Employer branding · Startups
The person you are hiring has to explain your company to their father.
At pre-seed and seed stage, employer branding is what a candidate shows their family when asked to leave a salaried job for a company nobody has heard of. It covers the founders, the stage and the honest trade, and GullySales writes it with you rather than around you.
In one paragraph
At pre-seed and seed stage, employer branding is what a candidate shows their family when asked to leave a salaried job for a company nobody has heard of. It covers the founders, the stage and the honest trade, and GullySales writes it with you rather than around you.
Also written for
Early-stage startups, Pre-seed startups, Seed-stage startups.
For early-stage startups
Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.
“The family asks and there is nothing to show them”
Somebody leaving a stable job has to satisfy a parent or a spouse. All they have is a landing page written for customers and a founder profile last touched in 2022, and the answer at home comes back no.
“Below-market pay is fine and hiding it is not”
Everybody at this stage pays less than the company the candidate is leaving. Written down with what comes alongside it, that filters out the wrong applicants in a day. Discovered in round three, it costs both sides a month.
“Options get offered and mentally valued at zero”
Most candidates have heard a story about a grant that turned out worthless, and nobody explains the strike price, the cliff or what happens on a sale. An unexplained grant is not part of the offer as far as they are concerned.
“The founders are the entire employer brand”
There is no culture page worth writing yet. What exists is who you are, what you did before and why you are doing this, and at this stage that is all a candidate has to go on.
What we do
What we deliver for early-stage startups.
Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.
One page a candidate can send their family
What the company is building, who it is for, where it has got to and who is behind it, in language somebody outside your sector can follow.
Result: The conversation at home goes better, which is where your offers are actually accepted.
Founder profiles that are current
Your real history, including the things that did not work, written from an hour of conversation and updated whenever the story changes.
Result: Somebody researching you finds a person instead of a stale bio.
The offer written honestly
Pay, stage, what is built and what is not, and what the first six months will really be like. Nothing promised that depends on a round closing.
Result: The people who say yes understood what they were saying yes to.
An options explainer written with your advisers
Cliff, vesting, strike price and exercise in plain words, drafted alongside your CA or company secretary. We write the explanation; the terms and their legal effect are theirs to confirm.
Result: Candidates can value the grant instead of ignoring it.
Accounts from your first hires
What the first month here was like, from the two or three people who have already done it. Their words, lightly edited, published with their agreement.
Result: Evidence from somebody who took the same risk.
How the result is measured
- Applications received per open role
- Careers page engagement and time on page
- Candidate drop-off during the interview process
- Referral hires as a share of total hires
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, then reported every month against it.
How it works
From your first message to the first monthly report.
No open-ended retainer. Each step has a point in time and something you receive.
01 · Day 1
Free audit call
45 minutes with whoever handles your enquiries: how they arrive, how fast they are answered, where they are lost.
02 · Within a few working days
Written, scored report
Six areas scored, fixes ranked by return and cost. If you want our help, the scope and fee come with it, in writing.
03 · Before work starts
Baseline recorded
Enquiries by source, reply time, conversion and cost per order, written down so every later month has an honest comparison.
04 · Month 1
The first fix goes live
Usually the cheapest one on the report: reply time, a follow-up sequence or the marketing-to-sales handover.
05 · Every month
Report against the baseline
What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words.
06 · Month 3 to 6
Renew on the numbers
The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. No twelve-month lock.
How the work runs for early-stage startups
- 1
Talk to current employees
We interview a cross-section of staff honestly, including some who might raise uncomfortable points.
- 2
Find the genuine reasons to join
We identify what is actually true and attractive about working there, rather than generic claims that could apply anywhere.
- 3
Build the careers content
The careers page, job post templates and employee stories are written from what staff actually said.
- 4
Review the candidate experience
We check what happens between application and offer, since branding cannot fix a process that loses candidates through delay.
- 5
Hand over and refresh periodically
Content is handed over for ongoing use and revisited periodically as the team and roles change.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every monthly report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No lock-in, no guarantees we cannot keep
Three to six months at a time. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how you sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 45-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak, within a few working days
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Should we tell candidates how much runway we have?
Do you help us hire, or handle offers and payroll?
Money is tight. Is this the right thing to spend on?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Startups
Employer branding for the rest of the startups.
Or start from employer branding.