For a Belgian startup hiring its first Business Developer, the right profile is almost always an experienced seller who can sell alone, without a well-known brand behind them, and who writes down the process as they go. This “builder” sits between the junior you train and the Head of Sales you bring in to run a team: they bridge the gap between founder-led sales and the sales organisation to come. The exact profile then depends on your funding stage, your deal size and the language your customers speak. It is the first thing we pin down when a founder asks us to handle the recruitment of a Business Developer.
In short
- Until sales are repeatable, the founder sells. The first Business Developer comes in when the same pitch works with different customers.
- At seed stage, hire a builder: someone who has already sold alone, at a price point close to yours, and who leaves a written process behind.
- The unsupported junior and the big-company executive used to a strong brand are the two most expensive casting errors in a young company.
- French BSPCEs do not exist under Belgian law: equity incentives take the form of warrants or stock options, taxed on grant.
- Since 1 July 2026, hiring a first employee entitles the company to a social security reduction of €2,000 per quarter, with no time limit.
First salesperson or builder: what does your startup actually need?
Three different jobs hide behind the “Business Developer” title in a young company. The SDR (Sales Development Representative) books qualified meetings and hands them over to someone else. The executing salesperson follows a process that already exists: targets, pitch, pricing grid, tools. The builder sells and builds the process at the same time. They test segments, note why prospects say no, adjust the outreach sequence and record what works, so that the next hire does not have to rediscover everything.
When you make your first sales hire, there is usually no written process and no closer to pass meetings to. The SDR and the executing salesperson therefore arrive too early, and the builder is the only one of the three who can work without that structure. This ties in with the distinction we draw between a Business Developer and a traditional sales representative; the scope of the role is set out in our Business Developer job description.
A quick test: if what you lack is meeting volume for an offer that already converts when you pitch it yourself, an executing salesperson or an SDR may be enough. If what you lack is proof that your offer sells without you in the room, you need a builder.
Which profile at which stage: pre-seed, seed, Series A?
Your funding stage gives a fair idea of commercial maturity, as long as you do not confuse the two. A funding round provides the budget for a hire. The signal that tells you when to use it is repeatability: does the same approach produce the same result with different customers? We cover this criterion in our article on when to hire your first Head of Sales in a startup, and it applies just as well to the first Business Developer.
| Stage | Typical commercial situation | Profile to hire | Trap to avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed | The founder sells, a handful of customers or pilots, offer and pricing still moving | Usually no permanent hire; if needed, a senior builder part-time or on assignment | Hiring to stop selling before understanding why customers buy |
| Seed | Ten or more customers, one segment responding better than the others, a stable pitch | An experienced, full-cycle builder, from prospecting to signature | The lone junior, or the big-company executive who has never sold without a brand |
| Series A | Documented process, measurable targets, need for volume and sometimes a second market | Two or three Business Developers, an SDR if volume justifies it, then a Head of Sales | Making the first Business Developer a manager on seniority alone |
In Belgium, the budget constraint is very tangible at the start. In February 2026, the Walloon public investor Wallonie Entreprendre launched StartUp Boost, a convertible loan of up to €100,000 for Walloon startups under three years old. Set against the cost of an experienced Business Developer, which we break down below, a ticket of that size pays for roughly one year of fully loaded salary.
The profile of a strong first Business Developer
Degrees and sector background matter less than five traits you can check in the candidate’s track record and in a role-play.
They have sold without a brand behind them
In a large group, the brand opens doors, marketing feeds the pipeline and presales prepares the demo. In a startup, the Business Developer does all of that alone. Look for a period in their career when they had to build their own credibility: a young company, a new product, a new market, a little-known distributor.
They have sold at a deal size and cycle close to yours
A subscription at a few hundred euros a month is won on call volume and speed. An €80,000-a-year contract signed after six months of committees is won by mapping decision-makers and by patience. A candidate who has already sold at your price point knows how many demos, follow-ups and internal approvals it takes to close, and will not be learning it on your first prospects.
