DataWrangler

Sr. Account Executive

From Start-up to Established - How can I make the transition?

I'm a "Senior" Account Executive for my company which is a SAAS Start-up. I only have a little over 3 years of closing experience and only a handful of wins (although the wins are rather substantial).

The companies product is outdated & the leadership team are at each others throats. I want to get into a larger organization to learn more about what an established sales team at an established organization looks like. My ability to continue to gain experience and of course make money is being sabotaged by messy political battles.

My question: How can I land an AE position at a more established company considering my situation?

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20 comments

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jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Your best bet is to prospect your way in, it's super hard to stand out with the amount of applicants every role has these days.

This is especially the case when it's hard to quantify attainment in a compelling way. I've had roles where I KILLED It but didn't have a real quota.

This can make it hard to get past ATS. You should also use Jobscan to tailor your resume against the JD.

unclespacejam

Politicker

ur dad’s brother

What are your results? How much $ have you brought in? Whats your YoY attainment?

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

All of these numbers are going to matter. You're going to need to have solid performance metrics for your success in order to have a shot.

unclespacejam

Politicker

ur dad’s brother

And then you’ve gotta network like a MF

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

And for fucks sake get a whole leg

DataWrangler

Fire Starter

Sr. Account Executive

Thank you for noticing this. I can’t believe I didn’t before posting. Can’t stop laughing 😂😂😂

DataWrangler

Fire Starter

Sr. Account Executive

No where near enough. I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. I want to gain more experience and build up those numbers, but my company and leadership are actively working against my ability to do that.

I want to move to another company with a more sales oriented culture as opposed to an engineer culture, but of course I need the performance metrics to make that switch. It’s a catch 22.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Do you have anything at all to pin to? A lot of times, it's how you spin it. Ex: grew the NA territory by 85% in Q1, etc.
Do you have attainment numbers from a previous role? If those are good and these aren't as good, there's a story there that you can also spin.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

If you can provide a few more details about your capabilities and consider posting a redacted version of your resume, we can help with at least framing those things. And...I can't get past AI and its alarming propensity to just ignore the 3D nature of human beings and their appendages. WHERE'S THE REST OF SUIT GUY'S LEG?!?

ChunkyButters

Tycoon

When Lieutenant Dan is your BDR

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Bad MFer

How did I miss that?!? 😂

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Ha- I was late too

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

To be fair, I treat it as a game to find the flaw in a glossed up AI image.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

First off, a larger company won't necessarily have better office politics. You can hope for it, but its 50/50 at best. And the people who would torpedo your ability to make commissions may be people you will never see. At least in a Start up, you know who has salary envy.
You need to treat a job hunt like this the same as a Sales Pursuit. Figure out your personal Value Prop - why should they hire you and what you bring to the table. Sure you can close, but can you source your own funnel/pipeline? SDRs are a luxury.

Focus on your Sales Process, not number of wins. How did you get to those wins.

And of course, how did you perform to quota?

That would be how I'd start out.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

I mean it can’t get better than this.

Have you even applied to Ent orgs?

Politics is everywhere. Just find a corner where you can thrive

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Bad MFer

Who do you know? I feel like I’ve said this a dozen times in recent weeks but the only way to land a job of any kind right now is through network.

You’ve got to have college friends, family, former coworkers that are at larger organizations. Pick up the phone and call them. Get a feel for what their company is like and have them help you get your foot in the door.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

How is a startup outdated?

DataWrangler

Fire Starter

Sr. Account Executive

We are a late stage start-up. Our AI tech was hot when we started, but now the industry buzz is all around Gen AI. My CEO is a Japanese Data Scientist and is not sales oriented. He is stubbornly holding on to our last season tech instead of modernizing to capitalize on industry trends.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

ERP Sales

Talk to people who have left and landed in good roles. Reconnect with them and get referred

FoodForSales

Politicker

The grass is always greener elsewhere