Building Sales Team

Scope

Covers

• Deciding when to hire sales vs continue founder-led selling
• Designing the first sales team (pilot AE/SDR/hybrid) and hiring sequence
• Hiring for repeatability (avoid “one heroic rep” dependency)
• Setting a minimal operating cadence (ramp plan, metrics, coaching loop)
• Technical / product-heavy selling: “sales that can pass for PMs”

When to use

• “We’re ready to hire our first AE / SDR—help me design the plan.”
• “Should we hire sales now or wait until the motion is repeatable?”
• “Create role scorecards + an interview loop for early sales hires.”
• “We’re starting product-led sales—how do we run a small pilot team?”
• “Build an onboarding + 30/60/90 ramp plan for the first reps.”

When NOT to use

• You need to get first customers / validate ICP from scratch (use founder-sales first)
• You’re scaling a mature sales org (territories, forecasting, multi-layer management)
• You need legal/HR advice, compensation plan legal review, or employment compliance guidance
• You want generic hiring advice without a defined sales motion and measurable readiness gates

Inputs

Minimum required

• Company stage (pre-seed/seed/Series A+) and current GTM motion (PLG, outbound, enterprise, inbound)
• Current funnel baseline: last ~50–100 “at-bats” if available (first meetings → closed-won), win rate, typical ACV, cycle length
• ICP + product complexity (how technical is the sell; who must be convinced)
• Current resources: founder time, CS/support involvement, marketing demand, budget/headcount constraints
• Timeline + success definition (e.g., “2 reps ramped to $X pipeline/month in 90 days”)

Missing-info strategy

• Ask up to 5 questions from references/INTAKE.md.
• If data is missing, proceed with explicit assumptions and deliver two options: (A) “Hire now (pilot)” vs (B) “Wait + founder-led milestones to hit first”.

Outputs (deliverables)

Produce a Sales Team Build Pack in Markdown (in-chat; or as files if requested):

1. Context snapshot (stage, motion, ICP, constraints, targets)
2. Readiness gate (hire-now vs wait) with measurable criteria
3. Team design + hiring sequence (who to hire first/second; when; why)
4. Role scorecards (AE/SDR/hybrid) + evaluation criteria (incl. product depth bar)
5. Interview loop + practical exercises + scoring sheet
6. Onboarding + 30/60/90 ramp plan + coaching/metrics cadence
7. Risks / Open questions / Next steps (always included)

Templates: references/TEMPLATES.md

Workflow (7 steps)

1) Intake + stage gating (should we hire now?)

• Inputs: User context; references/INTAKE.md; any funnel history.
• Actions: Identify the GTM motion and whether the founder has achieved a repeatable baseline. Look for: (a) organic demand/hand-raisers (if PLG), and/or (b) a repeatable win rate from first meeting → close (target range often ~15–25% over ~50–100 at-bats). Decide: Hire now vs Wait.
• Outputs: Context snapshot + readiness gate decision + assumptions/unknowns.
• Checks: The decision is tied to measurable evidence (or clearly labeled assumptions).

2) Define the “repeatable motion” you’re hiring into

• Inputs: ICP, use case, pricing/packaging, current discovery/demo flow.
• Actions: Write a 1-page “sales motion spec”: qualification, first meeting agenda, demo/pilot criteria, pricing guardrails, common objections, and what counts as an “at-bat”. Clarify founder vs rep responsibilities for the next 60–90 days.
• Outputs: Sales motion spec + handoff boundaries.
• Checks: A new rep could run the next 10 deals with this spec without inventing the process.

3) Choose the initial team topology (pilot-first) + sequence hires

• Inputs: Motion spec; readiness decision; budget; pipeline sources.
• Actions: Select the simplest starting shape:
  • PLG/hand-raisers: attach yourself to a pilot AE and/or SDR and run it as a learning pod (not quota theater).
  • Outbound: consider an SDR+AE sequence (or a hybrid rep) depending on deal complexity.
  • In very early stages: use founder/CS/support to close a subset of deals until the motion is proven. Build a hiring sequence that enables A/B testing: if feasible, hire two reps close together to avoid “one data point” dependence.
• Outputs: Team design + hiring plan table (roles, timing, success criteria, risks).
• Checks: The plan creates comparability (two reps or comparable cohorts) and protects learning time.

4) Write role scorecards (hire for product depth + learning ability)

• Inputs: Motion spec; team design; customer/technical context.
• Actions: Draft scorecards for each role (AE/SDR/hybrid). For technical products, set a “PM-like” bar: reps should demonstrate product intuition, curiosity, and the ability to earn engineer trust. Translate insights into “must-have signals” + “red flags”.
• Outputs: Role scorecards + evaluation rubric.
• Checks: Scorecards are specific enough that two interviewers would rate candidates similarly.

5) Build an interview loop with practical tests

• Inputs: Scorecards; references/TEMPLATES.md (interview kit).
• Actions: Define stages, interviewers, and exercises (e.g., mock discovery, objection handling, written follow-up email, product deep-dive, “explain to 10 engineers” test). Add structured scoring and a debrief protocol to reduce gut-feel hiring.
• Outputs: Interview plan + question bank + score sheet.
• Checks: Every interview maps to a scorecard signal; pass/fail criteria are explicit.

6) Create onboarding + ramp plan (and a simple management system)

• Inputs: Motion spec; expected pipeline sources; enablement assets (or create minimal ones).
• Actions: Build a 30/60/90 plan: training, shadowing, call reviews, pipeline targets, activity guardrails, and demo/pilot readiness. Define weekly cadence (pipeline review, call coaching, experiment review). Preserve the “A/B test humans” approach by tracking rep-to-rep differences and diagnosing process vs person.
• Outputs: Onboarding plan + ramp targets + coaching cadence + metrics list.
• Checks: Ramp targets are measurable; coaching loop is scheduled; “definition of done” exists for each phase.

7) Quality gate + finalize

• Inputs: Draft pack.
• Actions: Run references/CHECKLISTS.md and score with references/RUBRIC.md. Add Risks / Open questions / Next steps and identify what would change the hire/wait decision.
• Outputs: Final Sales Team Build Pack.
• Checks: A stakeholder can approve the plan and start hiring this week (or confidently defer with clear milestones).

Quality gate (required)

• Use references/CHECKLISTS.md and references/RUBRIC.md.
• Always include: Risks, Open questions, Next steps.

Examples

Example 1 (first AE hires):
“Use building-sales-team. We’re seed-stage B2B SaaS. Founder has closed 12 customers; last 60 first meetings → 14 closed-won (~23%). ACV $12k. We want to hire our first AEs. Output: a Sales Team Build Pack with readiness gate, hire-two plan, role scorecards, and interview loop.”

Example 2 (PLG → PLS pilot):
“Use building-sales-team. We have steady inbound hand-raisers from our product. We want a pilot AE/SDR pod to close mid-market upgrades. Output: team topology, hiring sequence, and a 30/60/90 ramp with coaching cadence.”

Boundary example:
“We have no repeatable sales motion or ICP yet—hire a VP Sales to ‘figure it out’.”
Response: recommend founder-led discovery/validation first (use founder-sales), define readiness milestones, and return to this skill once a motion can be written down and measured.