Name the motion first
Before choosing titles, understand how customers buy. A founder-led enterprise sale needs different support from a repeatable inbound motion or a product-led journey.
The first hire may need to create pipeline, close complex deals, or turn early learning into a system. Those are different jobs, even when the market calls all of them sales.
Sequence around the constraint
Hire against the biggest constraint now. That might mean an adaptable account executive, a demand-focused marketer, or a commercially minded customer success lead.
Good sequencing protects focus. It gives each new person a clear mandate and avoids asking a senior hire to compensate for a motion the company has not yet understood.
Test for the next twelve months
Ask candidates to show how they learned a market, created repeatability and changed course when the evidence disagreed with the plan. Early GTM work rewards judgment and adaptability more than polished process language.
Be honest about what exists today: pipeline quality, founder involvement, sales cycle, customer concentration and available support. The right hire can work with imperfect conditions; they should not discover them after joining.