What if You Never Hired Sales? | Lindsay Rios | #chadtpodcast Ep. 29

You've probably got your ICP wrong, and you're making expensive mistakes in your pipeline.Chad interviews Lindsay Rios, owner of GTM Done Right, about why founders often hire sales too early and why “if we hire salespeople, deals will come” doesn’t work.They unpack defining a true ideal customer profile using qualitative and quantitative signals, ranking ICP high/medium/low, and avoiding “vampire” deals that linger past the normal sales cycle. Lindsay covers forecasting and the pitfalls of poopy pipelines, emphasizing that only qualified deals belong in pipeline, leaders must be taught forecasting, and CRM/rev ops should enable sellers rather than add required-field friction.Lindsay explains her fractional model serving scaling startups/SMBs (often $5–$30M) that grew through network and word-of-mouth but stalled because they never scaled intentionally.The episode also covers guidance on sales careers, active listening, and sales leadership expectations.
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Lindsay Rios is a fractional CRO and co-founder of Luminetics.

Lindsay's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsayrios/

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Chad's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadtabary/Book an appointment with Chad: https://chadtabary.youcanbook.me/00:00 Why Sales Matters00:23 Founder Led Sales Trap03:02 When to Hire Sales04:19 Repeatable Sales Motion05:13 Warm Network Limits06:30 Fractional GTM Help08:54 Define Your ICP13:14 ICP Red Flags15:06 Kill Vampire Deals16:18 Qualify Faster in Discovery17:23 Selling Without Being Salesy20:50 Runway and Hiring Budget21:34 Why Sales Needs Base Pay25:56 Pay for Talent Reality31:05 Sales Is High Risk32:33 Founder Leadership Blindspots37:37 What Founding Means39:33 Hiring Market Is Brutal41:17 Recruiter Screening Madness42:11 Awkward AI Interviews43:12 Non Negotiables After Layoffs44:05 Owning Your Own Work46:26 Poopy Pipeline Defined47:25 Forecasting Culture Fixes50:49 Pipeline Data That Matters56:33 Intuition Versus CRM Math01:03:17 Rev Ops Enablement Not Blockers01:09:09 Clawbacks And Commission Design01:10:37 Who Should Choose Sales01:18:07 Skills And Leadership Paths01:24:05 Wrap Up And Where To Find Lindsay