Sell it yourself first, write down how you close, then hire two reps at once rather than one, so that when results disappoint you can tell whether it is the rep or the product. Hire people who have sold a similar product at your stage, not big-company stars who need a playbook you do not have yet. Set the plan with simple math: a commission of about 10% of the ARR a rep closes and a 50/50 split of base and variable pay are typical, and a rep still not productive after 2 quarters needs a decision. In India, a junior SDR costs roughly Rs 4.5 to 7 lakh a year and a senior rep Rs 14 to 23 lakh, as base plus variable. Stay in deals while they ramp, review the pipeline weekly with the same questions, and add a manager only once you have several reps to manage. The rule: prove the process with your own deals before you hire anyone to repeat it.
The reasoning is better than the headline: with one rep you cannot tell whether success or failure came from the person or the process. Lemkin's own two reps sold in opposite styles and that contrast surfaced new segments.
A concrete checklist for the first closer hire: close 10 to 20 yourself first, hire scrappy over pedigreed, and expect a deal within one sales cycle. The 'would you buy from this person' test is the one most founders skip.
The clearest arithmetic anywhere on rep economics: the rule of 10 for quota against base, four months to productivity, draws during ramp, and why teams attain about 70 percent of quota capacity so you must plan over capacity.
A four phase model for handing off sales, with a clear warning that most of the damage comes from adding closers too early. Short enough to read before your next hiring decision and specific enough to change it.
Actual rupee bands for junior, mid and senior SDRs in India, the cost comparison against a US hire, and a hiring process built on live mock calls. The most concrete India SDR numbers we could find in one place.
The whole 400 page book is readable free chapter by chapter, written specifically for founders and first-time sellers rather than career sales people. Chapters 4 to 8 (prospecting, outreach, pitching, closing) are the ones to read first.
Stripe's Chief Business Officer on building a written sales operating model (leads, conversion, deal size, win rate, cycle) so you can diagnose whether a miss is the rep or the model. The missing step in most handoffs.
