We realized that our startup had two probems: A really long sales cycle (on the order of years for some clients), and a lack of the necessary sales skills on th

We realized that our startup had two probems: A really long sales cycle (on the order of years for some clients), and a lack of the necessary sales skills on the founding team. We weren't able to address the former. But while trying to address the latter, I found the following articles useful. In Four Steps to the Epiphany, Steve Blank has some great advice on hiring sales staff before product-market fit: http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/0976470705 http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/09... Basically, he says, "Don't do it," with the possible expection of a single "sales closer" who loves working in the field, and who has been avoiding promotions to VP of Sales. As I understand it, you're not looking to build a sales organization yet, but you may need some sales skills to close your first 3 deals and prove that the model works. But even then, he has a checklist of customer discovery tasks to do first. There's also some amusing advice from Eric Sink on hiring sales staff in a micro-ISV: http://www.ericsink.com/bos/Closing_the_Gap_Part_1.html http://www.ericsink.com/bos/Closing_the_Gap_Part_1.html http://www.ericsink.com/bos/Closing_the_Gap_Part_2.html http://www.ericsink.com/bos/Closing_the_Gap_Part_2.html