Come to Dreamforce for the SaaStr session -- Tuesday Nov. 19th at 4pm. Right before Marissa Mayer.

1. When to Hire (and Fire) Your First
VP of Sales
Or Why Up to 70% of First VP Sales Don’t Make
It 12 Months
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Jason M. Lemkin, Managing Director, Storm Ventures; Founder/CEO – EchoSign/Adobe
@jasonlk
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2. Jason M. Lemkin
Jason M. Lemkin,
Managing Director, Storm Ventures;
Founder/CEO – EchoSign/Adobe
@jasonlk

3. The First “VP Sales” Probably Has to Be You
You Have to Sell It Yourself First. And Then Hire 2+ Reps.
You
You + 2 Reps
Hire VP Sales

4. Ideally, Have 2 Reps Doing Well Before Hire VPS
 Otherwise, You Won’t Know Yourself
 Don’t Want VPS Starting From Scratch
• Too Expensive, Too Confusing
• You’ll Hire Wrong Type of VPS
 A/B Test Will Also Help You Learn

5. Top 5 Things a SaaS VP of Sales Really Does
Note Which One Comes Last
 #1 Recruiting the Team
• Your going to need a team, and a good one. Quickly.
• Player-Coach sounds great but at best, will be quickly obsolete as a role.
 #2 Backfilling and Helping His/Her Sales Team
 #3 Sales Tactics
 #4 Sales Strategy
 #5 Creating and Selling Deals Him/Herself

6. The Toughest Hire of All in SaaS
 When
• Too Early: Manager, Not a Magician
• Too Late: Can Take 20 Months!
 Who
• Been There, Done That – Almost Impossible
• Too “Heavy” a Hire? Or One Without the
Full Experience?
 Why
• To Take Things To the Next Level; To Scale
• But Usually NOT to Get Sales Going

7. The Toughest Hire of All in SaaS
Hire Wrong, and You’re Set Back a Year
 A Bad Hire Can Be Far Worse Than No Hire at All – It’s True
 A Bad Hire Isn’t Just Hard Costs – It Involves Huge Soft Costs As Well
• A B-level VP Sales Hires a B-/C+ Team Under Him/Her
• Revenue Per Lead can actually go down dramatically under a mediocre VPS
• Wastes Precious Leads, Wastes Time, Loss of Second-Order Revenue
 A Bad Hire is Often Made Just as Things Are Taking Off
• So Most Costly Time at All to Make a Mistake

8. For the Rest and the Discussion …
Come See The SaaStr Presentation At Dreamforce!!