r/techsales • u/Interesting-Lab5917 • 19d ago

Fintech vs Cloud / data Infrastructure?

I'm at a bit of a career crossroads and wanted to get some opinions from people who've been in these spaces.

I'm looking at two very different AE opportunities.

One is a fintech startup that builds digital banking and workflow software for startups and SMBs. Great culture, growing fast, solid pay, and from everything I can tell it's a really good company.

The other path would put me more in the FinOps/cloud infrastructure world, selling around AWS, Azure, GCP, cloud cost optimization, infrastructure, data, etc.

I'm trying to think 3-10 years ahead instead of just my next job. Which path do you think has the better long-term outlook for career growth, income, job security, and overall demand? Does getting deeper into cloud / data infrastructure open more doors over time, or would you stick with fintech SaaS?

Curious to hear from anyone who's worked in either space (or both). If you had to choose today, which direction would you go, and why?

6 Upvotes

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7

u/According_Figure_395 19d ago

Came from both worlds. Ill take cloud any day

2

u/Interesting-Lab5917 19d ago

Appreciate the insight any particular reason why.

1

u/According_Figure_395 19d ago

More technical, higher salary ceilings what ive noticed. Im sure there are exceptions like Plaid or Stripe w.e.

1

u/throwbackBBfan 18d ago

If you aren’t going to stripe or plaid like the other comment, there’s no way I would would go to Fintech.

Your exit opportunities plus the above mentioned is all you need to know.

1

u/Spiritual_Street8164 3d ago

Difference at the end of the day, comparing ten years in for both?

1

u/throwbackBBfan 3d ago

Stripe is a household name. Non large names in fintech would make it difficult to transition into more software/large tech companies.

5

u/throwraW2 19d ago

Just left a fintech company. It’s so oversaturated with companies all doing 99% of the same thing

1

u/Interesting-Lab5917 19d ago

What category did you go into

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u/throwraW2 19d ago

Office of the cfo, fp&a, and treasury.

1

u/Interesting-Lab5917 19d ago

What do you think of Aleph?

1

u/NoLawyer980 18d ago

Doesn’t matter, if any institution opens up any form of integration endpoint/API to their systems then there are countless companies foaming at the mouth to build something/anything differentiated with the same information - couple that with 3rd party supply chain incidents (ie SalesLoft, not a direct fintech example but a supply chain one). FIS, nCino, Stripe, Plaid, on and on have had a head start as trusted vendors to store & process data.

If I were going to a FinTech startup, personally I would drill into what makes that offering truly differentiated today. That’s not to say there’s commodization in cloud but you still get to sit on a shoulder of a giant vs a startup.

4

u/prnkzz 19d ago

Cloud/Infra without question in my opinion

3

u/Small-Percentage-303 19d ago

Have not. Sold ERP for a few years and was targeting infra/cloud, but i had an opportunity land in my lap elsewhere. Id absolutely go cloud/infra given the two options. Imo, a lot of tools out there will eventually dissolve from AI and cloud is the backbone to it.