Whispered Hiring with Josh Roth - VP Revenue @ Gorgias

In this episode of How I Hire, Andy Mowat speaks with Josh Roth, VP of Global Sales at Gorgias, about his systematic approach to scaling revenue organizations through strategic internal development and disciplined hiring execution. Drawing from his experience leading sales at LOB and now building go-to-market at the AI-powered no-code automation platform, Josh shares tactical frameworks for evaluating promotion readiness, executing network-driven recruitment at scale, and making data-driven hiring decisions that drive sustainable growth. His insights reveal how rigorous talent evaluation and development methodology can differentiate high-performing revenue teams.

Topics discussed:

• Why the three most dangerous promotion transitions (SDR to AE, BDR manager to Sales manager, Director to VP of Revenue) consistently fail due to delegation and prioritization skill gaps, and how to identify readiness beyond performance metrics.
• The counterintuitive reality is that sales leaders who avoid selling make catastrophic AE managers—why mastering "internal sales" (securing resources, influence, cross-functional support) is more predictive of management success than quota attainment.
• How Josh's network-driven recruitment strategy consistently generates 7-10 qualified candidates from targeted connections while avoiding the "inbox management" trap of public postings—including his AI-powered candidate identification process through Pipefy's platform.
• The context-driven interviewing methodology that replaces structured question lists: giving candidates specific situational context about role challenges and evaluating granular specificity in their response stories to separate real experience from rehearsed answers.
• Why Josh's comprehensive back-channeling approach for every hire focuses on consistency patterns (like "high standards") rather than universal approval, and how he coaches candidates to expect and embrace this process.
• The 91-day performance identification framework: specific milestone mapping (day 1: communication systems, week 1: customer outreach, month 1: first opportunity generation) and why leaders own the outcome if they retain underperformers beyond month 3.
• How high-performing ICs often provide more valuable hiring insights than managers from other functions, and why targeting your best individual contributors for candidate referrals generates a superior pipeline than traditional executive networking.
• The behavioral input evaluation system that predicts sales success: measuring customer proximity, attention to execution detail, and evidence of legitimate effort as leading indicators, particularly for new hires struggling with initial outcomes but demonstrating correct process adherence.

ABOUT YOUR HOST: 

Andy Mowat has built GTM engines for top companies throughout his career. He led Revenue Operations and Demand Gen at four unicorns, including scaling from $10M to $100M ARR at both Upwork and Culture Amp, and helping guide Box and Carta through IPO scale. With a passion for connecting people, Andy has advised executives on their careers for years and launched Whispered to make searching for executive roles less intimidating. 

Learn more about about Whispered: www.whispered.com

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