How AI and SaaS Companies Scale Faster With Better Talent

Lessons from Michael Bertoni's appearance on The Sales Ninja Show with Jay Lee

Most SaaS and AI startups don't fail because their product is bad, but because no one on the team has the knowledge of how to sell it, hire for it, or scale a team around it. This article will discuss a recent conversation between Michael Bertoni, founder of SaaS Talent, and Jay Lee, host of The Sales Ninja Show. The discussion details why early-stage companies struggle with go-to-market execution, how to build a lean revenue team using talent in Latin America, and what AI tools are already the best in the business for founders who can't afford a full staff quite yet.

Bertoni has spent 25+ years helping SaaS, AI, and tech companies grow with the right people and the right go-to-market strategy. He works primarily with founders in the 0-to-10 million dollar ARR range; with respect to this decision, he acknowledges that this is where the gaps are the widest and the stakes are the highest.

The 0-to-10M ARR Growth Trap

Why do so many early-stage companies stall out? Bertoni says the answer isn't product-market fit or funding, but sales.

"What we see over and over is a lack of sales ability. Selling is an integral part of recruiting and talent acquisition. It's selling yourself then selling your product as well as your services. Basically, everything is sales."

Founders in this stage are often technical or product-minded people who raised a seed without ever having built a repeatable way to generate it. Bertoni doesn't sugarcoat it:

"Every company that has a seed and they essentially have no idea what they're doing with it. They don't know how to generate leads, they don't know how to sell and they need help."

What a real go-to-market motion actually looks like

Bertoni broke go-to-market strategy down into the full arc most founders skip past: building a pipeline engine across channels (like outbound, SEO, LinkedIn, events, referrals and partners), qualifying leads before a meeting, running a real sales presentation instead of jumping straight into a demo, handling objections; pricing the product correctly, as well as onboarding and expanding the customer once they close.

Bertoni’s litmus test for whether a company has this working is as follows:

Are you having at least two or three fresh conversations with your ideal customer every week? If you aren’t, growth is going to be a fight.

"If you don't have an engine that's bringing in qualified leads, keep it simple, do you have two, three, four new conversations every week with your ICP? If the answer is no, you're not going to grow."

He was equally direct about founders who skip straight to the product demo without qualifying the buyer first:

"Many SaaS founders say, 'Let's jump right into the demo!' Yet, they have no idea what you do. You have no idea about them. You need a framework."

Fix your foundation before you run paid ads

A common counterpoint in this conversation was Bertoni's take on paid advertising. His advice to any founder trying to decide between organic growth and paid ads: don't run ads first.

"You shouldn’t ever start with paid ads, ever. You should start by doing organic posts in the channels; if something's working, first you A/B test what's working organically and once it starts working organically, you boost it."

Before any of that, he said, most 0-to-10M companies need to fix the basics, those including their website, LinkedIn profile, company page, product demo as, at that stage, nobody is paying attention yet.

"When you're a 0-to-10 million company, you have no brand. Nobody cares. Nobody cares, right? That's the hardest thing that many have to learn, even though it’s hard. It is absolutely necessary to get these foundational assets in place before even considering running ads."

Case study: a six-person Latin America team built in five months

Long story short: A Boston-based SaaS founder replaced two U.S.-based account executives with a six-person go-to-market team in Latin America for comparable cost.

The clearest illustration of Bertoni's playbook came from a client in Boston where the founder needed a revenue engine and started with two sales development reps in Latin America. The sought-after role Bertoni's team calls a Market Development Rep that requires SDR and marketing skills. Within a few months, those reps were generating five qualified leads a week each, up from typically averaging two.

From there, the team added two business development reps: a RevOps specialist to clean up the tool stack, and an executive sales and marketing assistant for the founder. Eventually, one of the original BDRs was promoted to VP of Sales for the company.

"This team is producing results far beyond expectations. They have a six-person team, all in Latin America, that we built in five months. I don't think this team exists anywhere else in the world."

