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Hiring Risks vs. Hiring Flags

SaaStr

During the Boom Times of late ’20-early ’22, we all often confused Taking Risks in hiring … with Just Plain Ignoring Flags. The best VPs of Sales I’ve hired were Directors of Sales before. A number of my very best hires never finished high school.

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Systematizing Go-To-Market Hiring

Tom Tunguz

This chart holds the secret to successful hiring of go-to-market teams. A stack rank of attributes within HubSpot account executive candidates that correlate to quota attainment. The pushier the account executive, the worse the result.

Marketing 317
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Don’t Hire a VP of Sales Everybody Loves

SaaStr

Yes, sometimes it’s OK to hire a VP of Sales that everyone loves. At least 9 times out of 10, if everyone on the team loves a VP of Sales, it’s the wrong hire. And this especially matters because I often see CEOs picking between 2 final VP of Sales candidates.

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Customer Success Is A Single Digit Hire

SaaStr

We’ve talked about how all the Second Timers are hiring in customer success way early , ahead of sales, ahead of revenue. To hire in customer success. So why make this hire so early when cash is tight? You can take a lot of risk in the first 1 or 2 hires beyond that.

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Boost Your Tech & Sales Candidate Response Rate to 90%

Hired is the largest AI-driven marketplace that matches ambitious tech & sales talent with the world’s most innovative companies. With our intuitive search filters, Hired makes it easy to find the right candidate for your open role. Try Hired today.

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From Founder-Led Sales to Hiring Your First AE

Predictable Revenue

Learn how to transition from founder-led sales to making your first hire, including the four outbound funnels your sales team should focus on. The post From Founder-Led Sales to Hiring Your First AE appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Revenue 257
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Whatever You Do, Avoid the Desperation VP Hire

SaaStr

So we’ve talked a lot of the years on SaaStr on how to avoid a mis-hire for a key VP role: We’ve talked here about the 48 Types of VPs of Sales, and making sure you hire the right type. 10 great questions here to ask a VP of Sales candidate.

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Hiring Your VPs: When Can You Compromise?

SaaStr

That you absolutely, positively, have to only hire “Rockstars” in your startups. If you don’t think you need a great VP of Sales, Product, Marketing, Customer Success, and Engineering — then all that all that means is you’ve never worked with a great one.

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What Order Should You Hire Your Management Team In?

SaaStr

IME, rough order to make hires in: VPM: $0.2m He asked which to hire first. If you have a few nickels in the bank, and you somehow find a great VP a half stage or even full stage early, just hire her. Hiring is so hard as it is. Make the hire now.

CTO Hire 363
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Dear SaaStr: What Are The Top 3 Criteria for Hiring Your First Head of Sales?

SaaStr

Q: Dear SaaStr: What Are The Top 3 Criteria for Hiring Your First Head of Sales? We’ve talked a lot on SaaStr about hiring that first VP of Sales. And this is not the same as simply being given a small team to manage. #2. Blog Posts Early Hiring Sales

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Boost Your Tech & Sales Candidate Response Rate to 90%

Hired is an online hiring marketplace that connects actively looking tech & sales talent with companies like yours. You can search through our candidate pool by salary, location, skills and more to find the right match for your open role. Try Hired today.

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The Benefits of Hiring a Stretch VP of Sales (and The Risks)

SaaStr

………………… Hiring a VP of Sales in a startup is an incredibly hard thing. Even if you hire the right person there is no guarantee your startup is going to make it. Most of you aren’t going to be able to hire that person.

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How to Hire A Great VP Sales: The Full Video and Transcript

SaaStr

One of the first what How to Hire a Great VP of Sales at the New York Enterprise Tech Meet-Up (thank you to John Lehr and Work-Bench for setting this up). The Number One Thing You Can Do to Accelerate Your Business Post-Initial Traction is Hiring a Great VP of Sales.

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What Your First 100 Hires Will Look Like

SaaStr

There’s an exercise I’ve been through with many founders that are just getting to Initial Traction, say $1m-$2m in ARR or so, sometimes less, where I map out their future hiring. They are often a bit shocked at how many people they are going to need to hire as they cross $10m ARR.

