For Founders at $1M–$10M ARR
The $1M–$10M stage is where most sales systems break. You’ve outgrown founder-led sales but you’re not big enough for a $250k VP. I install the systems, coach the team, and build the infrastructure that gets you to $10M and beyond.
The $1M–$10M stage has a specific set of sales problems. I've seen them in dozens of companies. Here's what's typically going wrong.
You closed the first $1M yourself. That worked. But you can't close the next $5M the same way — you're also running the company. Founder-led sales doesn't scale past a certain point, and you're probably at that point right now.
You've brought on one or two salespeople. Some deals close, some don't, and you can't tell why. There's no playbook, no defined process, no accountability framework. Each rep is running their own version of your sales motion.
Your CRM is a wishful thinking list. Pipeline stages say 'Interested' and 'Proposal Sent' but don't reflect what the prospect has actually done. You can't forecast, you can't coach, and you can't tell what's real.
Reps are on their own after onboarding. There are no regular deal reviews, no call coaching, no weekly 1:1s with a defined agenda. Without a coaching structure, performance plateaus — and good reps leave.
Different reps position the product differently. Discounts happen without a framework. Deals get lost on pricing because there's no structured way to have the pricing conversation. Every deal becomes a negotiation.
Marketing is generating leads that sales says aren't qualified. Sales is saying buyers don't understand the product. The ICP definition is fuzzy. Without alignment, both teams waste effort chasing the wrong opportunities.
ICP, discovery questions, demo flow, objection handling, pricing conversation, follow-up cadence. One source of truth your whole team uses.
Replace opinion-based stages with stages that reflect what the prospect has done. Real pipeline visibility means real forecasting.
Deal reviews, call coaching, 1:1s with defined agendas. Reps improve when they have a structured feedback loop. Without it, they plateau.
Written accountability for activities, KPIs, and what success looks like at 30, 60, and 90 days. No ambiguity. Clear expectations.
When you're ready to add headcount, you'll know exactly who to look for, how to interview, and what red flags to avoid.
I’m Louie Bernstein — I have 50 years in business experience, including 22 as a bootstrapped founder. My Fractional Sales Leadership business has been helping founders since 2017.
I’ve been in the $1M–$10M trench myself. I know what it feels like to have hired the wrong rep, to have watched deals die for reasons you can’t diagnose, and to have a pipeline full of numbers that don’t mean anything. I built my way out of those problems — and now I help founders do the same thing, faster.
Most of my competitors have advice. I have scar tissue.
I function as your VP of Sales without the full-time cost. That means installing a Sales Playbook, building your pipeline process, coaching your reps weekly, fixing your ICP and positioning, and building the accountability structures that make a sales team consistent. I'm embedded in your business — not a consultant who hands you a slide deck.
At $1M–$5M ARR, you almost certainly don't have enough revenue to justify a $200k–$300k VP of Sales. And more importantly, you don't yet have the systems a VP needs to manage. A fractional engagement lets you install those systems first — so when you do hire a full-time leader, they walk into a working machine, not a blank slate.
Most founders see meaningful improvement in pipeline clarity and rep behavior within 60–90 days. The Sales Playbook is usually complete within the first 30 days. Revenue results depend on your sales cycle length — a 90-day cycle means revenue impact shows up around month 4 or 5. What you'll notice first: your reps stop winging it, your pipeline becomes real, and deals stop dying for reasons you can't diagnose.
Retainers typically run $6,000–$14,000/month depending on scope and time commitment. That's a fraction of a full-time VP of Sales — and unlike a hire, there's no 6-month ramp period before you see any output. Most engagements pay for themselves within the first quarter.
Consultants deliver recommendations. I deliver outcomes. I'm in your weekly team meetings, coaching your reps on real deals, iterating the playbook based on what I hear on actual calls. The work is done with you, not handed to you. That's the difference between advice and execution.
Let’s spend 30 minutes together. We’ll look at where you are now, what the gaps are, and what a fractional sales leadership engagement would actually do in your business.