Avon

Senior Account Executive

Will back-to-back startup jobs make blue chip companies not take you as seriously?

Ive been at my now series C company a little over 2 years. Ive started to listen to recruiters who reach out. Im talking to one that is very young, just had a series A. They got the money last month so it feels safer than most series A companies. Its also in the same industry Im in where I think it would be an easy transition. Final interview is next week.

A concern of mine is if I spend 2-3 years there, when I want my next job, the top companies out there will find my experience a little immature. Am I reasonable with this thinking? Does it not matter?

Would especially love to here from any hiring managers who may be here.

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23 comments

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RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

I think that most people will tell you "Yes, they won't think your startup experience is applicable to large/Bluechip Orgs."

But as someone who has pingponged back and fourth between large and small orgs throughout my career, I would tell you that your "experience" is not YOU. The resume is just a piece of paper (or PDF lol), it provides some context as to where you have been and what you have potentially learned, but its not YOU.

You need to be best in the world at understanding who you are and what you bring to the table, and how to relay that. If you can forsee these objections and develop a cohesive story to combat these objections in a clean and concise way, THAT is what matters.

That's my 2cents for what its worth.

DataCorrupter

Politicker

Account Executive

Agreed with this. Worthy of a double-up-vote.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

You need to be best in the world at understanding who you are and what you bring to the table, and how to relay that. If you can forsee these objections and develop a cohesive story to combat these objections in a clean and concise way, THAT is what matters.

This is what needs to be pinned to every post asking for help overcoming objections in interviews. This applies to ALL of them.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

My name is Yuri Andropov and I support this message. Stellar.

lowhangersalesbanger

Executive

Director of Sales

Yeah what they said

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Preach!!

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

I have no value to add

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

@oldcloser I completely disagree. Your value is noted and appreciated daily.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

I'm screen grabbing this and putting it with my golf trophies. Thank you.

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Depends on you results and narrative.
I'm curious why you're looking to leave and jump to Series A in a new industry?

Avon

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

The industry is very adjacent to what im doing. Without getting too specific.
Why Im looking: just not really big about the culture of where I work. Im suprised Ive survived as Ive seen 40 people get fired in my time here. Im just not having a good time you could say haha. This job would also be about a 50% jump in base pay which I certainly wouldnt mind.
That all said, I ignore every other startup that reaches out and am mostly just taking calls form more mature companies. This one just peaked my interest so I took the interview and so far the cofounder seems like a good dude. Still pretty early though, haven't gotten an offer and if I did Im not 100% sure I'd accept it.

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

I've had this question come up in interviews and like others have said, it's how you portray your experience. Sure, you don't have a military style sales process and countless internal roadblocks to deal with, but that doesn't mean you can't sell.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Exactly. Some people get too caught up in titles and shit.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

It’s harder to sell from a series A company than a top company. As long as you are selling to the same types of companies, then you should be fine. Just have a story ready for your thought process.

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

I mean, some startups make a lot of noise, and 2-3 successful years at those types of places are not going to be a black mark at all. If you spend a year at a place few people have heard of, yeah I think bigger companies tend to discount that.

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

Account Executive

I think you just have to leverage yourself, the successes you had at the other companies, and what makes adding you to their team special

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

The organizations usually get past it pretty quickly when you get to talking, my experience has been that companies are more concerned when you go from large orgs to startups because they simply don't have the same resources and marketing spend that large companies do.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

Enterprise AE

If you learn how to sell yourself you can bounce to any size company. The bluechips will look for your startup scrappiness and hunter mentality.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

I don't think that's true. Your experience is YOUR experience - be it back to back in multiple startups or just one company for multiple years.
You get to spin your narrative the way you want and present it in front of the interviewers. For that to happen, you have to be firm on what your narrative is.

AnchorPoint

Politicker

-2

Business Coach

People are a product of habit... change every two years will be noticed by professionals... as very immature.

Avon

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

In 2023? Everywhere Ive worked the average tenure is about 18 months

Account Executive

Can understand the sentiment behind this; would just edit the '2 years' to 'less than a year', in the current market.

- me, a sales rep who joined a startup after a long stint at BigTech n then got laid off within a year due to internal reorg GG rip

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Avon

Will back-to-back startup jobs make blue chip companies not take you as seriously?

23 comments

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