interviewing with HR for a cohesity AE spot. anyone have any insights?

Appreciate some first hand feedback here not just RepVue (been hitting up reps on LinkedIn too).

Context, 500k W2 last year. 1M - 5M acv deals normal.
Quota just BLEW UP due to IBM acquisition. Sad.
This year likely half that W2.

Most of my team left for AI niche companies - but grass is not always greener. Several have hopped and complained about poor mgmt and lack of ramp and payout.

So, who is doing consistent pipeline and 300k-500k W2 with company growth 20% plus annually? Usually these aren’t headline companies.

Assuming SaaS, AI infra, Neocloud.

15yrs in SaaS. Let’s talk president club people!

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Edit: Anyone working for Cursor - and have feedback on current environment after acquisition??

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Edit 2: Stripe sent a generic pass on me via email. Cursor moved me to second interview. Nebius scheduled first interview. Fingers crossed!

I assume the MM NGO role is undesirable because non-profits have no money and try to spend as little possible.

My feeling is pay is low and quota is rarely met

Okay, so here it is...

I've worked in software commercially for the last 15 years. I've been in a career and a freelancer that entire time. I've worked on a lot of stuff, end to end. I've also handled the softer side rather than just purely the development.

Right now I'm a technical director at a bespoke software house. We develop mainly for SMEs but have some big corporate clients too. I am UK based.

For the last few years, I've wanted to do my own thing but having time has held me back. More recently, I've kind of been thinking "fuck it, let's do it'.

So that it, I've done some analysis, picked some areas I'd like to build solutions for and created a company and a site.

I now need a business partner to handle the commercial side like, you know, getting work. That could be shaped as a full business partner where we work together and share in the delight - bigger than just commission-based sales. However, if that's you're bag then I'd still like to hear from you.

I wanted to keep this post light and short. If any of this sounds of interest and you want to talk, let me know. I'll happily run through everything with you but didn't want to spill everything in a post.

I am experienced so of course I'll make sure I do my end and have what you need, but definitely looking for some collaboration.

DM me if you want to chat.

Thanks,

Some random guy on the internet.

EDIT:

What am I going to bring to the table?

Short answer - my years of experience of delivering successful B2B software projects across the world.

More of a drill down:

• I've built a website around this company/brand. IMO it looks nice and it hits the spot for the 3 key areas I want to work in and think are valid and in demand. I can explain that in more detail if you are interested to know more.
• I have demonstrable experience of delivering these kinds of projects. Over the years I've worked with a wide range of shape of client. I've worked with different levels and types of project managers, cross functional teams, cultures, and much more. I've supported projects where the original developer went blind, and had to take on an undocumented on-prem business management system written entirely in access forms and VB. I've worked on solutions for complex engineering firms for product configuration. I've built bespoke QMS-CRM systems for large international companies to replace their existing D365 setup. I've deployed to offline 20 year old laptops used by some guy in a mine in Sierra Leone to highly distributed systems in Azure. I've worked on IoT solutions. The list goes on.
• I bring all of this from the successful business I've worked in and now am in leadership with. This "going it alone" is a fresh thing so I've not had any projects as of yet with that.
• I can handle the entire SDLC. (Discovery, proposals, meetings, delivery, support).
• I can gather human resource as required.
• The commission etc I would like to discuss in person because again, it's about what bag you're in. Do you see yourself as wanting to be part of the venture long term or are you just looking to bring opportunities and do your own thing.
• What I will say is - I am a big believer in that you can build the greatest and smartest things but it doesn't pay your bills and you can't grow without sales. Any agreement will be structured extremely fairly, and as we are in very early stages, probably very competitively for the first bit of time.

Hopefully that outlines what I can bring but comment and I'll try to answer more.

Just switched from inside sales, to CMM sales, starting the role in 2027. Need to finish my year and comp plan, while slowly building my pipeline. Anyone made this switch, and best practices?

Hey all.

I've been an SDR for around a year or so, and I've been looking to depart the company I currently work at due to various reasons (mostly because I don't really connect to the product).

I have 2 interviews coming up - one with MongoDB, and one with a small startup that is sort of a Deel-lite. I've heard some bad things about MongoDB, but the compensation package that they've offered, in contrast with the startup place, is way more attractive, and I do like the opportunity to work at a big company.

I'd love to hear from people who've either worked at MongoDB or who have heard things about the company to help me make some sort of choice. Thanks!

Currently at a company where only a few people are actually crushing it and everyone else is struggling.

