A founding Account Executive, after fifty candidates and no hire.

The situation

The company had grown from $400k to $3.6m ARR without a dedicated sales team, with the founders still leading most commercial activity directly. They had clear product-market fit, strong demand from regulated enterprise buyers, and an urgent need to turn founder-led sales into a repeatable commercial function.

They had already spent several months on the search. Around 50 Account Executive candidates had been reviewed and two taken to offer, with no successful hire.

This was their first dedicated Account Executive, so the wrong appointment would have shaped the sales function that followed it.

The role needed someone commercially hungry enough to create pipeline, but polished enough to operate in complex enterprise environments, with minimal structure and direct founder oversight.

The challenge

The approach

1. 01

   Discovery and recalibration

   • ·Started with the commercial lead, working out why the previous search had failed after two offers.
   • ·Separated the candidates who looked strong on paper from the ones who could actually do this job.
   • ·Clarified the non-negotiables: intelligence, commercial drive, complex sales capability, pipeline generation and credibility with senior regulated-industry buyers.
   • ·Reframed the search away from generic SaaS sellers and toward Account Executives with evidence of ownership and complex stakeholder management.
2. 02

   Market mapping and sourcing

   • ·Built a focused target list of proven SaaS Account Executives with complex sales experience.
   • ·Prioritised steady progression, strong attainment and experience selling into regulated or technical environments.
   • ·Screened for both hunting capability and the ability to manage longer, multi-stakeholder cycles.
   • ·Filtered out candidates who needed heavy structure or were unlikely to thrive as a first sales hire.
3. 03

   Shortlisting and interview management

   • ·Presented a tightly calibrated shortlist of five candidates.
   • ·All five were selected for interview.
   • ·Was straight with candidates about what they were joining: no sales infrastructure, direct founder oversight, and first-hire upside.
4. 04

   Final stage and offer

   • ·Supported candidates through a demanding multi-stage process, including founder interviews and a final-stage presentation.
   • ·Two candidates progressed to final stage.
   • ·One candidate received an offer.

The result

• A search that had been running broad for months narrowed to five people.
• Every submitted candidate was selected for interview.
• One offer made from five submitted profiles, and accepted.