One of the trends we’ve monitored in this space is the persistent growth of Sales roles since the market’s bottom. Part of the reason may be in how investors, especially in the public markets, are valuing growth versus profitability. While the verbal message has been “profits, profits, profits” since the market turn, the action has been slight different: Growth is still worth 3X profits, according to Bessemer and Meritech. To put that in perspective: Growth was valued 11X as much as profits at the market peak and 2.2X as much as profits at 2022’s bottom. This alone may be enough to answer the why related to Sales demand: leadership for growth is needed more again. No sector of the market has been more thorough in its turnaround related to this in the last six months than mid-stage VC companies (Series B & C), who are opening executive Sales & Business Development roles at accelerated rates. Opened searches were up 52% in Q1 2024 versus Q3 2023. Still far from the market peak, but growing back into demand.