Startups Should Resist the VP of Sales Hiring Temptation

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Entrepreneurship, Sales and Marketing, Strategy

Recently I was talking to a startup that lamented they had hired a VP of Sales too early and wasted a ton of money. It was the typical situation: feel good about the innovative product, have a few customers, then hire the $150k salary plus stock VP of Sales to build the sales and marketing machine. It didn’t work.

The VP of Sales was focused on building out channel relationships with big resellers. The big resellers weren’t interested in reselling because there wasn’t enough market demand yet. After a year it was time for the startup to part ways with the VP of Sales.

Here are some things that should be in place before a startup hires a VP of Sales:

10 reference customers
5 case studies
Repeatable customer acquisition process
Inbound marketing plan
Two inside sales reps achieving quota

These requirements are hard to achieve and should be owned and managed by one of the founders. With these items in place, a VP of Sales will be able to come in and start scaling out the sales organization.

What else? What other pieces should be in place before a startup hires a VP of Sales?

Comments

16 responses to “Startups Should Resist the VP of Sales Hiring Temptation”

October 3, 2011

Dave Williams

Interesting…As we have 5 VP of sales and spread throughout the US – Atlanta, NYC, Chicago and in London and we wouldn’t be where we are without them. Personally, I prefer seasoned and proven senior sales people that are also willing to get their hands dirty. They represent the brand well and can close big deals and really drive revenue and business insights. Once the market is established and product is refined then we can hire the mentees. I think you pay for what you get.

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October 3, 2011

Jesse TL

David, thanks again for the insightful post. Much easier to learn this from you than the hard way, and I appreciate clear benchmarks rather than just high-level theory. I amongst others appreciate the time and insight. Keep it up!

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October 3, 2011

Justin

I’m with Dave. All you really identified was a failure in a G2Market plan not a failure in having a VP of Sales early. So it’s a failure of management (who I assume defined the strategy) or – if they deferred to the VP of Sales to define the strategy then it’s his/her failure. This is a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater (Get rid of the idea of a VP of Sales as these guys executed it poorly)

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1. October 4, 2011
  
  David Cummings
  
  Justin – I agree with you if the VP of Sales has a successful startup background. The challenge is that most VP of Sales come from bigger companies where the G2Market plan wasn’t implemented by them. The exec then joins a startup that’s not ready and things don’t work out. The G2Market plan should be done by the co-founders, not the externally hired VP of Sales.
  
  Reply
October 3, 2011

swagner2 (@swagner2)

Couldn’t agree more! Great advice. I can only add that some recent near misses at some large clients, or logos is key. It means the team is getting close and with some Senior help more should follow.

Hire a VP of Sales with a background in what sales model you want to pursue. Don’t hire a field guy to come build an inside team. Vice-Versa.

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October 15, 2011

Bill

I agree with you Dave. Sales needs to stay close the founders. I have seen it go badly wrong when the founders think they can pass to the baton to someone else too soon. I also think that @swagner2 is correct with his point about near misses – it means you are getting close and doing something right!

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January 8, 2012

The Four Areas of Sales Rep Specialization in Startups « 10,000 Startup Hours – David Cummings

[…] enough work available for a full-time person dedicated to it. After you hire a sales rep (before a VP of Sales!), the next hire should likely be a sales development […]

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June 25, 2012

5 Simple Reasons Entrepreneurs Fail « 10,000 Startup Hours – David Cummings

[…] Premature scaling – resources are scarce so a self-inflicted death is more likely when staff or resources are added before a business model is found (see startups shouldn’t hire a VP of Sales) […]

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July 19, 2012

When to Hire the Next Sales Person « 10,000 Startup Hours – David Cummings

[…] things for an entrepreneur to do, especially if they haven’t done it before. Assuming the VP of Sales temptation was defeated and a few sales reps are on board delivering results, how do you know when to hire the […]

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August 1, 2012

Inside Sales Management in Startups « 10,000 Startup Hours – David Cummings

[…] having been popular for several decades, has a large number of experienced executives, even if most aren’t right to be a VP of Sales for a seed stage startup. Consultative inside sales and consultative field sales are very […]

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August 14, 2012

Sales Department Management Structures for Startups « 10,000 Startup Hours – David Cummings

[…] with a combination of customer-first thinking and metrics-oriented actions. After you’ve avoided the early VP of Sales temptation, hired and trained a couple sales reps that are making quota, it becomes time to recruit the sales […]

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November 10, 2013

erikford

How do you guide cofounders who stand by the fact that they do not have sales knowledge and have always deferred to sales “experts” or the VP Sales to own?

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January 25, 2014

When to Start Scaling the Sales Team | David Cummings on Startups

[…] renewal rates, etc. that are play into these recommendations but this is a good start. Much like Startups Should Resist the VP of Sales Temptation, startups should also hold off scaling the sales team until the appropriate metrics are in […]

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April 15, 2015

Sales Resources for Startups | David Cummings on Startups

[…] Startups Should Resist the VP of Sales Hiring Temptation […]

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February 13, 2016

5 Sales Tips for Seed Stage Startups | David Cummings on Startups

[…] Bonus: Resist the temptation to hire a VP of Sales […]

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September 17, 2016

15 Posts Every Seed Stage Entrepreneur Should Read – David Cummings on Startups

[…] Resist the VP of Sales Temptation […]

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