Early-stage startup failure rarely comes from product-market fit alone.

It often stems from hiring the wrong go-to-market leaders, and building sales teams on unstable foundations. One of the biggest culprits? The leadership growth gap.

Most first-time VPs are promoted with high expectations but little preparation. No playbook. No leadership enablement. No coaching infrastructure.

This episode unpacks what happens after the promotion, when sales leaders are left to figure it out alone.

🎙️ In This Episode of What Makes You Tick, Richard Washington speaks with Heath Barnett, VP Revenue at Mixmax and host of Mixology, to break down:

Why 90% of first VP Sales hires fail in early-stage startups, and how to find the 10% who scale

The hidden costs of skipping leadership alignment before hiring senior GTM talent

How to spot coachability, character, and signal-readiness in your interview process

Why signal-led sales motions outperform spray-and-pray tactics in PLG orgs

How to build onboarding, enablement, and feedback loops that unlock team performance

The real difference between hiring in startups vs corporates, and why many leaders fail to adapt

How to build a GTM culture of ownership, empathy, and execution

👤 About Heath Barnett

Heath Barnett is a GTM strategist, PLG operator, and community-first revenue leader with deep experience across both corporate and startup environments. Currently leading Revenue at Mixmax, Heath is known for building lean, high-impact sales engines that scale, from startup to unicorn.

He’s also the host of Mixology, a podcast featuring real talk with operators about what’s actually working in sales. With a background in consulting, enablement, and product marketing, Heath brings a multidimensional lens to GTM hiring, signal-based sales, and leadership development.

🎯 Who Should Listen

Founders from Seed to Series B making first GTM leadership hires

Sales and revenue leaders stepping into VP roles (or managing their first)

Hiring managers designing high-signal, aligned interview frameworks

Coaches, operators, and talent leaders focused on scaling high-performing cultures

B2B SaaS teams seeking real frameworks for onboarding, coaching, and GTM scale

📚 Key Topics

Go-to-market hiring strategy, Sales leadership development, Product-led growth, Signal-led sales, Talent acquisition, Coaching frameworks, Founder-led sales transition, Interview design, Culture building in startups

What Makes You Tick features real conversations with operators, founders, and GTM leaders who have built, scaled, and occasionally broken their way through the startup journey. Hosted by Richard Washington, founder of Tick Talent.

Find Heath on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/whatsupheath/

Find with Richard https://www.linkedin.com/in/richwash/

Read Growth Magnet https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7083793079794556928

Check out the Heath on the Mixmax pod: https://youtube.com/@getmixmax?si=WQxrpMoisgsu22a5

Available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

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