Avenue Talent Partners (ATP)

I have seen failure from the inside out when it comes to scaling a startup.?What I have learned is that scaling requires a delicate balance between maintaining your company’s DNA and bringing in seasoned leaders who can help you level up.?Many founders don’t realize the danger in hiring a seasoned executive who lacks alignment with their company’s stage or culture will cause huge problems that are very hard to recover from. As I’ve seen in my work with scaleups, the most successful executive hires happen when founders focus on: ??????????? ??????: Does this leader have experience thriving at this phase of growth? ????????????????? ??????: Do their values match ours, and can they adapt to our unique startup energy? ???????????????????: Is there an adaptability and willingness to think outside of their playbook??Executives bring expertise, but without the right fit and clarity, even the best resume won’t translate to success. This topic is something I talk often about with Amy Volas from Avenue Talent Partners.?Check out her page for more advice on mistakes to avoid when hiring a seasoned exec at your scaleup #scaling #startup #founders #hiring #culturefit

A VP of Sales won’t save your business. They’ll expose what you haven’t figured out yet. A founder scaled to $14.5M ARR by closing massive deals with Fortune 500 execs. The board told them, "You need to hire a sales leader so you can step back." So they did. They hired a VP of Sales, gave them a big target, and expected magic. 7.5 months later, the VP was gone. Not because they weren’t talented. But because they were set up to fail. Here’s why: ? The founder had been selling their way, navigating high-stakes, nuanced deals that no one else knew how to replicate ? Nothing was documented. Instead of translating what got them to the $14.5M milestone, they hired the VP and said, "Go do it." No system. No enablement. Just expectations. ???????????? ??????????’?? ?????????????? ????????????????. Skipping the crucial chapters of building a business, like shifting from founder-led sales to founder-managed sales before moving to a sales-led model ≠ fast-forwarding. Those lessons will ?????????? need to be learned. ? If you haven’t defined what great looks like, no VP will fix that ? If you don’t know how to replicate your wins, they'll be guessing ? If you're looking for a plug-and-play hire, you'll end up in quicksand ???????????? ???? ?????? ??????????????????????????. ???? ???? ??????????????????. If you want a VP to scale what you have built, you have to give them something to scale. That means: ? Validating and translating your sales process so it is repeatable ? Knowing why you win and who you win with ? Creating the conditions for a VP to succeed, not just a job description 57% of our business at ATP comes from fixing executive hires that didn't work out. Why? Because CEOs and founders hire for the outcome they want, not the reality they have built. If this hits home, maybe it is time for a different conversation. #hiring #BuildWithATP

Your board isn’t running your company. So why are they making your hiring decisions? A frustrated CEO sat across from me. Their new CRO had flamed out in 5 months. It wasn’t just a bad hire. It was a hire that never should have happened. I asked, “????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???? ????? ?????????? ???????????” Their answer: “????? ?????????? ???????? ???? ????.” This happens more often than people want to admit. Not hiring based on clear business needs, but on secondhand advice, assumptions, outdated formulas, and pressure from people who aren’t in the trenches. The board says, “?????? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ??????????.” An investor says, “?????? ??????????? ??????? 5 ???????? ??????.” The founder listens, because these people wrote a big check, have pull, are smart, successful, and have seen a lot. Except there’s a problem. Many board members and advisors have never actually built or run a sales org. They know revenue goals. They know investor expectations. But they don’t know: ? What’s required to make a hire successful at this stage ? Whether the business has the right foundation for this role ? If the timing and conditions are actually right for this hire That’s how you end up with a strategy-first CRO when what you really need is someone in the trenches figuring out how to sell. Or a VP of Sales before the company has closed deals without founder involvement. Or 5 reps spinning their wheels with no clear ICP, messaging, or process to guide them. Less than $500K isn’t scale, it’s validation. This move doesn’t drive growth... it stalls it. And <12 months later, you are back to square one. Good hiring isn’t about following playbooks or following the leader. It’s about knowing when, why, and how to hire based on the reality of your business... not someone else’s expectations. Because when a hire fails, your board won’t be the one cleaning up the mess. You will. And the pressure on you will only grow. When all is said and done, they care more about your ability to make the right decision to drive growth, not that you take their suggestion blindly. Just like you do when you make a great hire. PS: Don’t get me wrong. I have a ton of respect for investors and boards. I work with many who focus on teaching rather than telling and guiding rather than dictating.

