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Many ambitious sales reps have a career goal of one day moving into a top leadership role – what does it take to get there?For many software sales professionals, achieving the coveted title of VP of Sales marks the pinnacle of career development.Arriving as VP means reaching the top of the ladder - no longer a mere member of the sales team but positioned firmly in the driving seat, taking make-or-break decisions and helming the entire organization’s top-line fortunes. Adaptive Tech’s global team has recruited VP roles with startups, scale-ups and established software vendors across a range of SaaS market sectors.Through conversations with CEOs, first-time sales managers and career sales leaders, our recruiters have a privileged angle from which to observe how successful VPs developed the right mix of abilities and experience to move into top-tier roles.For all aspiring future sales leaders - how do you build the skill set needed to land, retain and excel in the role of VP of Sales? It’s not about being number oneOne of the most surprising things for up-and-coming reps to process is that the path to one day becoming a VP doesn’t necessarily involve being a superstar individual producer.Of course, you need credibility.A respectable track record of making and exceeding quota is a key requirement, but focusing on personal production at the expense of developing other important skills can hold back your rise through the ranks.Just as the fastest or strongest girl or guy doesn’t always captain a sports team, solo performance isn’t enough to build a sales leadership career on.  A rockstar account executive who can’t teach, can’t analyze their own performance and hasn’t built rapport with the rest of the team isn’t an attractive prospect for senior management looking to appoint a leader.Your current manager can teach you more than you thinkOne of the simplest ways to start building a feel for sales leadership and the skills required is to actively observe your current manager’s goals and struggles.While it’s natural to think of a sales manager’s only real concern as hitting their revenue number, detailed assessment will show a more complex picture.See what else your manager is grappling with – maybe it’s raising team morale, integrating new hires members into the group, re-engineering reporting structures or getting the best out of technology…Once you understand how your manager works, you can actively start to support them in their role. This places you naturally as a leader within your team - someone in tune with the key issues and aligned with leadership goals.A natural player-coach role can often evolve from this, leaving you well positioned for promotion opportunities as a key team member who understands the nuances beyond revenue production.Learn the leversWhile mid-tier sales managers may be able to run short-term sales promotions or experiment with new meeting structures, VPs have the full range of switches and levers at their disposal to drive activity and behaviors within the organization.To excel in the role, VPs need to:Know what their options areCommissions structures, bonuses, SPIFFs, contests, sales enablement resources, recruitment, training and onboarding, CRMs, territory divisions, team structures and hierarchies… VPs have the ability to adjust and configure multiple aspects of the sales organization and processes to increase results. Learning the full breadth of possibilities is key to the development of future sales leaders.Understand how they workIt’s not enough to know what can be tweaked, it’s crucial to have fully appreciate the possible consequences of each change. Sales organizations are delicate things, made up of a complex blend of people, emotions, ambition, technology and processes.Promoting team members may cause satisfaction for some, but resentment for others. Weighting incentive towards new account acquisition could leave renewals and upsells lagging. Lower quotas may make OTEs more attainable, but limit ambition…VPs need to be prudent strategists, aware of the impact any decisions may have both positively and negatively on their teams.Know when to use themTo run a sales organization effectively, VPs also need great awareness of how long each lever takes to ‘pull’, and how long it takes to impact.Faced with a looming quarter-end deadline, for instance, there’s little sense in cranking up outbound call KPIs which won’t be able to affect the short-term need. The goal is to focus on closing pipeline and bringing viable deals over the line – levers need to be pulled which switch focus to the right activity at the right time.Similarly, better content might be a vital solution to converting prospects, but it takes time to develop.Reps and mid-level managers with an eye on one day rising to VP should analyze their own environment on an ongoing basis – study the ‘levers’ being pulled, and watch what the consequences are.It’s surprising how much you can pick up even if you’re a few hierarchy rungs removed from your current sales leadership – the changes and impacts are there for anyone who’s paying attention to observe and learn from. Embrace the importance of dataWhile early sales management roles are often all about coaching a team to success, when it comes to moving the needle for an entire organization, data is the key.Mentoring, directing. training and incentivizing are the ways a VP will seek to drive behavior in a certain direction, but it all starts with understanding the stories in the data - this means how a sales group is currently operating, where the issues are and what types of activities need to be increased or reduced in order to raise the volume and conversion rates of