Jason M. Lemkin argues that early-stage SaaS startups must hire initial sales reps who have prior experience selling at the company's price point because startups lack internal training, mentorship, or onboarding. Later-stage organizations can build formal training programs and promotion tracks, but the first reps must arrive with relevant pricing-tier experience.
Those first reps have to have sold at your price point. Now, later, when you have a great VP of sales, you can have a training program, you can have a promotion track, you can have exceptions, you can have mentorship. But when you have zero to two sales reps, there's no, there's no mentors, there's no, there's no onboarding or training program. So where do they get their training? Where do they learn how to sell? Well, they learn somewhere else at your price point. And it turns out in SaaS that even though founders at first think this isn't true, later we all figure out it is. That within, within a range SA selling at certain price points is the same motion. Those first reps have to have sold at your price point. Now, later, when you have a great VP of sales, you can have a training program, you can have a promotion track, you can have exceptions, you can have mentorship. But when you have zero to two sales reps, there's no, there's no mentors, there's no, there's no onboarding or training program. So where do they get their training? Where. Where do they learn how to sell? Well, they learn somewhere else at your price point. And it turns out in SaaS that even though founders at first think this isn't true, later we.
