Should my first sales hire be a VP or an AE?

Almost always an AE — specifically a senior IC who has sold a similar product to a similar buyer. A VP is the wrong hire until you have a validated playbook and 3+ reps to manage.

How much should I pay a first sales hire?

In DACH, expect €70–120k base with 50/50 OTE for a strong senior AE. Cheaper hires almost never carry founder-led deals; more expensive hires usually want a team to lead.

What if I hire someone and they don't perform?

Decide in 90 days. If qualified pipeline and conversion economics aren't moving by day 90, the issue is either the hire, the playbook, or the ICP — and ignoring it gets worse, not better.

Can I just hire an SDR instead?

Only if you have a closer (you, or someone) who can convert the meetings. An SDR with no AE behind them generates demos that die in Stage 2.

First sales hire

Why your first sales hire usually fails

The numbers are brutal: most first sales hires in founder-led B2B companies are gone within 12 months without moving revenue. The pattern is almost always the same five mistakes.

The five mistakes

Hiring a VP when you need an AE. A VP needs reps to manage, a budget to deploy, and a playbook to enforce. You don't have those yet.
Hiring from a brand-name company too early. Enterprise sellers from SAP, Salesforce, or HubSpot are optimized for inbound, big-account-management, and pricing power you don't have.
Skipping the playbook. If the hire has to invent the ICP, pricing, discovery script, and objection handling, you've hired a consultant, not a seller.
No clear 30/60/90. Without leading indicators (calls, meetings, pipeline created, conversion at each stage), you'll only know it failed at month 9.
Founder won't release deals. The hire never gets to run the full motion, so they never own a number — and they leave.

The profile that actually works

At €1–5M ARR, the hire that consistently delivers is a senior IC AE with 5–10 years selling a similar product to a similar buyer. Not a manager. Not a hunter from a mega-cap. Not a junior with potential. Someone who can close.

They should be able to articulate, in the interview, the exact discovery questions they'd ask your top three target accounts. If they can't, they don't know the buyer.

What to have ready before they start

Written ICP and disqualification rules
5–10 won-deal case studies with the actual sales motion documented
CRM with stage definitions and exit criteria
30/60/90 plan with leading indicators, not lagging revenue
A founder calendar block to coach 2 calls/week for the first 90 days

If it's not working at day 90

Decide. Either re-onboard with a tighter playbook, swap the rep, or accept that the gap is the offering, not the seller. The worst move is the month-by-month "let's see" that ends at month 11 with no learning.

Frequently asked questions

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