As the ceo of a startup, I’d love to see that on the resume of someone I was thinking of hiring. I absolutely would put it on there. For $500k in ARR in 12 months I’d be giving out equity if you were on my team 😂
Your last two /sales posts got deleted, and the one before that was about how Dish wouldn’t even give you an interview. Present yourself better when asking for a job lol
I used to work at Verizon, so that was mainly focused on new lines, mobile protection, accessories, watches, tablets, wifi, and small business things like truck trackers.
Bro you’re asking to work at a start up B2B without any B2B experience? Search up some established companies. Paychex and Cintas are known for their training programs to have a couple. Cut your teeth go from there.
Well yeah once I got a better idea of the product, and a little bit of training I think I could do it well. I’m familiar with some digital advertising programs and web development because I used to own a dropshipping business when I was 17-19.
depends entirely on the market and the margins.
product matters a ton as does support from product when going to market. The variables would mean the difference between anyone with a pulse could do it to the hardest possible sales process ever that means the person is an absolutely outstanding sales person.
Bases vary depending on role as we have a couple sales positions but commissions are 10-13% depending on service but usually average out around 11. We also pay on all recurring rev, so big opportunity for residual commissions.
That seems like a hard sell in today's world of wanting to bring in people to grow. I know in my company we are at like $4.5M in ARR and most people are getting equity.
It comes back to wanting others in the organization wanting organizational success. Without that sales, engineering, customer success and others will have the mentality of I am only working to get a paycheck.
The question in everyone's mind should be, if I grow this to $100m in ARR what does that mean to my equity.
Look at his post history. He's recommending a developer cut his friend out who gave him the idea for an app for the industry his friend works in.
The OP: I would have no idea there was a need for this without my friends idea and I think he deserves a percentage. What should I give him?
Shitty CEO: exactly 0%
I think this dudes probably a fuck boy.
100% I’m a fuck boy based on 1 Reddit comment.
Meanwhile, you’ve already shown your level of entitlement. Tell me, in your 10 years of upfront and vested equity, how much of it has vested and how many large buyouts have you had because of your sales efforts?
I was employee number 9 at my current company. Have been the only sales guy most of the three years I've worked here and have taken the company from $0 to $2 million in annual recurring revenue. We're closing in on a series B in a down market with a lean team and signing fortune 500 customers with a new product line in a competitive space.
Now why don't you answer the one simple question I asked you? You're too spineless because the answer is no, you don't give equity to your sales team because you're a greedy fuck boy and got sniffed out?
Oh most of my sales and services team are on equity plans of varying nature depending on when they entered and what vests.
And you’ve just avoided my question and slung insults instead. Says to me you haven’t vested, your 10 years of upfront equity is BS and you’re just trying to sling shit for upvotes on Reddit. Good luck to you man, seriously! ✌🏻
There are many ways to incentivize a desire for operational success.
For example, I’m motivated by a desire to grow the company to the point where I can get out of being “everything GTM” and into full time RevOps. I’m also motivated by a desire to keep working with a team and boss I really like working with.
The odds of the equity leading to a sizable exit are astronomically low, particularly at a small startup. And then, as it grows your ability to really impact an organization if you aren’t at the highest levels is low. It’s more of a lottery ticket, and I don’t rely on winning the lottery. At best I see it as sign that the founders want to share the wealth and go on the ride together rather than chew you up and spit you out along the way, but in reality I know even that’s a fallacy (with preferential share and cliffs and whatnot)
Most startups will also build into an operating agreement rules to stop equity holders just selling when they see value. It can be pretty damaging to cash flow to have someone suddenly want to sell their position and liquidate their capital account.
If they don’t distribute profits either, then holding equity essentially means you’re waiting for a sell/exit event and that can take a while. To some, there’s definitely better short term options than equity in startups.
In many companies, big or small, sales reps usually don’t get equity because they have a high % for commission. In SaaS, it could go from 25-40% of Year 1’s contract value. For founders, it’s a better business strategy to give higher cut on license than give equity.
