Did I get tricked?

Question

I'm in my mid-20s and began working in SaaS 3 years back. It's been a life-changer and I can't thank the lady who introduced me to this enough. Each day is a breath of fresh air and replete with gratitude that we're empowering our customers.

Unfortunately, I got laid off 4 months back and it was a shock. Despite consistent outperformance they chose to terminate me but soon I took it in my stride and started interviewing. I found a role I quite liked and the people were great. I'm pretty good at interviewing and was able to land 2 offers quickly.

Offer 1 : $85k Base , $170k OTE Mid Market

Offer 2 : $95k Base and an ambiguous OTE

I kept urging the second company to shed some light on the offer but I was told they were working on it. Thr hiring manager assured me it'd be appealing and encouraged me to take the offer. I really liked the culture and trusted him.

I received my comp plan last week and the base is $95k but the OTE slid to $135k. It took me a while to grasp the gravity of this change. I connected with my manager and he says it's accurate. As a salesperson I live for my commission. I feel so terribly tricked.

Is it time to look for a new role? I let go of a phenomenal opportunity for them and this is what I get.

Accepted Answer

Well, culture doesn't pay bills. And "trust me" is not good business practice. Assuming you didn't do this (and correct me if I'm wrong), you could have challenged the hiring manager to say "I'm looking at another offer of $170K OTE. You say your offer is appealing - is it $170K OTE kind of appealing?"

In any case, I'd take it as a lesson learned and if you can start looking around in the background for something else, I encourage you to do that.

Answer

OTE is always ambiguous, no matter what they say.

Answer

Sounds like you got bamboozled - that sucks. It's not even a small gap to overcome, so might be time to start quietly looking.

Answer

I would message offer 1 at that point especially if you liked them a lot.

Answer

sounds a little bogus to me, but at the end of the day, you need to do you.

Answer

Dont know the circumstances but also possible that company 1 has OTE of 170k but nobody hits… have also been screwed by OTE before, always have to ask what percentage hits that OTE to understand if you’ll be in that ballpark even assuming a ramp up/average start while learning

Answer

Short Answer: Yes

Answer

I think an offer letter should clearly specify base and OTE and any other comp elements such as equity. You probably werent tricked - the real world is messy and maybe they didnt have details. I would ensure than next time around you get written clarity on the details of comp. Sorry that you had to learn this one the hard way. It does stink.

Answer

I usually ask what the commission rate and ACV. You can figure out how many deals you need to do a year to make what you want to make. Similarly, if you can drive bigger deal cycles, less cycles and same money. OTE is imaginary.

Answer

If it’s not capped. How difficult to  go over?

Answer

Time to leave! Follow your cash, I mean heart

Flour101

Did I get tricked?

17 comments

Flour101

Did I get tricked?

17 comments

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