Elite Tech Sales

Elite Tech Sales is where the best talent meets the best opportunities in B2B tech sales.

In our “Break In” Program, we help ambitious individuals break into tech sales and land roles at top companies like Google, Oracle, HubSpot, Snowflake, and Deel, while beating their ramp-up quotas. Our data shows that starting your career with an industry leader transforms your career trajectory (hence why we do it).

Our Senior Recruiting Program is tailored for VP of Sales, Enterprise Account Executives, and senior sales leaders with a proven track record, helping them find their next big move with companies that match their expertise.

We have high standards for both the people and companies we work with. If that makes you uncomfortable, or you don’t like being held accountable to the best version of yourself, we might not be the right fit for you.

Our mission is simple: Connect the best people with the best opportunities.

If you’re ready to take your career to the next level or looking for elite talent to build your team, visit www.elitetechsales.com.

Founder

Dell Technologies

Worked with fast-growing startups and established companies to integrate Dell's data center portfolio. Responsible for closing $7M new revenue annually.

Data Center Account Executive, Field Sales

Managed and developed cross-functional teams of account executives, engineers, and product specialists across the Central US, with an emphasis on analytics and operational efficiency throughout a 55+ person ecosystem.

District Manager of Account Executives, Central Region

Spearheaded relationships with C-suites, system integrators, and value-added resellers to grow business into both net-new and install accounts. Top account executive achieving 300% of quota within 6 months of starting.

Account Executive

Recipient of Dell EMC’s two most prestigious sales development awards. Accelerated growth with mid-market, commercial and enterprise account teams. Worked with directors to develop and implement business development campaigns for the North American sales organization. Regularly hit 211% - 235% of quota.

Sales Development Representative

Ex-Dell | Be Better Than 99% of Candidates ⚡️

I connect top sales talent to opportunities in B2B technology sales. 

The best talent is not looking for jobs, and that's why we help. 

I work with VP's of Sales and Enterprise AE's with experience in SaaS, cloud computing, and cybersecurity and match them with companies aligned with their experience.

Our mission to help build high-performing sales teams with the best people, performance, and culture.

Whether you're a company in need of sales talent or an experienced seller looking for a new role, Elite Tech Sales is here to help.

Your sales experience shouldn't suck!

Jay Johnston

I used to think hiring great talent comes from bigger funnels, more job boards, and "casting a wider net."

Turns out I was wrong.

More volume doesn’t work for A-players.

A-players don’t sit on job boards.
They’ll never apply to your postings.
They also won’t answer generic recruiter DMs.

So what do you do?

Well I’m glad you asked… :)

A-players are built, then found.

And luckily for you they are built inside a small number of companies.

Not 1,000 companies.
Not 200.
Not 100.

20.
Twenty of your competitors.
Twenty companies that consistently train, develop, and promote elite sales talent.

Your job is not to hunt the whole market.
Your job is to stay up to date with twenty ecosystems.

Because here’s what makes a passive candidate finally want to talk to you.

“Trigger events”

• New VP of Sales
• Acquisition
• Territory reshuffle
• Comp plan change

When those hit, top performers, the ones who never respond, start becoming open minded.

And this is when your most valuable assets becomes available.

My recommendation, precision.
Stop sourcing the market. Start sourcing with precision.

Your 24/7 hiring funnel should be:

1. Identify 20 companies that consistently develop killers in your space.

These companies already did the filtering.
They train them..
They sharpen them.
You just pick from the top % who are unhappy at a certain point in time (that you pay attention to).

2. Track triggers.

New leadership? Acquisition? Keep a pulse on what’s going on.

3. Go for the sale. Everyone wins.
It’s a win/win. Why? They aren’t happy.

Seasoned sellers have typically have relationships and niche skills that translate well to a competitor or complimentary product vs. jumping into a new space like Payroll AE transitioning to a new space like cloud computing.

It’s not sexy but…

Real A-player recruiting is not volume. It’s timing.

It’s not 500 candidates. It’s the right 25 names from the right 20 companies you respect.

This is how you recruit the best human capital to actually scale your company.

Not the C players who check the box but give you a headache each day.

Real World Example:

A 7-figure W2 sellers at a well known company told me their new VP started micromanaging them. After three years of overachievement, they weren’t about to be treated like a Day 1 rep. The VP didn’t recognize he was managing a proven performer, and that rep started job searching in the same vertical the same week. 3 weeks later, offer signed and left.


P.S. If you’re a sales leader and want help building a precision hiring system so you stop gambling on average talent, book a call here: https://lnkd.in/g6TPNSxv

Hire sales talent ⚡️ elitetechsales.com

LinkedIn Growth Engine

Building profitable audiences for established recruitment firms ($1M-20M revenue).

Founder & CEO

Longevity Life

Helping people live measurably longer, healthier lives. Our mission is to add 1B healthy years to humanity.

