Startups, Stop Asking for Commission-Only Sales—Your Problem Isn’t Money, It’s Structure
It’s a story I’ve landed in the middle of dozens of times from early-stage startups:
“We’ve built an incredible product. We just need someone to sell it. We can’t afford a base salary, but we’ll pay HUGE commission on every deal closed.”
At first glance, it sounds like a lean, hustle-driven approach. No overhead, just results. But dig a little deeper, and it becomes clear: the real issue isn’t money, it’s the absence of a sales process, structure, and go-to-market readiness.
Let me be blunt: expecting a commission-only salesperson to succeed when you haven’t built a repeatable, scalable sales process is like handing someone car keys and saying, “Figure out how to build the engine while you're driving.”
The Harsh Reality of Commission-Only Sales in Startups
Founders often assume that sales is a plug-and-play function: hire a “closer,” give them a pitch deck, and wait for the revenue to roll in. But sales isn’t magic, it’s a system. And when that system doesn’t exist, even the best salespeople will fail.
Here’s what’s usually missing:
Clear value proposition: What pain does your product solve, and for whom? If you can’t answer this in 6 seconds, neither can a salesperson.
Defined ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): Who are we selling to, and why should they care?
Sales collateral and messaging: Is there a script? A demo? Objection handling? Anything to support consistent outreach?
CRM and pipeline tools: How is activity tracked, deals managed, and follow-up enforced? This is what I call your NUT-NUMBER. What do I have to do every day to get a sale? How long does the sale take?
Pricing and packaging clarity: Are salespeople empowered to quote, discount, or negotiate?
Onboarding and training: Is there even a plan for day one?
Without these fundamentals, hiring a salesperson, especially one with no base, becomes a shortcut to mutual frustration.
The Dangerous Assumption Behind “Pay-When-You-Sell”
What founders are really saying when they offer commission-only roles is this:
“We’re not ready to sell, but we hope someone else can figure it out for us.”
And that’s not a sales strategy, it’s an abdication of responsibility.
Sales isn’t just an outcome. It’s a design. It requires:
Positioning
Targeting
Messaging
Testing
Refining
Repeating
None of that happens on a commission-only structure with no roadmap. Why? Because experienced sales professionals know this: if there’s no process, there’s no pipeline, and if there’s no pipeline, there’s no paycheck.
What You Should Do Instead
If you're a founder or early-stage executive facing this situation, here’s how to turn the tide:
Build a sales foundation before hiring sellers.
Document the pitch. Test messaging. Identify early ICPs. Close a few deals yourself to find out how long a sale takes for starters.
Invest in a fractional sales leader, not a rep.
Bring in someone who can architect your go-to-market, not just smile-and-dial. This is where experienced consultants or sales operators bring immense value. Fractional sales executives are gold mines to start-ups because they bring years or even decades of knowledge and experience to you at minimal costs.
Be honest about where you are.
If you don’t have product-market fit yet, don’t expect sales to fix that. Sales can scale demand, it can’t invent it.
When you do hire, set up your team for success.
Pay a base. Create structure. Give them the tools to succeed. Incentivize outcomes, but support the process.
Final Thought: Sales Isn’t the Last Mile, It’s the Engine
Too many startups treat sales like the caboose on the product train, something you attach after building. But in reality, sales is the engine. It pulls everything forward: customer feedback, positioning, growth.
If you’re not willing to invest in it, don’t expect to grow beyond friends-and-family revenue.
Sales isn’t your afterthought. It’s your strategy. Treat it that way.