prospects through the sales funnel.Even with powerful analytics tools, data isn’t always a neat picture or even drawn from the same source, so VPs need to build their own visualizations by understanding what they need to know, not just poring over out-of-the-box reports and hoping a solution will appear in front of their eyes.Reps without much exposure to working with data can pro-actively ask to get more of an understanding from their managers, and start to build an understanding of the key data points, ratios and relationships that allow for big-picture thinking and strategic decision-making.Take one step at a timeA true VP role is a unique position involving a wealth of decisions and responsibilities at a strategic level which are seldom within the purview of mid-tier sales managers.Although it’s important to develop an understanding of the challenges ahead, it takes time to build the bank of experience necessary to step up and lead the organization – so don’t worry about reading up on complex incentive structures of the theories of territory management if you haven’t got a solid track record of helping junior colleagues close deals or build pipelines.Those who rise quickly to VP focus on shining at every phase of their sales career, but play the game with their heads up - aware of what their managers and corporate leadership are doing, observing the impacts, and readying their skills for their next step forwards.***Looking for your next SaaS sales opportunity? Check out Adaptive Tech's full list of sales jobs across the US and Europe here.We recruit for AEs, CSMs, SDRs, VPs and Sales Engineers across fast-growing and established SaaS vendors at all levels.

Many language agencies are turning to ready PE capital to support growth – what impact will it have on your business?Private equity funding continues to make steady advances into the language services domain, with an increasing number of LSPs leveraging investor capital and expertise to springboard their agencies to the next level of growth (Frontier Capital’s exit of IP translation specialist MultiLing is the latest public success story).Unlike sale to a trade buyer, however, selling to a PE firm rarely involves an immediate exit from the business and is likely to be a two-stage process that calls for significant ongoing involvement from the owner.PE companies typically look to acquire a controlling or majority share of the business they are investing in, and work to provide resources that enable the company to pursue market opportunity that was previously out of reach.When things go positively, PE investment can mean phenomenal results for business owners – but it’s a special type of partnership that has to be carefully constructed.As an LSP owner considering growth options, what should you expect if you partner with a private equity group?1. More money to growThe primary asset that PE groups bring to the table is deep pockets that let business owners accelerate their growth trajectory and increase shareholder value. This may take the form of investment in sales, marketing or technology, or may – as is the case with LanguageWire’s recent acquisition of Xplanation – include expansion through M&A.Be ready, however, to justify every penny. PE partners aren’t spending out of their own personal piggybanks, but are beholden to investors in a fund which provides the capital used for their projects. So while a PE partner may offer access to big sums for investment in growth, the ROI of each decision will be carefully scrutinized to calculate the anticipated return.2. No place to hideJust as investment decisions will be analyzed in detail, so will every aspect of business operations. Costs, personnel, customer base – even the performance of the incumbent CEO.Some business owners thrive on this new pressure to deliver results, as privately-owned companies often lack a driving force to spur on aggressive growth beyond the personal ambition of the founder.A new group of motivated shareholders certainly provides this impetus, but business owners need to enter the deal with their eyes open and understand that the PE group’s primary objective is to deliver the best possible return on their investment. When faced with obstacles or indicators that they are falling short of forecasts, they won’t hesitate to act. In worst-case scenarios, this can mean layoffs, office closures or other big changes which can impact and potentially damage company culture.3. A new business partnerOften among the biggest adjustments business owners have to make in selling to PE groups is no longer being in full control of their organization. For founders who have run companies for ten or twenty years, to be bumped down to a minority partner can feel strange, even if the upside potential this creates is greater than anything they could have achieved independently (as is often the case).In real terms, accessing that upside means no more solo decision-making and needing to get along well with a new group of senior business partners. This doesn’t mean, however, that PE firms will be getting under the wheels of management on a daily basis – they are investors, not operators, and though they add experience, financial expertise and ideas, they will not be involved in daily functions and will leave management to do its job.4. An easier sale process‘Easy’ is a relative term in all cases, but there’s truth in the idea that selling to private equity groups can be a more straightforward process than selling to a trade or strategic buyer. PE groups have a mandate to acquire companies, often within a fixed time period (the expiration lifetime of the fund), and need to buy, grow and exit companies within that span in order to provide investor returns.As