Once great CEO now seems to be making pride motivated decisions and has officially pissed me off for the first time.

This is more of a rant than anything.


My CEO is brilliant at building companies. He's successfully built and sold 3, with the first one being back when he was 25 and selling for 60M. The dude knows his shit.


He's also demonstrated an ability to motivate and read us as AEs to the point of being able to design comp structures that everyone is happy with and motivate us into making a shit load of money. To date, I've surpassed my OTE by over 60%.


But now, a shifting of the goal posts. Recently he's had an attitude of "how can I pay out less". The company continually grows month over month. Looking at our profit on a daily basis shows that some days we are profiting, after all expenses calculated, over 100k. That's DAILY.


We are miles ahead of where we were when I started. We've even changed our pricing model moving forward to ensure a 40% margin on all new business. It's insane how fast we're bringing in revenue. The space we are in is changing, and more money is being injected into the industry, translating into bigger average deals for us.


Everything points to us doing better and not worse. But, this guy I once admired immensely is showing an attitude of looking for ways to pay out less. A new potential deal with an account of mine, in an area we're not in, could be worth 9 figures. A lot needs to be done before a close is ever realized, and it's likely to take a minimum of 9 months to see any kind of check from these guys. But, when we were talking about it, he mentioned needing to discuss my compensation when that time comes because "There is no way I'm sending you a $9M commission check".


What the hell is happening here? This guy isn't a stranger to money, he's easily worth a solid 8 if not 9 figures. Yet, it appears he's turning to King Midas, and the more he has, the more he's willing to sacrifice to get obtain even more.


The "pissing me off for the first time" came yesterday when he wanted me to join a call where we addressed a condition I set that he agreed upon for me to come back to the company after 6 months elsewhere. That condition was a commission draw that would effectively increase my salary by 20k. Basically, I'm paid more biweekly, and it just comes out of my commissions every month to make up for the difference.


He wanted to remove the draw "because I don't need it anymore since I'm doing so well" and reduce my bi-weekly paychecks by about 1250 bucks. He asked if I would be okay with it, and I said no. He was visibly irritated, in part I think because of my pushback on the new Comp Plan that was presented the day before, and began to ask me why. Frankly, my reason why is none of his business, but that thought didn't come to me until later.


I explained that I'm more comfortable with the way my cash flow was working currently and don't want to essentially receive smaller paychecks as I designed my lifestyle around what I'm currently bringing in before commission is paid out. The reality is I put away that 1250 in savings, live below my means, and don't touch my commissions. Anyways, his response is what pissed me of. The guy had the audacity to tell me, "Well, you just received a large commission check, and if you're still having cash flow problems, then you need to figure out a better way to handle your finances."


First of all, I don't have cash flow problems, and it's frankly insulting that you would suggest that. Second of all, it's none of your fuckin business how I handle my money or why I prefer things the way you fuckin agreed in order for me to agree to come back.


At the end of the day, the main reason I came back is because I love the culture here, I really respected the CEO and COO, and I'm just great at selling what we sell.


Am I wrong to be pissed about this shit?

๐Ÿ˜ก rant
17
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
6
Sales Rep
You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
5
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Is he positioning the company for sale? Cash flow becomes a huge concern at that time.
Alternately, is there a Board of Directors? That line about "not writing a check for x million" is exactly what is said at major companies, and you'll see in the comp plan the "large deal review" where inevitably comp can be renegotiated on a major deal. I'm wondering if somebody at another big company is bending his ear.
SaaSam
Politicker
2
Account Executive
Cash flow is far from an issue here. My largest account cuts us 2 checks for 700k and 3 for 520k every single month and that's maybe 30% of our monthly revenue.