Founder OS

Hired as first Founder Success Manager (FSM) to:

- Build out backend continuity program (OS+) from 0-1
- Build & deliver upsell motion from OS → OS+
- FSM to 30+ founders. Player-coach to newly hired FSMs

Results:
- Helped grow OS+ ($25K offer) to 200+ members
- Closed $250K in cash collected upsell revenue
- Collected 20+ 5-star testimonials on TrustPilot
- Developed 10+ SOPs, playbooks and frameworks that comprise core curriculum

Founder Success & LinkedIn Growth Instructor

KarmaCheck

Head of Customer Success

Blueshift

Head of Customer Success, EMEA (2019 to 2021)

Director of Customer Success

Mixpanel

Enterprise Customer Success

Optimizely

Onboarding Specialist

Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC)

Supported the development of AIC's Education Outreach Program

Dada

Follow for daily Insights to live a longer, healthier life

Over the past decade, I’ve scaled revenue and client success at three SaaS companies from $5M to $30M+ ARR, delivering 110%+ net revenue retention and top 10% NPS scores (65+).

Today, we help recruitment firm owners & Principals ($1M–$20M billings, 5–20 recruiters) turn LinkedIn into their #1 revenue channel by building trusted authority in their market.

Our clients don’t want to be “content creators.” They want visibility that converts into qualified pipeline and high-intent retained searches. That’s what we do.

In the past 12 months, we’ve generated $5M+ in client revenue from LinkedIn by positioning their firms as the go-to authorities in their markets.

Our methodology:
→ Revenue Growth Engine - a 3-step system perfected with 40+ founders
→ Content strategy that generates demand for retained executive searches (not just likes)
→ Strategic outreach to initiate conversations with your ideal clients and candidates
→ All requiring just 1.5 hours per week from busy Principals and founders

Our results:
→ 40+ founders and Principals served
→ $5M+ in client revenue generated from inbound leads via LinkedIn
→ 4+ qualified inquiries per month within 90 days (average client result)
→ Doubling client pipelines in under 6 months
→ Clients include 7 and 8-figure retained search firms commanding $50K+ fees and securing multi-search mandates

And we're just getting started!

We help recruitment founders who are:
→ Tired of building trust from scratch and ready for clients who arrive pre-sold
→ Reliant on a referral pipeline that has plateaued and feels unpredictable
→ Ready to turn decades of expertise into an inbound client pipeline

Ready to turn LinkedIn into your #1 growth channel?
→ Book a 15-minute strategy call: 

https://calendly.com/rohan-karunakaran-mbww/1-1-15-min-consult

Rohan Karunakaran

The talent landscape is shifting in real time.

Mass layoffs. Hiring freezes. Leaner teams:

I sat down with Gina Hadley to unpack what top CHROs and hiring leaders are doing to stay ahead.

Her company The Second Shift was just acquired by Sinecure, Inc.  — and is shifting from “flexible talent for women” → a total talent solution built for leaders designing teams that are adaptive, resilient, and capital-efficient:

• On-demand senior talent for mission-critical work
• Retained search when the role should become full-time
• Scalable recruiting for team build-outs

For CHROs and hiring managers, that means:

• Solve critical work fast without waiting on headcount
• Validate culture fit before committing full-time
• Reduce hiring risk without slowing execution

And this isn’t “send a contractor and hope it works.” 🤞

Sinecure is rolling out training, documentation, and tailored enablement to help HR leaders deploy on-demand talent successfully — KPIs, milestones, onboarding playbooks, culture integration, and more.

This is the evolution of flexible work — applied to high-complexity knowledge work.

Full clip below 👇

CEO at LinkedIn Growth Engine | Podcast host at Founder-Led 🎙️

I didn’t start posting content because I was “trying to build a personal brand.”

I posted because I was obsessed with longevity — epigenetic age tests, biomarkers, health experiments.

That was it.

Then something unexpected happened:

People started reaching out.

Even Bryan Johnson slid into my DMs after I tagged him.

That’s when I realized something most founders still miss:

• You don't need a massive audience
• You just need consistency + a POV worth sharing

Because unlike ads and referrals, content compounds.

One great piece of content can:

 • Spark conversations with dream customers
 • Position you as the trusted expert before the first call
 • Generate leads months — sometimes years — later

A founder-led content strategy isn’t about “being an influencer.”

It’s about controlling your destiny and attracting your perfect-fit clients. 

Full clip below 👇

B2B lags B2C by ~10 years.

Had a great conversation with Will Leatherman and he said it perfectly:

"If B2C’s creator era kicked off in 2014… B2B is right on schedule"

And the playbook is already written:

2016 → B2C social goes mainstream
2019 → Personal brands disproportionately outperform corporate brands
2020s → Distribution > product

Now the same shift is hitting B2B.

Founders & CEOs are becoming the face of their products & services.

Those who start now will be 2–3 years ahead by the time everyone else catches on.

If you're still relying on cold email to grow your business in 2025… you're already behind.

