Author: Nick Martitsch
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
In the crypto space, the job market for early growth leaders is exceptionally competitive.
Due to the lack of defensive barriers in open-source software, distribution becomes a key competitive factor for decentralized protocols and their platforms. Hiring the right BD leader at the right time can significantly influence the direction of the project.
As a member of Paradigm's market expansion team, I work with talent lead Dan McCarthy to help founders recruit top growth leaders in the industry. Below are some suggestions we give to founders about hiring their first BD leader.
Do not prematurely change the sales model led by the founders.
Transform early flexible strategies into scalable solutions.
Candidates are required to possess a high degree of autonomy and a deep understanding of cryptographic technologies.
Value the execution of tactics.
Use auxiliary metrics to assess performance.
1. Do not prematurely change the sales model led by the founders.
Founders are often the best salespeople for their own products. It is crucial to maintain a founder-led sales strategy during the process of attracting the first customers and developing the MVP for several reasons:
You are more likely to close the first deal. For startups that have not yet launched a product, buyers primarily value the founders' ability to realize their vision rather than the current state of the product. Founders are best at communicating technical details, product vision, and overall enthusiasm, thereby persuading customers to be the first to try untested solutions.
This helps optimize the product. In the early stages of a company, sales and product development should proceed in sync. Founders should maintain a close feedback loop with early customers to refine the product roadmap. Introducing new employees at this stage may cause unnecessary friction and communication barriers.
Typically, you can consider hiring your first BD leader when you have validated the needs of your initial user base and are ready to take the product to a broader market. If your project needs to build a wide external ecosystem before launch, this process can be expedited; but generally, it is best to do so after having a loyal customer base.
2. Transform early flexible strategies into scalable solutions.
The BD leader should convert the 'flexible strategies' used by the founders to acquire the first customer into scalable, replicable sales models to attract more customers. Below are some of the sales processes that this position should be responsible for in the early stages:
Choose a CRM system that can scale with the company's growth (e.g., Excel, Salesforce, Copper, etc.) and populate it with data from the entire target market.
Filter inbound leads, send external information to new customers, and involve the founders to help close the most important deals.
Hold weekly sales pipeline meetings to keep leadership informed about market penetration and bottlenecks in the sales process.
Create sales materials such as customer case studies, product updates, onboarding guides, etc., and test which sales points effectively drive potential customer conversions.
Act as the internal representative of customer opinions in the product roadmap decision-making process, guiding the product team in developing key features and capabilities.
In summary, it is crucial to find a BD leader who can both establish sales infrastructure and manage the end-to-end sales process. Being good at only one of these is not enough.
3. Candidates are required to possess a high degree of autonomy and a deep understanding of cryptographic technologies.
We found that the best initial BD leaders are often former startup founders or early employees who built departments from scratch in previous companies. They are acutely aware that the responsibility lies with them and have a strong sense of accountability for achieving the company's goals.
In addition to basic communication and organizational skills, a background in cryptographic technology should be a core consideration in hiring. Below are some soft skills that can help determine if your BD leader can persevere across multiple market cycles:
Adaptability - Early sales in the crypto space differ from sales roles in established industries. In the crypto industry, market conditions and narratives are constantly changing, and growth leaders need to be able to respond flexibly, developing new sales strategies as effective methods in a bull market may not work in a bear market, and vice versa.
Resilience - Given the cyclical nature of the industry, candidates need to have a strong motivation for the mission of the crypto industry and not be easily discouraged by delayed results. Successful business development strategies are often found after multiple failures, learning, and iterations. Candidates motivated solely by short-term financial benefits may be eliminated during market downturns.
While it is difficult to find candidates who meet all the requirements perfectly, having a highly autonomous BD leader with a background in cryptographic technology will lay the foundation for your success.
4. Focus on the execution of tactics.
Most crypto startups place too much emphasis on strategy and neglect tactics when it comes to growth. I investigated several applications concerning their technical decision-making and found that responsiveness is often a deciding factor, such as responding to inbound inquiries, timely follow-ups after calls, or the ability to solve complex technical issues.
The cumulative effect of good tactics is key to creating long-term success, so prioritizing candidates who can execute orderly processes is very important to ensure leads are not overlooked. Below are some interview questions that can be used to assess a candidate's effectiveness in actual sales:
How would you classify inbound inquiries as low, medium, and high priority? How does the sales process differ in each case?
What questions would you ask during the initial call to determine if a prospect is a good fit for us?
Do you think it is appropriate to browse a presentation while on a call with a potential customer? How do you typically guide sales calls?
How quickly would you follow up with a prospect after the initial sales call? What information do you typically send them?
If a prospect loses interest, what strategies would you try to re-engage them?
If a prospect enters the implementation phase, how would you adjust your communication style, manner, and frequency with them?
The BD leader still needs to assist in formulating the company's distribution strategy, but if they can't execute the details effectively on a daily basis, the strategy will be difficult to implement.
5. Use auxiliary metrics to assess performance.
In emerging industries like crypto, many external factors can affect achieving traditional growth targets such as revenue, TVL, customer numbers, or transaction volumes. These growth targets are the result of the business development process; while it's important to track these targets, it is equally important to measure the quality of the process in achieving these targets.
Founders should set clear goals for business development based on market signals gathered from early sales. They should also develop a set of secondary metrics to assess performance in response to unforeseen market changes, regulatory shifts, or other macro events.
Below are examples of goals set by founders for business development positions:
Core Goal: Achieve $5 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of the year
Key Metrics:
Number of new paying customers
Average contract value per customer
Auxiliary Metrics:
Number of deals entering the evaluation stage
Number of new leads added to the sales pipeline
Number of initial calls completed with potential customers
Number of external pieces of information sent to potential customers
Through this framework, you will be able to mitigate some external influences in the crypto industry and ensure that the business development process remains efficient.