So net net, most folks in tech want to join “hot” start-ups. So being “hot” almost always helps with recruiting the best.
But it’s not always that simple. Many top engineers just don’t want to work at somewhere obvious, and looking for interesting problems others aren’t solving. A lot of marketers are looking as much for fit for their skills as how hot the company is.
But with sales reps especially? I’ve never seen one that was ambitious that didn’t want to join one of the “hot” startups out there.
Even if the economics per se didn’t make it a slam dunk.
There are probably a lot of logical reasons for this, too:
- Hot start-ups probably offer a faster promotion path in sales
- Hot start-ups probably offer a higher energy team to work with
- Hot start-ups give you better personal brand portability in sales
- Hot start-ups are probably growing fast enough to at least in >theory< give you a shot at outsized comp for outsized results
- And in general, there’s just an energy about a sales team on fire at a hot start-up everyone wants to join
- They feel like career-makers in sales. And maybe they are.
So net net being “hot” always helps in recruiting but in sales most of all. It’s probably the number one reason to shoot for being a unicorn, to get on stage, to do more PR, to get everyone talking about you.
Sales talent is drawn to hot start-ups like moths to a flame.
Without that, a great VP of Sales will still find a way. Great reps will want to work for a great VP of Sales. But even there, it’s so much easier to attract the best sales talent.
And if you aren’t “hot” and don’t have a truly great VP of Sales that the best want to work for?
Usually, you end up with a fairly mediocre sales team after the first few pirates & romantics.
