Jason M. Lemkin argues that while global hiring should theoretically make recruiting easier, increased competition means hiring is actually harder. He warns startups against hiring "B-minus" sales reps to fill short-term gaps, saying such hires fail in startups and are a major trap; by contrast, larger brands with strong training/management can absorb lower-performing reps.
It is a great paradox. You know before when Bay Area companies only hired in the Bay Area and New York only in New York. Now that everyone can hire sales reps and engineers and everybody all across the world, shouldn't hiring get easier? No, because we're all competing with every other startup now, so it hasn't gotten easier. And as folks fall into a hole as they get behind for a quarter or two, it's so tempting when hiring. It's hard to hire B minus sales reps, but it doesn't work. It doesn't work. And that's your biggest trap. Once you introduce B minus sales reps into a startup, it all falls apart. Let's be realistic. When you have a dominant brand in your space and you have great training, great training and great management, can you have some B minus sales reps no matter what anybody says? Of course you can. If you're handing them reps and you're handing them a canned script and you already have a dominant brand. Look, an A rep is still going to be better than a B minus, but they can still maybe be mid pack. But those reps fail in a startup. So if you can't hire, B minuses will not bail you out.