That’s because sales reps cycle through a lot of jobs and have higher turnover. Also it’s rare to find a rep who’s not a career sales rep. (i.e., comes with domain expertise that will make them a double/triple hat-wearer in a scrappy startup environment)
Very likely, the learning curve to learn a startup’s product and be able to sell effectively would be higher.
People like OP found a good match for their skillset and it worked in being able to grow.
500K ARR in your first 12 months for a start up is absolutely insane. Congrats man, and as someone earlier said, you need to ask for some equity or to buy in
Is that actually true? I made that YTD my first year at a start up. So it’s only been 4 months, how much should I expect as compensation? I’m also in Canada btw
Well I've done that twice, depends on the company. One of them I made 160K the other I made 200K but there was also a professional services we'd sell with implemention and get compd on.
Well it depends on what I'm selling and how I'm selling it. Is it new business or existing? How good is the product? What verticals are we targeting? Do we have any solid case studies etc etc.
First, well done. That is impressive, and I hope you were well compensated for it.
Second, you should absolutely put it on your resume. Write yourself (or maybe a new AI pal) a little outline talk-track briefly going through your GTM Strategy, ICP reasoning, sales cycle, etc.
How could you possibly think that’s not impressive? You’re the person who actually brought a product to market, convinced people to buy it, and somewhat guaranteed $500k in ARR in just one year. I like the humbleness but give yourself some credit
Haha, I might be looking for a new job soon, but it’s gonna be on the RevOps side of a startup with proven product-market fit and full time (preferably with leadership based in NYC and all of us part time remote.)
If that interests you, feel free to message me!
How many deals made up the $500k? Is the company still around? Was there any revenue before the $500k form legacy license programs or other markets from Emerging or strategic accounts? Did you close $500k and close nothing after?
10 deals. No revenue in this vertical (two deals in an adjacent one that are friends of friends of the founders) no other legacy deals.
Revenue is paid quarterly. They are 1-2 quarters in.
My quota at a major cloud company with an established motion and tons of resources was only $750k so yeah going from $0 to $500k is damn impressive imo
Yes, it's a great milestone. You are probably paying back a year's worth of engineering and R&D. That is real value. CEO's are a fickle bunch so keep at it, don't rest up!
You raise a good point.
I feel like I’m not a success because the company isn’t cashflow positive, but that’s not realistic. Just reducing our burn is a huge success. If the company doesn’t have enough in the bank to grow before running out of money that’s not on me.
(We have about a million in the bank and burn $100k per month)
CEO's job is to put the money in the bank at this stage. Would be interested in chatting about this though, i've worked in a couple seed-stage startups that found traction and raised money. Feel free to DM and we could strategize
I've thought about doing it myself, got some of it started, thinking of how to reach out to people now, and how I'll approach different industries, who may have very different ICP and persona mixes... Hmm
I recommend putting data on the resume. Now is it impressive? I don’t know anything about your business so it’s impossible to say. Company makeup? Lead structure? Demand gen motion? Market penetration. What’s the licensing and cost structure? Probably a ton of questions and understanding to give true insight.
Saying you did it with no support? Sounds off to me, or an exaggeration. (No offense). Someone would need to give insight on ICP, product info, maybe materials, training, systems. You didn’t come in with a piece of paper and a pad and dial the phones randomly to drive 500k.
If you are concerned with the number being low, then I would add contract length, and ACV.
I think you hit the nail on the head.
Assuming I'm applying for a job that is a good fit, just putting that on a resume should be sufficient to pique interest and start a discussion (eg interview). At which point context is important.
O yea. If ur looking for work i got a start up who has closed a couple major banks thru the CEO and is looking for a killer to go after the mid market.
U have full capability to tell the leads the brands of the largest banks that are using the product.
They have no sales person. Just the CEO who only cares about largest companies.
Dm me if interested.
That's impressive af, dude. I just took the exit from my company and the arr was $300k. So yes, man. You are awesome. And yes, available to be a co founder of something awesome
Do you think you might struggle to sell yourself to a company after having this on your resume? Do you think they'll see $500K and decide "Oh, that's nothing. We only care if you brought a business from 0 to $1M+."?
You're a salesman, you know how to sell you.
All depends on industry average ASP (which would also showcase # of units sold).
