Startup leaders must block new VPs from hiring unvetted former colleagues
Chad Peets · Chad Peets: Why Most Sales Reps Underperform & Remote Reps Ignore Development | E1193 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Aug 23, 2024 · at 35:06
Chad Peets, former Sutter Hill Ventures MD and early sales recruiter for Snowflake, explains how he maintained candidate quality controls while scaling Snowflake's sales organization alongside CRO Chris Degnan.
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“This is the profile. I'm not deviating from it. Back to the conflict thing I said. So let's just say you hire, hire a new VP of the East, right? And he has his background or she, and he's got five people he wants to bring with him, which is a good thing because we need to hire, but he has these five people and they don't meet my profile. If I'm not on the front end or somebody like me isn't on the front end to support Chris and be Chris's eyes and ears, Then this VP, because Chris is now running a 400 person organization, he's not interviewing every candidate, he doesn't have the cycles to, this VP is going to go hire five reps that we know don't match our profile. Now, who knows more about which profile works? A VP that we've just hired, that's never sold the product, doesn't know anything about it, or Chris and I, who have built the entire sales organization? Well, I would argue Chris and I know the profile better than this person, but this person wants to bring in his five buddies that don't match the profile. I'm sorry, Mr. New VP, not happening, and I've had many of these conversations, and they're not popular, but Chris empowered me.”
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