The first sales hire
The first person asked to sell who is not the founder inherits a motion that still lives in the founder's head: which buyers close, which objections matter, which follow-up actually happens. The hire fails when that inheritance is treated as a person problem.
Founder-led selling can produce customers without producing a job. ICP, inspection, and management have to be writable before a full-time seller can be held to them.
The span Darwinian works is founder-led through a scaled motion at Series B. The usual path is to prove the seat on the bench before it becomes a permanent req.
The situation
- Prior sellers churned and the postmortem blames the person.
- The founder still closes every deal that matters.
- The job post describes a unicorn: hunter, closer, manager, and marketer in one seat.