iAMgr00t

Account Executive

listen to this BS...

So we've got 7 months of runway as I shared in a previous post... due to an "accounting error." When I came onto the company 5 months ago we 24-36 months. Magic math I guess?

In a 1:1 with the CEO today they shared that I should be setting 5 meetings PER DAY. Lol. This is in mid-market - enterprise sales. MAKE MORE CALLS. Was the sentiment.

Additionally, I did a bit more sleuthing and ran our engagement numbers across our platform and found that they are not even close to being accurate. They made the basic mistake of averaging PERCENTAGES...

Instead of 24% engagement we are actually at 8% engagement. Fuck me.

Oh and they haven't shared this info with new hires starting next week (monday).

🏰 War Stories

45 comments

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braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

another scene brought to you by "when morons get VC funding"

kudos to you from bringing it to CEO's attention and holding their feet to the fire

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

I brought it up the percentages and they did this 🤷🏼‍♂️

😅😅

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

🤷🏻‍♂️ is always a solid plan

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Always

butwhy

Politicker

Solutions Engineer

Thank GOD ZIRP is dead, it's the only way to break this stupid ass cycle.

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

Director of Revenue

CEO is panicking. Either A) He knows he failed the business or B) He's doing some shady stuff with capital. Either way, he's going to throw the sales reps under the bus for not hitting any wild metrics he comes up with.

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Yep. I agree. We are in full on panic mode. Bringing in non sales people into sales for the time being, lol…

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

Director of Revenue

Now that is wild. I'm sure developers and finance people will crush it on the phones. LMAO

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Hahahah yea and now I’m supposed to also train one of them on scripts and how to set meetings. What could go wrong? 😅

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

Director of Revenue

Would pay money to watch the look on an accountant's face while being trained how to cold call with a script.

Wish you the best and hope you're able to make it out before the inevitable implosion.

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Fingers crossed. I doubt I’ll get let go as we desperately “need sales” but am actively looking for positions.

butwhy

Politicker

Solutions Engineer

Little of column a, little of column b - I would place bets he is soliciting a down or debt round somewhere to save them.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Sharpen that resume...

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

at least I created a decent amount of pipeline and closed one small deal prior to planning my departure, lol.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

🚨

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

🐺

run away

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Yep actively applying to new places. Thankfully I’m also a healthcare provider so I can always get a clinical job fairly easily if I can’t land something in sales right away.

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

🐺

ton of health tech companies too that like that background too

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Yea going to reach out to them too.

369DocuSign

Big Shot

Sales Director

Had a similar situation, joined a mid-stage startup as head of sales after interviewing directly with the founder/CEO and CRO, who assured me strong sales numbers, growth, quota attainment, capabilities, tech stack, the whole nine. Strong comp plan as well, aggressive but attainable based on all available data.

The first week is all warm fuzzies.
2nd week in, the CRO quits and shifts all ownership of the previously discussed numbers, dashboards, reporting, etc to me.

Turns out all the numbers shared with me during the interview process were massively inflated and grounded only in imagination.

When I brought this to the CEO, I'm scolded for being "too logical" and told I needed to find a way to make it happen regardless. The comp plan, too bad, I signed a contract.

Long story short, we parted ways for my being "not a culture fit"

Moral of the story: top line execs will shift the blame and throw you under the bus whenever possible to protect themselves from the lies they told to the investors. If you're not already interviewing, start now, get proof of any promises or figures shared, and get them in writing.

Best of luck out there!

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Ah… that’s sounds rough… the “too logical,” that sounds like my situation 😂

Thanks for sharing your story helps me put things in perspective in my own ever evolving adventure…

Everything in writing. Always!

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Run and run far!

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Working on it! Thankfully I’ve built some very good connections over the past 5 months so hoping that works in my favor.

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

Get the fuck out.

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Working on it 😅😅

SaaSyBee

Politicker

Founder

Oh yikes. I'm so sorry about that. Magic math is such a thing and that's just unrealistic. Their mistakes are now your problem. Get out of there!

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Yep… gotta love it. Frustrating as I’ve had my own company before and I understand the pressures. But never have I misrepresented the numbers like this 🤦🏻‍♂️

SaaSyBee

Politicker

Founder

It's stunning how many people make up numbers or misrepresent their revenue.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This has become an entertaining series, only because the protagonist already has an exit path in mind.

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

I’m happy I can provide entertainment 😂

I’ll keep updating with the latest developments 😬

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It's only fun because you're already taking care of yourself and have a great attitude about the whole thing.

Retired Sales Professional

I would be one to encourage you to stay with the company, but that is a major screw-up which means more misinformation down the info pipeline. I bet they know and are trying to pressure you guys into making up for their mistake. Leave, leave as faarrrr awaaaaayyyy as you caannn. Go get to a better company.

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

I appreciate that perspective. Yea I’m not one to up and leave at the first sight of challenges but this is FUBAR. I had my own business for 4.5 yrs and have experienced ups and downs of business — this… is a downward spiral.

I Already got some interviews lined up so being proactive. 🤙🏼

Retired Sales Professional

Good hunting. 👍👍

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Add a chatbot! Should get you another round!

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

😂😂😂

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Start interviewing :)

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Run, don’t walk, to the exit.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

You jump the ship. If anyone ever gives me a target of more meetings per day, I jump ship.
They are clearly losing sight of the practical world - but you can't afford to, too.

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Yep… all of a sudden it became “more calls! More meetings!” Even if the person we are meeting with isn’t appropriate… as if meetings will magically produce more revenue in Q4 with NEW prospects, lol.

I’m already checked out — applying and interviewing at new jobs as we speak.

Worst part is they won’t even spend some money on lists so we can even meet the volume they want ha.

It was just me making calls before with our lists and so the lists were large enough. Now we have 4 people making calls and of course/.. burning through the lists…

What a mess.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

You cannot generate meetings every single day.
And you should not be doing a telecaller job. Being an AE is much more than that.
They can get a bot to do this.

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Exactly. It would be possible to set meetings everyday in the smb space and potentially after a while in the mid market and enterprise space however it’s not realistic at this time.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

Dumpster fire in shit creek floating on top a train wreck

Co-Founder and CEO Akiva Immersive Learning for Special Education

Sounds like you should run for the hills... fast. If the CEO wants to save the company, he needs to immediately rescind the job offers from the new hires that are starting next week. Plus, the CEO would need to cut 50+ % of employees. If the CEO is not doing it tomorrow... run for the hills.

iAMgr00t

Good Citizen

Account Executive

That’s exactly what I was thinking when the ceo said our runway was 7 months with the three new senior hires.

Can’t hire these people if it’ll tank the company!

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iAMgr00t

listen to this BS...

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