Most Founders Hire CROs Too Early - Revenue Leadership Mistakes & Smart Framework from Unicorn Builders

"Bringing in a CRO too early is the death of any business. It's like bringing in Lewis Hamilton and saying drive my Fiat in a school zone."

In today's episode of the Bricks & Bytes, we had Ricky from Deep Space and we got to learn about why most founders hire the wrong sales leadership at the wrong time, how to scale from zero to unicorn status, and the brutal reality of go-to-market in construction tech... and many more!

Ricky took simPro from $10M to over $1B valuation as their first CRO. Now he's doing it again with Deep Space while running his own venture fund.

Tune in to find out about:

✅ The exact revenue stage when you should hire a CRO (hint: it's not when you think)

✅ Why construction sales still requires picking up the phone in 2025

✅ How to build repeatable sales processes that actually work in AEC

✅ The real difference between good and bad revenue leaders

Listen now on Spotify and learn from someone who's actually built the playbook.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:50 Introduction and Guest Background

05:48 Ricky's Journey in Tech and Venture Capital

09:56 The Role of a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)

13:56 Sales Strategies and Market Adaptation

17:51 Building Trust and Value in Sales

21:46 Hiring Sales Reps and Team Dynamics

25:38 Identifying the Right CRO for Your Business

29:49 Metrics for Evaluating a CRO

33:55 Advice for Early-Stage Founders

36:01 Marketing and Content Strategy in AEC Tech

37:54 Navigating Domain Expertise in Marketing

41:15 Understanding the Sales Cycle Touchpoints

43:49 Essential Tools for Early-Stage Businesses

45:51 Deep Space: The Future of Construction Management Software

52:52 Transparent Pricing in Software Solutions

53:46 The Evolution of Product Management

55:50 Balancing AI Adoption with Business Strategy

57:52 Analyzing Ricky's LinkedIn Insights