As start-ups get bigger and bigger, leads get distributed more and more ratably — to an extent. Start-ups often move to round robin to distribute leads, then they segment them, and then sometimes territories even now.
But in the earlier days and even later, let’s be honest about something that doesn’t get talked about enough in startup land: the best leads don’t get distributed equally across the sales team.
No matter what your sales plan says. No matter what the official lead distribution policy states. And no matter what round-robin automation is used.
But when you are smaller, CEOs and first VPs of Sales can’t take that risk. They can’t take the risk reps that phone it in will blow an important deal. And especially, they need their #1 closer on their #1 leads.
So hhere’s the reality I’ve seen play out across 100+ SaaS startups worth $20B+:
The hardest working reps that know the product cold and can be trusted eventually get almost all the best leads. Every. Single. Time.
Why CEOs (and Sales Leaders) Play (Seeming) Favorites With Leads
As a founder or sales leader at a startup, your best leads are precious commodities. That introduction to the Fortune 500 CIO that took you 3 years to nurture. The inbound from the perfect-fit customer with urgent needs and budget approval. The referral from your biggest investor to their portfolio companies.
When these golden opportunities appear, a mental calculation happens:
“Who on my team gives this lead the highest probability of closing?”
It’s rarely conscious favoritism. It’s pure survival instinct. In the early stages, every deal matters existentially. You can’t afford to waste the good ones.
The Virtuous Cycle of Hustle
This creates what I call the “Hustle Feedback Loop”:
- You outwork everyone → You develop skills/knowledge faster
- Your skills improve → You close more of your existing leads
- Leaders notice your results → They route better leads your way
- Better leads = better results → Your confidence grows
- Greater confidence + better leads → You close even more deals
- Repeat indefinitely
The reps who initiate this cycle earliest generally become your top performers. Not because they were blessed with natural talent, but because they triggered a compounding advantage.
Signs You’re Working Hard Enough to Earn the Good Leads
How do you know if you’re working hard enough to enter this virtuous cycle? Here are the tell-tale signs:
1. You’re creating your own opportunities
The hardest-working reps don’t just wait for leads. They manufacture them:
- Turning support tickets into expansion opportunities
- Mining LinkedIn for connections to target accounts
- Building relationships with customer success to spot upsell chances
- Creating content that generates their own inbound interest
2. You’re obsessively prepared
When the CEO notices you consistently know more about prospects than anyone else, magic happens:
- You’ve researched every stakeholder before calls
- You understand the prospect’s industry cold
- You’ve studied competitive dynamics
- You’ve prepared for every possible objection
3. You’re the last one asking questions
The hardest working reps:
- Send follow-up emails at 9pm
- Submit detailed meeting notes while others are heading to happy hour
- Ask for feedback on lost deals while others move on
- Request call recordings with top performers to study
4. You know the product cold. For real. And you are always knowing it even better.
Founders just have a hard time trusting reps that don’t know the product cold. Because they know prospects will call them on it.
The Data Doesn’t Lie
At my last startup, we analyzed the relationship between activity metrics and lead quality. The results were striking:
- Reps in the top quartile of activity (measured by calls, emails, meetings) received leads that closed at 2.3x the rate of those in the bottom quartile
- Their average deal size was 31% higher
- Their sales cycle was 24% shorter
This wasn’t because we deliberately assigned them better leads. It happened organically as managers and executives developed confidence in who would maximize each opportunity.
How to Break Into the “Good Leads Club”
If you’re a rep reading this who feels stuck with lousy leads, here’s your playbook:
- Maximize every opportunity – Treat every lead, no matter how small, like it’s the deal that will make your quarter
- Document everything – Make your hustle visible through CRM notes, Slack updates, and pipeline reviews
- Ask for specific accounts – Don’t just ask for “better leads” – identify specific targets and explain why you’re the right person to pursue them
- Master your message – Record yourself, get feedback, and perfect your pitch until you can deliver it in your sleep
- Solve problems publicly – When you overcome objections or find creative solutions, share them with the team
- Be coachable – The fastest way to earn trust is to implement feedback immediately and visibly
- Send a detailed weekly update by email — don’t just rely on your CRM for “updates”. The CEO doesn’t have time.
