Why is it so hard for a start-up to hire a Vp of Sales?
When to hire...
I recently had a chance to connect with two Saas co-founders of start-ups in Santa Monica and these were their burning questions. They both described similar beginnings, a CTO and COO usually started the company, started hiring sales reps, usually managed by whoever the person was that became the CEO and after a few years of figuring out market fit and go-to-market strategies they were faced with the problem of building out a sales team and hiring a sales leader. Where both of the founders were stuck, 30 something founders, first time faced with the task of hiring a senior sales leader, was how do I interview, hire and evaluate a potential VP of sales? Every situation is different but usually the most important thing to realize is what stage is your company in and what are the immediate vs the longer term requirements that this person should focus on? Your typical areas of assessment are: Ability to hire a sales team, Work well with cross-functional departments, critical thinker (problem solver), transformational leader (get you to next milestones), ability to build a positive culture and an overall doer! A good VP of sales will have a great strategy for quarterly goals, H1 and H2. A great VP of sales will have a great strategy of getting the company thru the quarterly goals but also have foresight to see into year 1 and year 2, including product and competitive forces.