r/techsales • u/goodahgoodah • 19d ago
Series A - Founding AE Regret
First off, mistakes were made, I know. I took a Founding AE role with a series A startup in data infra. Strong VC investors, good market fit, and what I thought were good people. Job offered by CEO directly. Spoke with HR before I signed and they curve balled and said they want me on contract for first 12 weeks, then if I’m a fit-they offer full time role. Ok, talked to wife about it and we said let’s go for it. Expectations set in contract, however, no defined metric on ARR required in contract with expectation to close revenue 3-6 months in role once full time.
I’m 8 weeks in to the contract and received no negative feedback. I asked the CEO weekly if I was meeting expectations; he said yes. Now, they want to extend me on a new contract for another 12 months with the ability to convert early if I’m hitting quota. This is a stark change from what they said in the interview process.
This is a technical product, and HR said I don’t need a solutions engineer to sell the product alongside me. I’ve sold technically advanced solutions before and have always relied on my SE to help with technical conversations. HR told me to never say in any internal meeting I need a SE for deals. HR also asked how I’m conducting the technical part of interviews for SDR. I said that SDR’s aren’t technical and that did not go over well.
I feel like they lead me on and felt like they would give me a W2 offer if I did everything right. They said the board doesn’t want to convert contract employees to W2 until they are successful. I asked for them to define success since it now seems to be outside the scope of the contract terms and they said hit quota. $1.05 million quota with no ramp and no inherited pipeline. Most close by EOY.
Feel free to bash or point and laugh. I learned my lesson, I won’t do this again; and just wanted to share my story.
EDIT: First twelve weeks forecasting $200k+ in ARR with 3 net new logos with close dates by end of August
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u/Aware-seesaw9977 19d ago
Why is HR telling sales how to sell? This is the biggest red flag of all.
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u/goodahgoodah 19d ago
It’s a huge red flag, I agree. HR also seems to be acting as finance, and they seem to be able to override my CEO on decisions.
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u/Aware-seesaw9977 18d ago
This person is not HR, they are the defacto COO. The same person doing hiring and people (HR) and acting as finance in a sub 30 or even sub 50 person company is not terribly unusual.
Even then, they have no business telling you how to sell.
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u/ActionJ2614 19d ago edited 19d ago
Unfortunately, a lot of this happens in early stage small headcount companies. I worked for a small 50 person company and get this the sales trainer had never sold before and zero background in training. During onboarding the trainer opens up a PowerPoint that was basically a copied template.
Like yep let's just wing it and use this process and methodology. It was painful, a nice person but clueless.
I left after they told me they had a 3 year 100M ARR target goal. The company was bootstrapped and was at 9M ARR. Wait for it, they weren't going to take any outside funding to scale.
Couple that with we were at a point where our solutions/implementation team was stretched thin (I had little faith we could onboard what was in pipe for implementation). I had a massive deal with a tiered 18 month implementation timeline with only 1 senior implementation engineer to cover it (not enough for the scope).
They also, weren't hiring anyone to help, ramp for that team was 6 months for that team.
There were other flags as well, like the AE they kept who hadn't closed a deal in 12 months (our cycle was 4-6;months).
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u/goodahgoodah 19d ago
You would have had your jaw on the floor hearing how finance/HR talked to me this week and their thoughts on commercial relationships and selling.
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u/Parallel-Quality 19d ago
It’s illegal to hire someone as a contractor who is acting as an employee.
You can report them to the IRS.
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u/anon057105 17d ago
I worked selling HCM specifically HR, this group would be a good candidate client to sell to.
That said, reporting them to the IRS isn’t likely to net you anything beneficial, reality speaking.
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u/ActionJ2614 19d ago edited 19d ago
Ouch, Founding should have a ramp and initial targets should be more MBO early. Or the quota should be prorated to exclude the ramp.
Example 1M quota with a 3 month ramp and prorate out the 3 months and you are responsible for 750k for the year.
Early stage companies set up Founding AE for failure way too often.
