Many founders make the mistake of hiring sales salespeople too early. 

This has three negative effects: it wastes money, it creates a false sense of progress, and founders become too distant from the customer.

At the early stage, founders should be the company’s main salesperson.

Why Founders Outperform Sales Reps

Founders possess a secret weapon that no sales rep can replicate: They are able to communicate their passion for the product in a way that feels authentic and not rehearsed. This matters because early customers aren’t just buying a product—they’re buying from a company with little track record.

Another advantage is that when prospective clients meet with founders, they naturally lower their guard. This creates a unique and advantageous dynamic where prospects can be more open and willing to share their challenges and concerns. 

Lastly, a founder’s personal stake in the company’s success creates a certain level of commitment that prospects can sense and trust. This is something a sales hire cannot replicate.

What Founders Learn by Selling Their Own Product

Real validation comes from sales to complete strangers who have no reason to buy except the value you are able to provide. By doing the sales calls yourself, you will hear the hesitations, the unspoken objections, and the moments when prospects get genuinely excited. This direct feedback loop is crucial as it will help you distinguish between real product-market fit and false positives.

Sales calls help you understand what customers want, how they think, how they evaluate options, and what triggers their buying decisions. Overtime, you will develop a good sense of what’s achievable when setting targets for future sales hires.

The Timing of Your First Sales Hire

One of the biggest mistakes startups make is onboarding a VP of Sales before having a good foundation in revenue and retention. These hires are not only expensive, but their skillset is specifically designed for scaling existing operations, not building a company from scratch.

Your first sales hire should amplify an existing and proven process, not figure out the process for you. Having said this, the ideal first sales hire is someone who excels at direct sales and can build a repeatable playbook. Alternatively, a customer success rep can also be a good first option. They would focus on managing relationships with existing customers and expansion revenue, while you would keep focusing on new sales.

The key is to wait until you’ve personally closed enough deals to know what good performance looks like. Without this baseline, you can’t possibly set realistic expectations or properly evaluate your new hires. 

The Bottom Line

Founder-led sales isn’t just for startups with small budgets. Most startups fail because founders don’t understand the market well enough. They hire salespeople to fix a problem they’ve never solved themselves.

Sales isn’t a distraction from building your startup. Sales is building your startup. Explore the Global Startups programs.