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Early sales aren’t about volume — they’re about discovery. Hence, start with someone who can design the system, not just run it. Don't play the zero-sum game of junior hires.
As a technical founder, you're a logician. Architect of Systems. Master of inputs and outputs. Your world is elegant, predictable, and measurable.
Then you always hit the wall: Distribution.
When it’s time for the first non-technical hire — the person who will actually turn code into cash — your logic fails. The predictable mind makes the most expensive mistake in the early-stage playbook.
The question isn’t if you need sales. It’s who. It's when.
Is hiring a junior salesperson as your first distribution bet the right move?
The simple answer: No. It’s a passive death wish.
You, as a founder, see a cost to minimize. Keep overhead low.
This translates to the plan of hiring a cheap body — the recent graduate, the SDR (Sales Development Representative), the AM (Account Manager). The mandate is the same Sisyphean nightmare: cold call imaginary lists. Email the void.
Today’s delusion square? The AI-automation Lie.
"They don’t need experience. The AI writes the emails. They just push the button."
Wrong. You aren't hiring an operator; you're buying a bottleneck. This entire strategy is a logical fallacy — a decision to save $60k today to hemorrhage $5M in lost opportunity tomorrow.
The failure isn't the hire's fault. It’s all your (founder’s) deficit of context.
The Blind Hiring:
You can vet a CTO on technical architecture. You have zero framework to vet a sales professional. You can't filter competence from charisma. You hire for enthusiasm because you don’t know what skill looks like. You’re trying to hire an artist when you only understand engineering.
The Management Vacuum:
Once hired, the junior person enters a zero-context zone. No guidance. No playbook. No senior to learn the game from. You can manage a CTO because you share the language of systems. You cannot manage a salesperson because you do not share the language of people.
Peter Drucker called it: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Hiring an unguided junior is neither. It's expecting a fish to coach a bird on flying.
You must reverse the equation. Stop searching for the cheapest pair of hands. Find the most expensive, most competent brain.
You need senior multi-experience. You need a context builder.
This first distribution hire — the Head of Growth, the Distribution Architect — is not hired for their ability to execute the grind. They are hired for their ability to design the engine and do the early grind.
They must be able to perform the hands-on work while possessing the strategic clarity to build the first distribution flywheel. They need to bring distribution context for everyone.
Their value isn’t in the dial tone; it’s in the high-level ownership. They hold many parallel strategic discussions: Why this market? Why this pricing? How does this scale? And find answers that fit.
They build the bridge between your code and the customer's wallet. A junior hire cannot even see the chasm.
Think of this person as your distribution architect. They’re not here to just sell. They’re here to design how selling and growth happens in your company.
It's a journey to figure things out. No given template will save you.
They’ll identify the first customer segment worth fighting for, outline how to reach them, and build the narrative that connects your technology to their pain points. Once that foundation is set, they can bring in juniors — SDRs, account managers, partnership associates — to run the playbook they’ve written.
That’s how scaling works.
You start with the architect, not the interns.
You start with the blueprint, not the bricks.
A senior hire knows how to test hypotheses fast, fail without burning months, and course-correct before morale collapses. They’ve seen what good looks like — and what bad feels like. They can also hire people you couldn’t even find, because they have the network and credibility to do it.
There’s only one exception: when your entire company is an experiment.
If the team is made up of teenage hackers figuring everything out from scratch, then hiring a junior salesperson makes sense. They’ll grow alongside the product. Everyone will be learning at the same pace, in the same chaotic way.
But if your tech is real and your time is valuable, then you can’t afford that kind of drift.
You need someone who already knows how to translate innovation into distribution — someone who can speak both languages: the logical engineering and the relatability of sales.
The first non-technical hire isn’t about execution. It’s about translation.
It’s about finding someone who can turn your product’s potential into real-world traction. Someone who can bridge the gap between what’s built and what’s bought. Someone who can tell you, “This is what the market is actually saying — and here’s what we should do about it.”
In that sense, your first hire should not be an “employee.”
It should be a partner in discovery.
Someone who will teach you as much about distribution as you’ll teach them about product.
Because at the earliest stage, you’re not building a company — you’re building the model of how your company will grow. And the people who help you design that model determine your trajectory for years.
Jim Collins was clear: “It’s not enough to get the right people on the bus; you have to have the right people in the key seats.” The first non-technical hire is the revenue key seat. Don’t fill it with an intern.
The backward mindset prioritizes saving $5,000 in salary over generating $5,000,000 in revenue. This is a passive strategy that guarantees failure.
Do not hire junior talent to solve a senior problem. Invest in competence. Competence is the only leverage. Your brilliant product remains a secret until you get distribution working.
If you can’t afford a full-time senior hire yet, bring in a fractional help — GTM Expert, VP of Sales, VP of Growth — the position's name doesn't matter. You all do everything anyway.
They’ll spend a few hours a week setting your strategy, shaping your messaging, doing early outreach — so when you hire full-time, you’ll know who and what you actually need, and they'll help you.
Fractional doesn’t mean “part-time, nor consulting.” It means high-context, low-risk.
Ready to build or improve your distribution flywheels? Let's do it! 🤝
Till next time, let's BUILD BETTER!
BFG
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All comments (1)
Early sales are about discovery and designing the distribution engine, not volume, so this cost-saving move is a "passive death wish" that saves $60k today but hemorrhages millions in lost opportunity tomorrow. Instead of seeking a cheap pair of hands you can't manage, invest in a senior "Distribution Architect" or Head of Growth—someone whose high-level competence allows them to define the market, build the revenue playbook, and bridge the gap between your elegant code and the customer's wallet. Your first hire is a strategic partner in discovery: Don't Hire SDR. Hire a Distribution Architect.