I've built sales organizations from scratch six times.
The number one mistake I see — every single time — is companies hiring senior sales talent before they've found their GTM motion.
A great enterprise sales leader cannot create a market. They can scale one.
Bringing in a CRO at $2M ARR and expecting them to figure out who buys, why they buy, and how to reach them — that's not a sales problem. That's a founder problem.
Before you hire your first sales leader, you should be able to answer these five questions:
- Who is your economic buyer, specifically?
- What is the business problem you solve in one sentence?
- What does a qualified opportunity look like?
- What's your average deal size and sales cycle?
- Have you personally closed at least three repeatable deals?
If you can't answer all five, you're not ready for a CRO. You're ready for a GTM advisor.
Get the motion right first. Then scale it.