How to hire a VP Sales at Series A or B

To hire a VP Sales at Series A or B, define the stage-specific job first (build the repeatable motion, or scale one that already works), then hire someone who has done that exact job at a company one step ahead of yours, and test it with a real pipeline review, a 90-day plan and references from reps they have hired. Most failed VP Sales hires are a mismatch of stage, not a lack of talent.

This guide is written for founders and CEOs making their first or second senior sales hire, usually somewhere between roughly $1m and $15m in annual recurring revenue. It covers timing, the profile, a scorecard, the interview loop, reference checks, pay and the first 90 days, in the UK and US.

When should a startup hire a VP Sales?

Hire when founder-led sales has proved that customers will buy, but the founder has become the bottleneck. Jason Lemkin of SaaStr has long argued that by around $2m in ARR a SaaS company needs its first head of sales, and that if the first hire fails you should hire again rather than return to founder-led selling. That rule of thumb holds up reasonably well, with three conditions:

• You can describe why customers buy, in their words, and you have won deals from people who did not know the founders.
• You have a rough sales process that one or two AEs have followed successfully, even if it is undocumented.
• You have enough runway to give the hire 12 to 18 months, because rebuilding a sales motion takes several sales cycles to show results.

If you cannot meet the first two, you probably need a strong first AE or a player-coach head of sales, not a VP. Hiring a VP to discover product-market fit is the most expensive way to find out you do not have it.

Head of Sales, VP Sales or CRO: which title do you need?

Titles are cheap to give and expensive to take back. If your first sales leader is a player-coach, consider "Head of Sales" with a clear path to VP. It leaves room to hire above them if the company outgrows them, without a demotion conversation.

Why do VP Sales hires fail so often?

The numbers are sobering. Lemkin reports that in his surveys of founders, around 70% of first sales leader hires do not work out. Gong has written that average VP Sales tenure has fallen from 26 months to 19 months. Even allowing for how those figures are gathered, a first VP Sales hire is a high-risk appointment.

In our experience the causes fall into five groups:

• Stage mismatch: a leader from a large, well-known vendor who has only ever inherited a working machine, brand, inbound leads and enablement, and has never built one.
• Motion mismatch: an enterprise field leader hired into a high-velocity inside sales motion, or the reverse.
• Unclear mandate: the CEO wants a builder but measures the hire like an operator from month two.
• Unwilling to sell: Lemkin estimates that around 80% of VP Sales candidates no longer want to do deals themselves. At Series A, they must.
• Weak hiring: the VP's first hires fail, because they recruited from their network rather than against the motion.

What profile should you look for at Series A or B?

The strongest predictor we see is "has done this job, at this stage, in a similar motion, recently". Break that into five checks:

Industry experience is helpful but overrated compared with stage and motion. A VP who has scaled a mid-market inside sales team from $3m to $15m in one vertical will usually adapt to a new vertical faster than a leader from your exact industry who has only worked in a large enterprise.

How do you build a scorecard for a VP Sales?

Write the scorecard before you speak to a candidate. It should state the mission, three to five measurable outcomes for the first 12 to 18 months, and the competencies you will test. An illustrative example for a Series A company:

Use the same scorecard in every interview and have each interviewer score only the competencies assigned to them, in writing, before any debrief.

What does a good VP Sales interview process look like?

What should you ask in reference checks?

Lemkin's advice to talk to the salespeople a candidate has hired is the most useful reference practice we know. Reps tell you whether the leader hires well, coaches, protects their pipeline from internal noise and forecasts honestly. Questions that work:

• "What did they change in your first 90 days together, and did it work?"
• "How did they run a pipeline review? What happened when a deal slipped?"
• "Who did they hire who did not work out, and how did they handle it?"
• "Would you join a company to work for them again? Why or why not?"
• For a former CEO: "What would you hire them to do again, and what would you not?"

How much does a VP Sales earn in 2026?

Pay varies with stage, market and how much of the role is still individual selling. Our 2026 salary guide gives these indicative ranges for software companies:

Splits for sales leaders typically run from 60/40 to 70/30 base to variable, and equity is common at VP and CRO level at venture-backed companies. For context, Bravado's 2025 data puts the average New York VP Sales base at about $169k and total compensation at about $285k. These are indicative ranges from the TRG GTM Salary Guide 2026; see the full guide for sources and location adjustments.

At Series A, many founders reduce cash by offering a meaningful equity grant. That can work, but check the candidate's personal situation: a leader with a family and a mortgage in London or the Bay Area may not be able to take a large cash cut, however much they believe in the equity.

How should you structure the VP Sales variable plan?

The VP's plan should mirror the team's. The Bridge Group's 2024 benchmark put the median US AE quota at $800k of annual contract value against a median OTE of $190k, a ratio of roughly 4.2 times, with a 53:47 base to variable split. Your VP will set quotas against numbers like these, so their own plan should reward the team hitting them.

• Pay most of the variable on new-business bookings or ARR against the team target, so the VP succeeds when the team does.
• Add a smaller component tied to a build outcome in year one, such as AEs hired and ramped, or forecast accuracy. It recognises that the first year is partly construction.
• Agree a guaranteed or partly guaranteed variable for the first two quarters if the pipeline they inherit is thin. It is cheaper than losing a good hire to a bad first half.
• Set the target from your plan, and make sure team quota adds up to more than the VP's number (over-assignment of 10–20% is common practice) so one missed rep does not sink the leader.
• Write down what happens if the board changes the plan mid-year.

What should the first 90 days look like?

Evaluate progress honestly at around 30 days and again at six months. Early signals that matter: are AEs more confident, is the forecast more accurate, are the right candidates accepting offers?

Should you promote internally or hire externally?

Promoting your best AE into the first sales leadership role is tempting: they know the product, the customers and the founders. It works when the promoted rep has already informally coached others, wants to build a team more than close deals, and is given a scope that fits their experience, usually "Head of Sales" or "Sales Manager" rather than VP. It fails when the company needs someone to design compensation, build a forecast and hire at pace, which most first-time managers have never done.

A useful middle path at Series A is to promote your strongest AE to team lead for a defined group of reps while hiring an experienced VP above them. The promoted lead keeps credibility with the team; the VP brings the playbook. Agree the structure before you start the search so internal candidates hear it from you, not from a job advert.

UK and US differences to plan for

• Cash and equity: US VP Sales packages are typically larger in cash and equity than London packages for the same stage (compare the ranges above). If you hire a US leader from a UK-headquartered company, budget in dollars from the start.
• Notice periods: UK senior leaders commonly have notice periods of three months or more; US at-will employment usually means two weeks. Factor this into your timeline.
• Pay transparency: several US states require pay ranges in job adverts. Plan your range before you advertise.
• Reporting lines across time zones: if your VP Sales is in the US and the CEO is in London, agree the operating rhythm in the offer stage. Weekly overlap time, travel budget and who joins which deal reviews should all be written down.

If you are making this hire, send us a brief. We run confidential VP Sales and CRO searches across the UK and US and can tell you what the shortlist is likely to cost before you commit. Sales leaders considering a move can register confidentially.