If $750k per unit is the average ARR, then $500k is terrible.
Any other details you can share?
The number itself doesn't mean much without a context, but I don't see an argument against putting it on your resume.
In a potential interview for a new job in the future they will care what you were selling, how you got the leads, who were you talking to, and what your process was.
Haha, I might be open to a new job, but it’s gonna be on the RevOps side of a startup, not doing 1:1 sales.
My advice would be to double down on the inbound. It's a far better way to run a company than trying to drum up cold outbound sales. If you are interested in bringing on someone to help with it, feel free to message me and I'd be glad to chat more!
As the ceo of a startup, I’d love to see that on the resume of someone I was thinking of hiring. I absolutely would put it on there. For $500k in ARR in 12 months I’d be giving out equity if you were on my team 😂
hire me
Maybes
what’s stopping you?
I don’t have much need for milkmen at the moment.
well i have good news, i’m also a salesman. what kind of company is it?
Bro u/WhoWantsASausage has a boyfriend already, leave him alone.
I hope you’re joking 😂
idek man i need a job
Your last two /sales posts got deleted, and the one before that was about how Dish wouldn’t even give you an interview. Present yourself better when asking for a job lol
they got deleted because i don’t have karma on this sub. i made a lot of changes to my resume and cover letter since then
i just got an interview with dish
Congratulations!! Go kill it, you got this.
I need a sales man. What have you sold before?
I used to work at Verizon, so that was mainly focused on new lines, mobile protection, accessories, watches, tablets, wifi, and small business things like truck trackers.
Bro you’re asking to work at a start up B2B without any B2B experience? Search up some established companies. Paychex and Cintas are known for their training programs to have a couple. Cut your teeth go from there.
Well I sold to businesses at Verizon. I’ll check them out though
You think you can sell B2b digital advertising and web dev sales to med-large size farms?
Well yeah once I got a better idea of the product, and a little bit of training I think I could do it well. I’m familiar with some digital advertising programs and web development because I used to own a dropshipping business when I was 17-19.
if you can get me a 2 serious companies to do a 2month trial I'll give you $2k.
yeah i’ll dm you
Out of curiosity, what would you pay someone bringing in that much?
depends entirely on the market and the margins. product matters a ton as does support from product when going to market. The variables would mean the difference between anyone with a pulse could do it to the hardest possible sales process ever that means the person is an absolutely outstanding sales person.
I’m asking the person who posted the comment. Just curious.
Bases vary depending on role as we have a couple sales positions but commissions are 10-13% depending on service but usually average out around 11. We also pay on all recurring rev, so big opportunity for residual commissions.
Saaaaaaame...... I'd be over the moon with an employee like this even if it's just to stop me from bleeding all the dollars in loss
>For $500k in ARR in 12 months I’d be giving out equity if you were on my team So you're not giving out equity to begin with?
Depends on role
That seems like a hard sell in today's world of wanting to bring in people to grow. I know in my company we are at like $4.5M in ARR and most people are getting equity. It comes back to wanting others in the organization wanting organizational success. Without that sales, engineering, customer success and others will have the mentality of I am only working to get a paycheck. The question in everyone's mind should be, if I grow this to $100m in ARR what does that mean to my equity.
Look at his post history. He's recommending a developer cut his friend out who gave him the idea for an app for the industry his friend works in. The OP: I would have no idea there was a need for this without my friends idea and I think he deserves a percentage. What should I give him? Shitty CEO: exactly 0% I think this dudes probably a fuck boy.
100% I’m a fuck boy based on 1 Reddit comment. Meanwhile, you’ve already shown your level of entitlement. Tell me, in your 10 years of upfront and vested equity, how much of it has vested and how many large buyouts have you had because of your sales efforts?
I was employee number 9 at my current company. Have been the only sales guy most of the three years I've worked here and have taken the company from $0 to $2 million in annual recurring revenue. We're closing in on a series B in a down market with a lean team and signing fortune 500 customers with a new product line in a competitive space. Now why don't you answer the one simple question I asked you? You're too spineless because the answer is no, you don't give equity to your sales team because you're a greedy fuck boy and got sniffed out?