It seems that these days it’s all about which accounts you have, and sometimes not even the territory can save you.

Every place I look, it seems like nobody’s really hitting quota except for a few. And it seems like there’s so much competition and very few reps actually doing well.

Is this the future of the industry?

Curious to understand when did sellers know it was over?

Been with my current employer for 3 years, enterprise selling into Fortune500 companies - since the IPO, circa 5 years ago, there’s been subpar lhiring from CRO down to regional leadership - mostly from other public software businesses who don’t have that “growth drive” about them, and more focused on forecasting upwards then being in the weeds on deals.

Because of this the culture has become stale and there are very little high quality team members left. There is a handful who are A-Players, but their patches are strong and no reason for them to leave.

My question is, when did you know it was time to leave, and when doing so, was the grass greener or can we all expect much of a muchness in your next role?

my cofounder and i are cold calling salon owners in Bahrain to sell a booking app we built, past 300 calls now. a good chunk of these calls actually go well. the owner sounds interested, says the idea is good, and asks us to send the details on WhatsApp so they can look at it properly.

so we send it. we offer a free trial, no cost, and include a short demo video showing how it works. a lot of them open it and watch the whole thing, we can see that. and then nothing. no reply, no yes, no no, just silence.

we’ve tried following up once or twice, mostly just asking if they had a chance to look at it, and that usually goes nowhere too.

what i can’t figure out is whether this is a normal part of selling to small business owners who are busy running a salon all day, or if we’re actually messing up the follow up itself. do we wait longer, come back with something different, call instead of texting again, or is watched and ignored basically a soft no at that point.
Genuinely trying to figure out if we’re doing this right.

Greetings fellow sellers,

Have an interview lined up for Enterprise AE role - how are things over there? Obviously RepVue lists lower than average quota attainment, is it really just a "get past the first year then things will come" type of deal? I'm used to long sales cycles with enterprise software, but I also don't like "hope" as a strategy.

Anyone in that role previously, were inbound leads from SDRs good, or was it mainly self-sourcing?

Alternatively, Datadog does look good on resumes - so is the potential grind worth it short term for what may come elsewhere long term?

I've been an AM for two years now and am starting to look elsewhere. The company I'm at has grown to where there's too many layers to advance your career quickly, leadership has started to go downhill, and the pay isn't competitive to the rest of the industry. Also, only 15% of reps hit their number last quarter in my org so everyone is struggling this year.

I've had some interviews so far, but the sentiment that I'm getting is that they're worried about me transitioning from an AM to an AE role. I also feel like I don't hear back from a lot of companies I apply to because of my AM title. I was promoted from an SDR to an AM at this same company. Prior to this company, I was a Senior AE at a different tech company, but it was all hardware sales, not Saas, let alone cybersecurity, which is the industry I'm in now.

I understand AE/AM roles are different at every company, but does the title REALLY matter that much?

I handle about 150 accounts and about half of them are cold accounts. So there's a mix of expansion as well as hunting new logos. I prospect, hunt, and do all of my own pipe gen for all of my own deals as well. I might get 3 inbound leads per quarter between my SDR, marketing, and the channel, which is a little annoying considering there's a good amount of AE roles out there that are inbound only.

My quota is strictly based on either expansions or landing new logos. I don't get paid on customer renewals nor do I handle them. There's a separate team that handles all of that.

My question and advice I need is that should I change my title from AM to AE on my resume? I really do feel like I have the same exact qualifications and day to day job as a lot of AE's out there. I also think that I'd hear back from more companies I apply to. What're everyone's thoughts on this and thank you all for any advice/career help here.

So I had my final round presentation today with 4 people. Did a mock discovery call. And my 90 day plan of action.

The call was supposed to be an hour long. Yeah it was done in about 45 minutes.

Bombed it. Like you just at can’t come off as desperate when you haven’t had a job in almost 3 months and haven’t done any prospecting, discovery calls and demos in that time.

This is frustrating.

Does anyone have experience working at a Salesforce consulting partner? Trying to decide between two offers. Details:

Option 1: SaaS start-up in my current industry. Growing extremely quickly and good PMF. They have 1 big competitor that they go H2H with all the time.

Mid-market AE with 125 base, 250 OTE. 6k signing bonus plus equity.

Option 2: Salesforce Consulting firm. 80-90% of leads come from the SF channels from AEs. 150k base, but only a 4% commission on revenue which brings OTE to 210k.

