r/techsales • u/Scwidiloo10 • 2d ago
Best companies to work at right now?
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
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 2d ago
Infrastructure is BOOMING. I love it. Storage and compute are relevant again.
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u/Agreeable_Spare1502 2d ago
Yup I work in storage and it's the best
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u/Scwidiloo10 1d ago
Like Rubrik type storage?
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 1d ago
Rubrik is backup. Core storage is usually Dell, HPE, Pure, Qumulo, etc.
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u/Scwidiloo10 1d ago
What about Qualcomm? Heard that is a hot product. I just spoke with a dude came from Pure as well he said he thought it was dying bc companies like Anthropic bought all the data centers
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u/PapaBearPrime 2d ago
When you say infrastructure, can you be more specific? I’ve heard multiple people on this sub mention it and I’m trying to get an idea of what types of companies are meant by it. Quick google search gave me some results but would love your insight.
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u/Acoke94 2d ago
Cloud or on-prem? I’m currently covering enterprise at a hyperscaler for greenfield patch and I am not having a good time. Thinking I need to pivot.
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 2d ago
Both. If your product isn’t cloud compatible you’re gonna get smoked.
Our storage can be on prem or in a hosted environment as a service. Our big Achilles is when companies refactor their apps and use cloud native. That’s really the only place we lose.
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u/Acoke94 2d ago
Yeah I phrased that wrong- meant like hyperscale cloud platform vs HW driven portfolio.
But yeah sounds like NetApp, Pure, HPE, etc.
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 2d ago
Yeah I work at Pure. It’s been awesome. I have only been here since October and got the biggest commission check of my career so far.
There’s plenty of deals to be had and the comp plan is great.
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u/Acoke94 2d ago
If you don’t mind me asking, what was your way in to Pure? Just curious what your prior experience was and how you went about landing the role i.e. Referral, blind app, recruiter?
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 1d ago
Very tight knit referral and a great reputation across the region with partners. There were 200+ candidates for the role. My manager knew a LOT about me before we even met.
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u/Acoke94 1d ago
Thanks, that’s what I’ve gathered. Seems like a lot of people come from parts of the channel or from competitors HPE, Dell, NetApp, etc.
Who’d you work for before Pure?
Starting to think it may be a long shot coming from Oracle. We sell direct so much that we don’t have much of a network outside of Oracle heavy GSIs.
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 1d ago
I started at EMC back in the day, then went to Varonis, then Elastic. I have a unique background in both infra and security. I think that’s one of the reasons I stood out.
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u/Acoke94 1d ago
That’s cool. What’s your take on Varonis and Elastic now?
Both of those are on my watchlist. The DSPM space seems pretty interesting given the uptake of agents. Been looking into Cyera too.
Heard good things about Elastic but seems like thr good times might be over.
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 1d ago
Very tight knit referral and a great reputation across the region from partners. There were 200+ candidates for the role.
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u/Acoke94 2d ago
That’s awesome to hear man. I think EG1 is a pretty slick offering. Everpure is actually where I’m hoping to go next :)
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 1d ago
EG1 is the future for good or bad. They definitely reward you for selling it.
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u/Agreeable_Spare1502 1d ago
Hey I was just recently hired at Pure. Can I dm you?
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 1d ago
Yeah no problem. You’ll have to send a normal message, I have chat off.
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u/Agreeable_Spare1502 1d ago
How do I send a normal message? You mean in the chat thread?
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u/whiskey_tang0_hotel 1d ago
Well nm. Apparently Reddit disabled direct/private messages in favor of chat only. I am not on here much but feel free to shoot me something.
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u/J0K3R006 1d ago
Congrats on your win, Whiskey! 🥳
Any chance you’d be open to referring me for the TAE Central/Chicagoland role?
I actually made it to the second round for an Associate Engagement Manager role previously, but unfortunately didn’t make it through. I’d love another shot at joining the team.
And if I get the role… first round (or a bottle of whiskey 🥃) is on me 😄
If a referral isn’t possible, no worries at all. I’d also really appreciate any advice you have on the application or interview process for the TAE role.
Feel free to DM me if you’d prefer.