The Anti-Pattern: Complaining About Lead Quality
Nothing signals “don’t give me good leads” faster than complaining about the quality of what you receive. The moment you say “these leads are worse than they used to be,” you’ve branded yourself as someone who:
- Blames external factors for results
- Lacks the creativity to create value from challenging situations
- Doesn’t deserve the premium opportunities
Instead, be the rep who says: “I can work with this. Watch what I do with it.”
From the CEO’s Perspective
As a founder who’s built and led sales teams, I’ll let you in on some inside thoughts:
When I see a rep hustling – making the extra calls, sending thoughtful follow-ups, thoroughly preparing for every meeting – I start thinking:
“I need to get this person in front of our best prospects.”
When I see a rep coasting – doing the minimum, blaming lead quality, making excuses – I think:
“I can’t risk putting our best opportunities in front of this person.”
It’s not personal. It’s business survival. Your company needs every possible advantage to win deals against larger competitors with more resources.
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Hustle
The beauty of this dynamic is that it creates its own momentum. Once you start getting better leads, your results improve, which justifies routing even better leads your way.
This is how sales careers accelerate exponentially:
- The rep who hustles gets better leads
- Better leads produce better results
- Better results lead to promotions
- Promotions bring even better territories/accounts
- Better territories compound advantages further
Before long, the gap between the hustlers and everyone else becomes so vast it looks like they’re playing an entirely different game.
What About Fairness?
Some will read this and think: “But that’s not fair! Everyone should get equal opportunities!”
The startup world isn’t about fairness. It’s about survival and optimization.
In the early days, every lead is precious. Every opportunity could be the difference between making payroll or not. Companies can’t afford to distribute leads based on fairness rather than probability of success.
4 Things Sales Reps Get Very Wrong About Getting The Best Leads
Even when reps understand the connection between hustle and lead quality, I see many making critical mistakes that keep them trapped in the “bad leads” cycle:
1. Playing the volume game without the quality game
Many reps think activity alone equals hustle. They make 100 calls but with zero preparation, sending the same generic message to everyone. True hustle isn’t just about volume—it’s about informed, strategic action. The rep making 50 highly researched, personalized touches will outperform the one making 100 generic ones every time.
2. Becoming the “almost” closer
These reps work incredibly hard… right up until the finish line. They build perfect relationships, run flawless demos, handle objections masterfully—then get lazy with follow-through. They don’t send the promised materials promptly, they’re sloppy with paperwork, or they miss small details in contracts. Leaders notice these patterns and think: “They do everything right except the most important part: closing.”
3. Confusing business with productivity
Some reps create a perception of hustle that’s just theater. They send slack messages at 10pm, they’re always “swamped” in meetings, they talk constantly about how hard they’re working. But when you look at their actual output—meaningful conversations with prospects, deals advancing through stages, new opportunities created—the numbers tell a different story. True hustle shows up in results, not performative work.
4. The private performer syndrome
This might be the most common mistake: doing great work that nobody knows about. You’re crushing it with prospects, having brilliant conversations, overcoming tough objections—but if your leaders don’t see it, it might as well not be happening. Document your work. Share your insights. Make your success visible without being obnoxious about it. In startups, perception matters almost as much as reality.
5. Missing any meetings, etc.
The best reps are always early, and never miss a meeting. The rest? You have to chase them to do some of their job.
The Final Word
If you’re in startup sales and not getting the leads you want, remember this:
No one owes you good leads. You earn them. And if you do, you will get an outsized share of them.
The good news? It’s entirely within your control. Work harder. Prepare more thoroughly. Execute more precisely. The leads will follow.
And when they do, you’ll have initiated the virtuous cycle that can define your career.
That’s the beautiful meritocracy of startup sales – the correlation between effort and opportunity is nearly perfect over the long run.
So stop reading this post and get back to hustling. The good leads are waiting for those who deserve them.