Economics were the most essential step. Bertoni explains it as hiring two account executives in the U.S. at roughly $250,000 in total comp each, versus building a six-person go-to-market team in Latin America for a comparable cost, that including recruiting, onboarding, and ongoing coaching.

"You're getting a six-person team in Latin America for the same cost. Plus you're getting me. I'm your GTM coach, I'm your head of talent acquisition."

What separates an average hire from a breakthrough hire

This discussion details Bertoni’s screening process when placing talent; he offered what he called a few recruiter "dirty little secrets." Tenure is the first filter; candidates should show at least two-plus years of experience, with the ideal candidate having three-plus years, in their recent roles. Beyond that, he's looking for startup instinct as much as skill:

"Do they have tech, startup, and entrepreneurial prowess? I've seen so many people fail because they don't know how to work in a startup environment, get things done, and blow through walls."

The next data points to consider are domain experience, leadership stories, and specific functional requirements. Although, few founders consider the true cherry on top that's easy to miss: whether the candidate is currently employed.

"Are they working right now? That's a data point. You want people who are working and passively looking."

AI-first is no longer optional

When the conversation turns to AI, Bertoni was unequivocal about where things are headed for lean teams.

"If you're listening to this right now, everything you should be doing should be AI-first."

He described handing a client access to Claude with Cowork and, after a week of light coaching, watching her ship a live software application generating revenue; this work she estimated would have otherwise cost at least $10,000, with a professional or team of professionals.

"Claude is the most unbelievable thing that I've ever seen. She said, 'I would have had to pay somebody $10,000 at least for this work.'"

Bertoni’s broader stack includes Gamma for turning transcripts into presentations, NotebookLM for synthesizing long-form content, and short-form video tools like Opus Clip for repurposing recorded conversations into clips. The prior mentioned are all tools he argues any founder can start using immediately, even before they've built out a full team.

The bigger picture

Bertoni closed the conversation on a more personal note, describing a morning routine built around a walk, light exercise, a daily gratitude practice, and tying his approach to business back to a simple philosophy:

"You have to be a giver. Give value and it'll come back to you in spades, a hundred different ways to Sunday."

For founders stuck between an underbuilt go-to-market motion and a hiring budget that doesn't stretch to U.S. salaries, Bertoni’s whole pitch relies on the fact that it is essential to get the foundation right, build lean with the right talent wherever it lives, and let AI carry the load that used to require a full hire.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do SaaS startups fail at 0 to 10M ARR?

Most stall out not because nobody on the team knows how to sell. As Bertoni puts it, "What we see over and over and over and over is a lack of sales ability... They don't know how to generate leads, they don't know how to sell. They need help."

Should startups run paid ads or organic content first?

Organic content first, always. Bertoni is direct on this: "You should never start with paid ads, ever. You should start by doing organic posts in the channels, and if something's working, first you A/B test what's working organically. Then once it starts working organically, you boost it." Foundational assets: your website, LinkedIn, product demo all need to be in place before ad spend makes any sense.

How much does it cost to build a sales team in Latin America vs. the U.S.?

Bertoni's comparison: two account executives in the U.S. run roughly $250,000 in total comp each. For a similar cost, a founder can build a full six-person go-to-market team in Latin America that includes recruiting, onboarding, and coaching. "You're getting a six-person team in Latin America for the same cost. Plus you're getting me. I'm your GTM coach, I'm your head of talent acquisition."

What AI tools should SaaS founders use first?

Bertoni's go-to stack includes Claude for building and shipping software, Gamma for turning transcripts into presentations, NotebookLM for synthesizing long-form content, and Opus Clip for repurposing recorded conversations into short-form content.

Michael Bertoni is the founder of SaaS Talent, helping SaaS, AI, and tech companies build go-to-market engines and hire exceptional talent across the U.S. and Latin America. Reach his team at mbertoni@saas-talent.com.