New starter onboarding

Your first few weeks

Welcome to the PostHog Sales team! We only hire about 1 in 400 applicants, so you've done well to make it here! Unlike a lot of companies, we don't have a super-long onboarding process and would prefer you to be up and running with your customer base as quickly as possible. Here are the things you should focus on in your first few weeks at PostHog to help you achieve that.

Ramping up is mostly self serve - we won't sit you down in a room for training for 2 weeks. If you're not sure who is supposed to make something below happen, the person responsible is almost certainly you!

How to fail

But first...

Sales at PostHog isn't like most other software companies! These are some of the things that you _shouldn't_ do:

• Wait til you're ready to talk to customers. Jump in sooner than you feel comfortable - it is by far the fastest way to learn. A great, low-risk way to practise is chat to inbound leads who you think aren't going to be high paying customers - the cost of doing badly is very low!
• Lazily forward customer questions to engineering teams without any context. That's super annoying. Instead:
• Try to solve the problem yourself, read the Docs etc.
• Try asking in #ask-max Slack channel
• Ask the rest of the Sales team
• _Then_ forward to the relevant engineering team _and add context_ - are they a huge oppo, evaluating or already paying, technical/non-technical etc.? Help them help you
• Bonus points for: 'I think [this] is the answer, am I on the right track?'
• Execute your previous company's playbook. We're trying to do things differently from 90% of the industry. But please do tell us what has _and_ hasn't worked at previous places.
• Keep information to yourself - share openly and frequently the things you are learning, what you've got right or wrong. We don't do lone wolfing here. PostHog is a huge product, so it's ok to ask dumb questions - so long as you've tried to figure it out yourself first!
• Use sales BS language - if you don't know the answer that's fine! Don't promise features. Don't use vague, non-specific language. Talk to our customers like real human beings, not 'prospects'. And don't be discouraged if they say 'can we talk to someone more technical'!
• Being slow to reply to customers - even if it's just to acknowledge their message. Make sure you have notifications turned on for _all_ messages in your customer Slack channels (not just for mentions).

Technical Account Executive ramp

Day 1

• Meet with Ben who will run through this plan and answer any questions you may have. In addition, come equipped to talk about any nuances around how you prefer to work (e.g. schedules, family time etc.).
• Setup relevant Sales & CS Tools
• If you start on a Monday, join your first PostHog All Hands (at 4.30pm UK/8.30am PT) and be prepared to have a strong opinion on whether pineapple belongs on pizza.
• If you start on a Monday, join your first Sales standup.
• We fill in a GitHub issue every week before this meeting so we are prepared for the discussion topics. Simon will add your GitHub handle to the template.

Rest of week 1

• Ask team members in your region to be invited to some customer calls so you can gain an understanding of how we work with customers.
• Check out some Buildbetter calls and add yourself to a bunch of Slack channels - get immersed in what our customers are saying.
• Learn and practise a demo of PostHog.
• Read all of the Sales section in the Handbook, and update it as you learn more.
• Meet with Charles, the exec responsible for Sales.
• Meet with Simon, Sales Lead
• PostHog integration exercise - by the end of week 1:
• Find/build a blank app which doesn’t yet have PostHog integrated. You should be able to vibe code something simple with React using Cursor or Lovable.dev
• Once you’ve got your app up and running get PostHog deployed and capturing events and replays. Default config is fine.
• Implement a custom event
• Implement user identification
• Record a loom showing what you’ve done and share it in our team channel

Week 2

• During your first week, Ben will go through the sales process with you and answer any questions you may have about the playbook.
• Shadow more live calls and listen to more Buildbetter recordings
• Towards the end of the week, schedule a demo and feedback session with Ben. We might need to do a couple of iterations over the next few weeks as you take on board feedback, don't worry if that's the case!
• Get comfortable with the PostHog Docs around our main products.
• We'll start routing new Salesforce Leads to you at the end of week 1. Start to review these and reach out, using a shared booking link with someone else from your region so they can back you up in the first few weeks. This is a great option to practise and fail.
• Make sure you're comfortable with the Shared Processes section of the Handbook
• Once you start getting leads / accounts, ping Simon to be added to the TAM quota tracker.

In-person onboarding

Ideally, this will happen in Week 3 or 4, and will be with a few existing team members (depending on where we do it) and will be 3-4 days covering:

• Demo practice session with the team.
• The data we track on customers in PostHog and some hands-on exercises to get you comfortable using PostHog itself.
• Deep dive on Vitally tracking.
• No stupid questions session.

Weeks 3-4

• Focus on taking more and more ownership on calls so that team members are just there as a safety net.
• Continue to meet with customers and reaching out to new leads.
• Add your Calendly link to your Slack profile so customers can book in with you directly (this works!)

How do I know if I'm on track?

By the end of month 1:

• Be leading customer calls and demos on your own
• Have evaluations in flight (with support from the team if needed)
• Have closed your first prepaid credit deal of any size

By the end of month 2:

• Be leading evaluations on your own
• Seeing strong conversion from your outreach to new leads
• Have closed multiple contracts by this point through the whole process

By the end of month 3:

• You've built out a strong pipeline and plan, looking 1-2 quarters ahead
• On track to hit 100% quota by the end of month 6

Technical Account Manager ramp

Day 1

• Meet with Landon who will run through this plan and answer any questions you may have. In addition, come equipped to talk about any nuances around how you prefer to work (e.g. schedules, family time etc.).
• Setup relevant Sales & CS Tools
• If you start on a Monday, join your first PostHog All Hands (at 4.30pm UK/8.30am PT) and be prepared to have a strong opinion on whether pineapple belongs on pizza.
• If you start on a Monday, join your first Sales standup.
• We fill in a GitHub issue every week before this meeting so we are prepared for the discussion topics. Simon will add your GitHub handle to the template.

