title: Worked example description: A fictional seed-stage founder briefing a first account executive, where the hireability check rewrites the brief before launch.
Worked example: a first account executive
Fictional company. Fictional numbers, in local currency.
The starting brief
Ledgerly sells accounts-payable software to mid-sized companies. Seed funded, fourteen customers, all closed by the founder. The founder's draft:
Founding Account Executive. Must have: closed enterprise deals at a well-known software company, built an outbound engine from scratch, and led a sales team. Five years minimum. Base 110k plus commission. Office five days.
The anchor question
"What does this person have to deliver in the first twelve months for you to call it a great hire?"
First answer: "Someone senior who can take sales off my plate." Pushed for numbers: "Close 600k of new revenue, and get to the point where I am not on every call."
"Walk me through your last five deals." The founder can: average deal about 40k, cycle about seventy days, buyer is the finance lead, three came from the founder's network and two from outbound the founder ran personally. A motion exists. It is early, but it is real.
The skipped questions
- Who else is in this process? An investor has introduced a candidate who has had one coffee with the founder. Logged as a competing process, no deadline yet.
- Who signs off? The founder and a co-founder. The co-founder was not on the call and wants "someone who can become head of sales". Logged; both must sign the same version.
The hireability check
| Flag | Finding | Severity | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unicorn | Enterprise closer plus outbound builder plus team leader, at seed | Blocks | Three must-haves, rewritten below. Leadership moves to a later promotion path |
| Pay versus market | Base 110k sits well under the local benchmark for an experienced AE; OTE and split not stated; source named in the brief | Blocks | Raise base toward market, or hire earlier-career and say so. State OTE, split and quota |
| Price point | Enterprise deals of 300k plus at the candidate's past company against a 40k average here | Slows | Profile line: has closed deals of roughly 20k to 80k |
| Seniority versus scope | "Founding AE" who must also lead a team | Slows | Title stays Founding AE; leadership is earned, written as a twelve-month possibility |
| Location | Five days in office, profile mostly hybrid | Slows | Three days, or accept a thinner pool |
| Pitch | "Join a fast-growing fintech" | Note | Rebuilt below |
Logo pedigree and "five years minimum" fail the substitution test: pipeline built from nothing at a similar deal size substitutes for both, and years of experience is a weak proxy that also risks screening by age. Both come out.
The rewritten brief
Ledgerly / Founding Account Executive / Role brief v1 / [date]
Why now: founder closing every deal, cannot scale past 14 customers | New headcount
Twelve-month outcomes: 1. 600k new revenue 2. half of pipeline self-sourced 3. a written playbook the next AE can run
First 90 days, 80% of time on: outbound to finance leads and closing founder-sourced deals
Must-haves (max 3): closed deals of 20k to 80k to finance or operations buyers | built own pipeline, with numbers | sold without a known brand
Weaknesses we accept: no management experience, no prior fintech, light on process documentation
Deal-breakers: has only ever worked inbound
Pay: base [raised toward market] OTE [stated] mix [stated] equity [value, four-year vesting] | Market: [benchmark] (source) | Gap: closed
Pitch: "Fourteen customers found us through the founder and nobody yet owns finding the next fifty, so you build the motion from the first sequence. You sell beside the founder every week and you write the playbook the next three hires run."
Who signs off: both co-founders, agreed to this version: yes
Process: intro call, deal walkthrough, mock discovery call with the founder as buyer, co-founder meeting | CV reply 24h | Scorecards 24h | Final decision 48h
Competing processes: one investor introduction, no deadline yet
Hireability flags: none blocking after rewrite
Tripwire: if the investor introduction reaches an offer before we have two finalists, the founders decide on it alone and we pause
Decision: Approve this brief as written? Yes / No
What changed, and why it matters
The first brief described three people and paid for half of one. The rewrite describes one person who exists in meaningful numbers and can be hired at the stated pay. It also put the co-founder's leadership hope in writing as a growth path, instead of letting it surface as a veto at the final interview.