They write down what they do
Your first Business Developer is also the author of your first playbook: segments, messages, objections, cycle stages, qualification criteria. If it all stays in their head, their departure sends you back to square one. In the interview, ask what a successor would find if they took over their current role tomorrow.
They work in your customers’ language
Almost half of our recruitment assignments take place in Flanders. A Business Developer who cannot work in Dutch cuts themselves off from a large part of the Belgian market, and English alone goes down poorly in traditional industrial sectors. Because the domestic market is small, many Belgian startups look early to the Netherlands, France or Germany: the language of that second market becomes part of the profile from the very first hire.
They cope with ambiguity and report what they hear
The offer changes, prices change, the product has gaps. A good first Business Developer lives with that and turns every rejection into useful information for the founder.
One last question sums up all five, and investor Jason Lemkin, founder of SaaStr, advises asking it about every finalist: would you buy your own product from this person? Early leads are scarce; if the answer wavers, do not hand them over. To turn these criteria into a scoring grid, see how to assess the hunting skills of a Business Developer candidate.
Junior, corporate executive, former founder: the profiles that disappoint
The junior is the budget temptation. They cost less, they are motivated, and they can succeed if someone who knows how to sell coaches them every day. At seed stage, that someone is the founder, already absorbed by fundraising and product. Alone in a market nobody has mapped yet, a junior mostly produces activity. Their time comes later, once a process exists and an experienced seller can coach them.
The big-company executive reassures investors with their CV. They have often handled impressive accounts with presales, a legal department and a marketing budget behind them. Without that support, their pace drops, while their salary expectations stay at corporate level.
The former founder is a special case. They know how to sell without a brand and build from nothing, which often makes them an excellent builder. Check two things before signing: will they accept that product and pricing decisions stay with you, and what are they looking for over the next three years? If they are preparing their next venture, you are funding their transition.
Expert view
We’re specialists: Sales, Marketing, Management. Not generalists. When a generalist agency recruits a Sales Director, they read the CV. We know the actual job: the real trade-offs between prospecting and farming, what it means to lead a distributed trilingual team across the Benelux, how to build a commercial strategy that holds in complex B2B. That field-level understanding is what separates a placement that lasts from one that breaks at 18 months.
Pay and equity: an offer the startup can sustain
A young company has little sales history, so its first-year revenue targets are estimates. A package weighted heavily towards variable pay shifts the risk of an unproven model onto the Business Developer, and good candidates see it. We recommend a solid base salary with a moderate variable component, tied for the first six months to activity and pipeline indicators (qualified meetings, opportunities created, pilots signed), then to signed revenue once the first references are in. Market levels are covered in our article on Business Developer salaries in Belgium.
Budget in terms of employer cost. The example below assumes a base salary of €4,500 gross a month, to be replaced by your own range, for a Business Developer who would be the company’s first employee.
| Item | Basis | Annual amount |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | 12 x €4,500 (assumption) | €54,000 |
| End-of-year bonus (13th month) | One month’s salary, depending on the joint committee | €4,500 |
| Double holiday pay | 92% of monthly salary | €4,140 |
| Variable pay at 100% of target | Assumption | €12,000 |
| Employer social security contributions | Around 25% (19.88% basic rate plus 5.12% wage moderation) on €70,500 | €17,625 |
| Company car | Overall budget of €900 a month, CO2 contribution included (assumption) | €10,800 |
| First-employee reduction | 4 x €2,000, if the company qualifies as a new employer | – €8,000 |
| Estimated employer cost | About €7,900 a month | €95,065 |
According to the administrative instructions of the National Social Security Office (published in French and Dutch), the target-group reduction for a first employee has been a flat €2,000 per quarter since 1 July 2026, with no time limit. It is reserved for employers who have had no staff during the twelve months before the hire, and the newcomer may not replace someone who left. It applies to the first employee whatever their job: build it into the budget, but do not let it decide the order of your hires.