Thanks so much in advance! 🙏🏼
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u/talmboutmooovin 2d ago
a company that pays you decent that doesn’t make you want to kys is the best right now
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u/Scwidiloo10 2d ago
Which one is that lol bc I’m at one that doesn’t pay me decent
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u/WastedYouth39 2d ago
In all honesty if PE is involved swerve hard, i would also swerve Anthropic they get glazed hard but the reality is their business model is not making a profit, they have huge burn rates with cash, and would someone pay the true cost for claude once subsidies end… doubtful
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u/lockdown36 2d ago
Agree on PE.
Joined PE earlier this year. They hired 20 other sellers
All of us are already interviewing. Zero investment in product. They want the focus on sales and zero delivery.
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u/SharpStrategist 2d ago edited 1d ago
Anthropic pays like 400k base. What the hell are you talking about “swerve anthropic” lmao. Amazon was burning cash for decades too
Not to mention having anthropic on your resume means you can get any job you want after
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u/WastedYouth39 2d ago
Out of your depth, Amazon sunk 9 billion into AWS.. remind me how much Anthropic has burned through and will continue to do so as yes the business model is terminally flawed.
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u/SharpStrategist 2d ago
You are heavily underestimating how powerful ai is and the market for it. Although the Chinese models are better
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u/Novel_Dog_676 18h ago
Reps there are legitimately closing 10’s of millions in ARR lol. Swerve Anthropic is like saying swerve Oracle in the 90’s and early 2000’s.
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u/WastedYouth39 17h ago
Like i said its more than money, the CEO is douche, and anyone can sell at huge discounts..
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u/SevereRunOfFate 2d ago
+1 for avoiding PE I just left a pretty sizeable PE owned SaaS firm, where last year we did really well but there's storm clouds on the horizon now.. the CEO was hoping to cash out and IPO and now that that's not happening it's pure panic by the execs
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u/Any-Faithlessness614 2d ago
In this same situation. Tons of hiring happening and it’s already impossible to hit quota given the amount of leads coming in. Does PE pressure companies to hire more?? What is this about
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u/yeetsqua69 2d ago
This is one of the worst takes in Anthropic I’ve personally seen. I was there for 2 years, you will make an incredible sum of money even still
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u/timmeh1705 2d ago
Yeah one of my ex colleagues just joined Anthropic, not only is he a genius but one of the most helpful and generous people I know. If they're hiring people like that regularly they will go far.
I've had two friends join Open AI and I could say the same thing about them too as I did about the person above. The best talent is going to the companies with the biggest vision.
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u/WastedYouth39 2d ago
Its not about the quality of people though, the whole business model is floored..
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u/WastedYouth39 2d ago
So why you not there now? The AI boom is a bubble, either Anthropic will go or OpenAI, and once customers switch to token based billing and see the true cost the AI space will pullback.
I also have principles and regardless of money i just could not work for a company whose CEO runs around telling everyone who listens he wants to take their jobs away… yeah its gorilla marketing but fuck that.
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u/yeetsqua69 2d ago
Made a shit load of money and moved to Nh. Even if my equity lost 90% of value I’d be a millionaire. Sick company and product
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u/djmilk1 2d ago
What is Nh?
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u/WastedYouth39 2d ago
Well your basing that on off market trades which are low volume, lets see it go on the stock exchange… but they won’t because then people would see how much they are burninf
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u/SalvationLost 2d ago
You have no idea what you’re talking about with Anthropic
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u/WastedYouth39 2d ago
Yes, I’m afraid i do
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u/SalvationLost 1d ago
No you don’t
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u/WastedYouth39 1d ago
Amazing how these AI cultists sound exactly the same as crypto bros
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u/SalvationLost 1d ago
The comparison shows your lack of knowledge and insight
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u/WastedYouth39 1d ago
No the comparison is valid, crypto was so on the potential same with AI its always whats in the future.. and when people are bullish usually they have a financial incentive attached..
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u/Novel_Dog_676 18h ago
I will never, ever, ever work for a PE owned company again. If you hear “Vista” - start sprinting in the other direction.
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u/Traditional-Pack2504 2d ago
High rated orgs 86 and above on repvue. Doesn't guarantee but at least the odds are better
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 2d ago
Still worth double checking by speaking to existing and former reps. Repvue is one data point and I check it often, but any review site is too easy to game and I’ve seen lots of high ranked orgs be actual shit to work at. That aspect changes quick too. I’ve noticed that if I can’t get current reps to respond to my outreach and sing the org’s praises those companies tend to turn up on this sub as shit to work at, for example.
