sales calls themselves 4. The founder is expecting to hire a sales rep at this stage and step away from selling. I think you get the point... Founders / CEOs that aren’t in the trenches at this stage will 10000000% fail. Hiring ANYONE else to do it won’t work either.

Each quarter I try and release a long form sales post on my personal substack: Last quarter, I was tasked to hire our 1st outbound BDR. I've done this a couple of times, and reflecting on it, tech sales hiring as a startup is a little hit and miss. 1) Hard to hire for past experience as more experienced BDRs will usually choose big tech or stay in current company to optimise for AE 2) Then, the question is: how do we craft the best interview to get the most bang for buck, while reducing risk on someone who's never done sales before? This is especially relevant for early stage startups, who got no $$, nor brand equity to leverage. (Link in comments) What else did I miss?

The two most important things in any startup:   Sales.   And hiring.   Why?   Because sales bring in the revenue that keeps you alive.   And hiring brings in the people who make everything else possible.   Without sales, you cannot survive.   Without the right people, you have no leverage.   You don’t need a thousand distractions.   You need to focus.   Find the customers.   Bring in the right team.   Because when you master these two things first, you'll realise everything else is secondary.

🚨 Struggling to hire an 𝗦𝗗𝗥/𝗕𝗗𝗥 for your startup within a 𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵? 💰 In today’s 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘢𝘚 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵, top talent often demands top dollar. But let’s be real—startups don’t always have that 𝗹𝘂𝘅𝘂𝗿𝘆. 💸 Hiring the relevant SDR/BDR within the 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 can feel like a massive challenge. That’s where Zohort steps in to make your life easier. ✨ 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗭𝗼𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁? 1️⃣ 𝗪𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀. Whether you're a lean startup or scaling, we tailor our approach to your hiring goals. 2️⃣ 𝗪𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀. We respect the financial constraints of startups and ensure we align with your salary expectations. 3️⃣ 𝗪𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. Finding someone who fits your team is just as important as skills. We prioritize both! 4️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, ready to go. Our talent pool includes professionals with diverse experience and salary expectations, making it easier to find the right hire at the right cost. 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴. Let Zohort help you build your dream sales team! 🚀 💬 𝘕𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘚𝘋𝘙/𝘉𝘋𝘙? Comment below or DM us now. #SaaSSales #HiringSolutions #SDRRecruitment #Wearehiring #hiring #Sales #TechSales

Nailing your sales talent in 1-5M journey is critical Doing this in blue tech🌊 is even harder The three most common pitfalls to avoid: ❌ Armchair generals 👩🏼✈They're key for 5M+ ventures to enhance rev ops, yet hiring overly senior staff stifles early growth ❌ Focus on rolodex only 🤝 Relationships are vital in blue tech🌊 but do not scale. It disqualifies young talent by undervaluing the startup, scrappy, grit mindset ❌ Superstars from another galaxy 🥷 SMB, mid-market, and enterprise sales are driven by different characters and incentives. A SMB sales rockstar can be a complete dud in Enterprise. What pitfalls do you avoid?