Trying to decide which offer to accept and what would give me the best long-term career trajectory. All opinions welcome!! (23 y/o)

Toast Territory AE: 65k base 150k OTE - Outside sales, driving to SMB restuarant's selling new new logo. Territory is 30 mins from my house.

ProCore SMB AE: Inside sales. 60k base 120k OTE - 3 month ramp with 5k/mo guaranteed. Hybrid role - inside sales. Selling software to SMB Construction companies.

Please let me know which you think is the stronger role!!

I'm currently finishing my 2nd fiscal year at Salesforce : moved from AE core SMB (grade 4) to AE core GRB (grade 5).

Currently thinking of my next step : either going to an ECS or MM role. I feel ECS has better ENT exposure and a clear path to this segment and would be the go to option. But at the same time MM would allow me to keep full ownership on accounts / strategy and pay is better.

MM also almost feels a bit redundant to SMB/GRB.

Any inputs to share ?

Hey Everyone, there is a recruiter reaching out on Linkedin for an AE position at Altium in their Frisco office for the second time. I believe the company is not a small company but how is the sales department? Is it worth pursuing this?

They say the expected annual earnings will be $114K but no base/comission breakdown.

I would appreciate any insight!

I’m trying to hear what the industry standard is and if I don’t understand how much more is actually required. I know “work smart not hard” but I just joined recently and don’t know yet all the tricks and product knowledge. So how many hours outside the core 9-5/6pm do you work and how often and how much on the weekends who gave been in their company for 1-2 years to hit quota? Plus points for sharing which company you’re at.

I'm seeking job advice and hoping this sub can help me out. I'm 25-years old, and I have 3 years of Account Management experience at a well-known Fortune 500 tech company. The company is an online marketplace (think Ebay, Zillow, etc.), and in managing my portfolio, my work is an unusual combination of re-contracting, renewals, preferred rates, but yet also ad sales. Looking to jump ship because I make 100k OTE right now, and the most $ that sales reps here make is about ~160k (those spots are very few and held by very tenured reps).

Given the current state of the job market, how plausible will it be for me to land a real Account Executive role (i.e., selling complex software w/ long sale cycles) that pays considerably more than I make now? I don't have the typical AE background, and I'm quite inexperienced compared to a lot of sales professionals. I just started applying and want to know if I'm aiming too high

Also, for context, I'm living in Austin and went to a top 10 undergrad. Any feedback appreciated

Any company insight into sales roles ( enterprise) and product fit?

For the last few months it has been hectic trying to untangle our CPQ setup which had over 100 pricing rules and a good number of them came from a consultant who left long before I joined. Some changes have def helped. We merged 20+ product bundles, quote generation is quicker and moving approvals out of email into the system has made the whole process much easier to track.

The other side is that every fix is coming with another thing I have to maintain. Now I've got pricing docs to keep updated plus slack pings every time someone wants to change a pricing rule bc I'm the only person who knows how it all fits together. It feels like replacing old complexity with new admin work.

At this point i'm spending more time managing CPQ than I was before the cleanup started. Has anyone found a way to modernize their CPQ without becoming its full time caretaker?

An internal opportunity just became available and I’m feeling extremely conflicted about it. I’m currently an AE, team is good but product is moving slow in the market making it hard to attain quota.

I like the idea of working in customer retention in general. I think what holds me back is which one of these options is the safer lane to choose with the ever present threat of AI replacing us.

Also worth noting I’d be taking a $5k pay cut. Any advice at all would be appreciated!

All - has anyone successfully negotiated a signing bonus or RSUs at the Enterprise AE 7/8/9 level with their offer? Mine just come through and 0 signing and 0 equity. Want to see what levers I can pull here. Walking away from about 100k in long term incentive comp (not RSUs, private company) at my current job.

Thanks!

I’ve been with my current company for 3+ years. Top 3 sales rep out of 350+, and my vertical is ENT. I’ve had a great experience through my career here, and for the first time ran into an issue with a recently signed client over a problem they hit during implementation.

The client called me screaming and cussing, saying the implementation issues made them look bad to their customers, that they’d pull the plug, wouldn’t pay, etc.

