Curated Sales Resources For Startup Founders
Last updated Nov/2020
In June 2016 for the first time in my career, I had to recruiter a sales leader and help the sales leader set up the sales team. So I started curating sales resources for a startup.
You can also find my curated GTM resources here.
Please find below a curated list of resources that have helped me:
EARLY STAGE SALES
Early Stage Go-To-Market Sales Handbook by Peter Kazanjy
Layering Sales onto a Bottom-Up Self-Serve Product by Peter Kazanjy via Lenny Rachitsky
Founder-led Selling Guide via Founding Sales
Sales Resources for Founders by Peter Kazanjy
How To Hire and Build Your First Sales Team + 7 Tips to Hiring Your First Sales Team | By former entrepreneur turned VC Jason Lemkin
To Build An Amazing Sales Team, Start Here First by Peter Kazanjy
How to price a product, sell it to customers, and build a sales team by Steli Efti is the co-founder and CEO of Close CRM via Stripe Atlas
THE BEST BOOK ON BUILDING A SAAS SALES TEAM by Tomasz Tungus VC at Redpoint
Sales Success Tips — Emails, Calls & Demos That Close Deals by Peter Kazanjy via First Round Capital
Understanding Salespeople at Startups by Mark Suster
SaaS Startup Strategy | Three SaaS Sales Models by Joel York CMO
Self-Service, Transactional or Enterprise? Challenges When Changing Your SaaS Sales Model by Clement Vouillon
The Modern Sales Playbook by Jill Rowley ( formerly of Marketo, Oracle, Eloqua, and Salesforce) & Josh Allen (Drift CRO, formerly of CarGurus and LogMeIn) via Drift
All Things Sales — 16 Mini-Lessons for Startup Founders by Andreessen Horowitz
When Sales Isn’t Just Selling: Advice for Founders by Martin Casado VC at Andreessen Horowitz
The 4 Roles of a Sales Team by Dan Martell former entrepreneur turned investor and advisor
HOW TO STRUCTURE A SALES AND MARKETING TEAM by Tomasz Tungus VC at Redpoint
SCALING OF SALES TEAM
SaaS Sales Expert Mark Roberge on Why Sales Leaders Need to Follow These 4 Steps To Scale Their Teams by Mark Roberge former CRO of HubSpot
What are some common mistakes when scaling a sales team for SaaS? by former entrepreneur turned VC Jason Lemkin
The Secret Weapon to Scaling Sales Operations by former entrepreneur turned VC Jeff Bussgang
Enterprise Sales Book by work-bench
The Sales Handbook & Intercom on Sales by Intercom
How to build, manage and scale a sales team — 12 strategies from the experts by Intercom
Four pillars of successful sales operations by Paul Melchiorre former sales leader turned VC
HIRING AND COMPENSATION
How to Hire Enterprise Salespeople & A Guide to Creating a Scalable Sales Compensation Plan by OpenView VC
The 3 Step Playbook to Hiring Your First Sales Leader by Mandy Cole
20 of the Best Interview Questions for Sales Hires by OpenView VC
The 20 Best Sales Development Rep Interview Questions by Emma Brudner Director of People Operations at Lola.com via Hubspot
Top 10 interview questions in sales hiring by CEO of Close CRM
How to Build a Winning Sales Team: The Complete Guide
The Ultimate Guide to Sales Compensation by HubSpot
The ultimate guide to SaaS Sales Compensation Plan by former entrepreneur turned VC Jason Lemkin
SaaS Sales Compensation: How to Design the Right Plan by David Skok
3 KEY INGREDIENTS OF A SALES COMPENSATION PLAN by Tomasz Tungus VC at Redpoint
HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU PAY YOUR SAAS STARTUP’S SALESPEOPLE? by Tomasz Tungus VC at Redpoint
Building Your SaaS Sales Compensation Plan by Philippe Botteri VC at Accel
Creating a Fair Sales Compensation Plan & Setting Sales Targets by former sales leader turned CEO Dave Kennett
How to Build Effective Sales Compensation Plans for Any Customer Facing Role by Sales Hacker
How to Compensate Your SaaS Sales Reps
What Makes a Great VP of Sales and How to Hire One by former entrepreneur turned VC Jason Lemkin
VP Software Sales — Compensation Highlights by Boston Search Group
Do sales commission clawbacks typically apply after a customer’s payment has cleared (e.g. if they ask for and are granted a refund) or only up until payment is collected? by former entrepreneur turned VC Jason Lemkin
SALES METRICS & SALES TEAM MANAGEMENT
The Ultimate Guide to Sales Metrics by HubSpot
Template for modeling ARR and sales rep productivity for a conventional SaaS startup by Lightspeed VC
18 Sales KPIs & Metrics to grow your revenue faster by Intercom
Is Your Sales Model Sustainable? Here’s a Tool for That by Scale VC
Replacing the Sales Funnel with the Sales Flywheel via HubSpot
Playbook To Manage Your Work from Home (WFH) Sales Teams via ATRIUM
OTHER
Free Book — Product Demo That Sell by Close CRM
Bridge Group 2016 Sales Development Metrics and Compensation Benchmark Report
Free Sales Enablement Toolkit by Close CRM in partnership with Predictable Revenue
How to Make Your Sales Forecasts More Accurate via Havard Business Review
What are the Traits of a Great SDR?
https://salesloft.com/resources/blog/2016/01/what-are-the-traits-of-a-great-sdr-a-sales-tips-video/?
3 Key Elements for a Successful (and High-Powered) Sales Development Organization
https://salesloft.com/resources/blog/2016/01/three-key-elements-for-a-sales-development-organization/?
introduction to generating leads with cold emails
http://righthello.com/introduction-to-generating-leads-with-cold-emails/
Cold Emails Sales Email
When is a good day this week for a 15 min call to discuss…?
Are you sending links to valuable resources
http://www.saleshacker.com/prospecting/23-email-sales-lines-to-spur-action/
https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/cold-sales-emails/?
101 Sales Email Templates
http://growthhackers.com/articles/101-sales-email-templates-you-can-use-today-to-close-more-deals
The 10 Golden Rules Of Effective Sales Emails
http://www.insightsquared.com/2015/10/the-10-golden-rules-of-effective-sales-emails/?
This was posted prior to Nov 2018
