Thomas Bieser’s Post

What does it mean to have a strong founding sales team? The list isn’t as long as you think. I’ve built quite a few first teams for startups, And believe me - there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it: 👉The wrong way to do it is to hire strictly based on historical sales metrics and revenue achievement 👉 The right way to do it is to deep screen for, then enable, three key qualities: → Adaptability Early stage startup sales are more often than not, unstandardized. An adaptable salesperson will have the in-field know-how to adapt their approach with agility and direction - bringing you closer to your ICP and playing an integral role in developing your sales playbook. → Creativity What your prospects need to feel confident in the sale will not be obvious at the start - especially for innovative or complex products. A creative salesperson will use every tool in his belt to craft a value-driven buyer journey and map their values to the product using any support resources they can think of. → Test-savviness Your first sales motion likely won’t be your last, so directionality will be your best hedge against time and resource waste. A good founding salesperson will know how to help you test and make data-driven decisions around acquisition - reducing your overall time to goal. The last thing you want to build with, And this should come as a no-brainer, Is a collaborative team culture. Founders, technical staff and salespeople should WANT to be involved in the deal, To give the best odds of closing pipeline and optimizing alignment around revenue growth. 💡 P.S, at what point in your journey did you know it was the right time to hire salespeople? — #StartupSales #SalesTeam #SalesGrowth

Great to chat with Tom Dines of 6 Degrees Capital on the challenges startups face when they start to build out their sales teams. Transitioning from founder-led sales to a fully-fledged sales team is one of the most important steps for a startup going all-out to pursue growth. But getting it right is incredibly difficult. Here are some key points from the article: - Focus on product-market fit first: You can only scale a sales team if everyone knows what they're selling. There needs to be uniformity in your offering. - Look for scrappy talent: It's tempting to go for logos when hiring, but often the best talent comes from the people who've had to close deals without the advantage of a big brand name behind them - Don't 'buy the rolodex': Sales skills are what matter, not network. It might be tempting to hire the best-connected person you can find, but once their network runs dry, you might be disappointed with what you're left with. https://lnkd.in/eEUKe_7h 

The Single Most Expensive Mistake a Pre-Seed Startup Can Make: Hiring a Head of Sales Too Soon 1. Poor Salespeople Abound: The ecosystem is filled with mediocre salespeople who often interview well, making it hard to distinguish them from the good ones. (Side note: World-class salespeople rarely join pre-seed companies.) 2. Lack of Founder's Insight: Without firsthand experience running the sales function, founders can't set effective KPIs or accurately gauge performance, leaving them vulnerable to being misled. 3. Extended Tenures of Underperformers: Unable to challenge new hires quantitatively, founders often keep ineffective salespeople longer than necessary, leading to costly exits after 12 months and a significant drain on runway. 4. Loss of Customer Insight: A Head of Sales can pull founders away from direct customer interactions, hindering their ability to learn what customers truly want. This not only jeopardizes sales but also delays achieving Product-Market Fit. I frequently hear from founders that they wish they had waited until they had a strong sales foundation before hiring their first sales director. When the time comes to expand your sales team, analyze the tasks at hand, create a detailed job specification, and hire accordingly. Often, the right hire will be an SDR or BDR to assist with prospecting, allowing founders to focus on the later-stage pipeline and closing deals. Take your time; getting it right the first time will pay off, and your team will thank you for it. Let me know if you agree! #trueseed

Fake it till you make it! True or False Depends on the niche market need. Are you selling a product looking for a market or responding to a market looking for a product? Much easier to respond to a market looking for a product. Timing is key. Also, having and Gaining credibility early on is key to startup founder success. That credibility comes from one's career, experiences and connections. As they say, "It's who you know and not what you know. If you do not have the contacts, nor niche market knowledge, team up with those who do. Bring on partners, hire reps and consultants with contacts in the niche you wish to sell to. Do Not go it alone.  

Experienced Founders/CEOs recognize that building strong teams involves more than just personal networks and job postings. At Martyn Bassett Associates, we specialize in strategic sales hires for startups and scale-ups. Here are three reasons why you should consider us for your next sales hire.

Experienced Founders/CEOs recognize that building strong teams involves more than just personal networks and job postings. At Martyn Bassett Associates, we specialize in strategic sales hires for startups and scale-ups. Here are three reasons why you should consider us for your next sales hire.

Experienced Founders/CEOs recognize that building strong teams involves more than just personal networks and job postings. At Martyn Bassett Associates, we specialize in strategic sales hires for startups and scale-ups. Here are three reasons why you should consider us for your next sales hire.

New AE (potential) hires --> always ask your sales leader how many reps they are bringing on in addition to you. Especially if it's a startup. If "1" (just you) is their only answer, it's probably a red flag. Here's why: 1a. Bringing on just one rep says they do not have THAT much confidence in their GTM/sales process. You are a guinea pig. Prepare for trench warfare to hit quota. If the boss barely has faith, how can they expect anyone else to? 1b. Its not that much harder to train 2 reps as opposed to one; in fact, whoever is taking the time to onboard that first rep would save a lot of time in the long run if both reps could undergo that same onboarding together. So why not bring on 2? 2. If two reps can't hit some reasonable sort of run rate (aka a quota of 3-4x OTE), that sucker is probably doomed to go back to the drawing board in hopes of finding better product-market-fit. Join at your own risk. Startups are great, especially if 3-6 reps are already hitting quota with increasing pipeline sizes.

The 9+1 Worst Sales Mistakes Founders Should Avoid Are there more mistakes that should be on the list? Yes Are these the most costly and easiest to avoid? Probably Are these the mistakes that I see the most? Yes 1. The Founder isn’t willing to be the first sales person 2. The Founder stops selling too soon 3. Hiring a Sales Leader too early 4. Trying to figure it all out yourself without a sherpa-guide 5. Listening to Late-Stage Advice for Early-Stage Companies 6. Outsourcing the search for product market fit 7. Misjudging the strength of product market fit 8. Poorly Set Goals ruining the commercial organization 9. Trying to reinvent sales/process/org/compensation Bonus — Trying to save money on sales talent You can read my full post over on medium. Which mistakes should be on this list that I forgot? I'll share #1 here: The Founder isn’t willing to be the first salesperson Many of the best founders we work with don’t have a sales background and are either product or engineering focused. My favorite joke when I meet a brilliant founder is to ask them if they know there’s an easier path to becoming an Account Executive than founding a company. Jokes aside, this is listed as number 1 because we’ve yet to see a successful B2B SaaS company where one of the founders wasn’t the first person doing sales. It can be frustrating for some founders who don’t necessarily like sales or to whom it doesn’t come naturally, but it’s almost always necessary. Sales is hard, especially in the early stages of a startup. So to be bold enough to found a company and then have to build sales skills in the face of brutal rejection is a courageous endeavor. But the truth is, it’s the only way forward, and neglecting this point is doing so at your own peril. It will lead to making even more of the mistakes listed below. Building some level of repeatability in closing at least a handful of deals is the fuel that drives the entire business forward. It helps keep the product team focused on customer feedback and providing value in exchange for revenue. If this doesn’t happen, the company is at risk. So, ensuring the founder(s) have a finger on the pulse of product-market fit is key to growing revenue, and it also helps make it clear who to hire next and with which sales goals/targets.

Experienced Founders/CEOs recognize that building strong teams involves more than just personal networks and job postings. At Martyn Bassett Associates, we specialize in strategic sales hires for startups and scale-ups. Here are three reasons why you should consider us for your next sales hire.