by Robert Taylor

As the venture capital landscape continues to evolve, so do the strategies and priorities of investors and entrepreneurs alike. Securing funding can mark just the beginning of the journey. One critical aspect that emerges post-fundraising is navigating the terrain of hiring the right talent at the right stage to drive the company forward.

In the final discussion of our 4 part series, we discuss with investors the hiring trends they see post-fundraising.

Commercial Focus

David Klein at One Peak emphasized a significant emphasis on commercial hires post-investment – “So depending on the stage we invest, the companies typically won’t have a CRO yet, but they might have a VP or Head of Sales. The CRO role from a go-to-market perspective with the right growth profile is absolutely critical. That tends to be the first hire we encourage post-investment.”

Financial Expertise

Jacob Key at Luminar Ventures eluded to the necessity of bolstering financial capabilities – “There isn’t a single typical hire, of course, it depends on the specific company and team skillset. Often a CFO is needed after Series A when more financial oversight and expertise are required. We back a lot of technical founders and therefore commercial or growth-orientated roles are often required at various levels.”

Emma Hertin at Bring Ventures shared a similar theme to Jacob from a commercial and finance perspective – “We see that our Founders often look to invest in more sales or commercially minded hires or equally post investment they often look to bring more finance pedigree into the business and hire a CFO.”

Tailored Approach

Ed Keelan at Octopus Ventures suggested companies will often have a key team or function that needs upskilling post-investment, which can vary – “It is very dependent on company specifics. Often, we find that companies will be at a pivotal point in one department, be that sales, finance or technology. We will work with the company to establish how best to ensure they get the right leaders to fill the relevant functions. We are fortunate that at Octopus Ventures, we have a dedicated People & Talent Team for our portfolio companies that support in creating organisational structures and hiring the right people.”

Morgane Zerath and Aneel Lakhani at Crane Venture Partners shared that there wasn’t a specific trend across the Crane portfolio and that they take a tailored approach with the ever-evolving skillset across their companies:

 Aneel Lakhani “I was at my first start-up in 2000, at that time being at a start-up wasn’t in pop culture, it was mostly engineers. Now being a Founder and raising VC funding is pop culture as well as working for start-ups, it’s a vocation like every other now, as a result, we are not seeing any specific trends in hiring unless you look at isolated pockets, it’s purely driven by the skillset of the Founders and the early team and we have to be able to react to that accordingly regardless of function."

Morgane Zerath – “I don’t think there is a whole truth that makes things easy and predictable for us, but the trend I see and conversations we have all the time with Founders is 'when should I hire my first sales person?' Usually, the Founders may not be in love with selling, so the conversation often is around the timing to hire a first sales person whether that’s SDR through to VP Sales, identifying the right balance of experience and immediate needs is super important.”

Lifecycle Considerations

Alston Zecha at Eight Roads shared a similar sentiment with Ed regarding the various stages of investment triggering different hiring trends – “Across Series A-C it varies, but the first thing we look at is the lifecycle of the GTM and their revenue drivers. So typical trends are sales hires at the early stage, marketing usually at the latter stage and then themes of customer success across. Separately, we also look heavily into product leads, how can they get stronger product market fit and deepen their product streams through talent”

Commercial Strengthening & Professionalising Sales

Martin Rajcan at KAYA VC centred around the importance of solidifying the commercial arm of start-ups with technical and product aspects usually in place – “Our companies are generally super strong on the technical and product side, we typically focus on solidifying the commercial organisation and relieving the founder from doing all the sales.”

Ken Pentimonti at Paladin Capital also demonstrated that there was a bias towards sales and commercial leadership hires post funding – “A key role that we usually help our portfolio companies with post-investment is either CRO and/or a VP Sales. In the early stage companies, the founding team is often synonymous with the sales team, but we find it is critical to professionalise these functions and put top quality sales and marketing leadership in place early.”

Conclusion

In navigating the post-fundraising landscape, it's evident that hiring the right talent is paramount for startup success. Whether it's strengthening commercial capabilities, enhancing financial oversight, or tailoring hires to the specific needs of the business, investors and founders alike are acutely aware of the strategic importance of talent acquisition. By understanding the nuances of hiring trends and aligning them with the company's growth trajectory, startups can position themselves for long-term success in an ever-evolving market landscape.

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