Creating a Job Search Thesis (VP Sales)

When I started quietly interviewing for VP Sales roles 8 years ago, I saw myself as a generalist. I was "open" to being pitched by recruiters on different businesses at different stages of growth. Even as a stretch candidate, it seemed to work. Recruiters would contact me weekly with opportunities. I would read their email write-ups and decide, case by case, what roles sounded interesting.

Sure, I had vague preferences. I’d pay attention to founder bios, capital raised, and look for “must have” value props. But aside from that, I approached my search curiously but reactively—“open” to new opportunities from recruiters. Their outreach drove everything for me.

In today's sales leadership job market, my approach would be a losing proposition.

Today, specificity wins.

There are exceptions to the rule. Revenue leaders with incredibly strong track records can get by as generalists because their narrative will appeal to a wide range of companies. If someone took a company from $5M to $250M in recurring revenue over a 5-year run, many founders, across sectors, stages, and GTM motions, will be eager to meet them.

But most sales leaders do not have track records like this. And when that's the case, it’s more important than ever to be SPECIFIC in your job search. You need a JOB SEARCH THESIS. This is actually a good thing! I’d argue it’s always best to approach your job search this way, whatever your background and whatever the market.

Define Your Job Search Thesis

A job search thesis is a comprehensive and strategic framework that not only specifies your interests but also ties these interests to your personal development and long-term career goals. Here are some components of one:

Industry & Sector

A great thesis includes a point of view on industries or sectors of interest. This does not mean you need to constrain yourself to one or pick from an arbitrary list. Many horizontal SaaS companies deliberately avoid sector focus because their Total Addressable Markets (TAMs) span multiple sectors. However, as a job seeker, you should consider groupings that work industry and sector interests or curiosities to tighten your focus.

• Legacy industries: Some tech companies specialize in delivering solutions to traditional sectors such as manufacturing and insurance. These solutions often emphasize the value of digital transformation, helping organizations in these sectors modernize and prepare for the future. The focus here is on promoting efficiency, enhancing existing processes, mitigating risk, or integrating new technologies into established frameworks.
• Innovators: Conversely, other tech firms cater to forward-thinking sectors like biotech and AI. Their solutions are often designed to fuel accelerated growth and support an inherent drive for innovation itself. These companies frequently double down on advancements, providing tools and platforms that enable disruptors to maintain a competitive edge and push the boundaries of what’s possible.
• Mission-Driven vs. Profit-Driven Companies: Reflect on whether you are motivated by social impact and mission-driven companies (e.g., non-profits, social enterprises) or by the financial rewards of profit-driven companies (e.g., private equity, high-growth startups). Understanding your motivation can help you target companies that align with your values and career goals, and how this would apply to the type of talent you’d recruit for these organizations.

Problem Focus (Theme)

Distinct from industry and sector, think about the business problems you are passionate about solving, such as improving customer retention, driving digital transformation, or addressing barriers to faster market expansion. Align your search with roles that allow you to use your skills to tackle these challenges or focus on specific themes that run across sectors. Think about prior work you’ve done in earlier roles or the problems you’ve experienced firsthand, even as a buyer or consumer, or prior to career switching into sales leadership. Or perhaps you have a point of view on problems that are worse today than yesterday and likely to be worse tomorrow than today.

Role Specifics

Here I mean more than the job title.? Consider the key responsibilities and outcomes you desire in your next role. Define what success looks like for you and how you want to contribute to the business. Think about:

• Key Responsibilities: What day-to-day activities do you want to run? This could range from leading front-line sales teams, building go-to-market strategies and playbooks, managing key accounts personally, or driving strategic partnerships.
• Outcomes: What results do you want to own? This might include achieving specific revenue targets, expanding into new markets, or helping a company achieve a new funding round or exit.
• Leadership and Team Dynamics: Do you prefer hands-on management or a more strategic, high-level role? Are you interested in mentoring and developing junior staff, or leading large, experienced teams?

By clarifying role goals, you can better target those that align with your strengths and career aspirations.

GTM Strategy and Sales Motions

Knowing your preferred sales motion and GTM strategies can also help you create your thesis. Here are some key considerations:

• Sales Cycle Preference: Do you prefer running quick, high-volume sales cycles (transactional) or longer, relationship-driven sales processes, often more reliant on an outbound or partner-centric sales motion?
• Growth Models: Are you interested in companies where the product itself drives customer acquisition and growth, often through freemium models or viral growth mechanisms (Product-Led Growth, PLG)? Or do you prefer environments where a dedicated sales force drives growth, focusing on direct sales efforts and building strong client relationships (Sales-Led Growth)?
• Market Segments: What’s your interest around market segments? Do you excel in selling to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), which often involve shorter sales cycles and smaller deal sizes, or to enterprise clients, which typically require longer, more complex sales processes, larger deal sizes, and higher skill sales reps?
• Solution Maturity? Lastly, how do you think about competitive versus education-based sales? Do you prefer to be in markets that require teams to evangelize a point of view to create awareness of potential solutions to problems they’ve conceived differently (or not yet conceived of as problems at all)? Or do you enjoy managing teams in mature and highly competitive markets, where winning is often more about discipline, process execution, and relationships?

Stage

Do you prefer start-ups or early scale-ups, which require significant investments in building foundations and working with limited resources? Or do you thrive in larger scale-ups and mature companies, where there is a greater need for process definition, operational rigor, and a focus on clearly defined execution lanes?

Culture and Leadership Style

How do the following considerations inform your thesis?

• Technical vs. Non-Technical founders: A technical founder might place a stronger emphasis on product development, innovation, and technical excellence. They may have a deep understanding of the product and the challenges the team faces. Conversely, a non-technical founder may focus more on business development, market strategies, and customer relationships, potentially fostering a more holistic business approach.? What’s your preference here and why?
• Future of work: Since Covid, we've seen massive divergence in how companies organize the location of their workforce. Do you prefer to work in an organization committed to hybrid or in-office team building, or one that's already married to fully remote models? Or perhaps you want to join an organization that has yet to make a commitment and might be open to your perspective?
• Sales-Driven Cultures: In companies with a more sales-driven culture, the emphasis is on revenue generation, sales performance, and aggressive market penetration. Such environments often prioritize sales targets, incentives, and growth metrics, fostering a competitive atmosphere.?By contrast, other companies are more neutral on sales or openly averse to structures that put too much incentive and recognition on individuals who bring revenue in the door. How important is this to your selection?
• Founder’s Involvement: some company’s have hands-on founders more deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. They may actively participate in decision-making, problem-solving, and even specific tasks. In other cases, the founders may be more willing to delegate and empower their early leadership hires.? How do you think about this???

Conclusion

This is by no means comprehensive or the only correct way to build your job search thesis, but it’s a path that may be helpful for many of you.??The idea here is not to pick a bunch or random "requirements" to create the illusion of focus. Rather, it's about really thinking about what you need for maximum fulfillment and growth.

And here's the beauty of a strong thesis: it furnishes the SINGLE BEST WAY to get around being pigeonholed by others. The more you know WHAT YOU WANT AND WHY, the better your ability to own your narrative framing for the opportunities you want to pursue.

Unsure where to start?? Use your network here to get feedback and perspective to build your thesis, and iterate on it.? Help them help you pressure test this as well to ensure that it’s concrete enough to guide your in your search and engagement efforts, but not so constrained that you’ll be unable to surface any appealing opportunities.