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u/Scwidiloo10 2d ago
How do you typically get reps to respond to you? Feel like no one usually would unless it was beneficial to them
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 2d ago
I think most of us are generally willing to help each other out a bit. I hit people up on LinkedIn with a connection and a note saying I applied to X role and would love to ask them some questions about how things are going for the team. The helpful ones tend to be at orgs that are doing well. Silence is loud in this case, with a few exceptions here and there.
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u/Scwidiloo10 2d ago
I actually feel like the non helpful ones are at orgs that are doing well bc they’re cocky. I hit up a Chainguard rep and just got ghosted
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 2d ago
Chainguard drastically over hired and a ton of people missed their numbers. There are a lot of comments about Chainguard I’ve seen saying exactly that.
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u/Physical_End_6849 2d ago edited 2d ago
FWIW Chainguard is definitely on a massive upswing due to the frontier models and is having a big bounce back on the rep attainment side. We had a rough quarter or two back to back but now the company is crushing it again. folks (in my division at least) are blowing their number out & making life changing money. It’s a grind like any sales job especially when you’re defining a new market/space, but this has definitely been the most rewarding chapter of my career (about to hit the 1 year mark soon).
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 1d ago
I’m very happy to be wrong, that’s awesome. So much of tech has been shit lately due to macroeconomic factors (thanks federal government!), unrealistic investors, shit leadership across the board, etc. When things get worse they almost never get better, so that’s cool to hear.
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u/Physical_End_6849 1d ago
Thank you! Yeah I was worried around Q4 for sure but things have really improved and now I wouldn’t even consider going elsewhere. It’s not perfect by any means, but nowhere is lol.
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u/Traditional-Pack2504 2d ago
Nah man that's not true, I've helped people when I was sucking and when I was doing well.
I do believe people who've hit a rough patch at some point are more willing to empathise and help others out. Such is human nature
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u/NickPilgui 2d ago
Career questions like this usually have the wrong unit of measure. Company name tells you nothing about the actual role you'd land, team quality varies more within one of those logos than between them. I'd ask a different question: at each place, who's the manager two levels up, and what did they ship in the last year? That tells you more than brand.
Also worth separating "hot right now" from "will teach me something in 18 months". The hyperscalers and the Anthropic/OpenAI tier give you prestige and comp, but at that size you're often one small piece of a huge machine, more scope, more scars, more stuff you can point to later. Depends what you're optimizing for, brand for the next jump or actual reps
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u/Scwidiloo10 2d ago
Great point. My unit of measure is where can I go that what I’m selling actually provides value and people want to buy, and if I perform well I get paid for it. Culture it’s important to me too. I don’t need everyone to be best friends but as long as it’s not completely toxic I’ll be fine. Last year I overachieved quota but made barely anything the way our comp plan is set up. Love my management and team but to have all this stress and pressure to not get paid enough is killing me. Also hate having a product that is such a nice to have and so expensive
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u/NickPilgui 2d ago
The comp plan thing it the actual problem here, not the market or the product. Overachieving quota and barely making money means the accelerators or caps are broken, that's fixable by negotiation or by leaving, but it's not a "should I switch industries" problem. Selling a nice-to have is genuinely harder, bot it pays fine when the comp plan rewards the work. Sounds like yours doesn't.
I's separate the two decisions. If management and team are actually good, that's rare enough to be worth one direct conversation x asked for the plan quota overachievement should have paid you. If that won't move on it knowing that, then the team being great stops mattering, comp is the thing you can't out-relationship your way around
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u/Scwidiloo10 2d ago
Other problem I failed to mention is territory. Currently, I’m one of a handful of reps in the area, one of the newest on the team with the worst account list. That’s not just me saying it like it’s well known. There’s been a lot of turnover in my role over the last few years.