funds are spread across a portfolio of investments, PE groups accept a certain degree of risk in their work, also.With other buyer categories (for example private sale), it’s likely that a large percentage of the buyer’s personal net worth may be invested in the deal, or that they have a realistic option to simply pull out of the idea of making an acquisition altogether. This can lead to a slower, more ponderous process (often less well structured), which can be draining for the seller and a distraction for the business, especially if it doesn’t result in a deal.5. A new perspectiveAs mentioned, PE groups are not ‘operators’ who will be working actively inside the companies they acquire. In fact, many PE partners have never done anything even resembling the type of work which founders (or 99% of their employees) do on a day-to-day basis.Instead, they bring a different set of skills. Often armed with MBAs and the holders of multiple advanced business and financial certifications, PE professionals are seldom entrepreneurs and perhaps more accurately labelled professional investors.While they may not join you in putting their shoulders to the wheel, they will be highly adept at studying business data, finances and performance reports, spotting opportunities for efficiencies, expansion and guiding where investment capital should best be deployed.In the best partnerships, the analytical skills of the PE team coupled with the market knowledge of management creates a powerful team.6. A fixed exit timelineA significant degree of control that founders give up when selling to PE firms is the ability to dictate time-frames when it comes to exiting the company fully.Although a business owner already takes some chips off the table when selling their initial share to the PE firm to begin with, they are usually then locked in to executing on a growth and exit strategy which will enable the PE to deliver returns to fund investors.With most funds having a life-cycle of 5 to 7 years, this arrangement strips founders of the flexibility to run their companies for a long (or as little) as they wish, as the PE firm will look to sell their investment on for a profit during that window.7. A new set of stakeholdersOn an emotional level, some founders take some time to get used to the idea that their company - often built up with sweat, grit, late nights and plenty of risky moments – has become a vehicle for investment in a larger series of business partnerships. PE groups create their funds with money from wealthy individuals, pension plans, insurance companies and other investors looking to generate a return on their capital, and knowing that these unknown parties are ultimately the ones driving the decision-making within a business can be hard to process.With that said, many founders are able to retain significant degrees of both cultural and creative control of their companies after selling to PE partners, and think of outside investor involvement as simply fuel to power their growth of their company. While they may no longer own a controlling share, they remain the de facto business leader and can achieve personal wealth by leveraging investor funds that far exceeds anything attainable on their own.***Adaptive M&A works with the owners of translation and localization agencies to maximize shareholder value at exit by identifying the right strategic match from a diverse network of buyers and investors.You can learn more about our services here. 

An injection of outside capital is a pivotal moment for business growth – but how do you know when the time is right?For self-funded LSPs who have developed step by step as cashflow allows, investment can unlock the potential to scale rapidly and push the organization to the next level.It can also bring on board valuable strategic experience from investment partners, and position the founder for an eventual exit at a significantly higher valuation than would be possible without this boost.We look at how business owners can know when the time is right to take this step.Preparing a business for outside investment isn’t just a necessary step for actually securing the funding, it’s a highly valuable exercise in its own right. It’s not unusual for language services agency owners to uncover things during the process that help them understand the work that is necessary before the company will be ready to accept outside capital.Whether you are actively considering funding or benchmarking how your business is currently running, here are some important checklist items to help you gauge how you rank:1) Do you have a defined strategy?A business strategy should help potential investors to understand the precise problem your business is solving and for which customers. In the LSP space, this is as much about what your company isn’t as it is about what it is. One the global issue of communication has been presented (i.e. helping end clients overcome language barriers in business), investors will need to know exactly where your company fits into the spectrum of technology and service offerings available to buyers of language solutions. A strategy should give investors detailed insight into topics such as brand identity, product/service differentiators, pricing, target vertical markets, workflow and technology integration, together with an awareness of competition and general market conditions. Critically, your strategy should illustrate how value will be created and realised for all shareholders.2) Do you have detailed growth forecasts?Growth forecasts show investors exactly how their money is put to work. Not only are investors interested in how fast and how far you believe you can grow with their input, they’re anxious to see how your company’s past