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Dear SaaStr: How Many More Junior Marketers Should you Hire Before Hiring a VP of Marketing?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: How Many More Junior Marketers Should you Hire Before Hiring a VP of Marketing? In fact, one of the 10 most unforced errors I see founders make is hire someone too junior to get marketing going. They may have managed a spend.

Marketing 299
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Dear SaaStr: What Were The First Five Hires You Made After Product-Market Fit?

SaaStr

Q: Dear SaaStr: What Were The First Five Hires You Made After Product-Market Fit? My first 5 hires at Adobe Sign / EchoSign, beyond the core founding+ team, once we had paying customers and first, if early, product-marketing fit: #1: Full-time sales rep at $8k-ish MRR.

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The 48 Types of VP Sales. Make Deadly Sure You Hire the Right One.

SaaStr

Ah the VP of Sales. The toughest hire. The first post is What a Great VP of Sales Actually Does. So you expect the right things, and hire your rockstar at the right time to do the right things. So you hire someone that really did it, and can do it — not a pretender.

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The Double-Stretch Hire Rarely Works Out

SaaStr

The biggest mistake folks make when they go to hire a VP of Sales is hiring a top AE that's never really built a team. But it does not remotely prepare you to be a VP of Sales on its own. The Benefits of Hiring a Stretch VP — And The Risks.

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What Makes a Great VP of Sales and How to Hire One

SaaStr

In SaaS, #1 most common misfire, with a bullet, is the VP/head of sales. It goes something like “You’ve Got to Get Past the Carcass of Your First VP of Sales” or “It’s The Second VP of Sales When You Really Start Selling” or variants thereof. Sales Tactics.

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The Early Hire That Almost Never Works: Director of Outbound

SaaStr

What almost never works, somewhat surprisingly, is hiring a Director of Outbound as your first outbound hire. And especially, a new VP of Sales comes in without real outbound experience. Why does this seemingly logical hire fail? Blog Posts Early Sales

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How To Hire Top Performing SDRs

Predictable Revenue

Poor hiring processes play a big role in the inability to hire timely or correctly. We’d love to show you our hiring process so you have the right tools at the tip of your hands to start hiring for success. Blog Inbound Sales Strategies Outbound Sales Development

Revenue 214
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Here’s Who’s Hiring a VP of Sales in January

SaaStr

Finding the perfect VP of Sales position can be daunting, especially in the middle of a global pandemic. Candidates need to find opportunities that not only fit their sales experience and stretch goals, but also companies that are coming out of the pandemic with momentum.

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We All Made Some Bad Hires During The ‘20-‘21 Boom

SaaStr

Many mediocre hires were made to fill slots, reference checks not made, etc. And everyone got so tired with the accelerated hiring frameworks, that even more corners were cut than that. Everyone talks about making 10x hires, and each hire being better than the last.

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The One Secret Tip To Hiring a Great Sales Rep (In The Early Days)

SaaStr

But it’s time to call out One Simple Hack to getting sales going in your SaaS start-up, in the early-ish days. For at least your first few reps: hire someone >> you << personally would buy >> your product << from.

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Boosting Up Sales: Coaching Your Current Sales Team or Hiring Externally?

Predictable Revenue

Which is the best way to boost sales development at your company, coaching or hiring an external sales team? The post Boosting Up Sales: Coaching Your Current Sales Team or Hiring Externally? Blog Outbound Sales Development People Management

Revenue 259
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made in Hiring Your First Sales Team

SaaStr

I know we’ve hit a number of these points individually before on SaaStr, but after getting asked about the top mistakes hiring your first sales team so many times over the years, I thought it would be worthwhile to assemble a Top 10 List. Yes, you may be terrible at sales.

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Q1 is Your Last Chance to Get the Hires Done You Need for 2022

SaaStr

Q1 is really your last chance to get the hires done you really need for 2022. This is a pretty basic post, but one so many busy CEOs and founders just miss: It’s already almost too late to make the hires you need for 2022! And in sales it’s even worse.

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I Hired My VP of Marketing at $20k MRR. It Wasn’t a Week Too Early.

SaaStr

One of the starkest differences I see between First Timers in SaaS and Second Timers is when they hire their VP of Marketing. They often hire a VP of Demand Gen Marketing even before they have their first paying customers. But it’s very, very easy to make the hire late.