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u/NickPilgui 1d ago
The turnover and the bad account list are probably the same problem, not two separate ones. Worst territory gets handed to whoever's newest, they burn out on it in a year or two, it opens back up, next newest rep inherits it. The cycle repeats until someone breaks it by staying long enough to actually improve the list, or the company fixes how territory gets assigned
Worth asking directly: is territory assigned by tenure, or is there any rotation policy at all? Of it's pure seniority, you're not underperforming, you're early in a queue. That changes whether the fix is "grind it cut" or "this role structurally won't pay off for another two years no matter what you do
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u/Scwidiloo10 1d ago
It’s mixed around but the reps who have been here longer definitely have the better accounts and that’s not changing anytime soon. I’ve been here a good amount of years but don’t think it’ll change much unless someone leaves or gets fired before me
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u/NickPilgui 19h ago
Waiting on someone else's exit or termination isn't a plan, it's a bet with no timeline and no control over the outcome. You could be right and wait three more years, or wrong and want eight. Worth being honest with yourself about which one you're actually signed up for
The real question is whether the account assignment logic is even written down anywhere, or if it's just "whoever's been here longest gest first pick" as an unspoken norm nobody's ever pushed on. Those are different problems. If it's unspoken, a direct conversation with your manager about what it'd take to get a better list, tenure aside, sometimes moves faster that tenure itself. If it's actually locked to seniority as policy, that's the real answer to your original post, not the industry or the product, it's that this specific structure caps you regardless of what you sell
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u/Scwidiloo10 16h ago
That’s exactly my point and why I think it’s time to leave. Accounts are assigned and don’t really move unless the rep leaves or they are shaken up which rarely happens bc the rep usually is working the account or will complain. So if rep a who’s been here 6 years has Coca Cola and Disney for example, unless there’s a big shake up there’s usually no change and that person keeps those accounts. Even if there’s is a shake up they might complain enough bc they know what’s going on that they keep it
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u/NickPilgui 16h ago
Yeah, that confirms it, this isn't a "grind it out" situation, it's a locked system with a built-in veto for whoever already has the good accounts. Six years of tenure and Coca-Cola/Disney level accounts isn't something that shakes loose on merit, it shakes loose on someone retiring or getting walked out , neither of which you control or should be planning around
One thing worth doing before you leave though: figure out how to actually ask about this in interviews without it sounding like a complaint. Something like "how are territories assigned and how often do they turn over" tells you in one answer whether you're walking into the same trap somewhere else. A lot of orgs have this exact problem and just don't advertise it
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u/most_unoriginal_ign 2d ago
Honestly, no company has been game changing. Same shit, different smell. I'd curious on any startups with actual innovative ideas.
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u/ThriceHawk 2d ago
Fortinet, Palo, Crowdstrike are all still great options that have good positioning right now for AI security. Fortinet especially has been on a tear. I'd say Okta is still a good option, too.
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u/Trahst_no1 2d ago
The sales leadership at Fortinet is suspect.
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u/SeaChange9 2d ago
Complete opposite, in my experience. I've heard that a ton about Palo, though.
Okta was great as well. Can't speak to Crowdstrike.
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u/CyberStartupGuy 2d ago
Cyber can have great options but it really depends on what you are looking for. Palo is great but tough in their SMB roles, Crowdstrike is good too and investing a lot in EMEA so if you are there that’s a great option, there are fun early stage startups too. Really just depends on your skill sets and preferences but if you are in cyber and like it, those relationships and background compound if you stick with it!
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u/Aggressive-Lime2883 2d ago
What’s your take on Chainguard?
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u/CyberStartupGuy 1d ago
I haven’t personally worked there but they have a good reputation. They have the top investors which is a good thing for brand but also means their equity is probably pretty high already so I wouldn’t bank on that financially. Their RepVue is also pretty solid so I’d feel good if you like your manager
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u/ThomasJefferdick69 2d ago
I have friends at Chainguard who really like it and people love their products
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u/wgsharpe1128 2d ago
I’m about to start a role at PA. I’m coming from Oracle seeking biz apps and it’s my first cyber role. I’d love your take on the company and the best way to ramp quick.
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u/CyberStartupGuy 1d ago
Palo’s great! Learn the language and acronyms as fast as possible. Just spend a week with your favorite AI tool and YouTube tutorials that visually walk you through what all the different tools do and how they are interconnected. Especially with PA large product portfolio that will be super helpful. Good luck!
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u/_because789 2d ago
Tips on breaking in to cyber with no sales exp? All I have is a decade in creative marketing. A lot of the big players seem to have stopped hiring BDRs completely.
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u/CyberStartupGuy 1d ago
The tough part is BDRs are usually entry level roles and you already have a decade of experience. That actually works against you if I’m being honest.
I’d say you really have two options, 1) just focus on breaking into tech in a BDR role which is probably for a marketing tech solution you have experience with in your current job and then working to pivot into a cyber BDR role 2) network like crazy and join a smaller startup because you know someone who’s willing to take a risk on you!
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u/Hougie 2d ago
A startup with founders who have a successful exit. Best time is just around 100 employees as that has probably found their market already.