performance data links into future growth models to substantiate projections. This means you need to lead potential investors carefully through the rationale for arriving at the numbers you do when building your model, and help them achieve a sense of confidence that your forecasts are founded on a steady base of supporting data – not cheerful optimism alone.3) Is your team ready?This can be easily overlooked as the number-crunching takes priority, but high on any investor’s own qualifying checklist is the leadership team of the company they’re reviewing. A hard-working and charismatic founder is a definite plus, but everybody runs out of bandwidth at some stage, and investors will be wary of a business that depends on the current manager making all of the major decisions or pulling all the strings. Not only should the company’s core competency areas such as sales, marketing, production and IT be covered by a capable team, investors should have confidence that the team is committed to the company’s long-term growth and success.4) Does your plan have gaps?At its most basic level, an investor’s appraisal of whether to commit capital to a new enterprise will rest on how clearly the business plan illustrates every step of the growth journey. This means showing investors that there is nothing (or at least very little) in your plan that is based on supposition or speculation. Business plans which depend heavily on growth from creation of new services or penetration of new markets can be less compelling than those which offer a clear and progressive path to scale through expansion of existing strategy.* * *Adaptive M&A works with both passive and active sellers in the translation and localization industry, helping them explore market opportunities and connect with well-matched buyers for their language agencies.You can learn more about Adaptive M&A’s services for sellers here. 

Commissions and bonuses aren’t the only way salespeople earn serious money in the software industry - with so many new market entrants launching in the SaaS space, many companies offer some form of equity as a way to attract top talent.But how do you calculate the value of equity in a compensation plan, and should it outweigh job opportunities offering more in guaranteed earnings when choosing a new role?The allure of equity isn’t hard to understand.When a software company is acquired for head-spinning sums or makes the headlines with a jaw-dropping IPO, the shareholders pocket life-changing amounts of money from the proceeds.Who wouldn’t want to be along for a ride like that?It’s the reason equity has such a magnetic appeal as part of any compensation package, and many ambitious SaaS sales professionals will be faced with a difficult choice more than once in their careers:Take the ‘safe route’, and go with a job that offers a high salary and a proven track record of creating successful sales repsOr...Share some risk with an up-and-coming employer who sweetens their lower pay package with an enticing equity pieceGoing for the equity could be your ticket to fortune, but it could also leave you kicking yourself for not taking the ‘bird in the hand’ if things don’t work out how you’d hoped.So what to do?When it comes to equity, there are no crystal balls that can show the future.But there are some basic steps to follow to gauge of how much faith you should place in your opportunity to participate as a shareholder, not just an employee.For anyone trying to get a clearer understanding of how to qualify equity offerings, read on.Grants vs OptionsFirst things first, what are you even being offered? A grant means you are being given shares in the company. An option means what it says – you are being the option to buy shares, under a specific set of conditions.Share options are the most common type of equity offered to employees joining start-ups.They give you the right to purchase company shares at a predetermined price, and often within a fixed time window. The price is known as the strike price or exercise price, and when you choose to purchase some or all of your allocated shares, this is known as exercising the option.The concept is simple – early employees get a chance to buy shares at a low price, below the value on the open market. They can then either sell these shares privately, or wait until the company is acquired or goes public to reap the rewards of the difference between the strike price and the eventual sale price.For both grants and options, the details on what you can and can’t do with your shares (such as selling them to someone else, what happens after you leave the company etc.) is usually detailed in a separate agreement.Shareholders agreements are of critical importance and should be weighed in the balance along with more obvious factors such as how many shares you have the chance to own.Most options will include a vesting period or vesting schedule. This means that although you have a contractual right to your equity, you can’t have it all at once.Vesting schedules typically mean that you have to ‘unlock’ access to your allocated shares either through employment tenure or performance.It’s common for vesting schedules to include a ‘cliff’, often one year in duration. This means that your shares don’t vest when you start work, but only once you are a year into the job. If you leave before this, you’ll leave empty handed.Vesting isn’t only based on time. Some employers will offer you the chance to accelerate your vesting schedule by hitting performance goals, or the vesting for those participating in equity plans might be linked to the performance of the company as a whole – say hitting a certain revenue threshold.Calculating ownershipIt’s important to know not only the number