You’re Not Ready for a VP of Sales
How to design your GTM team before and after PMF
Last month I wrote about Product-Market Fit: how you can’t always define it, but you know it when you see it. This one’s about what to do before you get there.
If you’re still pre-PMF, your go-to-market motion should look simple: the founder sells. Not because you’re the best closer, but because no one else can extract the signal you need. Every sales call is a product conversation. Every objection is a roadmap. If you’re not close to the buyer, you’re not close to the problem.
That doesn’t mean you’re flying solo. One of the most useful early hires is a gritty, curious BDR: someone who can run outbound, fill the funnel, and get you in the room. But if you’re still figuring out your ICP, testing segments, or sharpening the pitch, you shouldn’t be handing off the conversation. You need those reps yourself.
The sequencing I recommend looks like this:
→ First: Founder-Led Sales.
Run the calls. Track conversion. Sharpen your narrative.
→ Then: Outbound BDR.
Once you’ve got a rough playbook, bring someone in to build lists, test scripts, and learn what’s working.
→ Only Later: Account Execs.
When you’re swamped with qualified leads and your calendar is full, bring in a closer to help scale.
→ Eventually: Sales Leadership.
A VP makes sense once you’re past $1–2M ARR and need to manage a team, but usually not before.
The mistake I see over and over is hiring too early. Senior salespeople are expensive, but more importantly, they’re not wired for this stage. They expect structure. They want process. And if you don’t have real signal yet, they’ll either stall out or, worse, start chasing the wrong leads.
Founder-led sales is about earning clarity, so that when you do hire, you’re handing over a system, not a mess.
I’ve seen this sequence work firsthand across multiple early-stage teams. The founders who stay closest to the buyer win faster. They don’t just close deals, they learn what they’re really selling.
If you’re figuring that out right now, keep going. The next hire can wait.