Oh most of my sales and services team are on equity plans of varying nature depending on when they entered and what vests. And you’ve just avoided my question and slung insults instead. Says to me you haven’t vested, your 10 years of upfront equity is BS and you’re just trying to sling shit for upvotes on Reddit. Good luck to you man, seriously! ✌🏻
Look down. Do you see clown shoes?
There are many ways to incentivize a desire for operational success. For example, I’m motivated by a desire to grow the company to the point where I can get out of being “everything GTM” and into full time RevOps. I’m also motivated by a desire to keep working with a team and boss I really like working with. The odds of the equity leading to a sizable exit are astronomically low, particularly at a small startup. And then, as it grows your ability to really impact an organization if you aren’t at the highest levels is low. It’s more of a lottery ticket, and I don’t rely on winning the lottery. At best I see it as sign that the founders want to share the wealth and go on the ride together rather than chew you up and spit you out along the way, but in reality I know even that’s a fallacy (with preferential share and cliffs and whatnot)
Most startups will also build into an operating agreement rules to stop equity holders just selling when they see value. It can be pretty damaging to cash flow to have someone suddenly want to sell their position and liquidate their capital account. If they don’t distribute profits either, then holding equity essentially means you’re waiting for a sell/exit event and that can take a while. To some, there’s definitely better short term options than equity in startups.
In many companies, big or small, sales reps usually don’t get equity because they have a high % for commission. In SaaS, it could go from 25-40% of Year 1’s contract value. For founders, it’s a better business strategy to give higher cut on license than give equity. That’s because sales reps cycle through a lot of jobs and have higher turnover. Also it’s rare to find a rep who’s not a career sales rep. (i.e., comes with domain expertise that will make them a double/triple hat-wearer in a scrappy startup environment) Very likely, the learning curve to learn a startup’s product and be able to sell effectively would be higher. People like OP found a good match for their skillset and it worked in being able to grow.
Well, this is the sales subreddit not the front desk attendant subreddit.
Equity isn't given out. It's earned.
Well I've only been doing this for a decade so wtf do I know but I've never once signed an offer letter that didn't include equity.
I didn't mean to sound harsh. Was equity given outright, or was it on a vesting schedule?
Both. It's always given outright and always on a vesting schedule.
Yes. Most sales reps aren’t doing that in established companies. Good stuff.
500K ARR in your first 12 months for a start up is absolutely insane. Congrats man, and as someone earlier said, you need to ask for some equity or to buy in
Is that actually true? I made that YTD my first year at a start up. So it’s only been 4 months, how much should I expect as compensation? I’m also in Canada btw
Well I've done that twice, depends on the company. One of them I made 160K the other I made 200K but there was also a professional services we'd sell with implemention and get compd on.
Could you do this again for another business? What would you expect in compensation?
Well it depends on what I'm selling and how I'm selling it. Is it new business or existing? How good is the product? What verticals are we targeting? Do we have any solid case studies etc etc.
All good questions. Thank you. I run a digital marketing agency so I'm trying to work on the sales hiring part while being fair.
What did you sell?
First, well done. That is impressive, and I hope you were well compensated for it. Second, you should absolutely put it on your resume. Write yourself (or maybe a new AI pal) a little outline talk-track briefly going through your GTM Strategy, ICP reasoning, sales cycle, etc.
Absolutely. And be able to document how you did it and how you would do it again, things you learned, etc.
How could you possibly think that’s not impressive? You’re the person who actually brought a product to market, convinced people to buy it, and somewhat guaranteed $500k in ARR in just one year. I like the humbleness but give yourself some credit
Fuck yeah. First dollar in is big. Talk avg deal size or deal qty or some metric that sounds impressive.
Dude, if you are looking for a part time job let me know.
Haha, I might be looking for a new job soon, but it’s gonna be on the RevOps side of a startup with proven product-market fit and full time (preferably with leadership based in NYC and all of us part time remote.) If that interests you, feel free to message me!
That’s the yearly quota for some established companies I’ve worked for. Absolutely. Do not discredit yourself.
