Build the team

Hire, ramp and pay GTM people so the engine runs without you in every deal.

What founders use for build the team, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. Honest about the failure modes, sandbagging in anticipation of the next SPIFF, budget creep, and erosion of intrinsic... Everstage Article · 12 min read The Ultimate Guide to Spiff Sales Incentives Everstage In 2 answers
  2. Three concrete ways to handle the awkward case where the product sourced the deal, including a higher first contract rate with... QuotaPath Article · 10 min read How to build PLG sales comp plans QuotaPath In 2 answers
  3. The operating cadence rather than the design theory: review quarterly, change annually, roll out in phases, and the line worth... Everstage Article · 12 min read 10 Sales Compensation Best Practices That Drive Results Visaka Jayaraman In 2 answers
  4. Girish Mathrubootham built a Nasdaq-listed company from Chennai, and the lesson about betting on people rather than pedigree is... The Works (Freshworks) Article · ~10 min read 7 lessons from building an India-based global SaaS business Vishnu Prasad
  5. Podcast · 90 min 2X SaaS Founder: How To Sell Global Tech Products From India | Sharath Narayana Siddhartha Ahluwalia with Sharath Keshava Narayana
  6. The counterweight: the POSist co-founder on what to do when your product genuinely cannot be self-serve, including pricing... SaaSBoomi Article · 12 min read AMA with Sakshi Tulsian: Growth strategies for your non-self-serve product Shweta Mishra
  7. A worked example for a 3M dollar ARR business with two or three reps: 200k OTE at 50:50, quarterly targets blending new,... Pocus Article · 11 min read Sales Compensation: How to Choose the Best Plan for Your Product-Led Team Pocus
  8. A deliberately contrarian first plan: cover the rep's fully loaded cost first, then pay 20 to 25 percent on everything above... SaaStr Article · 9 min read A Framework For Your First SaaS Sales Comp Plan Jason Lemkin
  9. One number that tells you whether your whole GTM spend is working, with current benchmark bands (under 0.5 underinvesting, 0.75... The SaaS CFO Article · 8 min read How to Calculate the SaaS Magic Number Ben Murray
  10. Podcast · 61 min Founder-led sales | Pete Kazanjy (Founding Sales, Atrium) Pete Kazanjy
  11. Video · 25 min 5 Mistakes Founders Make When Hiring Their First Salesperson with SaaStr's Poya Osgouei Poya Osgouei
  12. Video · 46 min 7 Ways to Ramp New Sellers to Full Quota Lightning Fast GTMnow
  13. Video · 49 min How to Hire a Great First VP of Sales SaaStr AI
  14. Podcast · 57 min The $400K Sales Rep: What Top Earners Know That You Don't | Siva Rajamani (Everstage CEO) Siva Rajamani
  15. Video · 24 min How to Build a Sales Commission Structure - That Reps Actually Understand Everstage
  16. Podcast · 31 min Aligning sales compensation with strategy, not SKUs (with Stephen Long) Stephen Long
  17. Video · 2 min Hiring & Compensation for enterprise SaaS teams AIBoomi (formerly SaaSBoomi)
  18. Podcast · 28 min Sales Comp Is Morale: Why Bad Plans Cause Attrition | Shiv Walia | A Place For Mom | GTM Show Shiv Walia
  19. Podcast · 66 min John Lee on Scaling Sales Comp for 5,000+ Reps at @LinkedIn I Uncappd Insider I Everstage I John Lee
  20. Podcast · 82 min SDR Masterclass with Debdutta Saha | GTM Talk Debdutta Saha
  21. Video · 7 min The Ultimate Sales Capacity Planning Guide LeanScale
  22. Yamini Bhat walks through how Vymo built an outbound engine, an SDR cadence and a value selling motion, then hired senior sales... Founder's Deep Dive, SaaSBoomi Podcast The journey of Vymo with Yamini Bhat Yamini Bhat
  23. Video · 20 min Mark Roberge, CRO, HubSpot - The Sales Acceleration Formula Mark Roberge
  24. Video · 92 min Masterclass: The Perfect Sales Onboarding Program Armand Farrokh and Nick Cegelski

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The questions

Hiring and ramping GTM people 16

Your first sales hire, the interview loop, the ramp plan, and knowing early when someone is not going to make it.

When do I stop selling myself and hire my first salesperson? 5 → What does a good first sales hire actually look like, and what should I not fall for? 5 → I have been offered the first sales hire job at a startup. What should I check before I say yes? 4 → How do I interview a salesperson when I have never sold for a living? 3 → What should a new rep's first 90 days actually look like? 5 → All 16 questions in Hiring and ramping GTM people →
Comp, quotas and territory 16

Comp plans, quotas, OTE and accelerators, territory and segment design, in dollars and in rupees.

I have been handed a comp plan. How do I work out what I will actually earn? 5 → What do OTE, pay mix, accelerator, draw and clawback actually mean? 4 → I am a founder writing my first sales comp plan. What is the simplest thing that works? 4 → What is a fair quota for my first rep when we have no history to go on? 5 → How do I set quotas that most of the team can actually hit? 5 → All 16 questions in Comp, quotas and territory →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →