FinanceEngineer

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Seeing more and more recent fired/laid off posts

The right sizing, and just shaking out is still happening. while there are plenty of roles, it is one of the most competitive markets I've seen since 2008/09. I saw a previous CMO take an AE job (not the norm, but in the series A/B start-up world, it happens). What is everyone else seeing? I'm thinking that this too will pass and you just have to lean on your network.

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I mean this has been going on since Q4 2022 and it hasn’t slowed down. Fuck VCs.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

It's a neverending story

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Lol, love it

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Dude am I the only one that was terrified by this

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Definitely not.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Yeah, I have really not been super focused on it, so seeing how crazy things are has been eye opening. I went to a Venture day at one of the Bulge Brackets and heard VCs just talk about doing more with less and down rounds. Crazy to really see it flush out.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

VC in Q2 2022: “Here, take $100M on this series C on an upside down valuation. We need you to 3x in 18 months”

VC in Q4 2022: “Oh no, you’re in the basement?! Fire 60%, but you still need to 3x!”

RandyLahey

Politicker

Account Executive

Literally just happened to me and got laid off last Christmas. An especially FUCK YOU to Bain Capital, notorious pigs at hire and fire campaigns.

SaaSsy

Politicker

Fuck VCs, but also delusional founders and terrible sales managers.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Yes, all of this!

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

I don't know if it's increasing or not, it seems like a steady stream to me.

The people I think hurt the most are the people who transitioned into the tech world 2020-2022: smaller networks due to shorter amount of time in the industry plus the fact that they mostly ended up at small, lesser-known startups so their experience is discounted. So now they're caught in no man's land: 2-3 years removed from their old industry, but not quite entry level enough to be SDRs again, but without enough software/tech-specific experience to find another AE job without a lot of luck and/or assistance. Not to mention if they moved to a lower cost of living area and are now out of the market for any hybrid or in-office roles. In this economy, no one is paying you to relocate, so it's a tough call if an $85k OTE job is worth selling your house at a loss and then spending another couple grand to move your stuff to the next state or whatever (hoping of course that you won't get laid off or fired there as well).

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

I can see this. However, there are a bunch senior people out as well. I’m hearing stories of people in the 40’s who have been bouncing around for 6 months to find something.

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

They might be caught in no man's land too, just in a different way. It's definitely hard for everyone right now. But I know if I could trade my six years of banking and insurance experience for 6 extra years in software sales, I'd make that trade in a heartbeat. My non-SaaS experience has zero value whatsoever in my job search.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

That is a crazy thing to hear.

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Trust me, when I first made the transition, vast majority of the advice I got was to focus on companies that sold software to banks and financial institutions, or fintechs, etc. I spent 8 months or so prospecting for a job with these companies, applying, reaching out to folks, etc. Nothing. Non-SaaS sales experience? Doesn't matter. You're new to sales and need to be taught the basics from the beginning as if you were a 22 year old new college grad. So I went the SDR route and worked my way up.

Granted, I wasn't closing enterprise deals as a banker. The B2B deals I did were mostly SBA loans, or business LOCs, or credit cards, etc. to local SMBs (bigger deals had to go through the commercial loan officer). But I kinda figured sales is sales, but not really I guess.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Agreed, seems like there's another round of turmoil going on.
Also seeing posts about 500-1000+ applications for jobs.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

That is an insane number. How is everyone doing it?

RandyLahey

Politicker

Account Executive

AI powered mass application tools. It's getting crazy out there.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Yeah, I can see that. You also need to follow up and get some pull through

DataCorrupter

Politicker

Account Executive

This is purely my opinion, but I think the many opens are sorta false. I think many of them are evergreen openings, companies are keeping them up forever, renewing them every so often, and looking for people that would be a clear upgrade on the current team or are very tenured. I think the tenure thing is basically like buying from IBM or Microsoft, you can't really get fired for doing it, it's safe and defensible. If someone fails, they'll say, "but hey that guy had 10+ years, everyone thought it was a good idea, so..."

I know that sounds sour, but in tough times, humans tend to do the "safest" (read "laziest") thing. Many of you work in enterprise sales, so you'll know exactly what I mean.

As for other openings, I think there are a few gems out there that are getting new (non-down) funding rounds, they're just usually earlier (series A, B, C) and have fewer roles to fill (leading to hyper competition).

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

It aint over, but man do i fucking hate the term "right sizing"

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Don’t we all! It’s a fancy way to say “we over hired and now need to lay off.”

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

"oops, our bad"

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

“Hopefully you can find something, I’m sure you can. Good luck!”

GDO

Politicker

BDM

It will pass. There was a lot of fat on a lot of organisations, the boom-bust cycle is quite natural imo

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Agreed. Will it take a while to boom again though? We had a peak for a while. Might be a lost couple of years.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

✅✅✅ it got me in Feb. I skidded along piecing together 2 garbage jobs over 6 months. Just landed in a gig that fits last week after pulling every string and calling in every favor.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

This is what I keep hearing. But you are an experienced rockstar, so it makes sense.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Dunno- sometimes you gotta fail up. 😁 But much sincere sympathy to those with under 5 years and no specific vertical expertise. It’s a fucking hornets nest.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

It is truly crazy out there

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

I am seeing hiring freeze lifting... will be interesting to see where things are headed

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

You mean companies are starting to hire after already being on a freeze? I’ve started to see offers being deferred or rescinded. But that’s great to hear. What sector?

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Yes correct. Just hearsay from people I know who have been looking

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

It's definitely not the best right now, hopefully, it will pass soon.

ChumpChange

Politicker

Channel Manager

Welcome to the 2023 post covid tech bloodbath. Buckle up cause it's a bumpy ride. We need the interest rates to go back down so it frees up money to go towards investments whether they be technical or personnel. Right now everyone (minus AI) is insulating themselves from any non-critical expenditures.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

It's been a while that we are seeing these. My company laid off folks again last week. so.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Marketing guy realized there is more $$$ in sales and made the switch.

Senior Regional Sales Manager

All I see is opportunity. Painting with the negatives can make a better picture.

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FinanceEngineer

Seeing more and more recent fired/laid off posts

38 comments

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