znblz

Sales

Get better at Sales - Large Co or Startup?

Hi All - just joined Bravado, great community and resources!

Looking for some advice.

I previously co-founded a B2B SaaS startup in the fintech (crypto) industry, led Sales and grew the business from 0 to 50+ clients and $700k in rev in 2 years. Never had any formal training, just tried different experiments, listened to podcasts and read books. Before this I was a commodities trader and the entrepreneurial streak in me led me to this point.

I'm now no longer with the startup, and looking for my next sales home. What I want:

Some stability in terms of pay, structure, feedback etc
More formal sales training
To learn from seasoned salespeople.

Ideally I'd like to stay in the SaaS space - where would you recommend as the best places to explore joining? Would it be worth trying to find a place in the same industry?

Or would joining another startup in a Sales role be the move? I'm comfortable with the chaos and messy nature of startups, but not sure if the above 3 points are found easily at startups.

Any advice is welcomed, thanks all!

🎈 Mentorship

☁️ Software Tech

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11 comments

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TennisandSales

Politicker

3

Head Of Sales

welcome to the War Room. This is a solid first post!

so your experience you listed makes it sound like you would be happy in a start up.

But the things you listed as important to you, do lean towards big companies.

yes I would think you will have MUCH better opportunities if you stay in the same industry.

Are you looking for a leadership role or an individual contributor role?

znblz

Contributor

1

Sales

Thanks @TennisandSales!

At this point, individual contributor role to focus on building the skillset

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

ok cool. then I would for sure look for opportunities in the same industry. in IC roles the "industry experience" is always important,

Notmyrealname

Politicker

2

AE

The 3 things you want, you won't find them at a start up unless it's an extremely rare exception. Best bet to learn IMO is an org with ~1000 employees with a good product that isn't incumbent and a decent culture.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

2

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I would go with a large company to learn your craft, then you could always move to a smaller company after. That means with there will be less red tape afterward

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

As others have said, for solid training and skills, larger companies are a great place to look. I've seen AEs who came from similar backgrounds to yours do very well - moving into strategic (upper end) roles fairly quickly, because they learn quickly, are adaptable, and know how to communicate with a C level exec with ease.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

That's up to you. Established companies tend to have better training programs imo.

GDO

Politicker

1

BDM

I would go with large and after that small tbh. Large to learn the ropes and small because you can go for a lot of different things within the company and try a lot more

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Fintech will always be a thing as long as people spend money. And there are many players in the space.

IMO- you need to figure out where you want to be. Stay in Fintech? What area of Fintech? Move to a different industry?

Then in your resume, keep it simple and focus on the results. "Grew start-up to 50 clients and over $700k in revenue" isn't a bad place to start from. Then being honest in the interview process with what you stated above - learn from more seasoned Sales people, get some formal training", etc. Will show that you're teachable but hungry.

Personally, I would target a marquee name company so that in 5-10 years you have some options for the future.

AnchorPoint

Politicker

1

Business Coach

Don't wait on a company to train you... there are SOOO many resources out there. Small changes over time have incredible impact on your future.

FranchiseSalesQB

Politicker

0

Franchise Sales QB

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