Champagnemami

AE

NEED UR HELP INTERVIEWING W 15 PERSON START UP

Hey sales savages!

I need your advice if $140k base salary is fair or not. And how to excel in the interview process with the CEO, investor and advisor. I’m interviewing with a start-up that has 15 employees, 4 of those are in sales and I would be the 5th salesperson. The company has only received a seed round of investing ($13 million oct 2023) No series A yet. Right now the role is only paying $140k for base salary and no variable pay. They reason that they need to build out the playbook to focus on a rinse-and-repeat model. Also, they don’t want to penalize salespeople if the company changes the sales process. The recruiter mentioned Slack offered 100% base salary and no variable in their early days as well. Is that true?

Right now the only quota is selling 5 deals a week and the deal is $3600 annual (fixed pricing). When I asked how many people achieved that last quarter she didn't know, but said she would get back to me. I have a 1:1 call scheduled with a current AE in two days so I'm planning on getting more honest answers from him.

Also all leads are warm inbound leads! Which is a plus for me.

Also after the recruiting screen (which I passed), I have FOUR more steps. Having FIVE total steps seems excessive especially since they are only paying base salary. Next step is zoom with hiring manager, then I present how I would sell the product, then meet the founder and other members of the team and lastly connect with an advisor and investor. IMO, this is an overkill in the interviewing process.

I want your advice on $140k base salary is reasonable since it is a start-up. I also want your advice on the interview process and how to appeal to the ceo, investor and advisors.

This is not my first sales job! I’ve worked at 4 companies, 3 public and 1 private. For context I’m used to making $185k a year so this would be a significant decrease. However, my highest base was $85k so this would be a huge increase base salary which is taxed differently than commission. And it would be nice to have less stress of sales, but still do sales (which I enjoy). Curious on your thoughts to help me make the best decision possible!

Thank you sales savages!!

💰 Compensation

14

35 comments

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braintank

Politicker

10

Enterprise Account Executive

"Right now the only quota is selling 5 deals a week and the deal is $3600 (fixed pricing). When I asked how many people achieved that last quarter she didn't know"
Walk away now...

Champagnemami

Executive

4

AE

i knowwww, you're right. it's definitely a red flag that she didnt know that answer

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

2

Director of Revenue

Unless you're selling girl scout cookies, 5 deals/week seems really aggressive.

Champagnemami

Executive

1

AE

lolol yeah definitely not selling cookies.
i was thinking since it's a fixed cost of $300 a month/$3600 annually that it would be reasonable bc its so transactional and we're selling directly to consumers who signed up to be on the waitlist.
everyone's responses has really helped me go into this process with an improved view point!

medhardwaredr

Opinionated

1

Director of Sales NA

The waitlist is interesting! I would’ve leaned on the side of there are a few too many flags but I’m intrigued please tell us more!

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

0

Account Executive

Last job I had we were selling between 15 and 30 deals (sometimes less sometimes more) a month in order to hit quota. Deals were roughly $50-100 MRR, though I had a few that were $300+ MRR (in line with the $3600 annual OP mentioned). It was very transactional, one call close type of situation. OTE was only $75k though (base was $50k). Aggressive yes, but not unheard of.

Champagnemami

Executive

1

AE

the company is basically selling exclusivity to become a member on their platform. so in order for someone to become a member, they sign up for the waitlist, have a interview, and then are matched with 6-8 other ppl who are drs, vps or ceos!

Champagnemami

Executive

1

AE

okay thank you for sharing!

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

8

Director, Revenue Enablement

Yeah there are definitely a lot of red flags on this.
Assuming 50 weeks, this translates to an annual quota of $900k (15.5% commission rate if OTE is 50/50 plan). Now this doesn't seem out of the ordinary.

BUT, what's the company annual revenue right now? With only 15 people I'm guessing is maximum $10M/yr. With 5 total sales people this is $4.5M annual rev or at least 45% yoy growth.

Unless they just cured cancer, very very few companies are growing anywhere near that rate.

A few things you should do to really vet out this opp:

1) Get the number of reps that are making plan.
2) Get their current Annual revenue number.
3) Ask to speak to one of the reps as part of the process. Might be an extra step, but they can cut it to you straight.
4) Ask that rep what was the increase in quota yoy.

You take all of that and things will either add up and you judge the risk of moving, or its a bag of lies and you walk away early.

jefe

Arsonist

5

🍁

I agree with most everyone here about the red flags, but need to draw attention to Rambo's thorough breakdown.

The numbers just don't add up.

I'd look elsewhere, @Champagnemami

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

4

Director, Revenue Enablement

I like math

jefe

Arsonist

4

🍁

I can tell !

unclespacejam

Politicker

3

ur dad’s brother

I like meth

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

2

Director, Revenue Enablement

We know

unclespacejam

Politicker

3

ur dad’s brother

That obvious eh. Fuck

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

2

Director, Revenue Enablement

Meth and Molson. What else is there to do in Canada this time of year? 🤷‍♂️

jefe

Arsonist

2

🍁

Too many ‘Moss Park’ location tags on your posts..

Champagnemami

Executive

1

AE

thank you for this detailed answer! Im speaking to a rep this Wednesday. and I will ask those other questions you mentioned as well!

