How to Build a Sales Team from Scratch in SaaS Without…

About this episode

Hiring the wrong person at the wrong time kills SaaS growth faster than bad product. Here's what smart talent acquisition strategy actually looks like when you're scaling a B2B SaaS company. Featuring Olivia, Principal Talent Acquisition Partner at G-Works, a government SaaS platform that has scaled through one acquisition per year for five consecutive years, growing from a single product line in 1999 to a six-product company serving 9,000+ small communities across the U.S. Jean-Michel and Olivia break down why capacity planning is the missing piece in most SaaS scaling conversations, how to sequence hiring ahead of growth without burning cash, and what early-stage founders at $1M, $2M ARR get wrong about building a sales team from scratch. They also cover the hardest roles to place in tech right now, and why finding someone who can both execute and lead is the real bottleneck. 🏗️ Hire TA before you think you need it, G-Works had 90 employees and zero recruiters 📊 Misaligned hiring sequencing creates two flood points simultaneously: churn and chaos 🔍 The "purple squirrel" trap, why perfect candidates don't exist and what to prioritize instead ⚠️ If your team is working 60-hour weeks, you already have a capacity problem, you just can't see it 🤝 Succession planning externally means building warm candidate pipelines before roles open ⏱️ 00:00 G-Works' acquisition-led growth model explained 03:20 Why capacity planning sits between over-hiring and under-hiring 07:45 How TA should connect to company goals and sales sequencing 11:30 The purple squirrel problem and how to level-set with hiring managers 16:00 What $1M, $2M ARR founders don't know they need right now 19:10 Hardest skills to place in tech: strategic leaders who can still execute 23:00 What "talent acquisition business partner" actually means 🔥 Ready to add $1M in new revenue to your B2B company this year? Apply to Scale 👉 https://www.rapidproductgrowth.com 🔗 Website: https://www.rapidproductgrowth.com 🔗 Jean-Michel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanmichelthink/ 🔗 G-Works: https://www.gworks.com #SaaS #HiringStrategy #SaaSGrowth #RapidProductGrowth #TalentAcquisition