of shares you are being offered, but the total shares outstanding. The relationship between these two determines how much of the company you own.Most companies will have a fixed employee equity pool of 10-20% of total shares outstanding.It’s also important to be aware of share dilution, which is what happens when a company issues more shares. When new shares are issued, there are now more available and the percentage owned by existing shareholders therefore decreases.Other factorsWhile it’s an obvious point, it’s surprising how often employees fail to investigate a company’s exit strategy and time-frame.Although the board is unlikely to share its full strategic secrets with a new hire, it’s reasonable to expect some frame of reference to help put the value of your equity in better context, especially if you’re being offered equity to compensate for a below-market guaranteed pay package.It’s also possible to get a read on a company’s valuation, often based on previous investment. Ultimately, share price market value is where the magic happens in equity programs, and if you’re able to see a rising trend in valuation through sequential fundraising rounds then you may be onto a winner.After all, owing 0.01% of a booming software business is better than owing 50% of a sinking ship.The Wealthfront blog includes some great articles dealing with the complexities of employee equity.AngelList also has a great tool to help job-seekers sort salary and equity compensation by various job filters.You can also check out this helpful calculator used by shared inbox application developer Front.* * *Looking to get your hands on some equity? Adaptive Tech recruits for start-up and early-phase innovators in multiple SaaS sectors, including MarTech, AdTech, FinTech, HRTech and more. Feel free to reach out for a networking conversation, or browse a full list of Adaptive Tech’s sales vacancieshere.

Global ecommerce continues to grow at a rapid rate, with digital experience giant Adobe’s recent $1.68bn purchase of platform provider Magento underscoring the anticipated future value of the sector.Adaptive’s recruiters are often asked ecommerce professionals what they can do to accelerate their career growth and capture the potential of this fast-evolving space.Here are some ideas on how to move up the ecommerce career ladder fast.Let’s tackle the most obvious question first – if ecommerce is such a thriving, fast-growing space, why do people need career advice? Surely everyone’s getting swept along with the current, onward to bigger and better things?Well, it’s important not to mix two issues – just because an industry is growing rapidly doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone involved is feeling or benefiting from that growth in their everyday lives.While trailblazing tech visionaries may be busy inventing the next generation of game-changing ecommerce tools, there are thousands of career ecomm professionals spread across every major online retailer whose day-to-day may not reflect that excitement.But the good news is, they can get a piece of the action if they try.Look at an example Adaptive’s digital recruitment team encounters frequently: an eCRM Manager two years into their career, absorbed in a weekly loop of email marketing layouts and click-through rate reports, and wondering when the ecommerce gold rush they read so much about is going to reach them.Sure, they have a foot on the career ladder, but what’s next - Senior eCRM Manager, maybe in another year?Not the jet-powered ascendancy they’d hoped for.Here’s what we advise when candidates ask how they can springboard their own ecomm careers forward:- Offer pro-active solutionsSometimes everyone can get blinkered by the scope of their current role, but to move towards the top of ecommerce you have to start thinking and acting like someone at the top. Why else would you deserve to get there?Senior ecommerce managers aren’t following someone else’s gameplan, they’re thinking for themselves, being creative and trying out ways to generate results.Taking this approach in your own role can change your career trajectory overnight. Many people grumble that their roles are too implementation heavy and not strategic or creative enough, but have never pro-actively brought any strategic or creative thinking to the table.This doesn’t mean becoming a troublesome maverick and refusing to follow instructions, it just means bringing ideas for improvement under your own steam and going beyond the basics of your role description without waiting to be told.- Ask for exposureAs any senior executive will tell you, a big part of career development is ensuring that your ambition is clear to your superiors. If that ‘ambition’ only comes in the form of an annual wrangling over salary, then your superiors haven’t got much to work with.Instead, give your managers a clear signal that you want to learn more and contribute more to the team.This could mean asking to sit in on meetings that aren’t part of your usual rota, getting more involved with partners and suppliers, or suggesting books and courses that the company might contribute towards.- NetworkAn oldie but a goodie. Networking is a practice designed to create opportunity, and if you don’t participate you’re missing out. Sites such as Meetup.com offer great chances to meet like-minded professionals. Adaptive has worked with candidates who’ve funded their own way to conferences like eTail and Shoptalk, rationalizing the ticket prices not as a cost but as an investment in their future.  * * *If you’ve got advice to share with ecommerce professionals looking to build their careers, we’d love to hear about it below.You can check out Adaptive’s active E-Commerce job vacancies here.

