Things that never work in startup sales

… or to put it verbosely, have a very low chance of working for most people.

Hiring VP Sales WhoHasn’t Seen Your Stage

If the earliest revenue stage they’ve done is more than 2 years away for you, it won’t work. So, if you are 0–1, don’t hire someone who hasn’t done sub $10M in ARR. If you are < $10M, don’t hire a leader who has not done sub $40m in ARR.

A Low NRR (Net Revenue Retention)

Every category has its baseline NRR. If your NRR is below it, you are not gonna make it. Figure that out first. 💣

A Long Activation Time

If it takes your product too long to deliver value to the customer, renewals are gonna be tough. Do whatever you can to deliver delight quickly.

Hiring Reps Who Won’t Learn The Product

Large companies can hire sales reps who can hire the “relationship types”. Startups can’t. Your reps are the face of your product. Do you really want your face to not be able to carry a conversation about your product?

Unrealistic AE:SE Ratio

When finance cuts budget, some CROs cut SEs first resulting in too many AEs sharing an SE. This never works. You see the impact in you conversions, velocity, and rep ramp times.

Opening Up Many Marketing Channels Too Quickly

When GTM leaders say they have 5–8 channels contributing to pipeline, what they’re really saying is that they haven’t figured out the 1–2 efficient channels that will deliver growth. Focus on finding those 1–2 channels; forget the rest. #paretoprinciple

(hat tip to Dynomite Newsletter for the inspiration behind this post)