Securing Your Initial VP Sales: A Guide for Early-Stage Scale-ups

Recruiting a VP Sales is one of the key hires you'll make as your start-up transitions to sustainable scaling in the early growth stages. Choosing a candidate relevant to your stage of growth and whose goals align with your company's mission is essential for success.

In the start-up phase, most Founders take on the role of being the first salesperson and securing initial customers. Perhaps an early employee took on sales duties to assist you in contributing to your company's initial revenue growth too. However, as your business gains momentum and establishes product-market fit - usually with revenues around £1-2m ARR - it becomes important to consider bringing on a VP Sales and moving away from Founder-led sales.

The responsibility of your new VP Sales is to craft the best commercial strategy for your company's current stage of growth, including fine-tuning the revenue model and go-to-market strategy. Ideal candidates are those who can establish a sales process that is repeatable, scalable and predictable - and who are hands-on, proactive and customer-focused.

You should look for a motivational leader with a history of building and leading teams, who is capable of fostering a culture of high performance and managing through constant change as the business grows. They should be committed to coaching and expanding their sales team too.

It's important to recognize that the role of VP Sales will evolve as your company grows and that sales leaders tend to excel at specific stages of a company's lifecycle. An A-grade late-stage scale-up sales leader who excels at creating and managing systems, processes and teams at large scale will likely be ill-suited to an early-stage scale-up seeking a first VP Sales which will, by definition, be much more hands-on and require a different skillset.

So, how do you go about attracting your first VP Sales?

1) Identify your needs: Top sales performers are always in demand. Attracting the best requires aligning their goals with your company's vision. Aim for candidates who are interested in long-term growth with your company, beyond just earning commissions. Understand market expectations for compensation and offer a balanced package of immediate and long-term incentives.

Your first VP Sales should be growth-stage appropriate - someone who can scale your business from £1-2m ARR to £10-20m ARR and who values long-term wealth creation.

2) Showcase your progress: Prospective candidates will expect evidence of product-market fit. If your start-up hasn't achieved this, it's premature to hire a VP Sales. Demonstrate clear market validation, customer retention and signs of growing interest and sales. Share customer feedback and, if possible, facilitate direct conversations between candidates and your customers.

3) Be transparent about challenges: Given the early stage of commercialization, it's understandable not to have all answers. Be open and honest about the hurdles you face.

4) Clarify your vision, mission and values: Modern businesses must be clear about their identity and purpose. Share what you stand for and the culture you're building. The right VP Sales talent will resonate with your mission and be eager to contribute to your journey and play an integral role.

5) Engage your investors: If applicable, involve your investors in the hiring process. Top candidates will likely want to understand the perspective of your investors on the company and its support structure, as well as the planned growth path. This interaction can offer valuable insights and help in securing the right candidate.

A successful first VP Sales hire will significantly impact your revenue growth and strategic direction, working closely with various teams to enhance the overall customer experience. They will build the repeatable, scalable processes which will move your company through to the next growth-stage in its journey to success and maturity. However, getting this hire wrong is expensive in terms of both time and opportunity cost - even potentially threatening the future viability of your company.

Identifying and attracting the right talent for your first VP Sales is therefore crucial.