When hiring for Sales at an early stage SaaS startup, you need to look for the sales reps/leaders who have already been through the wringer.
That’s the only way to know if they’ll survive the wringer you’re about to put them through.
You don’t have enablement in place. They can’t lean on brand recognition. They’re going to be cold calling into a market that has never seen your logo.
Someone from Big Tech supported by a killer marketing engine, full tech stack, and bustling SDR team will be down for the count in their first quarter at a Series A or B org.
Single biggest mistake founders make when trying to hire a VP of sales is they think that just because this person worked at a successful company in the past that they're going to carry over that success into the next organization. And so if there's one piece of advice I would give any founder, look for someone who has worked at companies that have failed, You need to find someone who knows what it's like when they're facing failure if all they've ever done is seen success. In their career and they show up at an early stage startup and they're met by the demands and failures of what that job looks like. It's likely gonna beat them up. I think you need someone who's worked in A at A at a company that's really struggled, worked at a no name company that didn't have much of A brand and didn't have a lot of marketing or a lot of resources and we're still successful despite those challenges. So if you are the number one salesperson at a really crappy company, that actually means a lot more than just hitting. Motor at a really, you know, flashy, well established brand.
