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Struggles of Early Stage Sales Leadership & How to Avoid Burnout

1. Pains of Early Stage Sales Leadership
2. The 4 Biggest Mistakes Sales Leaders Make
3. Quick and Dirty Lead Gen Tactics for Sales Leaders
4. The Right Way To Approach Lead Gen

Read time: 3 minutes and 6 seconds

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The reality of early-stage sales leadership

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You’ve landed the VP of Sales role at a hot SaaS startup. Congratulations. You’re pumped to make a difference and prove your value.

But within weeks, the pressure kicks in:

• There’s no pipeline.
• No marketing team driving leads.
• You’re stuck balancing prospecting, closing, and building relationships—all while creating a go-to-market (GTM) strategy from scratch.

Sound familiar?

I’ve spent the last 5 years working with early-stage sales leaders, and I’ve seen one thing derail them time and time again: burnout.

Here’s why.

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The 4 Biggest Mistakes Sales Leaders Make

Most VPs of Sales walk into one of two scenarios:

1. They inherit a chaotic, founder-led sales process.
2. They start with a blank slate.

Both lead to the same traps:

1️⃣ Spending Time on Low-Leverage Activities​
Diving into cold outreach sounds like a quick win, but here’s the truth:
Every minute spent cold calling or emailing is a minute not spent closing deals or refining your strategy.

👉 Ask yourself: “Am I the best person for this task?”

2️⃣ Using Ineffective Cold Outreach Tactics​
Old scripts and templates? Straight to the spam folder. Most sales leaders waste 3–6 months trying to prospect like it’s 2010.

3️⃣ Relying on In-Person Events​
Events don’t build pipelines overnight. They’re great for awareness but terrible for immediate results.

4️⃣ Scrappy, Ineffective Hiring​
Hiring junior SDRs with no support or reps from big companies doesn’t cut it in an early-stage environment. Without a GTM playbook, you’re setting them up to fail.

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Quick and Dirty Lead Generation Tactics

If you MUST focus on lead gen, here's a few quick and dirty tactics guaranteed to bring results:

1️⃣ Ask for Referrals from Existing Customers

• Why it works: Happy customers know others who might need your solution. A simple, direct ask can open doors.
• How to do it: Reach out personally or send an email like:
  ​“Hey [Customer Name], we’ve loved working with you. Do you know anyone else who might benefit from [Your Product/Service]? I’d love an introduction!”

2️⃣ Tap Into Your Rolodex

• Why it works: Your professional network already trusts you and is more likely to respond.
• How to do it: Send a personal message to past colleagues, friends, or professional connections. Example:
  ​“Hi [Contact Name], I’ve just joined [Your Company], and we’re solving [specific problem]. Do you know anyone at [Target Industry/Company Type] who might find this useful? I’d appreciate your feedback or an intro!”

3️⃣ Post on LinkedIn

• Why it works: Announcing your new role and the problem your product solves gets attention and engagement.
• How to do it:
  • Share a personal post:
    ​“Excited to join [Company Name]! We’re helping [ICP] solve [specific problem]. If you or someone you know struggles with [pain point], let’s chat!”
  • End with a call-to-action to drive DMs or comments.

4️⃣ Reach Out to Your First-Degree LinkedIn Connections

• Why it works: Your first-degree network is already accessible, and they may know someone who fits your ICP.
• How to do it:
  • Identify relevant connections.
  • Send a simple DM:
    ​“Hi [Name], I noticed you work with [Industry/Role]. Do you know anyone who might be interested in [problem your solution solves]? Would love to connect them!”

5️⃣ Reconnect with Closed-Lost Opportunities

• Why it works: These leads already showed interest once—they may be ready now.
• How to do it:
  • Go through your CRM or past deal records.
  • Send an email like:
    ​“Hi [Name], I know we spoke a while back about [your solution]. I wanted to check in and see if this might be a better time to revisit. Let me know!”

👉 Grab our free First-SDR Readiness Checklist to evaluate your GTM strategy today.

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How To Approach Lead Gen Instead

I'm strongly against early stage leaders doing Lead Gen themselves.

There's 3 things you can do instead:

1. Hire in-house SDRs (but make sure your GTM strategy and Sales playbook are established)
2. Hire a lead gen agency (make sure you vet them thoroughly so you don't waste money. And even if they're good, be aware they'll keep the know how)
3. Hire outsourced SDRs

At SDR Hire, we specialize in helping early-stage leaders avoid burnout by building scalable sales development teams made up of A players.

Whether you’re defining your GTM strategy or need experienced SDRs ready to hit the ground running, we’ve got you covered.

📍 25+ companies served​
📍 Global SDR talent​
📍 Scalable sales processes without the hassle

👩‍💼👨‍💼Browse vetted candidates and their intro videos here.​

P.S. Burnout doesn’t have to be your story. Book a call with my team today to see how we can help you scale.

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