OuterBay Building a Sales Force

The case details the challenges OuterBay, a California-based application data management company, faced as they set out to build a sales force. The narrative takes students through the process of hiring the company’s first VP of sales to the board’s decision to bring on the company’s third VP of Sales in just over two years. The case introduces students to the challenges of identifying and recruiting top tier sales people, setting up a sales process for a complex software product, putting forecasting mechanisms in place and developing staffing projections, among other issues involved in building a sales force in a start-up company.