CadenceCombat profile picture
CadenceCombat profile picture

CadenceCombat

Account Executive

Tycoon
Arsonist
Politicker
+12

Series C Startup - Layoff rant

Who else has gone through a series C where the outcome has been:


  • Company committing to over ambitious roadmap to secure larger valuation
  • Flooding the sales floor with new hires without bolstering other departments / resources accordingly
  • Targets aren’t met, resulting in a high pressure culture of desperation
  • Assurances that there’s enough liquidity in the coffers to avoid layoffs
  • PIPs and/or layoffs (and potentially still hiring)
  • Leadership treats sales as a revolving door to rationalize the company’s failure as a simple issue of not having enough sales people to meet targets so they can save face with investors.

Is this a story that’s as old as time or is it just me?

🏰 War Stories
😡 rant
🥁 State of Sales 2022
18

18 comments

Sort by:
Pachacuti
Politicker
9
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
The cost of training new hires is something most companies don't take into consideration when looking at the big picture.

Is it better to PIP/Layoff someone who is a 25-50% performer and roll the dice on a new hire who might not work out either, while the lack of productivity in the ramp up period costs the company a fair amount of $$?

Its easy to blame sales when things aren't going well though, so there's that.
CadenceCombat
Tycoon
8
Account Executive
You’re reinforcing the exact point I’m trying to make.

It just seems like leadership throwing sales staff under the bus to mask their own incompetence is becoming way too commonplace.
dealdaddy87
6
CEO & Founder
Sadly this is the story of almost every tech-startup at the moment. Spoke to a VC recently, 95% of their portfolio companies are missing their numbers.

It's nothing new though - gold rush, oil rush, dot-com crash, SaaS start-ups. boundless optimism and high-risk is required to succeed but not everyone is going to win.

I'm not defending the reckless planning of some start-ups and VCs, but I also get tired of seeing people bitch&moan about getting fired from a job that paid way above market-rate because it's a high risk industry.

Start-ups are a high-risk business, hence the higher salaries. If you want job security go be a financial controller at Walmart and accept the salary cut.
butwhy
Politicker
6
Solutions Engineer
Yep - this has been par for the course for...forever in series C! Series C and Series D is where the rubber meets the road financially and it's pretty easy to see the warning signs if the company is going to 1) not make IPO (these days almost no one is going to make it) or 2) eventually sell to PE company and have to get to the ghost crew or 3) have to RIF to achieve some kind of valuation for next round of funding.

After a decade, I got tired of it and went to FAANG level tech. I don't miss the pseudo-comraderie or crazy team dinners yet.
triflin
Good Citizen
1
-
Do you need a decade to get into those?
CuriousFox
WR Officer
6
🦊
Oof Cadence that sounds like a cluster. You ok?
CadenceCombat
Tycoon
4
Account Executive
Honestly, I’m working on doing my salesforce admin certs because I’ve had too many morons at the top whacking me over the head with impossible targets.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
4
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
That's a solid list of bad planning, bad practice, and disaster.

And yes, very common.

Is this happening to you right now?
CadenceCombat
Tycoon
1
Account Executive
Yep
BlueJays2591
Politicker
2
Federal Business Dev Director
It's common with over ambitious start up leaders that have never managed anything meaningful before. Over growth leads to instability at the slightest downturn.
Justatitle
Big Shot
2
Account Executive
Sales is the first party to get blamed when things don’t go well. It sucks but we are the scapegoats hence why when things are good we get fat commission checks
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
ugh sounds terrible!
Nairobi
Politicker
1
AE
Oh man I litteraly just went through this and left the company a couple of months ago because there was no growth path. I think there should be a bullet saying: "Pretends they will promote from within/you, but clearly has over hired so no growth path for you"
SaasSlingin
Politicker
1
Sr AE
Is this an ode to beware of series Cs and Ds not just series A and Bs?
thesearentleads
Member
1
Account Executive
This sucks but unfortunately doesn’t get much better post IPO. Board still calls the shots, just different shareholders. Dealing with this now coming to the realization that unachievable quotas (my bosses words) aren’t going to come down because no one wants to present that scenario to the board
CadenceCombat
Tycoon
2
Account Executive
Yikes. I feel like simply finding companies that have 50%+ employees achieving quota is becoming increasingly rare. I’ve worked for many startups and none have been able to hit this number despite assuring me most reps are hitting during the interview process.

Forces me to lie in interviews about achieving targets which is why im considering a pivot to sales ops. I hate how if i were to be honest, it would be a non-starter when seeking new opportunities. Worth mentioning that i’m always at the top of the leaderboards for outbound activities as well… it’s so demoralizing.
thesearentleads
Member
1
Account Executive
Yeah going through the same thing as I dust off my resume and put feelers out to companies I find interesting. I have my quota achievement in there with large wins called out, so hoping the reader can see what’s going on
IYNFYL
Politicker
1
Enterprise SaaS AE
I’ve been there before. Was added on and then 89 days removed without cause. It’s a risk and sometimes it works out, but I will always look at those low rankings on GD and other sites

Related posts

9

Negotiating Equity Package - Series C SaaS

Question
💰 Compensation
12
9

Series A Startup

Question
📠 Startup
20
10

Join Series D startup are they even a startup at this point?

Discussion
🧠
🤝
☁️
22
Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.
Apple Store logo
Products
The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U
Company
About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty
Contact
Press Careers
© 2024 Bravado Inc. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy Legal and Privacy Center Sales Jobs
If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.