Rest of week 1

• Ask team members in your region to be invited to some customer calls so you can gain an understanding of how we work with customers.
• Check out some Buildbetter calls and add yourself to a bunch of Slack channels - get immersed in what our customers are saying.
• Learn and practise a demo of PostHog.
• Read all of the Sales section in the Handbook, and update it as you learn more.
• Meet with Charles, the exec responsible for Sales.
• Meet with Simon, Sales Lead
• PostHog integration exercise - by the end of week 1:
• Find/build a blank app which doesn’t yet have PostHog integrated. You should be able to vibe code something simple with React using Cursor or Lovable.dev
• Once you’ve got your app up and running get PostHog deployed and capturing events and replays. Default config is fine.
• Implement a custom event
• Implement user identification
• Record a loom showing what you’ve done and share it in our team channel

Week 2

• During your first week, Simon will figure out your initial book of business (10 accounts). We will review these at the start of your second week, and make sure you understand how your targets are set.
• Shadow more live calls and listen to more Buildbetter recordings.
• Towards the end of the week, schedule a demo and feedback session with Landon. We might need to do a couple of iterations over the next few weeks as you take on board feedback, don't worry if that's the case!
• Prioritize your current book of customers, and start reaching out!
• Get comfortable with the PostHog Docs around our main products.
• We'll start routing new Salesforce Leads to you at the end of week 1. Start to review these and reach out, using a shared booking link with someone else from your region so they can back you up in the first few weeks. This is a great option to practise and fail.

In-person onboarding

Ideally, this will happen in Week 3 or 4, and will be with a few existing team members (depending on where we do it) and will be 3-4 days covering:

• Demo practice session with the team.
• The data we track on customers in PostHog and some hands-on exercises to get you comfortable using PostHog itself.
• Deep dive on Vitally tracking.
• No stupid questions session.

Weeks 3-4

• Focus on taking more and more ownership on calls so that team members are just there as a safety net.
• Continue to meet with your book of customers and inbound leads.
• Add your Calendly link to your Slack profile so customers can book in with you directly (this works!)

How do I know if I'm on track?

By the end of month 1:

• Be leading customer calls and demos on your own
• Have evaluations in flight (with support from the team if needed)
• Successfully made contact with _everyone_ in your book of business

By the end of month 2:

• Have closed your first prepaid credit deal of any size (net new or conversion to)
• Be leading evaluations on your own
• Have identified some opportunities to add to your book from self-serve signups who aren't paying yet

By the end of month 3:

• Have closed multiple contracts by this point (either new or expansion/renewal) through the whole process
• Be driving multiple opportunities for cross sell through your accounts, ie. at least one customer is actively using a product they weren't before you started (at any scale)

By the end of month 4:

• On track to hit 100% quota by the end of month 6

Getting your equipment setup right

In addition to following the guidance in the spending money section of the Handbook, there are a few things you should do to make sure you're set up to give high quality demos that look professional:

• Buy a webcam. These are cheap, but significantly better than those built into your Macbook. Logitech is perfectly fine here. This should cost up to $100.
• Buy a microphone. The mic on your Airpods will not do it. Rode do good quality, affordable mics - nice thing about these is that you can plug in wired headphones so you can still hear yourself talk. Again, up to $100 should be fine.
• If you prefer to use headphones with a built-in boom mic instead, that's also ok.
• Take calls at your desk. Don't dial in from your garden because it's a nice day and then spend the call apologizing for the lousy WiFi.
• You don't have to go all ring light, but think about your background a bit. You don't have to construct some elaborate bookshelf situation behind you, but consider using one of our nice wallpapers.

Alerting setup (for team leads)

We have certain automations in Vitally that your team lead needs to add you to. Please ask your team lead to add you.

• Vitally name trait playbook: create a new branch that matches assigned AE to new team member. In this branch, add action to update account trait AE name to name of the new team member. This is used to populate account owner info in tickets created by customers we own, so support knows who to reach out to.

New hire frequently asked questions

How does my quota work during my ramp period?

Your first three months of commission are paid at 100% fixed OTE. This will be calculated based on the date you start. If you start before the 15th of a month, you will get 100% fixed OTE for that month and two of the subsequent months. For example, if you start on Jan 13th, you will get 100% fixed OTE for Jan, Feb & Mar. If you start _on_ Jan 17th, you would get two months of 100% fixed OTE for Q1 and one month of 100% fixed OTE for Q2 in addition to two months of your quota'ed commission.

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dmukukwp6/image/upload/q_auto,f_auto/shapes_at_26_01_14_12_45_06_b0c13c36a5.png" alt="New hire quota ramp visual" className="my-6 rounded-md shadow-md" />

How does support work at PostHog?

• Generally, you're expected to be able to be the first line of support for customers at PostHog. You should be able to answer _most_ yourself - that's why we hire _Technical_ AEs and AMs after all! #ask-max in Slack can often help too.
• If you can't solve a customer's problem (it happens) then follow our standard support process.

Can I login as a customer?

• Visit the /admin/ endpoint on the cloud they are on. You can then search for them via email and log in. Be careful clicking around here as you can accidentally delete a person/organization! You need to get their permission first unless it's an emergency, i.e. to resolve an incident.

Are there any influential folks in our space I should read/listen to?

• Join the #newsletters channel in Slack for updates from a curated collection of influential folks in our industry.