Jason M. Lemkin advises founders on the common mistake of hiring a VP of Sales expecting to free up substantial founder time. He argues founders should accept they will not get their sales time back, hire a VP as a partner/wingman rather than a replacement, and ensure at least two account executives (AEs) hit quota rather than relying on one.
The number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 mistake I see founders is they finally hire ahead of sales and they're like, well I'm going to spend 5% of my time in sales. 90% of the time sales plummets. If you accept the fact that you know you need a head of sales and then you accept the fact you'll you're not going to get any more of your time back, which is hard emotionally for found hella founder's like I want to get back to product. I'm tired of sales. If you accept that then you will actually hire the right VP of sales because instead of hiring someone with the perfect resume so you don't have to sell anymore, you will hire a wingman. You will hire a wing person. You will hire your Rio. That may sound basic, but 9 out of 10 founders make this mistake. So those are the real answers in terms of when the actually the timing hasn't changed since like the first Saster post here in 2012. We're in the 10th year of Saster. Get two AES that hit quota. One's not enough. If it's one you don't know why.
