How to Build a Sales Machine | Max Freeman, Ramp

Max Freeman is SVP of Sales at Ramp. He joined the company as its first sales hire. By 2025, he was leading more than 300 salespeople, helping build Ramp's sales organisation from the ground up. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:08 Why Ramp Hires Investment Bankers Into Sales 06:39 How to Hire Great Salespeople 09:09 How to Tell a Great Seller From an Order Taker 12:49 What Salespeople Should Look for When Joining a Startup 17:14 Why Sales Is Really an Engineering Problem 23:15 When Should You Verticalize Your Sales Team? 24:35 How to Compress Enterprise Sales Cycles 28:11 Why Your First Sales Reps Should Have No Quota 30:06 Why You Should Never Hire Just One Seller 34:13 The Biggest Sales Hiring Mistakes 36:38 How Ramp Onboards New Sales Reps 43:05 What Is a Healthy Sales Rep Productivity Ratio? 45:07 How Quickly Can You Tell if a Sales Rep Will Be Great? 47:29 Is Customer Success Actually Bullshit? 49:36 How Ramp Forecasts Revenue Within 5% 52:50 Why Most Enterprise Deals Lose to the Status Quo 55:04 How AI Is Changing Ramp’s Sales Machine 59:01 Max’s Biggest Weakness as a Sales Leader 1:01:04 How Ramp Creates a Founder Mentality in Employees 1:03:47 The Three Categories of Sales Performance ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on X: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Max Freeman on X: https://twitter.com/max11free Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #maxfreeman #ramp #sales #svp