Lemkin: Never hire a VP of Sales who cannot bring reps along
Jason Lemkin · What SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin Really Thinks About AI, Sales & Lead Gen In 2024 · Oct 25, 2023 · at 32:57
Jason Lemkin explains his canonical interview requirement for vetting early-stage startup VP of Sales candidates.
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“A stretch VP doesn't have 80 people. But they better have two or one. And when you go to interview that stretch VP of sales, stretch head of sales, ask them who they're going to bring with you. It's one of my classic can interview questions on sasser.com and ask them and ask them and, You don't need 50. That's when you're, you know, late stage, but make sure they have two and go interview those two and find out if they will come with them. Sometimes they make the two up. Sometimes the two are notional. They're like, oh, I hope to get Elaine and Bob, but I've never talked to them. A real head of sales is recruiting Elaine and Bob constantly year after year after year after year, right? I don't mean grooming in the slightly toxic or pejorative sense. I mean, in the old fashioned sense, they are grooming leaders. They are grooming their team. Month after month after month after month. That's part of the job. So if they have no one to bring with them, don't hire them.”
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