Business owners sell their companies for a multitude of reasons, both personal and professional.Selling a company can be a tough process, and the steps involved can be both expensive and a distraction from daily operations. The process can also be an emotional one, as many entrepreneurs in the SME bracket will only sell a couple of companies during their careers, perhaps only one.With so much at stake, the question this article poses is when is the right time to sell?For most business owners, timing is the hardest part of the sale process to analyze.In terms of valuation, for many services industries the governing factors are relatively straightforward – typically based on profitability, location, revenue growth, balanced customer base, vertical market specialism and any relevant technology or branding differentiators.For those who know their markets and have strong visibility across the commercial landscape, identifying a potential buyer is likely not the most challenging aspect of the sale process either. Smart sellers seek a strategic match where the acquisition adds value to the buyer through diversification, technology, niche-market expertise or regional presence.What is often less clear to owners of small and medium businesses is timing – when to sell their business to achieve maximum valuation, secure the right strategic fit and avoid downtime on a false start.The balancing act performed by entrepreneurs involves acknowledging that the optimal moment to sell all or part of their company can be the very same moment when it appears there is every reason to retain full ownership – when wind is in the sales, revenues are climbing, new customers are rolling in month on month and the business has ample potential to move into new markets.Owners without a clear exit strategy risk falling into the trap of waiting for an undefined “right moment in the future” to sell their business, and may focus their energies on building towards this goal.For many this can mean a vision of a company with stable, consistent EBITDA which has acted on every easily visible market opportunity for expansion and diversification.In the eyes of a buyer, however, these elements do not always signal a great deal. If a seller is over cautious in waiting for the stars to align, this can portray a company that has lost its dynamism and future potential to an investor. A business can shift from an exciting asset to a bolt-on acquisition appealing to a limited pool of buyers, with forecasted ROI based on maintaining performance rather than continuing to innovate and grow at a fast pace.According to Crispin Pike, who sold his IT security business, Sysec, to Herjavec Group, “your business should be on the up when you offer it for sale, with growing profits, reinvestment, employment opportunities and new markets, geographies or product lines” (Telegraph). Ironically this may seem like the ideal moment to remain at the helm of the company, but for others it can be the ideal moment to sell. A surge of forward momentum and readily accessible future opportunity can excite investors more than a tried-and-tested balance sheet with no evident signs of a future uptick in performance.The right timing and sale scenario is always going to be a complicated decision for any seller, but some things that help give a better chance of capitalizing on the golden moment include: defining exit goals, listening to the market & talking to advisors.An exit strategy with goals is key - running a company knowing that the owner will want to sell it “one day” can mean that lucrative scenarios pass by them continuously and they are unaware. If a business owner’s goal is retiring with funds to finance a lifestyle, then this helps quantify the goal and identify when this might be achievable. Younger owners may wish to sell a portion of their equity to a larger buyer or a PE group and join an executive management team with a view to a second exit. Being aware of what an owner wants, be it liquidity or future upside, is invaluable in helping them run their company and shape it towards an ideal acquisition scenario.Business owners are also well advised to continually listen to the market and evaluate if M&A activity in their space is gathering pace or cooling off, and to track valuation multiples where publicized. These indicators can signal to an entrepreneur that it might be a good moment to re-evaluate their current exit time-frame. Many SME owners ignore obvious signals that buyers are active in their space because they are working towards their balance-sheet-driven future moment when they will be “ready” for sale. In some cases the market dictates the driving force behind acquisitions more than owner plans. Entrepreneurs can miss the boat by waiting too long, with buyer’s appetites and PE investment slowing down.Keeping open channels of dialogue is also essential for the process, as third parties and consultants can help provide some guidance and expertise within fragmented markets where public M&A data is less available. As long as conversations with prospective buyers, advisers and investors are always managed on clear terms, business owners can build valuable networks and relationships and position themselves to stand strong chances of achieving their goals.