Gritty, Scrappy, Hustle.

When I recruit effective sales people for startups… 3 attributes are key.

Sales people who are gritty, scrappy and hustle thrive in startup cultures in flux that are lacking organizations and systems.

Sales people who are used to working in organized systems with a well known company brand crash and burn quickly in startups.


Let’s look at each attribute.

Grit is associated with both passion and perseverance of a long-term goal. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, as they say. In other words, gritty people put in sustained effort over time to achieve a high level of success in their chosen domain.

Scrappy is defined as determined, argumentative, or pugnacious. Being scrappy means being quick to act in a determined manner.

A Hustler is an aggressively enterprising sales person, or a go-getter. They have street smarts but know how to play within the rules.