week3 as founding AE for international markets for an edtech startup selling to teachers, instruction tech, school admins
got my first deal via product team - didn’t do much except sending and creating Oder form - reseller deal at week beginning
took my first ever discovery n demo with client - they brought 6 more teachers on demo - 30 minute turned to 1 hour meeting - went decent - said they’ll get back after management meeting
got assigned a quota yesterday - $200k in 5 left months of the year (I joined 3 weeks back). manager asked me about “my feelings” about the quota and I showed my mastered poker face
had another discovery today with Australia prospect which went decent (better than the last one)
company is good - people are helpful - but I feel the quota is a bit too ambitious - considering nobody has done international ever - so there are no data points or intel available and I don’t even have an SDR. Or maybe it’s fair?
To know if $200K is attainable, what's the average deal size?
CuriousFox
WR Officer
3
🦊
👀🍿
QWhiz
Big Shot
2
Founding AE / ex-SDR
$2.5k in US
braintank
Politicker
2
Enterprise Account Executive
Just 4 deals a week, every week, for the rest of the year, that's nothing 🙄
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Maybe, once you scale, but that is a lot of activity. Are the existing reps hitting those numbers?
QWhiz
Big Shot
1
Founding AE / ex-SDR
Few, not many in field sales. I’m the first one in international sales, so there’s no baseline.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
0
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Except for general potential. It would be a huge red flag if reps in the established market were struggling.
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
2
Sales Rep
Congrats on the earlier success!
oldcloser
Arsonist
2
💀
Quick hits, however they come, create momentum. Congrats. I have no idea if $200k is reasonable. And what do your feelings have to do with it? Like- what would he say if you told him you were deeply conflicted and felt emotionally scarred by a random baseless quota assignment. And you need to be held.
Diablo
Politicker
1
Sr. AE
Congrats on the 1st one! With the ACV of 2.5k, looks difficult. It’s too early man, with time you would know more.
Justatitle
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
Why is quota always a stretch goal???
QWhiz
Big Shot
1
Founding AE / ex-SDR
First time AE here. I ask you this :P
ThatNewAE
Big Shot
0
Account Executive - Mid enterprise
The quota can be achieved depending on the leads coming in, the leads you generate, the deal size, up-selling if possible. But again - all of this is going to be the first time experience for the company as well - since you're the Founding AE here. Give it a few more weeks to see if it is an achievable quota.
Quick successes should alwaysss be banked upon. Usually intial success is always based on some handover leads / some easy closures. That's how the foundation is created.
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