We're largely boot strapped, the only investments we've taken were from friends of the CEO who just wanted a piece of the pie and a seat at the table but ultimately 90% of the company belongs to the CEO so he's not beholden to anyone.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
3
๐ŸฆŠ
Greed is my other thought.
SaaSam
Politicker
1
Account Executive
I'm worried that that is the problem here too which is much harder to change. The other AE in my department mentioned how if we both put in a notice it would wake his ass up but I feel like he's too far gone for that.
antiASKHOLE
Tycoon
4
Bravado's Resident Asshole
Wow, I can honestly say that I don't read most posts that are that long.. But the more I read, the more pissed off I got for you. That is stupid and he definitely didn't have the right to say what he said about your cashflow/finances.
SaaSam
Politicker
2
Account Executive
Thanks, glad I'm not the only one that sees it that way.

The more I typed the more I thought most folks aren't going to want to read this but the more I felt I needed to say.

The reality is, I don't plan on talking about this with anyone I know personally unless I set my mind to finding another place of employment.
jefe
Arsonist
3
๐Ÿ
Damn, This is brutal and stupid. The cashflow piece wasn't right and was like the cherry on top of a shit sundae.

Does he have a marriage that's falling apart? Only reason I can think of for this change.
SaaSam
Politicker
2
Account Executive
The cherry indeed. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I have been doing well at my company and just try to look past things like inconvenient changes to comp plan and such but the shit he said yesterday was enough to make me think he's just not the great CEO he used to be.

I never thought about the marriage thing. To be honest, I have no clue. He talks about his kids often enough but almost never mentions his wife. I know he just recently got back from a 3 day rafting trip with his family.
Pachacuti
Politicker
1
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
That's a tough situation.

From what you described, he's probably getting pushback on what he pays you from someone else - a finance or technical guy. Someone with paycheck envy. so just realize that is probably where its coming from - not him directly.
SaaSam
Politicker
1
Account Executive
That would make sense if not for the issues surrounding our new comp plan.
Gasty
Notable Contributor
1
War Room Community Manager
by what you describe him as, this seems utterly stupid
SaaSam
Politicker
0
Account Executive
I used to really admire the guy too which makes this even harder to admit to myself.
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
nah you have a right to be pissed. anytime anyone starts messing with my money im getting pissed.

how long have you been at that compay for total? nothing last for every, everything changes at some point, might be time to move on for good if its going to go in that direction.
SaaSam
Politicker
1
Account Executive
I've been thinking the same thing lately. I've been here since November of 2019.
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
ah i see ok so not super long. i would hope the good ole days would last longer than that haha
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
I was thinking you should be pissed even if the conversation ended after wanting to adjust your comp. The whole comment about managing money would have me FUMING. Definitely not wrong to be pissed here.
SaaSam
Politicker
1
Account Executive
It pissed me off so bad I couldn't bring myself to do any work for like 2 hours while I tried to talk myself down. Had to go play with my daughter for a bit just so I wouldn't email the guy anything stupid.
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
Good on you, I probably would have gone rogue and done something a lot more regrettable.
PineappleYa
Opinionated
1
AE
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutelyโ€ฆ the more $ they make the more greedy they get.
SaaSam
Politicker
0
Account Executive
I've seen evidence of this in myself. The more my bank account grows the less I want to spend and the more I want to add to it. That being said, I'd never screw someone over to make that happen.

Never figured this guy for that type either.
punishedlad
Tycoon
1
Business Development Team Lead
It sounds like you have a decent relationship with this guy. Does it extend past work at all, or is it strictly business?
SaaSam
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Strictly business really due to distance
Justatitle
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
Who knows whatโ€™s going on in his personal life and it seems as if you have a close relationship with this CEO. I believe in radical candor, have you considered bringing up the behavior to him and asking if there is something going on that has caused such a radical shift. From his shoes thereโ€™s probably no one that has tried to understand and it might be worth it
7

I just quit my job after 3+ years of buying the dream "tHiS rOle WiLl bE gReaT foR yOur dEveLopMenT"... Feels good so just thought I'd share

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First Time Enterprise Sellers - What Changes did you make right away

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Previous company is losing salespeople left and right, think I made a great decision leaving. Anyone else have a similar experience?

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