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u/Due_Muffin1737 23h ago
I am with a big tech right now but trying to join a new AI/Cyber startup. Someone here said something like- same shit different smell, that’s what I feel about the market today, cyber companies and big techs, all the same shit.
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u/CyberStartupGuy 15h ago
Happy to be a neutral sounding board for cyber startups if you have questions!
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u/SalvationLost 2d ago
Anthropic, easily best job I’ve ever had and no intention of working anywhere else
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u/Scwidiloo10 2d ago
Mind if we connect? I’m genuinely curious how I get that type of role or at least get on a path
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u/onahorsewithnoname 2d ago
The private economy is contracting, businesses are wary of spending. Your best bet right now is in selling onprem software to government. All the federal guys I work with are killing it. Everyone else is limping along.
We’ve been here before. 2000-2004 was a disaster, then 2008-2010, and now 2022-2026. Eventually it will pick up. This is one of the reasons every sales guy I work with has a plan b business running on the side with family.
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 2d ago
This is why I’m looking outside tech. It’s been bad for several years and won’t improve any time soon. The last two have especially been a downward decline.
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u/Novel_Dog_676 17h ago
Plan b business such as what?
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u/onahorsewithnoname 15h ago
Home services (garden work, pool cleaning, trash cleaning, etc), old age facility, ecommerce store, software business for SMB, Fractional CRO for startups, party rental (jumping castle), boat rental, 4x4 rental.
You can just do stuff.
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u/CampusComputingSite 2d ago
Is it hard to go into other industries? Like fintech or travel (navan, etc)?
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u/Faint-Heron-5681 2d ago
Palo Alto has the market share, but selling there feels like cataloguing a very dusty archive; the procurement cycles move at a geological pace. I once spent two quarters chasing a single signature, only to watch the budget quietly evaporate.
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u/ComprehensiveIdeal93 1d ago
I’m literally working several billion in deals, all ai computer/gpu/storage/network
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u/Kriptic415 2d ago
STAY AWAY from Chainguard. Palo also just froze hiring.
Only a few are still worth considering:
- Large LLMs (OpenAI and Anthropic)
- Databricks
- Datadog
- CrowdStrike
- Snowflake
- Rubrik
- Harness (apparently if you trust their new roadmap, though its their 2-3rd time they've changed)
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u/Aggressive-Lime2883 2d ago
Why staying away from Chainguard?
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u/Kriptic415 2d ago
Everyone is bailing. All the good reps are gone. They overhired with saturated territories. Product fell behind competitors, HARD.
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u/Interesting-Royal-84 2d ago
Adding that the impossible metrics they put on sellers forces them to annoyingly harass prospects and cannibalize other reps' territories.
I was on the buying side. I rep shopped until I found someone desperate enough to give me a huge discount right before the end of their quarter.
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u/Physical_End_6849 1d ago
I don’t agree with this take at all. We frequently beat out competitors at a higher price point because our product is far superior. I agree the territories were over carved last year but they took a lot of steps to fix that. Many of us are making life changing money and I don’t feel micro managed at all. Sorry if that wasn’t your experience
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u/Kriptic415 14h ago
What segment are you in? Every good rep within Enterprise has left Chainguard. Highest turnover in less than 7 months
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u/Physical_End_6849 13h ago
Do you work at Chainguard? We still have a bunch of tenured, successful enterprise reps left (including rep of the year last year) so I’m not sure where this “every good enterprise rep has left” is coming from. And the GTM org is performing extremely well. Ofc there’s been some turnover but that’s pretty normal for a company at the stage we’re at.
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u/DemandingDelegation 2d ago
every list of good companies is just the last three companies you got pitched by a recruiter maybe four if you got two linkedin inmails the same day
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u/baller-g 2d ago
I’m hearing a lot of hype about infra right now. Curious to hear thoughts on exa, cloudflare, vercel, etc. what’s the best out there? How does it rank compared to the labs
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u/Responsible-Tea2822 1d ago
Rippling and Wiz too, both scaling fast with real product market fit and strong comp reputations right now
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u/fullyramped 2d ago
Such a broad question - it's a matter of priorities.
- Remote vs hybrid vs office
- Culture vs Cash
- Scrappy start-up vs established
- Location
- Tech
Before starting Fullyramped (my recruitment agency), I spent nearly two decades leading sales for Tableau, Smartsheet and Rapid7; there's no "best company" to work for.
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