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Be very very careful. The success rate for this kind of hire is around 10%. I personally don't know of a single startup that did this and didn't have to fire th

by axiom 15y ago

Be very very careful. The success rate for this kind of hire is around 10%. I personally don't know of a single startup that did this and didn't have to fire the guy after a few months (with lots of time and money wasted.) Seriously, not a single one out of dozens. The problem stems from the fact that most seasoned sales/business guys have experience in larger companies, running established teams, which is radically different than working in a startup and having to fill every role yourself in addition to building up the team from scratch. The other problem is, quite frankly, that most of these old sales guys are at a stage in their life where working 60-80 hours a week isn't something they want to do, and so they will be very very difficult to fit into a healthy startup culture where hard work and overtime are required. We hired a former VP sales from a big ($100M+) company in our space. A guy who was a founder at a few successful startups and had a kick ass resume in general. He was even a great salesman. 6 months later and $100k down the drain we had to fire him. My advice is make sure that if you give this guy equity that it vests over a few years with a 1 year cliff, and that if you give him a salary that it's very modest, mostly commission based. Odds are you're going to have to fire him, but if you want to take a chance, go for it.

trustfundbaby 15y ago
"We hired a former VP sales from a big ($100M+) company in our space. A guy who was a founder at a few successful startups and had a kick ass resume in general. He was even a great salesman. 6 months later and $100k down the drain we had to fire him" Why did you have to fire him?
bdickason 15y ago
Sales people are really really good at selling themselves, and really really bad at actually DOING stuff. I would suggest that you hire an actual sales person as opposed to a sales manager. Even if they're going to manage a team in their first year, it's better to have someone who isn't afraid to go out and close deals because they will have to do so in their first year. Most of the sales people we met at our last company had been managing sales forces for so long that they forgot how to go out and close.

by axiom 15y ago

trustfundbaby 15y ago

"We hired a former VP sales from a big ($100M+) company in our space. A guy who was a founder at a few successful startups and had a kick ass resume in general. He was even a great salesman. 6 months later and $100k down the drain we had to fire him" Why did you have to fire him?

bdickason 15y ago

Sales people are really really good at selling themselves, and really really bad at actually DOING stuff. I would suggest that you hire an actual sales person as opposed to a sales manager. Even if they're going to manage a team in their first year, it's better to have someone who isn't afraid to go out and close deals because they will have to do so in their first year. Most of the sales people we met at our last company had been managing sales forces for so long that they forgot how to go out and close.