What got you early traction isn’t what makes a first hire succeed. I work hands-on with founders to make that transition actually work.
For Seed to Series A B2B SaaS founders with early traction
At some point, you need to hand sales off.
But if the motion isn’t clear yet, hiring doesn’t solve it - it exposes the gaps.
Every founder I speak to at this stage is working through some version of the same questions:
Do I have real traction — or am I still figuring it out?
At what point does it make sense to bring someone else in?
What kind of profile do I need at this stage?
How do I tell who’s actually good vs just good at interviewing?
How do I turn how I sell today into something repeatable?
What does someone actually need to succeed from day one?
Get this wrong, and it’s not just a bad hire — it’s lost momentum, wasted months, and growing doubt about whether sales actually works beyond you.
But there’s no obvious answer.
You’re not ready for a VP Sales, advisors won’t build it with you, and figuring it out alone carries real risk.
I work with you to make it actually work.
The work flexes depending on where you are, but it typically moves through five connected steps — from strengthening how you sell today, to making sure your first hire actually works.
Step 1
Improving how you sell today, while extracting what works.
Step 2
Turning instinct into something consistent and transferable.
Step 3
Making the motion visible and usable by someone else.
Step 4
Defining who to hire and setting them up correctly.
Step 5
Making sure the hire can execute from day one.
Warden had strong early traction, with the founder leading all sales. The focus was to make that motion explicit and build the foundations for a first hire to step into.
That included:
“By the time we hired, it just felt straightforward — I was much more confident going into it.”
“Out of four founding AE roles that I've had, I've never been set up for success this well.”
Engagements are structured around full days of embedded work. Not high-level advice. Not recruitment. A hands-on sprint to get this transition right.
We start with a focused session to understand where you are now, assess readiness for hiring, identify what needs to be built, and decide whether it makes sense to work together.
4–6 weeks
10–20 days of embedded work: refining your sales process, building systems, creating playbooks, designing the hire, and strengthening how you sell today.
3–6 months
Hiring support, onboarding your first AE, and hands-on ramp coaching until they're running independently. Ongoing access as you need it.
I'm an early-stage GTM operator. I've spent my career building and scaling commercial functions at B2B technology companies — from revenue operations and strategy at Codat, to leading commercial growth at Doubleword (formerly TitanML) following their $12M Series A.
Before that, I was Chief of Staff at Rainbird Technologies and started my career in management consulting at Oliver Wyman. I studied Mathematics at Durham University.
I've seen the founder-to-first-hire transition from multiple angles — as the person building the process, designing the role, and supporting the ramp. I know what good looks like, and I know the mistakes that cost founders months.
Beyond Founder Sales is how I help founders get this transition right — hands-on, embedded, and focused on building something that works without me.
It usually starts with a working session to understand where you are, what needs to be built, and whether it makes sense to work together.
Or email directly: George@beyondfoundersales.com