By Kim Talarczyk, founder of Demand Recruiting
The first GTM hires should follow the constraint, not a headcount chart. I'd usually hire a seller once you can explain why deals close, then a hands-on marketer if pipeline is the gap, then a second seller or a player-coach only when that motion repeats. RevOps comes in when the CRM or the forecast is the bottleneck, which is sometimes earlier than people expect. A real Head of Sales or Head of Marketing comes after that seat is no longer the founder's.
This is the order I see most often, it's not a rule. If your constraint is different, skip a seat or wait. I've linked to pages below that give more detail on each seat.
I would not hire a seller to invent the sale.
You're ready for a founding AE, or whatever you call that first seller, when you can say why the last several deals closed, who signed, and what almost stopped them, and your own calendar is the bottleneck. If every deal feels different and the pitch lives only in your head, I'd keep selling and write it down. I go further on that in why first sales hires fail.
If you want help getting the motion ready before a search, I can introduce you to Hannah at SALT. She is on my partners page.
When you are ready to hire the seller, the page to use is hire your first AE. Do not hire a Head of Sales to do this job. A leader with nobody to lead ends up as a frustrated seller, and the hiring framework is where I sort a leader, a player-coach, and a hands-on executor before anyone writes that req.
I'd make this the next hire when you can close and not enough comes in. If deals are still waiting on your calendar, I would not hire marketing to feed a seller you do not have.
"Marketer" is too vague to recruit. If buyers do not understand what you sell, or nobody can find you, the first marketer page is the one that sorts a generalist, product marketing, content, and a Head of Marketing. If the only gap is qualified conversations, I'd hire a demand gen marketer rather than a broad marketing leader. That page is hire a demand gen marketer.
If nothing has produced pipeline yet, I would not open a full-time search. A fractional marketer is often the better first step. Asia at DemandMaven does that work, and she is on the partners page.
Most of the companies I work with are B2B SaaS under $10M ARR.
I would not hire a second seller to find out whether the first one can sell.
I'd add a second seller, or a player-coach who still carries deals, when the same kind of deal is closing more than once without you in every conversation, and there is enough pipeline that two people are not splitting a handful of leads. If you are not there yet, another seller hides the problem. A player-coach is not a Head of Sales with a softer title. They still do the work. The moment the req is mostly management, you are hiring a head, which comes later in this post, not a second seller.
This one moves. I would not wait for a fixed place in line, and I would not hire it because a chart said it was time.
I'd hire RevOps when nobody trusts the forecast, the CRM only makes sense to one person, or sales and marketing argue about the same quarter. That can be before a second seller, and it can be before a marketer, if the numbers are the thing stopping you from seeing the real constraint. If the motion is still changing every month, a fractional operator is usually enough. Kevin at Revductive is the person I introduce for that, on the partners page. When the mess is the daily job, use hire a RevOps lead.
Do not hire RevOps to invent a sales process you have not run. The system has to have something real to describe.
I'd hire a Head of Sales or a Head of Marketing when there is a team to lead, or a budget to spend, and you are no longer the person doing the job. Before that, the title is a seller or a marketer wearing a leader's title.
The first marketer page already covers a hands-on marketer versus a Head of Marketing. The first AE page covers hiring a VP when you still need a seller. When there is a team to lead and the motion already works, see how to hire a VP of Sales.
Four notes are enough. They do not need to be long.
If you cannot fill those in, I would not open a leadership search. I would keep selling, or bring in fractional help for the one gap you can name.
Good candidates will ask you hard questions before they join. What great GTM candidates look for is the list to be ready for. I help founders get the role clear before anyone is sourced. How a search works, including the guarantee, is on the services page.
Tell me which constraint is in front of you, and I'll reply within one business day.
Helping B2B SaaS founders and GTM leaders hire the sales, marketing, and RevOps people who move growth forward.