“We’re gonna run our own hiring process first.” I hear this all the time. CEOs and founders want to own it themselves. Run their own process. Save the fee. And I get it. On paper, it sounds practical. Until it’s not. Because 30% of our business comes from boomerangs. Companies that tried hiring on their own, got it wrong, and came back when the stakes were even higher. Here’s what I’ve learned from watching these cycles play out: ?? They start the search with hope, not certainty. The job description is vague, success criteria are fuzzy, and everyone has a slightly different idea of what they’re looking for. ?? The interview process isn’t built to filter for real competency. Instead, the most charismatic, shiniest object, most familiar, easiest choice, or the one who tells us what we want to hear wins. ?? They think doing it themselves will save time until they’re drowning in responses, meeting 29 people who don’t even understand what their company does. (A CEO just told me this happened in their process) ?? The new hire joins, expectations don’t match reality, and < 12 months later, they’re either struggling, leaving, or being quietly replaced. Putting the CEO or founder back in the weeds and back at square one. Except now, they’ve lost time, money, and momentum. Case in point. A CEO who came my way in a panic, recently hired a CRO at less than $500K in ARR. Turns out, the hire didn’t want to do the “grunt work” of closing deals, and the CEO was left trying to piece together the right metrics to raise a round of funding. Instead of solving the problem they actually had. It’s not a hiring problem. It’s a broken process. A great hiring process isn’t about finding the best available person. It’s about setting the right person up for success. That means: ? Knowing what great actually looks like before you start searching ? Having a repeatable, structured process to surface signal, not noise ? Avoiding seductive shortcuts that create expensive hiring mistakes Because when CEOs and founders come back the second time, they don’t say, “?? ??????? ???? ????? ?????????? ????? ??????.” They say, “?? ??????? ???? ????? ???????? ???? ????????? ????? ?????????? ????????.” Ready to get it right the first time? The ATP hotline is on ??

Sales leaders, Amy Volas has some friendly advice: “Your read, rinse, repeat playbook is gonna get you fired.” This week I asked Amy to go deep in Uncharted Territory with me to talk about sales hiring and building scalable sales teams. She did way more than that. We ended up discussing the lifecycle of the CRO—from before you take the job, through the first 90 days all the way to successfully delivering at scale. We didn’t just cover hiring, we also covered evaluating talent, communicating with the board (even before you start), setting expectations and more. A few things to look forward to: 1?? How a CRO hit 50% of plan and the CEO got fired instead 2?? How to actually apply your successful playbook in a new role 3?? Tips for evaluating whether you've got a talent or a process problem 4?? Building a bench and how it all starts with being a good leader 5?? How to hire for IC quality in a world where quantity is no longer affordable ?? ?? Tap "View my newsletter” by my name to go straight to the interview.

When I ask founders about their biggest growth mistakes, they almost always bring up one thing: Early sales decisions. ?? Their first AE was a costly mishire, setting them back 6+ months. ?? They hired (and fired) a sales leader before they were ready for it. ?? They thought they could transition “out of sales” to focus on product. Thankfully, Seth DeHart is one of the foremost experts on this topic. After successful runs as an early sales leader, he’s gone on to advise 80+ B2B startups — including?Typeform,?Attio, incident.io and SuperAnnotate — on this exact journey. He also runs?Founder Led Sales, the free platform and community helping 250+ founders up their sales game. Today, Seth shared his six-step framework for nailing founder-led sales. Check it out in Growth Unhinged here: https://lnkd.in/eiuSd6zR The TL;DR - 6 steps for nailing founder-led sales: 1?? Find early product-market fit (PMF) - Your founder status is a superpower here. - The focus isn't on perfecting the pitch, it's about having real conversations that lead to paying customers. 2?? Acquire customers - While tempting, don't hire sales people yet. - Instead, start documenting patterns of success that lead to a signed contract. 3?? The first sales hire(s) - This person must have startup experience & be willing to do everything from prospecting to closing. - Hiring 2 AEs simultaneously is great if you can afford it (& find two ?? people). The competition & parallel learning accelerates success. 4?? Make it predictable - Focus on predictability because you're preparing for more hires. - You need clear goals around KPIs, quota & comp -- plus predictable conversion & pipe gen. 5?? Multiple sales hires - Steadily expand the team from one to multiple AEs -- but wait before hiring a sales leader. - This phase builds your sales leadership skills through pipeline reviews, forecasting & team mgmt. 6?? Hire a sales leader - The better your foundation, the better the candidates you'll attract. - Avg. tenure for a sales leader is 18 months -- you need to maintain enough sales leadership skills to step in if needed. -- The punchline: there's no transition "out of sales" as a founder. #sales #startup #founderledsales

