Startup CEOs by nature are the Company's first salesperson. They get the first client in the door and prove the MVP delivers value. Once a CEO has a client or two buying the product, scaling growth is the next step. Hiring an experienced, successful Sales Leader is one of the most expensive choices a CEO can make. It can be very expensive, even disastrous if a CEO hires a sales leader who does not quickly deliver a capable sales team and revenue to support it!
After a great 5-year career working in Cybersecurity, Dave launched his startup providing a cybersecurity platform for small and medium businesses. He built a team of 5 and grew sales to almost $2 million. With high interest rates and VCs in hibernation, Dave knew it would be tough to build a large marketing and sales team, so he had to manage his budget carefully. Not to mention he needed more time to work on the product and delivery. That’s when a CEO buddy at a roundtable chat told him about Fractional talent.
Dave knew he did not have the time nor skill to lead a sales team. He also knew he needed a Sales Playbook, a scalable process, and a workflow process with his CRM. He had heard about fractional Chief Revenue and Growth leaders who could build an entire sales process, meet with clients, and start to recruit a team while generating sales.
Dave received an email from FractionL, a community of fractional C-level talent and the leading source of fractional executives for young technology companies. Dave requested the FractionL Talent team to provide 3-4 candidates who understand the cybersecurity marketplace and his target customer.
After interviewing the 4 candidates provided by FractionL, Dave had his team interview the two finalists. One of the Chief Revenue Officers they interviewed brought great experience from a direct competitor and had experience selling to much larger customers, which was a goal in the back of Dave’s mind.
Dave hired the CRO to start 3 days a week to lay the foundation for a sales process and define the role and persona of the sales reps they would eventually hire. The CRO met with clients and in the first two months landed a significant customer! After 3 months, they were able to hire the first full-time resource. Having built a process, playbook, and workflow, the first sales rep started producing very quickly. After 60 days, Dave hired another sales rep and reduced the CRO to 8-12 hours weekly just coaching the team and screening new candidates.
This strategic transition allowed the business to scale rapidly and sustainably, with a proven sales process, a fully built team, and a capable leader in place. By leveraging the expertise of the fractional CRO, Dave not only accelerated revenue growth but also established a strong foundation for long-term success.
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