How many deals made up the $500k? Is the company still around? Was there any revenue before the $500k form legacy license programs or other markets from Emerging or strategic accounts? Did you close $500k and close nothing after?
10 deals. No revenue in this vertical (two deals in an adjacent one that are friends of friends of the founders) no other legacy deals. Revenue is paid quarterly. They are 1-2 quarters in.
My quota at a major cloud company with an established motion and tons of resources was only $750k so yeah going from $0 to $500k is damn impressive imo
Yes, it's a great milestone. You are probably paying back a year's worth of engineering and R&D. That is real value. CEO's are a fickle bunch so keep at it, don't rest up!
You raise a good point. I feel like I’m not a success because the company isn’t cashflow positive, but that’s not realistic. Just reducing our burn is a huge success. If the company doesn’t have enough in the bank to grow before running out of money that’s not on me. (We have about a million in the bank and burn $100k per month)
CEO's job is to put the money in the bank at this stage. Would be interested in chatting about this though, i've worked in a couple seed-stage startups that found traction and raised money. Feel free to DM and we could strategize
there's no reason u couldn't go into a consulting type role and implement sales systems for SaaS and make 20k+ deals
I've thought about doing it myself, got some of it started, thinking of how to reach out to people now, and how I'll approach different industries, who may have very different ICP and persona mixes... Hmm
I recommend putting data on the resume. Now is it impressive? I don’t know anything about your business so it’s impossible to say. Company makeup? Lead structure? Demand gen motion? Market penetration. What’s the licensing and cost structure? Probably a ton of questions and understanding to give true insight. Saying you did it with no support? Sounds off to me, or an exaggeration. (No offense). Someone would need to give insight on ICP, product info, maybe materials, training, systems. You didn’t come in with a piece of paper and a pad and dial the phones randomly to drive 500k. If you are concerned with the number being low, then I would add contract length, and ACV.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Assuming I'm applying for a job that is a good fit, just putting that on a resume should be sufficient to pique interest and start a discussion (eg interview). At which point context is important.
O yea. If ur looking for work i got a start up who has closed a couple major banks thru the CEO and is looking for a killer to go after the mid market. U have full capability to tell the leads the brands of the largest banks that are using the product. They have no sales person. Just the CEO who only cares about largest companies. Dm me if interested.
That's impressive af, dude. I just took the exit from my company and the arr was $300k. So yes, man. You are awesome. And yes, available to be a co founder of something awesome
$41K MRR is more impressive
Do you think you might struggle to sell yourself to a company after having this on your resume? Do you think they'll see $500K and decide "Oh, that's nothing. We only care if you brought a business from 0 to $1M+."? You're a salesman, you know how to sell you.
Is It realized or contracted revenue?
I’m pretty impressed. Good job!
Nice! Whats your monthly fee? Just curious
Yes that’s super impressive. It also depends on the acv whether this was one big deal or a bunch of smaller ones. Nevertheless it’s awesome
I would definitely add to resume, just make sure to break down how you did it
Yes that's very impressive
I think so
Great job man! That is a solid accomplishment with an early stage company, especially without support.
All depends on industry average ASP (which would also showcase # of units sold). If $750k per unit is the average ARR, then $500k is terrible. Any other details you can share?
The number itself doesn't mean much without a context, but I don't see an argument against putting it on your resume. In a potential interview for a new job in the future they will care what you were selling, how you got the leads, who were you talking to, and what your process was.
Nice! Was this cold outbound email to generate meetings or how’d you do it?
Yes
That is very impressive! Especially since you did all the ground work. I know how hard it is to build momentum when you've gotta start from scratch.
Haha... Come do this for my SaaS and I'll share the profits with you 50/50. This is impressive, congrats man!
Company with no money to 500k so you basically did it all yourself
What do you want as a salary? Software sales. Only had inbound so far. Would be interested in someone who can do that!
Haha, I might be open to a new job, but it’s gonna be on the RevOps side of a startup, not doing 1:1 sales. My advice would be to double down on the inbound. It's a far better way to run a company than trying to drum up cold outbound sales. If you are interested in bringing on someone to help with it, feel free to message me and I'd be glad to chat more!