A short excerpt from a March 23, 2016 YouTube video in which Jason M. Lemkin recounts a major early mistake—hiring the wrong first VP of sales who nearly ran his company into the ground—and reflects on learning from Aaron Ross about predictable, outbound prospecting. Lemkin frames the episode as a common founder error (logo-chasing, hiring for appearance) and a teachable moment for other founders and entrepreneurs.
Chapters
I think the stupidest thing I did was as I got to know Aaron. Actually, the stupidest thing I did is the same thing that 70% of entrepreneurs do, which is I hired the wrong first VP of sales. It wasn't his fault. He was an utter disaster. He almost ran my company into the ground. He spent every nickel. I knew him by those. Yeah, and hired 20 sales reps, only one of whom hit quota. But I made the same mistake that everyone else did. I got attracted to the logo, and I hired the wrong guy at the wrong time for the wrong face. And that was right When I met Aaron, and Aaron was talking about everything that became predictable revenue, I had no idea what he was saying. As a founder and entrepreneur. Try outbound prospecting. Try outbound. What? Like, I don't even know what leftbound is. Right bound. I don't even know what things bounds are. I just need leads. I just need revenue. Like, I need to get me some revenue. So those are the kind of bonding moments when I think both of us can. You can look back on those learnings moments in time, and you can see when people were right and you can see when you're wrong. And then it's easy for us to take those fun learnings together and then just replicate them across other ambitious folks. Founders, entrepreneurs, and others or folks who just want to do better.