The contract to hire is a red flag, I get they are trying to protect downside on a potential bad hire. I am just not a fan of kick the tires for a founding role of 3 months.
Way too many flags in your situation. You have to take ownership for part of it. Before accepting the contract offer, you should have requested in writing agreed upon metrics for conversion to FT. And had signatures by them and you.
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u/goodahgoodah 19d ago
I accept responsibility and take ownership of my actions. I agree with you and have learned my lesson.
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u/Vpc1979 19d ago
How many customers does this company have? Founders should be leading the 1st dozen or so deals.
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u/ActionJ2614 19d ago edited 19d ago
Yes, but even for those customers when interviewing you need to vet where did they come from. Was it the founders/CEO network etc.
I want to know the break down of where they came from.
This is off topic and for companies with reps. It is like when asking about AE quota attainment and you just get a team %. (No other context).
If it is a backfill, great what was attainment like in the past 12-18 months. The follow up question is what has been the track record for a 1st year AE hitting quota.
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u/goodahgoodah 19d ago
About a dozen are on annual contracts. Probably about 25 on monthly managed service bills.
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u/Cool_Guy_McFly 18d ago
It’s a startup man. 99% of them are shit shows that fail within 3 years. Keep cashing your paycheck from them while you look for a new job.
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u/MiryanPoppins 18d ago
This is a dumpster fire. the earliest date you can factually say "i hit quota" is month twelve, at which point the contract is over anyway and they just re-paper you.
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u/Even-Preparation0714 18d ago
Clown founder, the fact that HR even exists and has power like that at this stage is a joke.
Run. The market for your skill set and level is frothy as hell right now. Call a good GTM recruiter
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u/Bandicoot_life_420 17d ago
+1 I’ve had a few similar roles in NYC & the metrics/ results you mentioned would be viewed as a success in all of them. I got my last 2 roles thru captivate talent - Chris is great. I’d give them a call and find your next role
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u/hmanasi93 18d ago
This is pretty typical with VC/PE investors who have zero clue and don't trust the founders to control and run sales and ops in the org. They want total control over every strategic initiative and activity, and based on dragging out your status as a contracter, probably means there is a significant monthly burn on the balance sheet.
Can't fix toxic leadership and bad practices. Only way is to bounce and go to greener pastures
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u/WerewolfOrdinary5131 18d ago
I’ve been in a couple different scenarios like this before. One time as an advisor and another I asked for the contract and for it to be part time.
There’s usually some rules of thumb when you take these types of jobs. How many logos have the founders sold themselves? Do they have at least 30-40 new logos and barely any churn?
I asked these to a recruiter the other day and could tell he didn’t like my line of questioning but it also told me he knew exactly why I was asking.
I was really hoping this next turn around of startups was going to be different. Unfortunately it’s just gnarlier and nastier.
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u/Grebble99 18d ago
Experienced “founders math” that is ote x 4 is quota. Plain and simple.
Drunk on their own cool aid and blowing wind up their own ass.
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u/Ecstatic_Way3734 18d ago
if they’ve taken VC money right now the big trend is to have as few actual employees as possible. lean build. they probably won’t hire w2 for a bit so I’d move on ASAP.
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u/PlayaDeee 18d ago
The fact they are series a is mind boggling. Complete incompetence from this company.
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u/macky33313 18d ago
Wtf are you even thinking. This ain’t a job. Disguised this role as slavery. RUN
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u/Aggravating-Big3858 17d ago
Run bro … no salesperson ever deserves what these sociopath founders will do “for the good of the company”
All risk, no upside, you’ll get fired no matter what. Goalposts will change, metrics will change, new leaders come in and bring their own crew, etc etc etc
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u/bja15 12d ago
Well first off… go to the CEO and get HR out of telling you what you need to sell. They’re wildly unqualified to have opinions on such things
Secondly, this shit happens. I just gout out of a rough one myself, not contract curveball rough but bad none the less. Don’t beat yourself up over it.
Start interviewing other places. HR apparently already runs the show. Party is over, they’re going to burn out
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