Summer Poletti

Most new sales hires don't meet expectations: about 48% fail, and only 6% exceed them. $150K is the floor. $500K is the real cost when a hire doesn't stick, and in founder-led or founder-dependent companies it usually isn't the person's fault. This session isn't about hiring better. It's about what has to be true before you hire at all, whether it's your first sales hire, your second through fourth as you scale a small team, or a re-hire after the last one didn't work out. The strategy almost never lives anywhere but the founder's head, and you can't onboard someone into a system that doesn't exist. That's not a people problem. It's a sequencing problem, and there's a right order to solving it before the search even starts. You'll see the six most common gaps behind failed sales hires, why each one matters, and what good looks like. Summer shares a real client case study: a financial services founder who built the system first saw revenue rise 20% within six months of the hire, and the hire is still on the team nearly two years later. What you'll leave with: - A clear view of which gap is costing you the most right now - What good looks like for each gap, so you know what "fixed" means - A one-page scorecard to take back to your team - Your top one or two priorities and a do-now / do-next plan, not an inspirational message Who it's for: CEOs, founders, and owners of growth-stage companies planning a first sales hire, scaling a small team, or replacing a hire that didn't work out. Formats: 15-minute TED-style talk, 60-minute presentation, or 3-hour interactive workshop.

Most growth-stage companies aren't struggling because they lack ambition. They're scaling their problems. More people, more tools, and more AI on top of broken systems doesn't produce profit — it produces a more expensive version of the same problem. This talk covers the five most common profitability gaps — follow-up, sales process, marketing alignment, customer success, and partnerships — and shows leaders how to identify which one to fix first.

Smart founders stumble at launch. Most of the expensive mistakes trace back to it, and they get made months before launch day. Summer works with scaling organizations and sees the same pattern again and again. This workshop brings those lessons to early founders so they stop wasting money and time they can't get back. You'll walk through the five most common launch mistakes and what good looks like for each, then work out which one to fix first. What you'll leave with: - The five most common launch mistakes and how to spot each one in your own plan - What good looks like for each, so you know what to aim for - Your top one or two priorities to fix first, not an inspirational message Who it's for: early-stage founders, including portfolio founders supported by angel groups, accelerators, and university programs. Format: interactive workshop, with length adjusted to your event.