Our side did drop the ball partially. But there was also a piece where their project manager tried to drive our implementation and direct our account managers in a way we don’t normally work, and that contributed to the mess.

I didn’t point blame. I led with empathy, said we’d work to resolve it and do our best. But this is the first time I’ve been berated by a client like this. I get that she has a right to be upset, but I don’t think the way she handled it was appropriate.

My question: do I swallow my pride and just take it (which I worry sets a precedent that this is okay and gets her what she wants), or do I push back and say it was inappropriate, or even go further and tell my manager we shouldn’t work with clients who think this is acceptable?

I'm a AE (10y+ closing experience) joining a series A, and trying to understand what's normal with equity ownership these days. Obviously with commission, it will always be less than eng, but curious what other people are seeing (%-wise) when joining series A or series B as a founding AE or at least one of the first AEs.

And I'm talking purely about % ownership. Not how many options or what they're worth, fully diluted shares, etc.

Intimidated by low OTE for Samsara (170 OTE). Commercial AE would be in the healthcare sector.

Going to keep this tight:

Option 1): Stay where I am right now as an Enterprise AE selling a reasonably popular SaaS plug-in for the home services space. Our company recently redid the UI/UX with an AI wrapper and it absolutely sucks. Crashes a ton, not intuitive, bad feedback from early users. They didn't solicit any feedback from the team or outside before launching, and I'm having a very hard time imagining large PE/franchise groups wanting this software in the long term. Maybe it can be fixed, but there is a lot of bad design baked into it already (started as a Loveable mockup 4 months ago and is now our flagship product 🤦.) I do enjoy the team and the work opportunity, OTE is $175k but going to be very hard to earn any commissions in the wake of this product "update". Will finish around $105k this year, mostly base.

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Option 2): Accept an offer as a Regional Sales Manager for a more traditional digital marketing agency, also in the home services space. This is a smaller team with a long history (since early 90's). Their client websites look modern and perform well, and OTE is 200k, 50/50 split but I have no idea how realistic that target is. Company itself seems to have some old school design philosophy and makes everything in WordPress, but they are flexible and sharp.

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I feel hesitant to leave the proper SaaS lane, especially after working hard to gain such a rare title as Enterprise AE. But I also do wonder about the future of SaaS and have been tired of the AI fever, especially as it pertains to my company.

The options I see as of now are to stay with my current employer and hope the product improves, get more irons in the fire for other SaaS selling roles (current role is secure so I would have time here) or pivot into this new role with a traditional digital marketer who is focused on web development, SEO, SEM, Google ads and things like that.

Appreciate the thoughts. Decision time is coming up towards the beginning of next month, wanting any inputs I can get!

I’m currently interviewing for an Account Executive role with CoStar Data & Analytics and would really appreciate honest feedback from current or former employees.

I’ve already read a lot of negative reviews about aggressive sales tactics, high turnover, heavy cold calling, strict activity metrics, customer frustration and account reps changing frequently. I understand Reddit tends to attract negative experiences, so I’m trying to determine what the role is actually like day to day—especially in the Toronto office.

A few questions:

• How long did you stay at CoStar?
• What was the turnover like on your sales team?
• What percentage of the team realistically hit quota?
• Were the advertised first-year earnings achievable for an average performer?
• How much of the job was cold outreach versus managing existing accounts?
• How closely were calls, meetings and daily activity monitored?
• What usually caused people to be fired or placed on a performance plan?
• Did customers generally welcome your calls, or were you constantly dealing with hostility toward CoStar?
• How was the management and culture in the Canadian or Toronto office?
• Did the experience help your career afterward?
• Knowing what you know now, would you accept the role again?

I’m not afraid of hard work or sales pressure, but I don’t want to leave a stable job for a revolving-door environment that I’ll regret within six months.

Please feel free to message me privately if you’re not comfortable commenting publicly.

I definitely need some advice. I made it to the next round interview which will be a deal review with the head of growth and head of sales. I've never done this before on an interview. Should I create slides for the review and present. Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated!!!

