In the early stages of your startup, it’s only natural to think about how you want to grow your team and which title(s) should be added next. All too often, though, founders rush to lofty titles, believing they will need to grant status to candidates in order to attract them along with making their organization look more established. Sometimes a Vice President is relevant, but more often than not the results are sorely disappointing.
Especially when it comes to bringing on a vice president (VP) of sales, think twice before hurrying into the hire. It might not have the impact you’re hoping for–and may even backfire.
Wrong Stage, Wrong Time
Founders may assume that bringing someone on board with an impressive title will solve their go-to-market challenges, but it can actually create far more problems than it solves–especially at the wrong stage of the business. In reality, even the most awe-inspiring titles don’t generate growth – titles mean nothing when assigned at the wrong stage.
In a young company with minimal sales, such titles can even make someone question your credibility. A C-level executive in any other role but the CEO at a startup with 10 employees? It can make it sound like you’re trying to be much bigger than you really are or don’t understand business that well.
It’s not always that founders are trying to be flashy, though. More often than not, they feel pressure to hire a sales leader. They may be at the stage where they need a true go-to-market business partner and think that naturally means it’s time to hire a VP of Sales. But titles alone can’t magically unlock growth, and founders themselves have more insight into go-to-market than they think.
Strategy First
Before you make any high-level sales hires, get your house in order. This means clarifying your go-to-market strategy and identifying your ideal customer profile (ICP), including the pain points you solve for this group. Remember, this must be market validated – far too many founders spend their time in documents and spreadsheets, rather than speaking to customers and prospects. It also involves defining the most effective channels to reach these potential buyers. For example, this might be through outbound selling, inbound approaches or something like product-led growth or Partner Ecosystems (hint: read The Go-to-Market Cheat Code, out Jan 2025).
The flaw here is the idea that a VP of sales will be the key to figuring all of this out. In most startups, no one understands the market, the product, and the buyers better than the founder. As such, you’re actually the best person to inform decisions about strategy, partnerships, and marketing channels, even if it all feels like unfamiliar territory. A sales leader can help, but your seat at the table is important.
Who Should Hire a VP of Sales?
Don’t hire a VP title if your company generates less than $5 million in revenue. You need people on board who are going to execute, not manage. If you have only a couple of people selling at this stage anyway, adding a VP above them just creates unnecessary overhead. Some of the beauty of early-stage sellers is that they should be driven and self-sufficient, able to see their own deals all the way through without having their hands held.
In other words, the economies of scale required to justify a VP just aren’t there. Such a person with such a title would raise costs without significantly improving efficiency or outcomes. If you’re in this stage, invest in developing your sellers who can operate independently, experiment with different approaches and directly contribute to growth. This can often look like a senior seller who carries a bag with a very defined revenue target in mind, who can then transition into team leadership after that milestone.
The Right Titles for Foundational Sales Hires
So, if you shouldn’t have a VP of sales yet, what do you call the people on your sales team in those early days? The best approach is to seek out experienced senior sellers, using titles like senior account executive or ‘head of sales’. These roles allow for leadership without artificially or prematurely inflating your company’s structure. It enables your team to carry quotas and contribute to the business’ overall growth while simultaneously coaching one another, peer to peer.
Tie eventual leadership roles to revenue milestones. For instance, a stellar salesperson could be promoted to VP when the company reaches $5 million in revenue (these targets can vary based on ACV). Until then, stay lean and focus primarily on individual performance.
Also keep in mind that these guidelines aren’t just best for the company; they’re also best for your team members. Premature or unearned promotions can inadvertently trap sellers in roles they don’t really want.
Your top performers might prefer the chase of pursuing deals more than they want the responsibility of being a manager. They might like their commission-based structure much more than they want a steady salary. Therefore, making someone a VP too soon can actually cause them to become dissatisfied or even leave the company.
Is Fractional Leadership a Solution?
In a word, no. It can sound promising in theory to hire a fractional sales leader, but it almost always doesn’t pan out like a founder hopes it will. In order to get a startup through those initial stages of growth, you need to have people on board who go to sleep and wake up thinking about the company’s success.
Fractional leaders, by the nature of their roles, split their time between numerous clients. Even if they care about your business, and are experts in selling, they just can’t have the same commitment and focus needed to build sustainable momentum.
In Closing
As with all important things in life, titles should be earned, not doled out prematurely or given with ulterior motives. Raising funding doesn’t permit you to give out VP titles, and it can backfire to try to bring a VP of sales on board too early. Tailor your initial sales strategy around execution, learning and testing, and only consider those senior-level hires when you’ve reached a revenue goal and team quota level that can support them.
Remember that titles aren’t a badge you wear or a shortcut to success. Trust that your business will grow when you have the right talent in the right roles and, when the time is right, that your leadership structure will take the shape when the team needs it to.