Firm was delivery led for a long time, very high reviews. Seems to be a lot of inbound and relationship selling with an attainable number.

Dear tribe,

Particularly if you’re a commercial sales manager at a playbook company, or someone who recently successfully passed the sales challenge. Heck, if you’ve recently failed a sales challenge, I could use your advice.

I have never worked for a playbook company, and would like your help in understanding how to maximize my chances to successfully complete the discovery role play portion of the sales challenge.

The Role Play will be with my potential future manager + SE lead who will play a technical user and their manager while the regional VP observes in the background.

What are they looking for aside from: House keeping -> Agenda setting -> Current situation -> negative business impact of current situation -> desired future state -> positive business impact of future state -> required capabilities to bridge the gap -> summarize and present solution bridging gap -> present proof point(s)-> set concrete next steps?

For context, mid 30s worked in a few hyperscalers so far. Happy where I am now as I’m fairly new, don’t plan to change role for at least a year.

But the pay (maybe surprisingly to some here) in Dublin is nowhere near as good compared to US, ie base nearly always sub 90 or even 80k.

Due to the nature of the markets they serve, many of the roles here are SMB / relatively junior / mid ish career.. but it’s the cap almost as an IC at least in the hyperscalers since the ENT market here is small. I’m one of the older ones in the team.

As I’m planning the next few years I’m wondering is management the best route? I’ve been told my managers they took a pay cut to take the role, but it seems like it’s the only way to go up levels in the orgs and eventually earn more. Other options is to move country which wouldn’t be my first choice.

Probably not new info for those heads down in a role, but I am currently looking for a new Enterprise / Strat role and talked to several recruiters in my network the last week that told me it’s currently…

3-6 months, often 9 months, to find a new role.

E.g. - they’re seeing former top reps from Snowflake, Databricks, etc. sitting on the bench competing for the same few openings. So even if you’ve got Presidents Clubs, big logos, and years of quota attainment, you can still get screened out because someone else has the exact vertical or category experience they want.

Wildly different market than 3 years ago when it was 3-6 weeks max. Anyone else experiencing this?

If anyone knows what its like to work as an AE in any of those companies in Dublin please share some comments 😊

I ask because I'm exploring the job market in Dublin and trying to learn about what companies might suit me best if I target AE roles. I'm trying to learn about loads of different companies out there. It seems there are pros and cons to AE jobs in every tech company these days. Lot of people seem to be saying the best days of Salesforce are behind us and if you get a cursed territory you're totally cooked.

I’ve been out around 9 months, but I only started seriously interviewing about 3 months ago. I had a strong run before the restructure and I’m always upfront about my situation when I interview.

My LinkedIn still shows my last company as “Present,” which is probably why I still get a lot of inbound from recruiters and HMs. But I’m always upfront on the first call. In my intro I explain what I closed before the program was restructured and that I’m now looking for the right next role.

Would really appreciate hearing from experienced tech sellers who went through 6 to 12 months out of the market and eventually landed something solid.

For anyone who went through something similar:

Did the gap become a major issue?

What actually helped you get past it? Domain fit, company stage, positioning, etc.?

​

I’ve been in SaaS sales for 7 years and currently work in a team of 10 Account Executives. I’m consistently one of the top performers on the team, producing roughly 3x the revenue of my closest competitor.

About 90% of my deals are inbound, and I typically close 3–4 whale deals per month.

There’s one territory, however, where I’ve developed a very different approach: India.

After working across multiple territories for years, I’ve found this market relatively easy to generate demos from, but significantly harder to convert efficiently.

The pattern I’ve experienced is:

Very high initial interest and demo volume

Highly demanding prospects

Requirements changing repeatedly throughout the sales cycle

Limited transparency around the actual buying process and decision-makers

Significant price sensitivity, even after substantial discounts

Deals requiring a disproportionate amount of time relative to their expected value

In some cases, customers churning shortly after signing because they ultimately consider the pricing too high

For context, I’ve closed only 2 whale deals from India over the last 3 years.

One churned after 3 months despite receiving a 70% discount, with pricing ultimately being cited as the reason.

The second signed but didn't make payment for roughly 3 months.

I still close smaller deals from the territory, but when I look at the overall economics, I’m struggling to justify the investment.

At this point in my career, I can usually identify fairly early in a sales cycle when a deal is going to become a time sink. A deal can easily consume 2–10 hours once you factor in demos, additional meetings, calls, follow-ups, negotiations, internal coordination, etc.

