Building a crack sales team in a tech / Internet start-up

When one interacts with the founders of technology / Internet start-ups during networking events, one topic that never ceases to generate interest is about "what should one's sales strategy be and how to hire a crack sales team". The reason why this is a hot topic for discussion is because typically most of the founders come from a technology background and have had no active sales roles in their previous professional avatars.

I have also seen many of the founders getting into the role of a Head of Sales - not just taking decisions on sales strategy and doing front-line sales but also hiring sales managers and the team. The passion of the founders to take the company forward can absolutely be not doubted but this trend definitely raises the question - "is sales as easy as a DIY tool"?

In my opinion, any technology / Internet start-up is propped up by 4 pillars - Product, Marketing, Sales and Customer Service and the company would be as strong as its weakest pillar. One would have to acknowledge that each of these pillars is a specialized field and needs specialists to strengthen it. This is especially so of Sales because this is the only pillar that has the responsibility of earning money for the company whereas the other pillars look for investment/spends from the company.

Why tech start-ups should outsource marketing

One of the biggest positives one sees in the growth of India's tech-knowledge economy is the rise in entrepreneurial intent among today's professionals, in technology, mobile or Internet space. And typically, my observation has been that most of the technology based start-ups are started by entrepreneurs with technology skills as getting one's own hands dirty is a great way to become an entrepreneur.

One has had an opportunity to meet with scores of founders of tech start-ups in the last few months and most of them have voiced very similar challenges relating to marketing - "what should our marketing strategy be and what kind of a person one should hire to spearhead our marketing".

My advice to a tech start-ups - "time your marketing hiring".