The best way to waste a year? Hire a Head of Sales before you know how to sell. A smart founder and CEO with big vision and the best intentions walked straight into a trap... He thought bringing in a Head of Sales early would free him up to focus elsewhere. Logical, right? 15 months later: ? His sales team was floundering ? Deals were all over the place ? Messaging was a mess ? They were chasing whatever they could get, hoping something would stick ? They missed their number... ?????????? ? The board was asking all the hard questions So he hit reset. Amicably parted ways with his Head of Sales. Trimmed the team. And most importantly, stepped back into leading sales himself. Because here’s the thing: ?????? ??????’?? ???????? ???????????????????????? ?????????????? ???? ???????????????? ?? ???????????????? Founder-led sales isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s mandatory. It’s how you: ? Build the muscle of understanding what actually drives revenue ? Learn firsthand who your best customers are and why they buy ? Create a hiring roadmap based on what actually works, not wishful thinking Now he’s deep in it, dialing in what works, obsessing over the customer, and refining every move. Spraying down the fog of uncertainty like a Windex bottle on a smudged window. His clarity is paying off. It’s working. He’s energized. The team is, too. And when the time comes to hire his next sales leader, he won’t be guessing. Practical founders get this. They don’t see hiring as a magical fix. They see it as a strategic decision. Because the cost of getting it wrong? Time wasted. Cash burned. Momentum crushed. Trust shattered. Back to square one. Don’t let urgency push you into a hire before you’re clear on what’s needed. Founders who own this process upfront build teams that last. Are you making decisions from clarity, or hoping the next hire magically fixes things for you?

A CEO came to me in a panic. “???? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ??????????. ??????????????????.” By the time they asked me for help... They’d already met a candidate they'd been introduced to. They had a great background, a solid back-channel reference, and industry experience. On paper, they checked every box. Yet, the CEO came to me to get a gut check before pulling the trigger. So I asked these questions: ? How are you defining success for this role in the first 6 months? ? What systems are in place to help them get there? ? What is the recency of assessing their competence from the back channel? ? Two prior hires didn’t work out. If this one fails, is it them or the environment? Cue the silence ?? Like so many CEOs and founder, they were chasing the outcome without the foundation in place to achieve it. And that’s exactly how hiring horror stories begin: ? No clear success metrics ? No support systems ? Blaming the hire when it all goes wrong Hiring isn’t a band-aid. It’s an investment. If you don’t create the right conditions, you’ll be right back to where this CEO was when we started talking: frustrated, exhausted, confused, and scrambling for a quick fix. ???????????? ?????? ???????? ???? ????????, ?????? ????????????????: ? If I don’t get this right, what happens? ? What does "getting it right" actually look like? ? Do I have the right pieces in place, or am I hoping someone will figure it out for me? Remember, if you don’t change how you hire, nothing changes. This CEO hit pause and worked with us to turn guesswork into a real hiring system. In 3.5 months, they didn’t just hire a VP of Sales. They built the foundation for a team that could actually thrive. Seven months later, they’re in a stronger position and finally getting what they wanted from the start: an acquisition with good terms. The right hire with the right process. That’s how you win. Are you building for today or for long-term success? #hiring #BuildWithATP

