CyclingAddict

AE (Account Executive)

Personal Narrative

Founding AE vs. Tenured Company

I'm in mid interview with the CEO of a seed stage remote patient monitoring startup, interviewing to be the founding AE. Pretty cool role, but I was recently laid off from a startup, where no one was hitting quota, so I'm really looking to be at a place where consistent quota attainment is achievable.

Their comp plan is also whack. 80K base, 220K OTE, paying $1000 per closed deal. I'd need to negotiate at least a 50/50 split, preferably higher as the founding AE, and a % for commission.

The other types of roles I'm interviewing for are at establish companies, ie; Hubspot, 1Password, except there are some reviews of these established companies that with the economic downturn, no one is hitting quota and it's a churn and burn culture.

Looking for some advice about ups and downs of each direction. Anyone have advice as a founding AE, and tips to negotiate that comp?

Additionally, what are some larger, stable companies right now? I have 2 years of closing experience.

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27 comments

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braintank

Politicker

5

Enterprise Account Executive

Established 💯
That startup offer is garbage

CyclingAddict

Personal Narrative

1

AE (Account Executive)

I don't have an offer yet, that's just what he told me they've come up with. Yeah, it is garbage, I'll need to negotiate the crap out of it, which I don't know if that's feasible.

braintank

Politicker

3

Enterprise Account Executive

Don't waste your time. This one is DOA.

unclespacejam

Politicker

5

ur dad’s brother

Agre with braintank here. Don’t waste your time on the seed stage opp. That shit ain’t goin nowhere

jefe

Arsonist

5

🍁

$1K per closed deal?! What's the ACV on those?

And your OTE is $220K on an $80K base, so they expect you to close 140 deals in a year? Putting aside any type of ramp, that's basically 12 deals a month/3 deals a week.

Where did they get this number?! You're the founding AE, they haven't had anyone selling..

DO NOT DO THIS

unclespacejam

Politicker

2

ur dad’s brother

Expectation to close 140 deals in year one… and likely they don’t even have 10% of that in existing customers. Sounds like an absolutely load of shit, a complete fucking shot in the dark

oldcloser

Arsonist

2

💀

🫵 What Jefe said. There are fresh oats. There are oats fresh out of the horses ass. This is the latter.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

4

Director, Revenue Enablement

Let's pause on that comp plan for a minute.

Is the only variable pay the $1000 per meeting? If so you'd have to book 140 meetings to hit your OTE. That number alone seems insane and completely unobtainable.

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Plus seed stage (i.e. no customers) remote patient monitoring startup seems the pinnacle of PITA to sell.

CyclingAddict

Personal Narrative

1

AE (Account Executive)

$1000 per closed deal, not per meeting generated. But yeah, it's still garbage.

unclespacejam

Politicker

2

ur dad’s brother

How much has the founder closed? How long have they been around? Is there any track record that would indicate that this comp plan has even a shred of reality in it?

CyclingAddict

Personal Narrative

1

AE (Account Executive)

Founded has closed exactly 3 deals. Been around since 2018 in b2c. Those 3 deals were first in b2b.

unclespacejam

Politicker

2

ur dad’s brother

How much revenue is coming from those 3 customers? When did they hit market? 6 years and only 3 seems odd… unless these are monster contracts, like 7+ figures

Were they doing R&D for several years before going to market?

I feel like the more details I get on them the more skeptical I am

CyclingAddict

Personal Narrative

1

AE (Account Executive)

They've been in b2c since 2018. Recently 3 clinics approached them asking the startup to build out the b2b solution for them, hence the impetus for a founding AE, so the CEO can be CEO-ing.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

Tenured. That's some bullshit pay for the role you'd be working. For sure would be taken advantage of too.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

If I get a vote, it’s for tenured company. Too much risk with the start up. More benefits with tenured. Yes, territory and team will matter, but there is significantly more upside to an established company.

CyclingAddict

Personal Narrative

1

AE (Account Executive)

I agree with this - especially since I have a 2 month old. I can't afford to be at another sinking ship.

BigShrimpin

Catalyst

1

Account executive

be highly skeptical of anything worse than a 50/50 its industry standard for a reason and frankly if the commission and deal volume is high enough to have a worse split it might as well be 0/100 for max comp

pinkiesup

Catalyst

1

AE

I was just in almost EXACTLY your same situation but the comp offer was even better at the startup than the established company. Realized the startup company I was an AE at didn’t set me up for success in tech. Chose the established after vetting the ever loving shit out of them. Churn and burn is a frequent comment from reps who can’t hit their number. Sus it out and make sure those claims are real before u set yourself up to say no.

CyclingAddict

Personal Narrative

0

AE (Account Executive)

Thank you @pinkiesup! I coming off of a layoff, where no one was hitting quota and they weren't setting us up for success. Outbound was not working, they said they would invest in marketing...nothing and on top of that quotas went up.

I'm leaning towards the established company, especially when I won't have to negotiate good benefits or a decent paternity leave with family planning.

This also helps with my view of Hubspot, thank you!

Gasty

Notable Contributor

1

War Room Community Manager

You have to figure out your risk appetite. Joining Startups and established companies - they all come with some risk associated.
You want to learn more and create a market and become a big shot(50/50 chances) like that or want something stable, grow in the organisation or improve your resume?
It all comes down to needs and wants. I know people joining startups in hopes at a lesser pay and I know people joining established organisations with great pay but laid off.
Check company's history or future prospects and then take a call.
Moreover keep applying to more orgs, I'll be posting hirings for AE in a bit. You can check those out. All the best.

MyAnonymousName

Opinionated

1

Sales Leader

As someone who has been a founding AE and been in the first 5 a few times, that comp plan is a HUGE red flag.

Yes you can negotiate, but the fact that the founder thinks this is ok and has only sold 3 deals (and expects you to sell 140 in 12 months) shows they have no clue what they are doing.

You may find a rare gem that listens to your concerns and adjusts their way of thinking of comp/quota etc, and if that is the case I would consider it.

However if they are like 99% of early stage founders they will think they get it and their mindset is if you don't take it someone else will.

As a side note of someone that is not at Hubspot after an acquisition, almost every good rep I have met has consistently been hitting quota, and if attainment dips below a certain threshold across the org they will actually decrease quota. I find most churn and burn complainers (at least here) didn't want to put the effort in.

CyclingAddict

Personal Narrative

0

AE (Account Executive)

Can you share more about your experience at Hubspot? I posted on Repvue and the comments all pointed towards a highly dysfunctional sales org. On top of that many many others have posted on Repvue and glassdoor all saying the same things. Not sure if these are disgruntled reps, or if it's across the board.

MyAnonymousName

Opinionated

1

Sales Leader

It has been great so far, but I am in a pretty unique position as an Overlay rep working with the AE's and CSMs.

SMB here is true smb and MM only goes up to 200 employees. I mainly work with their Corporate (aka Enterprise) segment and the reps are all really good, leadership is as good as it gets, and the product is really really good and becoming a true competitor to SFDC.
Also, with a kid coming, they offer 4 months of full OTE paternity leave, which I have never seen, so I will be sticking around for a bit.

detectivegibbles

Politicker

0

Sales Director

Base isn't terrible IMO....but the commish is whack. No equity/shares? Seems fishy.

CyclingAddict

Personal Narrative

0

AE (Account Executive)

Haven't gotten an offer yet. He just shared the basic deets with me to make sure we're on the same page.

Beans

Big Shot

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Tenured, I've been through one Chapter 11 and another massive reduction gambling on start-ups.
Would never do again.

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