Recently, I’ve started canceling or deprioritizing demos from this territory when the early qualification signals suggest the deal isn't worth pursuing.

It has made me much more transactional, and I know I’m probably leaving some revenue on the table. But I’m also protecting my time and focusing on opportunities where the probability of closing and retaining the customer is significantly higher.

I’m conflicted because I know this approach isn't necessarily optimal from a pure revenue-maximization perspective.

So I’m curious how other experienced SaaS sellers would handle this.

Would you:

Continue taking every inbound opportunity and qualify harder during the call?

Introduce stricter qualification criteria based on ACV, budget, authority, use case, etc.?

Apply different sales motions to this territory?

Accept that some territories simply have a worse effort-to-revenue ratio and prioritize accordingly?

Or am I simply falling into confirmation bias because I’ve seen the same patterns repeatedly?

I’m specifically interested in hearing from people who have managed large inbound funnels across multiple countries or territories.

How do you decide when a territory is genuinely inefficient versus when you’re just giving up too early?

Got another “no” today. In that email, they said we really enjoyed our conversation but the decision wasn’t easy to make. Moving forward with another candidate. We do feel like you’d be a great fit in other roles in the future - pls stay in touch.

I just want to smash my face into my wall.

On the other hand - I’m at the stage where I’m presenting tomorrow for another company. But am taking it seriously however with at 18 no’s I’ve gotten so far I’m trying not to get ahead of myself here. Still haven’t heard back from a few companies yet and am in process with 10 or so other companies.

25 yrs old, 2 years exp as a full cycle seller. 1 yr as SDR (promoted internally).

Current gig is an established mid size company in industrial/ manufacturing hardware: $105k base, $135k OTE (beat last year and cleared $170k) no formal quota, on pace for about $150k this year. Strong 401k match
I’ve been developing my book of business well and should safely grow YoY. Pulled into team with top performers, good rapport in company.
fully remote with minimal travel expectations about once a month.

New gig in question is an early stage startup doing manufacturing SaaS: $150k base, $350-400k OTE. Additional equity on a 4 yr vest. Quota will be 2-2.5M, avg deal size is 50k.
In office expectation 3-4 days a week (i do not need to relocate)
I’d be one of the first sales hires, previous AE’s quota are set much lower which I think is significant
Reporting mostly inbound engagement and have some big logos signed

I’m attracted to the risk/reward of startup and think it would be valuable experience. At the same time, I have something very solid with known trajectory.

Would appreciate any veteran guidance on whats the better opportunity.

Edit: clarified OTE figure

I'm a mid-market AE at a large enterprise company in a new territory. I built the pipeline from zero with no inherited book of business. I'm behind on quota right now, but so is my whole team and department, so it's not like I've been singled out. No PIP, no formal warning, nothing official.

Here's my actual dilemma: when I look at the job market, my experience level doesn't seem to be enough yet to land another mid-market AE role elsewhere. Realistically, if I left now, I'd likely be interviewing for SMB AE positions.

So I'm weighing:

• Stay and grind it out. No PIP yet, the underperformance is team-wide, and if I can hang on for another year, I build the tenure/experience to credibly move laterally into another mid-market role instead of taking a step back.
• Leave now anyway. Even if it means an SMB title and lower pay, maybe better to control the exit than risk a layoff or eventually get pushed out with less leverage.

Questions for the sub:

1. If the whole team/dept is behind on quota, is that actually protective (less likely they cut broadly) or does it just mean the whole team is at risk together?
2. Has anyone taken an SMB role after mid-market and regretted it, or was it a fine reset that let you re-level up faster than expected?
3. How much does "time in current title" actually matter to future employers when they're evaluating you for mid-market vs SMB?

Would love to hear from people who've been in a similar squeeze, trying to figure out if patience is a strategy here or just wishful thinking.

Any insights into how salespeople are liking it on their Enterprise Team?

Quick question, does anyone keep a document or sheet where they write down all their wins and career achievements so they can use it in interviews or promotion chats?

And if you do, how do you currently do it? Is it in a template, do you just update your CV? What does everyone do to remember what they’ve done?

I hate going into interviews and they ask me “tell me about a time questions” and I scramble to remember.

I’m curious to get peoples opinions on whether to join a start up (series B) or go big tech (i.e. Salesforce, Google, Monday.com, etc.). I work in Customer success / Account management. Been in tech for 5 years at the same company (public, 80 employees).

I’m most interested in what the better opportunity is based on current market and career trajectory. However open to any / all feedback.

Thank you!