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Why Hiring a Sales Trainer Will Help You Scale Faster

Predictable Revenue

Nadja Brow, founder of The Doyenne Agency, joined us to explain why hiring a sales trainer instead of a sales manager will help you scale your sales organization faster. Blog Podcast Show Notes Sales & Marketing Strategies

Scaling 265
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If You Are Going to Hire a Stretch VP — Do It Early.

SaaStr

The corollary is that the window to hire a Stretch VP is shorter than ever. If you hit $1m ARR growing 6-8% a month, you can probably hire a Stretch VP of Sales any time the following 12 months. The post If You Are Going to Hire a Stretch VP — Do It Early.

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Dear SaaStr: When Should You Make Your First Sales Op Hire?

SaaStr

In the “old” days, there was a rough rule that as soon as you are bringing on more than 1–2 reps a quarter, you needed to hire a director of sales ops. That at that point, at a minimum, there would be too much administrative work for your VP of Sales to handle it herself.

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The Two Most Important Things To Look For When You Hire Your First VP of Sales

SaaStr

We’ve talked a lot about hiring a great VP of Sales at SaaStr, and I’ve relinked to some of the most popular posts below. Have they hired at least 2–3 reps that have performed well? If you can hire 2–3 great ones, you can likely scale and hire 20–30.

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CRO Confidential: Sales Recruitment in 2023 For Candidates and Hiring Managers With Founders Fund Partner Sam Blond and Flexport Fund’s Ben Braverman (Pod 629 + Video)

SaaStr

As the past few years have demonstrated, it’s wise to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to hiring. In particular, hiring for your sales team is critical in an uncertain economic outlook. It’s unbelievable to me how many companies don’t reward sales with equity.

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When’s the Right Time to Start Hiring SDRs?

Predictable Revenue

One of the most common startup questions is when to begin hiring SDRs. The answer comes down to product market fit, and whether you’re in a product or sales motion. The post When’s the Right Time to Start Hiring SDRs? Blog Outbound Sales Development People Management

Revenue 232
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Onboarding your first Sales Hire as an Entrepreneur

For Entrepreneurs with David Skok

Stephanie has been an executive in 3 successful startups and was most recently the SVP of Sales and Customer Success at Xamarin which has since been acquired by Microsoft. Stephanie joined Xamarin as its first non-engineering hire in. Recruiting SaaS Sales Startup Help Customer Success Growth Hiring Sales and MarketingIn today’s blogpost I would like to introduce my partner for Zero to 100, Stephanie (Schatz) Friedman.

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The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a Great VP of Sales

SaaStr

The toughest hire of all is probably your VP of Sales. When is too early to make the hire? When do you know that you’ve made a mis-hire? How far can you stretch to make the hire? What’s fair to expect from a VP of Sales, and what isn’t?

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If You Want to Hit The ’22 Plan, You’d Better Be Making the Hires Now

SaaStr

If you want to hit the plan for Q1'22, You need to be hiring all the sales reps you'll need then … Now. To make the hires you need now, for next year. But you have to hire them NOW, not in January. How many Customer Success Managers.

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10 Common Blindspots When Hiring Your First Sales Team

SaaStr

Q: What are some common blind spots and mistakes startups make when hiring for and building out a sales team? Some of the top blind spots founders and even VPs of Sales make: #1. You hire a sales rep to sell before you can prove you can do it yourself.

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You Need to Hire to Hire a VPM That Knows Your Playbook. Here’s How (It’s Easy).

SaaStr

Ok we’ve talked a bit more on SaaStr over the years on how to hire a Great VP of Sales , but hiring a Great VP of Marketing is just as important. Maybe in some ways more so, in that you can generally hire a great VP of Marketing earlier. Do you make the hire now?

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Your First 5 Sales Hires to Jumpstart Pipeline Generation

SaaStr

For the past 10 years, I’ve been a sales advisor for the portfolio companies of early stage venture capital firm True Ventures. It’s fascinating work for a sales mind like mine that’s focused on helping brilliant people turn ideas into revenue-driving businesses. . By Lars Nilsson.