Your first salesperson is the hardest hire you will make. You have no sales manager to run the process, no HR team to write the contract, and no playbook for the new hire to follow. You are also handing over something you have done yourself since day one.
This guide covers what to get right, in order: the brief, the pay, the contract and the first 90 days.
1. Decide what you are actually hiring
Most first sales hires fail because the founder hires for the wrong job. There are two very different roles hiding behind the same title.
The builder. Someone who can sell with no brand, no case studies and no marketing support. They will test messaging, build the first pipeline and tell you what is not working. They are comfortable with chaos.
The closer. Someone who takes warm leads and turns them into revenue. They are strong in a process that already works. Put them in a company with no pipeline and they stall.
At Pre-Seed and Seed, you almost always need the builder. Ask yourself one question before you write the job spec: where will this person's first ten meetings come from? If the answer is "they will find them", you need a builder.
2. Write a brief, not a job advert
Before you speak to a single candidate, write down:
The customer. Who they sell to, by title, company size and sector.
The deal. Typical deal size, sales cycle and who signs.
The first year. What success looks like at 3, 6 and 12 months. Be specific: meetings booked, pipeline built, deals closed.
What they inherit. Your existing pipeline, tools, collateral and customer list.
What you will not compromise on. Two or three things at most.
This brief becomes your interview scorecard. It also stops you being swayed by the most confident person in the room.
3. Set the pay before you start
Founders often leave pay until the offer stage. That wastes weeks on candidates you cannot afford.
Decide three numbers before the search starts:
Base salary. What you can pay every month, whatever happens.
On-target earnings (OTE). Base plus commission at 100% of quota.
The split. For a first AE, 50/50 or 60/40 base to variable is standard in Ireland.
Our GTM Salary Benchmarks for Ireland 2026 puts SMB and mid-market AE OTE at €80,000 to €130,000, and Enterprise AE OTE at €130,000 to €190,000. A builder who can open new logos will sit towards the upper end of their range.
Two points on commission for a first hire:
Ramp the quota. Nobody closes in month one. A ramped quota for the first three to six months keeps a good hire from leaving before the pipeline matures.
Keep the plan simple. One target, one rate, paid monthly or quarterly. A complex plan in a company with no sales history causes more arguments than it solves.
Equity matters more for a first hire than for anyone who follows. If you are offering options, explain the number, the vesting schedule and what happens if they leave.
4. Get the contract right
You do not need an HR team, but you do need to meet the legal basics. Under Irish employment law:
Within five days of the start date, you must give the employee a written statement of core terms. This covers items such as job title, start date, place of work, hours, pay and the length of any probation.
Within one month, you must give the remaining terms in writing.
Probation can run for a maximum of six months, with extension to twelve months only in limited circumstances.
Minimum notice from the employer is one week for an employee with less than two years' service, rising with length of service. Most sales contracts set a longer contractual notice period than the legal minimum.
Also put in writing:
The commission plan. As a separate document, signed, with what happens to commission on deals that close after the person leaves.
Confidentiality and IP. Your customer list, pricing and product roadmap.
Restrictive covenants. Keep them narrow. Irish courts only enforce non-competes that are reasonable in scope and duration. We cover this in detail in our guide to notice periods, non-competes and counter-offers.
Use an employment solicitor for the template. It is a one-off cost, and every hire after this one uses the same contract.
This is general information, not legal advice.
5. Run a short process
Good salespeople are rarely out of work for long. A process that takes six weeks loses the best candidates to companies that move faster.
A three-stage process works well:
Founder call, 30 minutes. Motivation, track record and pay expectations.
Deep dive, 60 minutes. Walk through their best and worst deals. Ask for numbers: quota, attainment, deal size, cycle length.
Practical, 45 minutes. A discovery call role play on your product, or a 30-60-90 day plan presented back to you.
Take references from a former manager, and ask them one direct question: would you hire this person again?
6. Plan the first 90 days
The first 90 days decide whether this hire works. Plan them before day one.
Days 1 to 30: learn. Shadow every customer call you have. Speak to five customers. Learn the product well enough to demo it.
Days 31 to 60: sell alongside you. Run calls with you in the room. Build their own target list.
Days 61 to 90: sell on their own. Own their pipeline, report weekly, and agree the quota for the next quarter.
Meet weekly. Look at activity and pipeline, not just closed deals. By day 90, you should know whether this is working.
The hire that sets the pace
Your first salesperson sets the standard for everyone who follows. The second and third hires will look at how they sell, what they earn and how they are managed.
Take the time to get the brief right. The search itself should not take long.
Hiring your first salesperson? Our Permanent Recruitment service runs a retained search with a fully assessed shortlist of 3 to 5 candidates in 10 to 15 working days. Read more about our Account Executive recruitment, or book a discovery call.
The Recruiter is Ireland's specialist GTM and SaaS recruitment agency. We partner with VC-backed SaaS companies from Pre-Seed to Series C across Ireland and EMEA. Employment Agency Licence EA 4551.
