Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Blond: Startups should prioritize startup experience over domain expertise when hiring initial AEs

Sam Blond · Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Apr 12, 2024 · at 0:00

Sam Blond is the former CRO of Brex and former Partner at Founders Fund. He addresses common mistakes early-stage founders make when hiring their first sales reps.

0:00 / 0:12exact quote · 12.4s
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“Where people over index is domain. If you are hiring your first AE, first big AEs number one and two, they need to have seen an early stage startup environment.”

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More from Sam Blond

Prediction Open · timeframe Apr 2029
Blond: Parker Conrad Will Build a $100 Billion Business With Rippling
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Sam Blond Apr 12, 2024 ▶ 6:58 Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Blond: Sales Reps Will Fail If Founders Cannot Close Deals First
“If you as the founder cannot close customers and generate revenue people that sort of specialize in sales will definitely not be able to. There is no one better qualified to acquire your first set of customers than you as the founder.”
Sam Blond Apr 12, 2024 ▶ 12:32 Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Blond: Do Not Hire Initial Sales Reps From Salesforce or Rippling
“If you are hiring your first AE, first AEs number one and two, They need to have seen an early stage startup environment. Do not hire from an extreme example, be Salesforce, but gosh, even today, you know, don't hire from a rep who came from rippling. And join…”
Sam Blond Apr 12, 2024 ▶ 13:45 Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Contradicted
Blond: Brex Never Used Recruiters to Source Sales Talent
“At Brex, we did not use recruiters, internal or external, to source candidates for the sales organization Ever.”
Sam Blond Apr 12, 2024 ▶ 22:11 Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Sam Blond: Generating demand, not conversion rate, is almost always the startup bottleneck
“And I just believe that demand masks a lot of other potential problems and almost all startups. The bottleneck to growing faster is demand. We are constrained by the number of opportunities that we are creating. We are misdiagnosing this as a conversion rate p…”
Sam Blond Apr 12, 2024 ▶ 39:36 Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Sam Blond: Account executives must generate their own demand from day 1 to 1000
“Salespeople should absolutely be responsible for controlling their own destiny in a way, generating their own demand that often manifests through outbound. I think this is true on day one. This should be true on day 1000.”
Sam Blond Apr 12, 2024 ▶ 43:15 Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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