5 non-obvious tactics for sales hiring

Many like the idea of working at early startups.

Everyone claims startup grit - most implode by month three.

To surface the truth during an interview, you have to stress-test whether someone’s actually a fit for early stage startup life.

Here are 5 non-obvious stress-test tactics from Anis Bennaceur, Co-Founder and CEO of Attention during their sales hiring process:

1. YC “hack-the-system” probe: Entrepreneurial candidates make for the best hires early on. YC’s famous question “Tell me about a time you hacked the system to your advantage.” is an excellent way to surface the scrappy creativity early‑stage startups live on. Watch for sparkling eyes and rapid‑fire examples. Anis counts how many emerge unprompted.

2. 10 PM ping test: Speed and urgency is everything in startups. During the vetting process for growth hires, Anis pinged both finalists at 10 pm on a Wednesday with an urgent ask (he does this regularly during interview processes). One left a concert to send thoughts back within 5 minutes. The other replied with a polished answer the next morning. Needless to say who got the job.

3. No-haggle offers: When Attention issues an offer, the number never moves. Candidates who press for an extra five grand walk, and that’s exactly the point. Startups win on slope, not base salary deltas. The rep who joins for upside out‑sells the rep who joins for guarantees. Haggling seeds cultural debt - if comp is elastic, so are deadlines and quality bars.

4. Never hire just one first AE: Hiring one AE is like flying blind on a moonless night. You can’t tell if the instrument is broken or the pilot is. Solo sellers blame pricing, leads, calendar, and you have no data to contradict them. Add a second AE and every excuse hits a brick wall of real‑time comparison. If both fail, you have a bigger problem.

5. Post mortem: After each hire - especially flops - Anis runs call transcripts through o3 for a post‑mortem, asking the model to surface weak questions, subtle red flags, and sharper probes (while being extra harsh and critical). Those AI insights feed straight back into the script for the hiring engine to keep improving.

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Enjoyed reading this?

Then check out my conversation on the focal podcast with Anis Bennaceur, Co-Founder and CEO of Attention (Series A, backed by Eniac and Alven)

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