      SaaStr · 2022-03-08
      · 1548d
    

Should Your VP Sales Start as a Player-Coach? Strategic Considerations for Early-Stage SaaS

Jason Lemkin discusses whether early-stage SaaS founders should require their first VP of Sales to maintain an individual quota alongside team management responsibilities. The article argues that while initially appealing for cost optimization, a player-coach model may be counterproductive for a strong VP Sales hire, whose focus should be on scaling the entire revenue organization rather than individual deal closure.

4 metrics· Cited 0× in the knowledge base ·Open source ↗

Metrics in this report

First Revenue Team Build-Out Cost

$3,000,000$

all-in

Early-stage SaaS company first sales and marketing team

VP Sales Failure Rate

50%+%

greater than

VP Sales hires that don't achieve expected results

VP Sales On-Target Earnings (OTE)

$200,000-$300,000+$

range

First VP Sales hire at early-stage SaaS

VP Sales Performance Timeline

2 quartersquarters

required timeframe

Expected time for strong VP Sales to demonstrate ROI