ShavingsMakeAPile

Enterprise AE

Job Seeking Advice - How Can AE's Prepare For Sahil's SaaS Market Prediction

Recently Sahil put in a post that "VC funding shifts to powering new AI powered startups, who are built cash flow positive from Day 1, leaving the unprofitable ones out to patch."

When job seeking, what's the best way to find companies that are built cash flow positive from Day 1 so we can hope to future proof our job a bit?

What other recommendations would anyone have?

4/16 EDIT:

Here is a link to the post for reference: - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7035244306131017728?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

It seems the "cash flow positive" comment is geared towards the growth spending model and how much free cash flow SaaS companies actually leave to be able to pay all the employees they hire for growth (mainly sales and marketing) throughout the coming quarters.

The challenge when job seeking is

how do we best assess this and make the most stable option for us AE's when weighing different opportunities?
How do we look for and uncover companies with a more stable model to keep the AE's hired on-board?

🎯 Career Development

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

4

☕️

By ignoring him.

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

1

Enterprise AE

Hahaha very interesting and valid take

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

2

☕️

Cash flow positive, aka profitability, is s fallacy of success.

Let’s say a company raises $10M in Series A funding. If they are cash flow positive, meaning they take in more than their total burn, why take the cash if they’re just going to sit on it? The movement spend $1 more than they take in they are no longer cash flow positive and this entire post and argument is dead.

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

0

Enterprise AE

That's a very good point and thank you for the further clarification.

Precursor - I am no finance expert and would consider my expertise on this minimal (hence me asking the question)

Here is a link to the post for reference: - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7035244306131017728?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

I feel the "cash flow positive" comment is more geared towards the growth spending model and how much free cash flow SaaS companies actually leave to be able to pay all the employees they hire for growth (mainly sales and marketing).

The challenge when job seeking is "how do we best assess this and make the most stable option for us AE's when weighing different opportunities?"

I am going to edit the original post with the link to the post as well - apologies for not including that in the beginning.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

3

☕️

I’m simply not going to read it. I don’t trust Sahil and see him as a wanna be bully on LinkedIn after his childish spat with that guy Colin.

Since he used unprofitable in his last sentience, I going to assume he did mean cash flow in the black aka profitable. He can correct if he feels the need to.

The best way to assess security is three fold and somehow 3 R’s:

1) Recent funding date and amount
2) Renewal rate
3) Retention of employees

If they have raised successive rounds at increasing valuations, with the most recent being in the last 12 months, they’re healthy from a cash perspective so long as their burn is not ridiculous. You can even ask them what their current run rate is and if they’re transparent then they’ll tell you when they will die if they never raise again.

80%+ renewal rate indicates PMF, solid “stickiness”, and a good service motion.

Finally, if they are retaining talent across the entire business, department agnostic, then the culture is there and leadership knows how to navigate the turbulent waters of our current market.

Go forth and prosper, young buck.

ZVRK

Politicker

3

Enterprise Account Executive

If it’s a tech company, maybe check the rate of turnover of their stuff the past fee years.

Here’s a thought: if they have the majority of their development team staying with the for a longer period of time, it coups be a sign they have enough cash to keep their salaries competitive enough so not a lot of people leave..

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

The longevity of our developers and product team was definitely a consideration for taking the job I have.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

0

🦊

That matters regardless. Nice call out 🐇

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

2

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Honesty, these firms already have the partnerships via connections. What you have to do, is see who works there and how they have already locked in contracts. Not too hard, but you have to have some connections first to understand what’s going on.

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

1

Enterprise AE

This is solid! Networking and information gathering just as if you are trying to sell something into them.

Maximas

Tycoon

1

Senior Sales Executive

Just found you 2 articles that may help,check out the links below
https://www.forwardai.com/knowledge-center/blog/10-best-businesses-for-cash-flow/

https://www.kiplinger.com/article/investing/t052-c016-s001-9-companies-with-good-cash-flow.html

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

0

Enterprise AE

@Maximas- thank you very much for these! Very much appreciated!

Maximas

Tycoon

2

Senior Sales Executive

You are welcome, any time.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

0

Sales Rep

YoY revenue growth and Renewal rate are two that come to mind

Justatitle

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

Sahil is very smart and has made a ton of accurate predictions. You have to remember that everyone has an angle that they are trying to play in this world. That said, is sales going to be challenging, yes, it was never really easy, 2021 should be an outlier, SAAS for the 19 years prior was basically always a challenge.

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