Just wrapped a pod with Kelly Brown — multi 7-figure business owner, published author, speaker, and one of the most trusted recruiters in Logistics, Aviation, Construction, and Supply Chain.

Kelly summed it up perfectly:

“When we launched, everyone was doing cold email. Those days are gone.  LinkedIn is key. You have to brand yourself.”

She shows up with authenticity... sharing who she is as an Air Force wife, recruiter, speaker, and author. And it shows in her business:

🔥 Inbound leads from content
🔥 Big deals from simple DMs
🔥 Clients who trust her before the first call
🔥 Candidates who feel seen

As she put it:

“This industry is relationship-driven. The best opportunities come from people who feel connected to you.”

Founder-led brand > outbound.
Visibility > volume.
Connection > automation.

If you’re still hiding behind your company logo or posting twice a month… you’re missing the easiest growth lever you have.

Kelly is the proof.

🎙️ Full podcast episode dropping soon. Stay tuned.

Let's be honest about HR.

People are your most valuable asset — especially as AI gives small teams more leverage than ever.

Yet most leaders treat HR as an afterthought.

It's the thing you deal with when something goes wrong. And by then, it's expensive:

• A wrongful termination claim that costs $50K
• Turnover bleeding cash because no one's managing culture
• A compliance gap that leads to an expensive audit

But almost no company under 200–300 employees can afford a:

• Recruiter
• Benefits / leave expert
• An AI-literate HR leader who understands compliance

So HR stays “good enough” — until it isn’t.

I sat down with Heather MacKay-Mencheski, Founder of HM Pinnacle Consulting : People & HR Solutions, who built something for exactly this gap:

A team of HR specialists you access on-demand:

→ Workers' comp & safety 
→ HR + AI (yes, that's a degree now) 
→ Recruitment, benefits, leave

The wild part: her team programs AI to answer employee questions using your handbook and state laws.

Your rules. 24/7.

Heather calls it "HR in your pocket."

Full clip below 👇

Most execs say they want "A-players."

Very few define the environment those A-players are walking into:

Case in point: 5 people failed in the same executive role.

The 6th succeeded — not because they were more talented.

But because the company finally understood who they actually needed.

I sat down with George Randle, Managing Partner at Randall Partners, LLC, to unpack how elite search firms diagnose fit before making a hire.

He defines culture as "The sum total or lack thereof of the leadership behaviors of the C-suite."

And his approach is simple but effective:

• Ask: "If you could wave a magic wand, what will this person have accomplished in one year?"

• Understand the growth thesis — is this a rebuild or a maintenance role?

• Learn why previous people failed — what trait were they missing?

That cybersecurity firm kept hiring maintainers. What they actually needed was a builder.

A-players don't fail because they lack talent.

They fail when they're dropped into the wrong environment.

Full clip with George below 👇

Most CEOs think pipeline is built in their CRM.

It’s not.

Right now, somewhere, your future buyer is listening to a podcast where your competitor gets mentioned. Another is reading a LinkedIn post that positions someone else as the category leader. A third is in a Slack community asking for recommendations — and your name isn’t coming up.

None of this shows up in your attribution dashboard.

This is what Chris Walker and others call the 'dark funnel' — the invisible network of conversations, content, and word-of-mouth that actually drives 60–80% of B2B buying decisions.

Here’s what few people understand 👇

B2B buyers don’t discover you through:

 • Gated eBooks
 • Paid search
 • SDR outreach

They discover you in places attribution software can’t see:

 • Podcasts
 • Founder content on LinkedIn
 • Niche industry communities
 • Private group chats
 • Word-of-mouth between peers
 • “Here’s how we use XYZ tool” Zoom conversations

Buyers are learning from your content and from each other.

They already know:
 • How your product works
 • Where it fits in their stack
 • The aha-moment use cases
 • The lift you deliver

Before they ever speak to you.

The dark funnel isn’t small — it’s where 70–90% of the buying journey now happens.

And because founders can’t measure it… they don’t invest in it.

78% of executive buying decisions now involve online research before the first sales call.

Companies leaning into dark-funnel channels are seeing 50–67% shorter sales cycles.

But most executives hold back because:

 • It can’t be measured like traditional channels
 • It requires creativity — more art than science
 • It feels risky because it's a new paradigm

And that’s the opportunity.

You’re not competing on product anymore. You’re competing on who educated the buyer first.

The dark funnel isn’t new — it’s how consumers have been buying for decades.

What’s new is that it’s now where the majority of B2B buying decisions start.

And if you’re not showing up where it counts, you’re not in the consideration set.

--

If this resonates and you want to start winning inside this new paradigm, DM me and I’ll send you the playbook we’ve developed after working with 40+ businesses.

It takes 2 hours per week and compounds faster than any other marketing channel when done right.

Helping recruiting agency owners get new clients with done-for-you LinkedIn content | Podcast host at Founder-Led

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Rohan Karunakaran

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The Battle

Jay Johnston

Rohan Karunakaran

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jay Johnston's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreJay Johnston's LinkedIn Performance