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

5

Director, Revenue Enablement

Good advice here from CEO of RepVue as well.

Champagnemami

Executive

0

AE

thank you!! he's making really good points fersure

oldcloser

Arsonist

8

💀

This isn’t a job offer. It’s a prop bet at best, indentured servitude at worst. It says we can change any rules at any time and you just get to sit there with no incentive to roll with it. They’re waiving a huge carrot to recruit. $140k is not a normal base for an inbound role. It’s full OTE. So, it’s likely you’ll never see a nickel more.

If you want to subject yourself to this, some clarifying questions would be:
How many inbound leads are there?
What’s the average closing ratio?
Tell me about your product market fit.
How are leads generated?
Is there a cycle and how long is it?
How are you managing lead flow?

I wouldn’t take a job like this without a contract and a termination without cause clause as insurance for when they rewrite everything. Actually, I would t take it for any reason.

Champagnemami

Executive

4

AE

thank you for the bluntness! this is why I love the war room.
I'm definitely treading lightly. I'll incorporate those questions. When I asked her how the long the sales cycle was she didnt have answer for me either, all she said is it wasn't very long lmao which is an awful vague answer. I believe I'll have more clarity after Wednesday when I talk to a current sales rep.

unclespacejam

Politicker

0

ur dad’s brother

This is SCREAMING something just ain’t right. Run in the other direction

NoToBANT

Catalyst

4

Senior Account Executive

Honestly?? Seems like scam to me

They will pay you a base then expect you to work ridiculously hard and long hours to justify your salary, all whilst not paying you variable for the effort.

They say they don’t offer variable so the salespeople don’t “get penalized” - the truth is that they don’t have to pay commissions when they inevitably move to a higher price

If this is an entirely inbound role - then great.

If not, then absolutely not.

May I ask, why are you looking to move on from your current role?

Champagnemami

Executive

2

AE

thanks for your take! yes it's all inbound! i should have added that. I feel like i've grown all I can with my manager and I don't want to get a promotion at the current company because theyre making everyone come into the office 2 days a week

Justatitle

Big Shot

4

Account Executive

I wouldn't ever take a role that doesn't pay commission for deals I sell.

Champagnemami

Executive

1

AE

totally. It's VERY unusual what they are offering

4

Founding BDR

I’m speaking from experience - base only with no variable fknnnn sucks. You may be a different personality than me but I’m just simply not as motivated and don’t get that sales high I know we all love so much. The closed wons just don’t have the same effect

Champagnemami

Executive

1

AE

yeah i can see where youre coming from!

SportsSalesGuy

Tycoon

2

Enterprise Account Executive

This thread is crushing in the responses today! Love it. I would say if you want and are ok with the red flags or get clarification on them and like the responses. Baring you saying you want to have "less stress of sales" and have something more certain for tax purposes. 140k base is good for what your looking for.

However, you really gotta make sure the hit your going to take in "what ur used to (185k)" and no commission is worth it to you and the work/expectations you will have going forward.

Plus, im assuming this is an outbound role with inbound leads that come in some way and rotate between the 4-5 sales folks. If you need 5 deals a week thats a lot of good quality leads coming in...or they better be cuz that doesn't sound too realistic tbh.

If that is true (and i'm not sure how you could rly prove that with them), then i say give it a shot. But just dont be surprised if things crumble cuz at the end of the day its a start up and they pay good cuz u work like a dog and do way more than what ur "job description" entails and startups are risky but can offer big reward...

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

0

Director, Revenue Enablement

Meth and Molson. What else is there to do in Canada this time of year? 🤷‍♂️

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

0

Account Executive

The relatively small deal sizes and rapid fire nature of selling 5 deals a week, makes it odd to pay $140k base salary, even a $140k OTE would sound weird to me. I had a similar role last year and honestly it was a disaster (those "inbound leads" were junk). Much lower base salary and the OTE was basically half the base this company is offering, so much less of an appeal had I not been unemployed at the time. If you're currently employed I'd probably do the interviews as practice but pass on this opp because they'll probably be laying people off within 6 months with the way this math looks. I don't know if Slack didn't pay variable when they first started, but I know BambooHR only paid base salary when I interviewed with them back in 2020. Everyone I talked to told me to pass on the opportunity (I ended up losing out in the final round anyway).

Champagnemami

Executive

0

AE

thanks for sharing! yeah i wish i knew if the slack thing was true. i didnt know bamboohr did that! right now im unemployed so i def want to take a job. luckily i have interviews with 4 other companies too so I dont have all my eggs in one basket! lots of options :)
the company is selling exclusivity to become a member on their platform. so for someone to become a member, they sign up for the waitlist, have an interview, and then are matched with 6-8 other ppl who are directors, vps or ceos! kinda like a support group for execs and they can be champions for each other. a lot of structure in each of their meetings which happens twice bi monthly. so the members are paying for access to a certain group of ppl they can trust who are also in their shoes

IndianaShep

Politicker

0

Director of Sales and Marketing

Walk away, imho. 5/week is a heavy lift that is impossible to maintain.

Champagnemami

Executive

0

AE

yes i definitely agree with you!

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