catfish

Account Manager

Stay put for experience, or bail out while the ship goes down

War Room,

I'm in a pickle. My org just went through an acquisition, not a particularly great one either. Actually quite shitty. Long story short, everyone is leaving. I realized yesterday the heads of Product, Solution Eng., NewBiz/AE, Sales Enablement, and Demand Gen are all gone in less than 2 months. Needless to say I've been on the interview train for weeks.

I'm finding a trend in feedback that's making it tough for me to decide whether I stay or move on. I'm either inexperienced (18 months in closing role), too expensive (based on my YTD earnings), or a mix of both. I could jump ship while the market is hot, taking a lateral offer, or in many cases, a drop in salary in exchange for higher variable/better stock. Or I could stick it out for a year, interview when I'm at 2.5 years on the job, and hopefully land more money.

People are dropping like flies, and of course we don't have our comp plans yet, so there's no guarantee I'll make an extra 35% over OTE like I have this year. But do I leave to avoid that risk, if it means taking a lateral move or drop in salary? Any advice for the more seasoned reps here?

☁️ Software Tech

🎯 Career Development

8

12 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

9

☕️

Do you feel like you need to leave? Is it painful to be at the new org, or are you just feeling uncertain (which is normal in acquisition)?

CuriousFox

WR Officer

5

🦊

Very good questions to ask yourself. Stay grounded and make a decision based on facts instead of emotion.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

4

Account Executive

@poweredbycaffeine @CuriousFox Wise owls amongst us!!

@bamilli I've also been in the same mindset/predicament lately and what I've learned/realized is that I do really appreciate the spot I'm at at my current company as far as alignment with my career goals and opportunity available. Yes, we all love money but should I/you throw away the long term potential outcome for the potentially temporary dollar amount?

I'd suggest taking a deep dive thought process into what you envision yourself doing in 5, 10 and maybe 15 years from now (trust me, I know how hard this can be- lots of ADHD around here) but then you might be able to see through the fog a bit and make a decision on what to do!

TheOverTaker

Politicker

3

Senior Account Executive

its tough but if you can stand to stay, stay and make your money. Things may turn around and you might love it. You can still keep that interview door open in the meantime as well. If you truly cant stand it, you might have to deal with a lateral move. I have done it. Not fun but sometimes its worth it to keep your sanity

catfish

Good Citizen

1

Account Manager

@CharmingSalesGal @TheOverTaker good points each. It's not painful, yet. Having our senior-most technical rep leave just made the first painful experience a reality this week. So maybe it is more fear of the unknown right now. And next week/month could be painful.

I do like my org, boss, product. It's more uncertainty 'of can I sell it with supporting cast only having 3-4 months experience?' Can I make the same amount with new comp plans? At the same time, leaving can often result in the same exact problems.

Feels like either choice at this point is a risk/gamble with many unanswered questions.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

3

Account Executive

Honestly, I think this puts you in a decent position- it WILL be frustrating to work with an inexperienced team but this gives you the opportunity to give them the experience you want them to have. You have the opportunity to train them to do things that will work for you and with you!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Is the ship really going down, or is this just change?

If you're not getting the roles you want via interview just yet, and you don't yet know the comp plan, I don't see that there's any need to jump just yet. I'd keep the interview door open and see what pans out, but it may just be that your comp plan will be decent and that you'll do fine by staying and picking up that additional experience.

catfish

Good Citizen

1

Account Manager

This was my thought process last week (to stay) before the technical team took a hit, then I started wondering how difficult would it be with those years of experience and leadership missing.

But yes, I do see the path of sticking around, and interviewing at 2.5 years vs 1.5 paying dividends. Thanks for the great feedback!

buckets1

Politicker

1

AE

Sounds like many of the people leaving are more senior than you, which is normal after an acquisition. Senior people tend to know where they stand pretty quickly. Much harder to tell how things will shake out for individual contributors. Keep talking to recruiters but only jump ship for a raise in comp or if things start to go south for you specifically.

Diablo

Politicker

0

Sr. AE

I would judge the circumstance to take the decision. Everyone leaving doesn't prove company will busy (who knows). Did you get a chance to ask your AE colleagues what made them leave? Big money outside or unsure about company restructuring? Were they all good performers like you?

Jewcan_Sam81

Politicker

0

Account Executive

I think there'll be a very clear moment when you notice it's all going down (thinking around the point where Jack's awesome friend gets smashed by the smoke stack in Titanic or where the homie blows his own head off and the band is playing). At that point I think there'll still be enough time to bounce before you and Rose are hanging onto the back of the ship with that drunk dude

SmashAndGrab

Fire Starter

0

AE

Agree with others here- I’d also chip in and say, having the whole ‘went through acquisition’ thing on the CV is pretty valuable should you want to go small again later. I’m leaving the place that acquired us at the moment and interviewers tend to love it-
Shows you helped build something to exit, can handle the change and rockiness and have been on the exit journey before

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