pman45

Enterprise Account Executive

Personal Narrative

Advice on looking at startups

hey guys!

first - you all are the best damn community on the planet and I always appreciate your guys advice.

second - looking for some advice on startups. I was previously at a series A startup that specialized in voice AI as a founding AE. they had decent product market fit, I knew the problems they solved for very well and the industry I knew very well (financial services / banking). it didn't work out because leadership was pretty disjointed in terms of direction which lead to a shaky GTM. I did accomplish a lot in under 6 months tho. I feel like the right opportunity with the lessons I learned I could crush it.

I historically have sold very well to sales and operations (call centers and back office) - I personally love ops because even though it doesn't get the same amount of love as sales, I always found it way easier to justify a business case with ops for some reason. I feel like problems in operations / IT are easier for me because I was an engineer in college. also I feel like call centers are an underrated gold mine to sell to.

I am looking to join a startup that specializes in either AI, machine learning or NLP. even open to cybersecurity or anything API driven.

any recommendations on cool shit you guys have seen? also what are some general advice you all have on the early startup game? last place was my first rodeo.

🚀 Career Goals

9

15 comments

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oldcloser

Arsonist

5

💀

AI/ML is the hottest topic at the moment. But please be careful NOT to get into AI/ML dev or ProServ. Really hard to sell what people don’t even understand. Make sure the tech has been productized, solves a specific problem and has proven fit. Lots of slick ideas floating around that don’t fix anything. I got in early and it’s proving to cough up some ops. Good luck to ya!

pman45

Executive

3

Enterprise Account Executive

Oldcloser your advice is always great! I actually work for an SI right now just to get by until the market gets better and yeah it’s not my passion for sure - at least they’re paying me well and I’m closing deals lol

oldcloser

Arsonist

0

💀

Wise- love to hear some success through the shit stories!

ChumpChange

Politicker

2

Channel Manager

I was looking at your comment and I nodded my head yes throughout the entire thing. You won't be great at selling a solution that your audience has to be significantly educated on.

oldcloser

Arsonist

0

💀

Seriously- selling is hard enough when the prospect can understand the solution. Most think AI = chatbot. ML solutions are a different world. Hard pass for now

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Why a start-up?

pman45

Executive

1

Enterprise Account Executive

I did it previously and enjoyed it a lot more than working for a large company, creating my own systems and processes. Not just cause I want to work for the next unicorn. Mostly the fulfillment of the role and how good it feels when I get a W.

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

You can get the same fulfillment at mid and large companies, without all the risk associated with startups.
AI is peak hype right now and new entrants will get crushed by OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, etc.
Cybersecurity startups getting culled too.
I've written extensively on how to avoid shitty start-ups (of which there are many): https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/somewhat-comprehensive-guide-to-avoiding-a-toxic-startup

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

It boggles my mind when I see companies hire a "founding AE" who has no sales experience. Was it because the AE was cheap? You get what you pay for.

If you what experience, don't go to a start up. They expect you to start off running, not needing your hand held.

Find a place with some established management and beg them for a job. Get a couple years under your belt and THEN if want to run off to start up land, you'll be much better equipped.

Beans

Big Shot

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Burn rate, sales led growth vs product led growth, well researched TAM, tech stack.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

BURN. RATE.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

2

Enterprise AE

look for a start up where you can be rep # 10-20. should fit your builder mentality and hopefully have the funding or product market fit. picking a start up in this environment is a bit challenging, others have mentioned financial metrics to look for.

GDO

Politicker

2

BDM

AI is hot. I can imagine the hype will help with selling it.

However this will also attract a lot of competitors and sleazy people which can burn the space quickly

thesearentleads

Member

1

Account Executive

Advice = make sure there’s product market fit and how they’ve come to that conclusion. Test it with numbers. If they don’t share anything specific assume it’s bs and run

LambyCorn

Arsonist

0

A mfkn E

I dont like selling ai that will replace hoomans :c thats just me though xD

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