Is Now the Right Time to Hire Salespeople for Your Startup? A CRO’s Perspective

 

Hi, I’m Matt Slonaker, the Chief Revenue Officer at M. Allen, and I’ve spent years helping startups and growth-stage companies build revenue engines that don’t just survive—they thrive. Recently, I came across a post from Next Venture that caught my eye: “Is now the right time to hire salespeople for my startup?” It’s a question I hear all the time from founders and revenue leaders, and it’s one I’m passionate about answering because getting this right can make or break your early growth. The post goes on to offer a free guide—covering when to hire, how much to pay, and red flags to avoid—before you commit to spending $25K+ and the next 6-12 weeks on a new hire. It’s a solid prompt, and it got me thinking about my own experiences and what I’ve learned about hiring salespeople at the right moment.

 

Timing Is Everything—But It’s Not What You Think

 

When I first started as a CRO, I thought hiring salespeople was all about hitting certain internal milestones: we’ve got product-market fit, we’ve got a few early customers, we’ve got some revenue coming in—time to scale the sales team! But I quickly learned that this inward-looking approach can lead to costly mistakes. Hiring too early, or for the wrong reasons, can drain your resources and stall your momentum. I’ve seen founders hire a slick sales rep because they had a shiny resume, only to realize six months later that their startup wasn’t ready for a dedicated sales function—or worse, they hired someone who didn’t align with their customer’s needs.

 

The Next Venture guide asks the right question: *When should you hire salespeople?* From my perspective, the answer isn’t tied to your internal benchmarks—it’s tied to your customers. At M. Allen, we’ve learned to look through the customer’s lens, a philosophy I recently shared on the *Growth in Action* podcast. Are your customers showing consistent buying signals? Do you have a repeatable sales process that’s driven by real buyer behavior, not just your assumptions? If you can’t answer “yes” to those questions, you’re not ready to hire. I’ve found that the best time to bring on salespeople is when you’ve got enough customer insight to know *what* they’re buying, *why* they’re buying, and *how* they want to be sold to. Without that clarity, you’re just rolling the dice.

 

Paying for Talent—What’s the Right Number?

 

Another point the Next Venture post raises is: *How much should you pay them?* This is where a lot of startups get tripped up. Early on in my career, I made the mistake of overpaying for a sales hire because I thought a big salary would guarantee big results. Spoiler: it didn’t. The rep was used to enterprise sales cycles, not the scrappy, fast-paced world of a startup, and they floundered. On the flip side, I’ve also underpaid for talent, thinking I could save a few bucks, only to lose a great candidate to a competitor who valued their worth.

 

What I’ve learned—and what I’d tell any founder—is that compensation needs to reflect the stage of your startup and the role you need filled. At M. Allen, we typically budget $80K-$120K base salary for a junior or mid-level sales rep in their first year, plus a performance-based commission that can bring their total on-target earnings (OTE) to $150K-$200K if they hit their quota. But more importantly, we tie compensation to the value they’re creating, not just the hours they’re putting in. Are they closing deals that align with your customer’s needs? Are they helping you refine your sales process through real buyer feedback? That’s what justifies the investment. The key is balance: pay enough to attract talent, but structure incentives so they’re aligned with your growth goals.

 

Red Flags to Avoid—Trust Me, I’ve Seen Them All

 

The third piece of the Next Venture guide—*red flags to avoid*—hits home for me. I’ve made my fair share of hiring mistakes, and I’ve learned the hard way what to watch out for. One of the biggest red flags I see is a candidate who’s overly focused on their own process, not your customer’s journey. Early in my career, I hired a sales rep who came from a big tech company and insisted on using their “proven” playbook. The problem? Our customers were startups and SMBs who needed a consultative, relationship-driven approach, not a hard-sell enterprise pitch. The mismatch was disastrous, and we lost valuable time and credibility with prospects.

 

Another red flag is a lack of curiosity. The best salespeople I’ve hired at M. Allen are the ones who ask questions—not just about our product, but about our customers. They want to know: What’s keeping our buyers up at night? What’s their biggest pain point? If a candidate isn’t showing that level of inquisitiveness, they’re unlikely to adapt to the unpredictable world of startup sales. Finally, watch out for candidates who can’t handle ambiguity. Startups are messy—your sales process will evolve, your product might pivot, and your target customer might shift. If a candidate needs everything handed to them on a silver platter, they’re not the right fit.

 

Hiring Through the Customer’s Lens

 

At the end of the day, hiring salespeople for your startup isn’t just about filling a role—it’s about building a revenue engine that’s designed around your customer. That’s a lesson I’ve carried with me from my time at M. Allen and one I shared on the *Growth in Action* podcast. The best CROs don’t hire based on gut feel or internal metrics—they hire based on customer insights. Are your buyers ready for a sales-led approach? Do you know enough about their journey to guide a new hire? If not, take a step back and dig into the data.

 

The Next Venture guide is a great starting point for any founder asking these questions, and I’d encourage you to download it. But more than that, I’d urge you to shift your perspective. Stop looking at hiring as an internal checkbox and start seeing it as a customer-driven decision. When you align your team around real buyer signals—and yes, AI can help you do this, as I discussed on the podcast—you’ll not only hire the right salespeople, but you’ll also set them up to sell the way your customers want to buy. That’s how you turn a startup into a growth machine.

 

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Want to dive deeper into how we think about revenue at M. Allen? Check out my recent episode on the Growth in Action podcast—it’s packed with insights on leading with a customer-first mindset. And if you’re ready to hire, take a look at that Next Venture guide—it’s a free resource that can save you time, money, and a lot of headaches.