Then there is equity, often offered to a first salesperson to make up for a lower base. The BSPCE is a French instrument with no equivalent in Belgian law. What Belgian companies use are stock options and warrants governed by the law of 26 March 1999, with a feature that surprises candidates: tax is due on grant, on a flat-rate benefit of 18% of the value of the underlying shares, reduced to 9% if the plan meets several conditions, including a lock-up until the end of the third calendar year after the offer. Work out that tax cost for the candidate and put in writing what happens to their options if they leave. The full mechanism is explained in our article on structuring equity or stock options for a Head of Sales; it applies to a Business Developer too, with smaller allocations.
The mistakes that cost you a year
Hiring before you have sold yourself
A founder who has run only three or four full sales cycles does not yet know what to ask of a Business Developer. They will write a generic job description, struggle to judge candidates and hand over assumptions instead of a proven pitch. The hire then becomes the test of the business model, with a salary as the price of the experiment.
Handing over leads without onboarding
A Business Developer who gets a laptop, CRM access and the prospect list on Monday morning will burn your best contacts with an approximate pitch. Plan joint meetings with the founder, listening sessions on real calls and a validated demo before any solo meeting.
Writing nothing down on 90-day and 12-month goals
Without written goals, nobody knows after six months whether the hire has worked. Since the single employment status of 2014, standard employment contracts no longer have a probation clause in Belgium, so it will not help you correct a mistake cheaply. Your protection is a precise scorecard before the hire and formal reviews at 30, 60 and 90 days.
How to de-risk this first hire
Prepare three documents before advertising anything: a scorecard of four or five results expected at twelve months; a written split of roles with the founder, stating which accounts they keep and for how long; and an approved package range, variable pay and equity included. If the leadership team cannot agree on the scorecard, the need is not ready.
The assessment should then look like the job: ask finalists to prepare an approach to three real prospects, role-play a first call, test how they defend a price against an objection, and question their past numbers as closely as an investor would. Our list of interview questions for hiring a high-performing Business Developer gives you the structure.
This is the method we apply. Our first call is there to challenge the brief; every finalist takes the KOAN personality test, which we have used for 30 years to understand what drives a seller and how they react under pressure; and we stay alongside the candidate for their first three months. Assignments run on a retainer basis, take twelve weeks on average from signing to the candidate’s signature, and come with a six-month replacement guarantee. Our approach for young companies is set out on our startup recruitment firm page.
Frequently asked questions about a startup’s first Business Developer
When should a startup hire its first Business Developer?
When sales are repeatable: the founder has personally signed around fifteen customers, can describe the typical customer, knows the recurring objections and sees the same cycle from one deal to the next. A funding round provides the budget, not the signal.
Should a startup’s first salesperson be junior or senior?
Experienced, in the vast majority of cases. A junior needs a process and a coach that do not yet exist at seed stage. They become a good option once an experienced seller can manage them.
How much does a Business Developer cost a Belgian startup?
Assuming €4,500 gross a month, with a 13th month, double holiday pay, target variable pay, employer contributions of around 25% and a company car, the employer cost comes close to €103,000 a year, or about €95,000 with the first-employee reduction.
Can a Belgian startup offer BSPCEs to a Business Developer?
No, the BSPCE is French. In Belgium, equity incentives take the form of stock options or warrants under the law of 26 March 1999, taxed on grant on a flat-rate basis of 18%, or 9% if certain conditions are met.
Business Developer or Head of Sales: which comes first?
The Business Developer, in most startups. A Head of Sales needs a team to lead and a process to structure; they usually arrive once two to five salespeople are in place.
Is there support for hiring a first employee in Belgium?
Yes. Since 1 July 2026, the social security reduction for a first employee is a flat €2,000 per quarter with no time limit, reserved for employers who have had no staff in the previous twelve months.
Your first Business Developer sets the tone for the whole sales organisation that follows. If you are preparing this hire, we start by testing your stage, budget and market against the profile you have in mind: it is the first step of our Business Developer recruitment service in Belgium.
