The Founder's Guide to Hiring Your First 10 GTM Leaders

Your first 10 GTM hires will define your company's trajectory more than any product feature. These are the builders who will establish your market presence, define your culture, and determine if you hit your next milestone.

Phase 1: The 'Builder' Archetype

When you're hiring your first VP of Sales or Head of Marketing, you aren't looking for a 'manager' who needs a large team and a massive budget. You are looking for a 'player-coach' who is comfortable getting their hands dirty.

Vetting for Hands-on Capability

Ask candidates to show you the last actual work they did. Not the strategy deck their team built, but the actual outbound sequence they wrote, the ad copy they drafted, or the CRM workflow they configured. If they haven't done the work in three years, they will struggle in a seed or Series A environment.

Phase 2: The Ideal Sequence

Many founders make the mistake of hiring a CMO too early. Unless you are a pure B2C play, your sequence should typically be:

1. Founding AE / Head of Sales: To take the sales process off the founder's plate and prove repeatability.
2. Head of Customer Success: To ensure the customers you just signed don't churn.
3. Head of Growth / Marketing: To scale the lead generation that the sales leader is now closing.

Phase 3: Leveraging AI for Sourcing

Top-tier GTM leaders aren't hanging out on job boards. We use AI to identify 'hidden' talent—people who have spent 3-4 years at high-growth companies like Stripe, Snowflake, or Brex, and are ready for their first true leadership role. These 'breakout' candidates bring elite training but are more affordable and hungrier than established VPs.