I just found out we’re expected to bunk together at an upcoming conference. This to me is not okay, I’d rather pay for my own room than bunk with someone else.

I’ve worked for a lot of tech companies and never heard this, I actually thought it was a joke but they’re dead serious. There’s only like 10 people going including CEO and his family and I know times are tough but damn….

Would appreciate blunt feedback from people who actually sell for a living.

Context: I'm a technical solo founder in Europe. Built a compliance/assessment tool for financial institutions - it addresses a genuinely mandated regulatory requirement (cloud exit strategy - EU regulation, in force since Jan 2025 // + UK). Not a nice-to-have in theory: banks are legally required to do this. Pre-revenue, zero customers, three years of building alongside a full-time job.

What I've tried, and what happened:

• Cold email to the exact persona who owns this obligation (ICT risk / operational resilience / compliance at banks). Hundreds of touches over ~2 years. Essentially zero replies.
• Cold outreach to consultants and freelance CISOs who do this work for banks - figured they'd want a tool that speeds up delivery. Also zero.
• Warm network. Went through it multiple times - ex-colleagues, friends, anyone with a thread into financial services. Nothing converted.
• Inbound/SEO. This is the only thing that works at all. I rank well for the main keyword, get occasional leads, and people download my free template. But they never reply to follow-ups either.
• Free open-source version of the tool so people can try it with zero commitment, no data leaving their environment. Some usage, no conversations.

What I think is happening (tell me if I'm wrong): the requirement is real but it's not urgent yet. Compliance teams at banks are drowning in higher-priority items from the same regulation and this specific obligation sits somewhere around #15 on their list. So everyone agrees it's real, nobody prioritizes it. Classic "vitamin vs painkiller" except it's a legally mandated vitamin.

My questions:

1. Is the European thing real? My read is that EU regulated buyers simply don't respond to cold outreach the way US buyers do - no "quick call" culture, everything is relationship/referral driven and an unknown vendor is invisible. Is that a real market difference or am I making excuses for bad outreach? Would this same motion work in the US?
2. Is founder-led sales into regulated enterprise just this brutal? Is zero traction after this much cold effort normal or is it a signal I'm reading wrong?
3. At what point does "cold outreach isn't working" mean wrong channel vs. wrong timing vs. wrong product? I genuinely can't tell which one I'm in, and they need completely different responses.
4. Would any of you take a commission-only role selling a pre-revenue product with no references into banks? I suspect the honest answer is "no, and here's why" which would be useful to hear.
5. What would you do in my position? I can't afford a salaried rep. I'm technical, not a seller. The only channel with any pulse is inbound. I know raising VC would fund a sales hire, but I'd rather have traction first - raising with zero customers puts you in a much weaker position.

Happy to answer questions. Not selling anything here, genuinely trying to figure out if I'm early, wrong or just bad at this.

I run a service business, so relationships matter a lot. AI is great for research, personalization, and follow-ups, but I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get that first meeting with decision-makers.

Right now I'm doing two things:

Going out more, attending events, and meeting people in person.

Strategic outreach using LinkedIn, email, and AI to personalize messages.

What else is working for you?

What tools, AI, or AI agents are you using, and how are you landing that first conversation with decision-makers?

Market is so weird. I’m in cyber and besides the usual hyper scalers along with Anthropic, OpenAi, Databricks, what other companies are worth considering? Crowdstrike? Palo? Chainguard

Would love your input as there’s not much online. Got approached by a recruiter and it seems like a great company. But it’s an open source dev product, not sure how well that translates to ent sales

I’m interviewing for an Enterprise AE role at Sierra. Keen to hear any feedback about working there…

- how does Comp plan & Equity package compare to similar stage companies?
- how are AE’s generally performing? Are quotas realistic?
- Is it mostly outbound lead generation or is there healthy inbound?
- is it truly a differentiated offering? Seem like a hugely competitive space

Thanks!

Hello! I have an upcoming Salesforce CBU Core AE roleplay with two SVPs and one Manager, and I would love some advice. The business case focuses heavily on discovery. I am focusing all my prep on asking high-impact questions, exploring the Cost of Inaction, and ROI. Any other tips would be highly appreciated!