5-6 Years Is About As Fast As You Can Mint a True VP of Sales
We’ve talked a lot about hiring a VP of Sales at SaaStr, and if you hire a stretch VP of Sales (as most of you will) … how much you can stretch.
A related question is — just how quickly can you gain the requisite experience to be a true first time VP of Sales? I think best case — it’s 5-6 years until you are ready.
Let’s walk through the career path of one of the best folks on my team:
- Month 0: Joined as entry-level, most junior SDR. Screening the lowest quality in-bound leads. Had about 8 mos. of prior SDR experience at another SaaS company.
- Month 6: promoted to first SMB rep.
- Month 9: makes SMB most profitable segment, becomes #2 rep
- Month 16: promoted to enterprise rep
- Month 24: closes 50% of top enterprise accounts
- Month 36: promoted to manager, manages team of 8
- Month 40: promoted, manages team of 24 at F500 company
- Month 50: manages even more, #2 manager to VPS at F500 company
- Month 60: leaves to be VPS at super-hot venture-backed start-up
So that’s 5 years plus about a year of prior SDR experience, or about 6 years total. He did this all by age 27 or so. So I think if you are a total rock-star, and you don’t skip steps and really want to become a manager first … you can do it in 60-72 months. Acquire all the requisite skills to be a true VP of Sales. And that’s best case.
If an aspirational VP of Sales tries to do it faster … which they may be able to do if they join a very early stage start-up or one that isn’t super hot … because someone will give them the title … I really wonder if they can acquire all the skills you really need.
I've rarely seen a VP of Sales hire work out that didn't put in the time. The VPs of Sales I know that skipped steps almost all end up stumbling later. They don’t really know how to recruit. Or, they don’t really understand competitive sales. Or, they don’t really understand how demand gen really works (a common problem). Etc.
So by all means, stretch. You can skimp a bit on the # of direct hires she’s made before. You can skimp a bit on how long she’s lead a real team.
But if she hasn’t been selling and then managing a team for at least 5-6 years … it’s gonna be a stretch too far.
Vice President of Sales @ Dover Digital | Fortune 500
4 年Jason, One in a million salespeople are going to be ready to be a Stretch VP in 5 to 6 years. It is more likely at least a twelve to fifteen year process at best. The better advice is to never really stretch to hire your VP of Sales. In other posts you eloquently explain why you do not want your VP of Sales to come directly from a Fortune 500 company because they do not understand the start-up culture. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Yet here you are referencing a person with only five years experience DIRECTLY from a F500 company as the stretch VP. You are contradicting yourself. I agree that a start-up Sales VP needs to focus on pipeline and new customer acquisition. But if you are going to be a Sales VP, stretch or not, you must be able to demonstrate business skills (P/L), have built and managed compensation programs, fully understand sales ops, have second line management experience and possess phenomenal recruiting skills. It doesn't hurt to have been through a rough patch or two, Leaders that have weathered a storm are more likely to handle an inevitable crisis, like the current one for example. Why hire a stretch Sales VP at all? If I am a founder who has put their life's work and passion into his or her company, at any one time there are dozens of available Sales VP's in the market that do not have to "stretch" to do the job exceedingly well. I would sleep better at night if I knew that the person leading the revenue and growth process knew what they were doing because they actually had done it before. Are they more expensive? Modestly, but the ROI is not even close.