Is it a mistake to move away from founder-led sales too early?

Yes. If the founding team has not run the motion, a missed number cannot tell you whether the problem is the seller, the message, pricing, the ICP or the product. Where founders lack sales experience, advisor-assisted founder-led sales is safer than hiring an AE to compensate for an unproven motion.

How do you verify a sales candidate’s performance?

We qualify quota and ranking against the period, team size, territory, ACV, sales cycle, buyer group, source of pipeline and support around the seller. We then test live behaviour against a 13-part scorecard and give every shortlisted candidate a written rationale covering evidence, strengths and risks.

Should our next hire be an SDR or an Account Executive?

If founders have proven the motion but still own discovery and closing, a full-cycle Account Executive is usually the stronger first hire. Add SDR capacity once the message converts consistently and closers are constrained by the time required to create pipeline.

What makes Enterprise Account Executive recruitment different?

Enterprise search must verify complex new-logo experience: executive access, multi-stakeholder discovery, technical evaluation, procurement, security and long-cycle control. A large quota or well-known employer alone does not prove that experience transfers.

Expertise

Tech Sales recruitment for SaaS & AI companies.

A founding seller and a $100m enterprise AE are not the same hire. Different stage. Different motion. Different buyer. Different person. We recruit sales talent from first sellers through enterprise AEs and sales leadership, across the US, UK and Europe.

Our hiring process Or book here directly →

Selected sales hiring clients

Venture-backed SaaS & AI companies, Seed to Series C

The sales hiring escalator

We’ve been in your shoes, and we hire:

The hire
The first dedicated pipeline hire needs enough resilience to create volume, and enough curiosity to learn why a technical buyer answers. At an early-stage company, they cannot wait for a finished playbook.
Evidence we want
Coachability, preparation, urgency, curiosity and consistent activity — observed during the process, not inferred from enthusiasm in one interview.
What we help you avoid
Underprepared, low-curiosity candidates whose activity numbers conceal weak judgement and little interest in the product.
I’m hiring an SDR

Hiring outside sales?

Looking for Pre-Sales?Looking for Post-Sales?Looking for a CRO or exec hire?Looking for GTM Engineers?

The offer

A free 30-minute sales hiring diagnosis with the founder — then your ideal candidates within 10 days. You only pay if you hire.

I built and scaled these teams myself. I made the hiring mistakes — that’s why I started Tipped.

Ash Takher

Founder (former SaaS Sales Leader) · runs searches personally

Optimizely — European Sales Leader
Sensor Tower — VP EMEA
ByteDance · AI Lab — Led Western EMEA

Not a recruiter who found sales. An operator who built and scaled the teams you are hiring for.

What you get in the sales hiring diagnosis

Free · no brief needed

01The next sales seat
Whether the constraint is pipeline, closing capacity, enterprise complexity or leadership — before a title is chosen.
02Role and hiring sequence
Whether the next constraint calls for an SDR, AE, enterprise seller, technical partner or sales leader — and what should follow it.
03The evidence to hire on
The scorecard, deal proof and live behaviours that separate a plausible CV from a transferable sales record.
04Market and compensation
A realistic view of candidate supply, base, OTE and territory across the US and EMEA.

Then, if it makes sense

You get your ideal candidates within 10 days

Full CVs and candidate profiles you can share with your team
A written assessment of each candidate against the agreed scorecard

How you pay

Only if you hire

No retainer on the diagnosis, and nothing owed unless you hire the person we introduce.

Book with me here

Meet Ash within 48 hours.

Prefer email? hello@tippedrecruitment.com

The sales objection room

Put your hardest hiring question on the table.

Five questions that usually surface before a sales search begins. Pick a file to open it.

Open case file

01 / 05

“When should we hire our first Account Executive?”

Hire a founding AE once early product-market fit has been validated through founder-led sales: founders have closed genuine paying customers and can explain the buyer, trigger, objections, price and reason those deals closed. Before then, an AE is being asked to discover the motion rather than scale it.

Case study

Cursor's first EMEA sales hire, introduced within seven days

Tipped helped Cursor make its first EMEA sales hire, with the successful candidate introduced within seven days of the search beginning.

Read the case study

7 days: From search start to introducing the successful candidate
First: EMEA sales hire for the business

US + EMEA

Both markets. One sales search partner.

We find, interview & verify credible performers, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Assessment, not CV matching

We don't forward CVs. We forward proof.

Every candidate is met live and scored against the same 13-part Tipped scorecard. Below 70 points, they don't reach your inbox.

Interview scorecard

82/ 100

070 · submit threshold100

13 dimensions. 70 minimum. No shortcuts.

01
Claims are not evidence
Quota, ranking and logos are challenged for context: period, team size, territory, source and what references can verify.
02
Motion fit
ACV, buyer, cycle, self-sourced pipeline and available support are mapped directly against your sales environment.
03
Live behaviour
Preparation, curiosity, coachability, commercial judgement and product comprehension are observed during the process.
04
A written recommendation
Every introduction explains the transferable strengths, the unresolved risks and why the candidate should enter your process.
See the full Tipped assessment

Related expertise

Back to the offer

Want a fast consultation on how we help you hire?

Tell us the stage, the motion and the number you need the team to hit. You will get a straight view on the profile and whether the market can supply it.

See the offer

We’ve been in your shoes, and we hire:

A free 30-minute sales hiring diagnosis with the founder — then your ideal candidates within 10 days. You only pay if you hire.

Put your hardest hiring question on the table.

Cursor's first EMEA sales hire, introduced within seven days

We don't forward CVs. We forward proof.

Claims are not evidence

Motion fit

Live behaviour

A written recommendation

Related expertise

Want a fast consultation on how we help you hire?