youngsmoky profile picture
youngsmoky profile picture

youngsmoky

Senior Account Executive

Celebrated Contributor
Arsonist
Politicker
+9

Should a SaaS newbie join a team with no VP of sales?

Been interviewing at a few places after being in SaaS for about 10 months. I’m talking to a team about a fully remote gig. I’d be joining as one of the first AEs and they have no sales manager. You report to the founders.


Am I still so new I should seek a job with good management to help build my skills? Or is no manager is better than a bad one?

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CoorsKing
WR Officer
8
Retired King of the Coors Knights
No. Especially if you are new, you won’t get much coaching from the founders unfortunately, and it will be extremely tough sledding. Find somewhere with a good skill development track
braintank
Politicker
7
Enterprise Account Executive
99% of the time I'd say you need a manager. 

Lemme guess, this is a series A company?
youngsmoky
Celebrated Contributor
1
Senior Account Executive
Seed funding stage. 
braintank
Politicker
5
Enterprise Account Executive
if you have <1 year of experience I'd avoid joining this stage of company. More trouble than it's worth.
bandabanda
Tycoon
2
Senior AE Mid Market
Please go read @UrAssIsSaaS recent post about Series A.

Don’t do it. Not as your first sales role AND fully remote. Say all you want about hybrid/remote whatever…in an early stage startup it’s better to be in person in my opinion. That’s where the real learning will happen IF you want an environment like that. Also, reporting to the founders will stress you the hell out. Guess who their reporting to? Board member & investors…you’re responsible for delivering on those expectations. Without an added buffer of a sales manager, that poo is all falling on you.

From what I’m seeing, the people that have blazed this trail before recommend starting at a larger company and working your way backwards if you want.
UrAssIsSaaS
Arsonist
7
SaaS Eater
This is a terrible idea unless you already have a killer process and know exactly what you are doing. And at 10 months I would be hard pressed to think you do (nothing personal). 

You're setting yourself up for failure here. 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
6
🦊
Oof. Too young of a company for sure. Go with your instinct on this one.
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
4
Professional Day Ruiner
I took a role like this early on in my career. Worst decision ever. I had basically no progress due to lack of direction given by leadership, no tools being available, and not knowing enough to be successful on my own. It was practically a death sentence for me too, I had a really hard time getting hired at a new company after that because I had no quota at the company, and virtually no sales or track record of success there. I would HIGHLY advise against it. 
TennisandSales
Politicker
3
Head Of Sales
If you are looking for development and coaching this is 100% the wrong place to go. 

If you want to dive in and figure it out on your own then this would be a good fit. 

bandabanda
Tycoon
1
Senior AE Mid Market
Fair point. But I’d argue you can still dive in and figure it out in a much less risky environment than this one described (like a Series B with 2 rounds of solid funding and decent leadership).
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
yes! haha there are for sure much less risky places to have to figure it out. 


Pachacuti
Politicker
3
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
If you're even asking this question it probably means you need to the help of an experienced manager which is not a bad thing - I have 20+ years sales experience and still rely on "the team" (ie my boss, produce specialists, etc.)

Being self-aware enough to ask is also a good thing.
Filth
Politicker
3
Live Filthy or Die Clean
I did it - lol it didn't work out the best. I landed fine 10 months after in a different organization and can technically have "director" on my resume, but it was a rough go b/c I'd yet to really lock my personal process down. 


I'm pretty ADD and found I appreciate some decent structure for me to use and ignore as a choose.
akelly1335
Good Citizen
2
SDR
I did something similar for my first job in SaaS. The founders likely won’t have time to help you at all, so even if you report to them, don’t expect much in the way of support. You’ll be running your own show. If you’re okay with that, go for it, but understand it is a huge risk
Diablo
Politicker
1
Sr. AE
You need help to help the company and that might be not in for you here. Think and if a yes comes within go ahead 
UserNotFound
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Read my previous posts if you want to see an example of how this worked for me…
MyAnonymousName
Opinionated
1
Sales Leader
So this is how I broke into SaaS, but I think my situation was a rarity and would not recommend on the regular.

I was AE number 2, and reported to the CEO, but he hired a coach that came in once a week and acted like a pseudo VP. He taught processes, did call reviews, etc..

However I have done something similar a few times since then, and the expectation was I could figure my own shit out and if I had not had that foundation I can't imagine I would have been successful.
youngsmoky
Celebrated Contributor
1
Senior Account Executive
Appreciate your insight. Yeah I’ve had different jobs where I’m the whole department or they want me to build their marketing strategy. So I’m fine with the start-up/ unstructured team. But I’m wondering if my sales skills are there yet. Or if they can develop without a sales manager. 

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