Making Your First Sales Hires

The step-by-step system to hire, ramp, and lead your first sales reps

We wanted to hire the right talent and minimize trial and error at our early stage. Dan helped us interview the candidates and decide on the best two. I definitely would recommend to other early-stage founders

- Ahmed El Naggar, Co-founder and CEO, GoAudience

If you're a founder trying to build a repeatable sales process, I'd highly recommend working with Dan. There’s no one better in Silicon Valley to build with

- Don Muir, Co-founder and CEO, Arc

Dan distilled years of sales learnings into practical, founder-first insights that would have saved me a lot of time (and stress!) if I had known them earlier.

- Afrozy Ara, Co-founder and CEO, LuminaData

❮ ❯

$249

Lifetime access
Self-paced course (15 modules / ~2 hours)
Actionable recommendations; not just “theory”
Proven hiring frameworks for first sales reps
Hiring scorecards and job description templates
Interview questions and evaluation criteria
Onboarding plans and tactical calendar
Compensation calculators and agreement templates

$249

~~$500.00~~

50.2%
OFF

Lifetime access
Self-paced course (15 modules / ~2 hours)
Actionable recommendations; not just “theory”
Proven hiring frameworks for first sales reps
Hiring scorecards and job description templates
Interview questions and evaluation criteria
Onboarding plans and tactical calendar
Compensation calculators and agreement templates

Hiring your first sellers can make or break your company. Get it wrong, and you risk:

Accelerating cash burn instead of acquiring more revenue
Scaling an ineffective sales process
A toxic sales culture that scares away future top talent

Most founders hire too early, choose the wrong profile, and don’t set up their first sellers for success.

After completing this course, you’ll:

Know exactly when to make your first hire and what profile to hire first
Use proven scorecards and interview frameworks to pick the right people
Set your reps up for success from day one with the right onboarding plan
Know within 30 days if your rep is on track
Cut ramp time and free up your time to focus on other strategic initiatives

Hiring your first sellers can make or break your company. Get it wrong, and you risk:

Accelerating cash burn instead of acquiring more revenue
Scaling an ineffective sales process
A toxic sales culture that scares away future top talent

Most founders hire too early, choose the wrong profile, and don’t set up their first sellers for success.

After completing this course, you’ll:

Know exactly when to make your first hire and what profile to hire first
Use proven scorecards and interview frameworks to pick the right people
Set your reps up for success from day one with the right onboarding plan
Know within 30 days if your rep is on track
Cut ramp time and free up your time to focus on other strategic initiatives

Course modules (15 total)

What’s the format?

What templates are included?

Who is this for?

Does this apply to industries outside of SaaS and AI?

What if I already hired a rep and it’s not working out?

Do I get lifetime access or is this a subscription model?

Practical Sales Courses for Startup Founders

About The Instructor

Dan Oakes is the founder of Startup Sales Consulting where he’s a sales coach and consultant for early-stage B2B startups.

He’s twice been the first sales hire at VC-backed startups now with nine-figure valuations (Arc and Trunk Tools). He built these courses to pass along the strategies, templates, and frameworks he’s learned from being a Founding AE and Head of Sales to other founders and early sales hires.

Dan holds an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He resides in New York City.