The hidden hiring trap? “We need them to fix this... FAST!" Most CEOs and founders won’t admit this out loud, but I hear it behind closed doors all the time: “We need to hire someone who can fix this, yesterday.” Here’s the harsh truth: ?????????????????????? ???? ?????? ?????????? ???? ???????? ???????????? When you’re drowning in chaos that’s compounded over time, exhausted from wearing too many hats, and under pressure to show results, it’s tempting to believe a new hire will be the magic bullet. Except... ????????’?? ?????? ?????? ???? ??????????. Here’s the pain CEOs and founders don’t talk about: ... You hire to solve a problem you haven’t fully defined. ... You expect them to perform miracles without clear priorities. ... You hope they’ll ‘figure it out’ in an environment that’s chaotic at best. And when they don’t deliver on an unrealistic timeline? ... You’re left frustrated and resentful. ... They feel set up to fail. ... You’re back to square one, but now you’ve lost time, money, and trust. I see this cycle every week. It’s like watching a horror movie on repeat... same mistakes, different cast. Here’s what’s not talked about enough: ... You can’t hire your way out of a problem you haven’t defined. ... The hiring process isn’t the place to figure out your strategy. ... If you don’t know what success looks like, neither will they. Before you hire, ask yourself: ?????? ???? ???????????? ???? ?????????? ?? ?????????????? ???? ?????? ???????????? ??????????????? (Too many hires fail because companies address surface-level issues instead of the root cause) ?????? ???? ?????????????? ???? ???????????? ?????? ?????????????? ???? ???????? ???????? ???????????? ??????????????? (New hires can’t thrive if they’re expected to conform to old ways that created the problem in the first place) ???? ???? ???????? ?????? ?????????????? ???? ???????? ???????? ???????????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ????????? (The best hires challenge the status quo. But if your team isn’t ready for that, it’s a recipe for conflict and turnover) If you’re racing to fill the role or moving fast and breaking things without a clear hiring strategy, you’re setting yourself up for expensive mistakes. I’ve seen too many founders and CEOs burned by the ‘hire now, figure it out later’ approach. Tired of expensive hiring mistakes? It doesn’t have to be this way. Stuck? I’m just a message away.

Speed can be misleading. We assume being first to market wins, but in reality, it’s the first to effectively scale that takes the lead. We rush to solve problems in a linear way. But organizations are ecosystems, and linear solutions rarely fix complex challenges. We’re inundated with an avalanche of AI tools, podcasts, newsletters, research papers, LinkedIn posts, and Slack channels. Keeping up—while also doing our jobs (and hopefully having a life)—can feel overwhelming. To manage the chaos, we make to-do lists, check things off, and try to stay on top of everything. But for GTM leaders, speed without direction often slows real progress. As the saying goes, sometimes the fastest way forward is to slow down. Take a common scenario: Your sales team is missing quota. Only 50% of reps are hitting targets. The quick fix? "We need a better sales leader." So, you post a job, interview candidates, and hire someone with a stellar resume. Problem solved, right? Except…it’s not. Without understanding why reps are missing quota, your "solution" may have zero impact. Was it a leadership issue? Or a product problem? An ICP mismatch? A skills gap? A lack of data visibility? Instead of fixing the issue, you may have just added problems—setting up the new leader to struggle without a clear diagnosis of what’s actually broken. No surprise that the average CRO tenure is only 18 months. As Amy Volas often writes about in her great posts, these are expensive mistakes that drain budget and culture. The fix? Diagnose before you prescribe. It may feel like slowing down, but it’s the only way to frame the problem correctly and design an effective solution. If you don’t have the bandwidth or internal expertise to do this, an outside consultant can be a high-ROI investment. Fresh eyes and an unbiased perspective can make all the difference. If your GTM system is breaking under pressure, start by taking a pause. ? Write down the pain points in your GTM org. ? Review available data and gather team perspectives. ? Identify friction points across the system (recognizing that most issues have multiple things contributing to them). ? Look for quick wins, but also assess deeper structural problems. ? Use those insights to design a thoughtful, strategic path forward. And remember—linear thinking won’t fix ecosystem problems. Moving too quickly in the wrong direction will not help you get to your goals faster! #GTMSystems #GTMhealth #scaling