Founding GTM recruiting for your first go-to-market hire

Who this is for, and when to start

This search is for founders, CEOs and hiring managers. Some customers already pay. You still sit in every serious conversation, and you need someone who can win the next deals without you.

If nobody pays yet, the search is often too early. We will say so on the first call.

Sometimes the first go-to-market hire should be a marketer rather than a seller. That fits when demand is already there, and the gap is positioning, pipeline or a channel, not closing. In that situation we can search for a founding marketer or a first marketing hire.

We work with companies in Europe and the US.

Roles we search

The title matters less than what the person will own in the first six months. Across these roles, that work usually includes:

• Discovery and positioning: who buys, why they buy, and how you describe the product.
• Early sales, next to you: they join the conversations you already run, then start closing on their own.
• Channel tests: they try ways of reaching buyers and keep what works.
• A simple system for the work, often a CRM, so the pipeline and activity are visible.
• Writing down what works, so the next hire can work from what you have already learned.

These titles often describe the same job:

• Founding GTM lead, GTM lead or Head of GTM: owns go-to-market across sales, marketing and sometimes partnerships.
• Founding account executive, founding AE or founding sales: closes deals and helps build the sales process at the same time.
• Founding sales engineer or solutions architect: helps win technical deals early, often beside a founding AE.
• Growth lead, first marketing hire or founding marketer: when the first gap is demand, positioning or a channel.

A GTM engineer is a different seat, described below.

How a search runs

Talentholo is a founder-led direct search firm. Marcin Cieszyński or Renata Chmiel leads the work from the first call: the contract, the search strategy, the assessment and the recommendation. Talent Partners do part of the research, outreach and first screening. More about the team is on About.

We map the market and approach people who are not looking. We assess them against your brief and recommend only people we are prepared to stand behind. When the brief is a founding AE or a founding sales hire, this is also sales executive search.

The recommended fee is a fixed amount, agreed before the search starts and paid after the hire, not a percentage of salary. A success fee is also available. We work exclusively on each role, like a retained firm, but payment comes after the hire.

The steps are described in more detail on how a search runs and fees. Direct search for other specialist and leadership roles is on executive search.

Founding AE, AE, SDR or Head of Sales

• A founding GTM lead fits when you need one person to own go-to-market, including work around the sale, while the process is still being written.
• A founding AE fits when the main gap is closing, and that person can help write the sales process while they sell. More on this role: What is a founding AE, and when do you need one?.
• A standard AE fits when a way of winning deals already works, and you need someone to run it.
• An SDR fits when someone is already closing, and the message already gets replies.
• A Head of Sales or VP of Sales fits when a sales process already works and the next job is to build a team. That is usually later than a founding GTM hire.
• It is too early when no customers pay yet, or when you cannot show a new hire how you have won so far.

A fuller comparison is in Your first sales hire after founder-led sales.

GTM engineer

A founding GTM engineer builds the data, tools and often the outbound setup around early go-to-market. Some companies consider this person first when the product is technical and the first problem is that system.

If you are not sure whether you need this seat first, we can talk it through on the first call.

What you get

A founder leads your search from the first call to the signed offer. We approach people who are not looking, assess them against your brief, and recommend only people we are prepared to stand behind.

The recommended model is a fixed fee, agreed before we start and paid after the hire. A success fee is also available.

Fee and guarantee are agreed individually for each project.

We specialise in founding GTM and founding sales search and work directly with founders. We have the contacts and the know-how for this kind of hire. We have run founding GTM searches, including for Alokai. That work has also included founding AE and founding sales roles.