Video · 2 hr watch

Building a world-class sales org | Jason Lemkin (SaaStr)

Lenny Rachitsky and Jason Lemkin · Lenny's Podcast Free Intermediate

Two hours covering when to hire the first rep, what to look for, when to bring in a VP of Sales, and how comp and quotas should be set, all in one place. If you only watch one thing on sales hiring, watch this.

It answers 4 questions

  1. When do I stop selling myself and hire my first salesperson?
  2. What does a good first sales hire actually look like, and what should I not fall for?
  3. I am the first AE and my founder still runs half the deals. How do we split it?
  4. When do I hire a VP of Sales, and what happens if I get it wrong?

Read with it

  1. Ten specific, named mistakes rather than principles, including hiring a VP of Sales too early and letting a bad rep linger past... SaaStr Podcast · 30 min listen SaaStr Podcast #379: The Top 10 Mistakes Founders Make When Hiring Their First Sales Team Jason Lemkin
  2. Names the two ways founders get the timing wrong, scaling too early and scaling too late, and walks the progression from... Founding Sales Book · 35 min read Founding Sales, Chapter 10: Early Sales Management and Scaling Concepts Peter Kazanjy
  3. Stripe's Chief Business Officer on building a written sales operating model (leads, conversion, deal size, win rate, cycle) so... SignalFire Article · 14 min read How to train and measure your startup's early sales hires Sadasia McCutchen with Jeanne DeWitt Grosser
  4. The most detailed free writeup of an actual sales hiring process: the profile, artifact-based screening before you spend live... Founding Sales Book · 50 min read Founding Sales, Chapter 11: High-Impact Sales Hiring Peter Kazanjy
  5. Indian founders comparing notes on hiring for grit and coachability over resumes, and on what it really costs to sell into the... SaaSBoomi Article · 8 min read How to Scale Efficiently: Strategies, Pitfalls, and Success Stories from SaaSBoomi's Playbook Roundtables SaaSBoomi
  6. The number that should scare you into reading it: 70 percent of first VP of Sales hires do not make it. Ten named mistakes,... SaaStr Podcast · 35 min listen Hiring a Great VP of Sales: The New, Latest Edition with Jason Lemkin Jason Lemkin
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