ShavingsMakeAPile

Enterprise AE

Founding AE Opportunity - Any & All Advice

Savages!

I am in the early interview processes to be a founding AE at an 8 person startup. If you have any advice on the following it would be immensely helpful:

Research to understand the funding behind the company
Questions to ask during the interview to best gauge the health of the company
Negotiating stock options and questions to ask
What to make sure gets put into the contract should they make me an offer
How best to protect myself throughout my tenure
Anything else

I appreciate any and all advice you might be able to give.

💰 Compensation

👥 Hiring

🔨 Startups

25 comments

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Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

The only advice I would give here is 2 things
- How do they know that the product has a market and is scaleable/sellable- If the answer they provide is sketchy to not great then I'd make sure to ask for 6 months severance in the contract. You're willing to take a risk but need a parachute. You're not gonna fly a new jet without one

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Such good advice. I'm hearing more and more about this severance clause idea, and it's great. Especially if you're being recruited away from something solid.

PMF is so goddamn important.

And don't forget about runway.

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

Enterprise AE

Thanks @jefe! I have runway at the top of my list. Is asking about runway directly somewhat taboo? If so, do you have any creative/non-intrusive ways to ask about it without doing it as directly as "what's the runway you have currently to keep doing business?"

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Just be direct and ask. It's a small startup, they should be keenly aware of what it is and why it would be important.

It's the only way to understand stability and security of the role. If it's short then that's not stable at all, and there will be huge pressure to hit big targets and they'll close down if they don't.

lowhangersalesbanger

Executive

Director of Sales

This right here. Do this one. And also finding out how deals were sourced becuase if it is just the founders friends buying his shit that is a red flag

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

Enterprise AE

This is awesome! Thank you @Justatitle

Erpmobile100

Account Executive

In addition to asking about how they are sourced, make sure you find out the terms of their contract. Its one thing if their first 10 customers were highly discounted, but now they are going to expect you to go out and close at a different price point.

Depending on the number of clients they have, get the details of ever.single.customer.

GreenSide

Politicker

Sales manager

If they talk about deals, you want to know where those deals were sourced to help determine product viability (understanding that that is still a big risk given how early stage this org is). If the deals all came from connections to the founders, I’d be less confident.

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

Enterprise AE

absolute gold @GreenSide gracias!

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

How much money do they have? How many customers do they have and where did they come from?

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

Enterprise AE

@braintank is there a savvy way to ask this to really get the answer I am looking for? How much money do you have seems like it's in the realm of someone asking that on the first couple of dates haha

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

It's an 8 person company amigo. Blunt talk is required.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

drugs not hugs

ARW

VP of Sales

Some great suggestions ☝️I’ve done this a few times now and my advice is to focus more on the culture of the other 8 people because you’ll be working very closely and a lot.

For my money the key question is…Is the CEO sales oriented or a Coder? Sales = 👍 Coder = ❌.

I agree about the point made about the source of the deals they’ve done to date. Where did they get them? h”How many customers are there? And who are the personas within those customers that bought them, and most importantly why? What pain did their solution solve? What’s the cost of that pain if they don’t solve it?

Ultimately joining a startup is risky but it’s also likely to be the most enjoyable time in your career. But just be careful joining an organisation that is not ‘sales led’ from the very top.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Underrated comment. I worked for a founder that wasn't all brains and no savvy. Spoiler: Did not work out.

They're still alive but have pivoted so many times.

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

PMF, does it exist?

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

Enterprise AE

Totally @Beans

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

How do they (and you) know?

Natsochist

Good Citizen

Director of Product Sales

Options are potentially great, but until the company goes public, they aren’t worth the cost of the electricity to show them on your screen.

Negotiate primarily on your OTE, and make sure that’s something you’re happy with. Treat the options as a lottery ticket, where even if they never pay out, you’re still happy.

Also, big due diligence on product market fit, as others are suggesting.

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

Enterprise AE

very true... been diving into the market and the competitive aspects of the space non-stop

MeowMeow

Politicker

Senior Enterprise Account Executive

PMF, who are the other players in the space, what is the plan to keep up with the competition in the space, how quickly can dev crank out updates (if it’s SaaS), how stable is the product, what is the marketing strategy to become a key player in the field, details of existing customers and what was the catalyst for their purchase, how do they intend to grow partnerships and will that be your responsibility, severance clause, make sure commissions are paid at a reasonable rate and timeframe, and be very blunt.

My first startup turned into a unicorn and I walked with a buttload.

My second startup is a fucking nightmare where I am in chaotic hell every day because of basically all of my suggestions and the others you have been given by these absolute savages. Ask detailed enough questions to cut through their bullshit. If it doesn’t feel right, they are lying.

I hope you end up riding the unicorn and not the elevator to hell!

CloseItOG

GTM Sales Leader

In this market, the industry is a big part of it. I would reach out to the people who work there via LinkedIn. What’s the industry?

TayTaySells

Fire Starter

Senior Account Executive

To add to all of this, ask what type of tech stack they’ve already got or what type of budget you’d have. You’ll be building out their data base of prospects and it’s good to gauge whether or not they’ve factored in a budget for sales tools (ie: salesforce, zoom info/apollo, gong, etc)

ThePiedPIPr

Valued Contributor

Enterprise Sales Executive

You need to ask about and make sure they have realistic timeframes for how quickly and how many deals they expect to close. If the numbers they give you feel unrealistic, it is probably not going to work.

I also have found it easier to work with founders who are on their second startup. They tend to understand things a bit more.

ThePiedPIPr

Valued Contributor

Enterprise Sales Executive

One last thing, make sure that you will get to control and close all deals. You don’t want the founders taking over the big deals that come in the door and cutting you out of them. I have seen it before.

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ShavingsMakeAPile

Founding AE Opportunity - Any & All Advice

25 comments

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