Salesandcoffeedude

Business Development Representative

Valued Contributor

Personal Narrative

Path to true enterprise sales

Looking for my next role and my options are a few growth startups and a few public companies. As an SDR.

Company A: $100m ARR but the sales team is under 2 year old. Leadership has great experience selling to enterprise at Public companies. Extremely high base and OTE (35% more than the others)

Company B: series A, 73% of reps hit quota and make 6 figures. Base is lower. Team is rapidly expanding but doesn't sell enterprise... only to mid market.

Company C: public. Lowest base and OTE. Not making 6 figures. Probably has good training and does sell true enterprise 6 figure deals. Would love to be here in 10 to 15 years to sell those massive deals.

Should I chase the money with the startups and learn from enterprise sellers or go with the super structured public company that will make my path to the top much longer?

Advice from people who have sold enterprise at Public and startups would be appreciated.

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Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

3

Sales Rep

I always lean on the company with the biggest base, depends on how much more of a base compared to the others though.

Is your main motivator money or becoming a Enterprise AE?

If you are going to be a SDR from all of them, I assume the next role wont be an enterprise AE for any of them, so I would go with the opportunity that you think you would enjoy the most with training, money and culture

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

Yeah my next promotion would probably be a SMB AE... so that makes sense... I won't be selling enterprise even at an enterprise company... but my thinking is that I can learn from enterprise sellers in a more intimate environment than a public company.

tightlines

Politicker

3

Account Executive

I’d say you put company A as company A for a reason

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

Lol maybe!! It has insane benefits.

Diablo

Politicker

3

Sr. AE

I would go with A for sure

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

@braintankhas some very good advice about Series A startups.

braintank

Politicker

3

Enterprise Account Executive

I'd go with option A if they have solid SDR leadership.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

Is it a red flag that the sales team is relatively new? The leadership are from slack, docebo and salesforce. And is it better to be at a company selling to enterprise regardless of the money as that is where I want to be one day.

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

They're new becuase the company is new or they're new becuase they just cleaned house?

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development Representative

New sales team because company was mostly inbound before. Company has been around for a long time.

Jaytea

Catalyst

1

N/A

Yes and no coming from a startup team. The management sucks and flow of data is terrible. But you really do learn a lot. But ive never been in a big org so I wouldn’t know

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

2

Account Executive

Option A seems best as long as the leadership team seems competent and invested in your development/success

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development Representative

Thank you

nashvillesales

Fire Starter

2

Director of Business Development

Option A. Access to Enterprise AE’s, experienced leadership and more money/benefits sounds like a winner. However, with those perks comes more responsibility!

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development Representative

Yeah, I've been a part of a series A for the past year and am kind of used to the wearing multiple hats part of it

JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

2

Burn Towns, Get Money

I think there are several ways to walk this path. Much of it depends on what you're already good at, what you find interesting, and the managers you can work for.

MY road from BDR to Enterprise looked like this:
- 1.5 Years at AI startup as BDR. Started as only BDR covering all of North America
- 4.5 Years as AE for same startup. initially just taking the scraps from my BDR role, then moving into Ent/Strat accounts
- 9 Months inside sales at Big Corporate after politics at startup became too much after PE investment
- 9 Months Field Specialist at same Big Corporate after crushing inside role
- Enterprise AM at same Big Corporate until present

Prior to being a BDR I worked in Tech Recruiting. So I have ~10 years of understanding how IT works and how shit gets done from many angles.

I think the major key to breaking into Enterprise is getting to the point where you can offer practical advice and guidance to customers, and understand enough about their business, your business, and the mechanics of getting a deal done that you essentially become a broker of business value rather than a salesperson.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

This is such good advice. Never thought of the role of an enterprise seller like that. I guess if you really want something and are driven to get it you can get there no matter how you do it.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Option A. sounds best to me - a bigger base and good benefits and from what you said, good sales leadership, so you'll get the training and support you need to grow.

You're years away from Enterprise AE, so don't wait to make decent money now. Get the experience and the good foundation and you'll be well-positioned when you're ready to make that move.

Nice to have three good choices. Congratulations.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

Thank you!! Yes, I'm really excited to be in this position

KingofGIF

Politicker

1

AE

Option A sounds like the best, however, option B can be a high risk high reward type of company, let me elaborate more: with that healthy percentage of the team hitting quota the Totally Addressable Market is interesting for mid-market, and as the company lands the first enterprise logos you might be able to ride a honeymoon period till series C or D, and position yourself like as an enterprise rep.The size of the pie will become much smaller once funding is larger and the sales team has scaled significantly, and it’ll be up to sales management to do the right decisions ahead of that instead of screwing the AEs, which in practice rarely happens. Tl;Dr you might have a great couple years with that option

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

Makes sense. I'm going to ask what their plans are for moving to enterprise sales.

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

the hardest part about getting into true ENT sales is getting the "experience".

The best way to get that experience is in the same company you work at.

its much easier to go from MM AE to ENT AE if you do it at the some company.

When i "Made it" to ENT sales it was only because the manager had worked with me in the past and knew i had the skills even though i didnt have the experience.

I would suggest company A or company C. but those are going to be 2 VERY different experiences by the sounds of it.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

My thoughts were that too. Get promoted to AE and work up the ranks at the same company provided everything is all good

Lioness

Good Citizen

1

Sr Field Enterprise Account Executive

I've sold to enterprises at both public and startup companies.

I would check around to see if Company A really has the numbers they are claiming. Too many startups sell the rocketship dream, when they would be lucky to be called a go-cart.

For Company B, I would seek to understand what high earners are pulling. Not ever solution is well suited to the enterprises, and sometimes mid market is where the lion's share of the revenue is coming from.

Company C would probably be a last option for me. I wouldn't want to sacrifice time in a lower skilled/lower paid position for the sake of brand, and you ultimately will have to take initiative to really getting good at your craft anyway.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development Representative

Fair. Company B has the highest OTE and their top performers make 35% more than any of the others.

Douglo

Opinionated

1

Sr Account Executive

Company A: I would be worried about how quickly you can get to AE. Sometimes those kind of companies are paying high SDR pay because you are going to be a SDR for a very long time and they will continue to poach reps from elite tier companies to be AEs.

Company B: Series A is a scary place to be but if you're getting equity here this could make you a millionaire. You could also be fired in a year.

Company C: This is the 'safest' bet. Will probably take you a while to work the ladder and it will require you to be a top rep at every step but it's a straight shot to an enterprise role.

All these options need more information if you want me to give you a recommendation. And at the end of the day it's really up to you what you value. They all sound like great options though so congrats.

Jaytea

Catalyst

0

N/A

A or B u will learn the most there and everyone is usually young and have lots of energy.

detectivegibbles

Politicker

0

Sales Director

Best piece of advice I've ever heard...

What if it turns out better than you could have ever imagined?

A.

jefe

Arsonist

0

🍁

I'm on the A Team

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