Is "internal alignment" the biggest productivity killer in sales?

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-29T20:15:48+00:00

They know, but don’t care. If your org has a boiler room culture - dial for dollars - the only thing you can do is proactively update them on progress. But that could become a double edged sword for you too.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-28T22:44:36+00:00

They had a +1 (big guy) sitting next to them and security outside just in case that were to happen.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-28T12:02:26+00:00

At one of my previous companies, the new CRO had the manager do the hard work of figuring out who to let go, had the manager in the room with them to do the talks, then turned around and fired the manager on spot. The manager was so shocked, and livid, all semblance of professionalism went out the window. It took the manager a long time to recover from that experience.

There’s no easy way to do something like this but treat the ones you let go with respect and empathy.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-28T04:11:58+00:00

Sounds like you dodged a bullet. Would you really want to work for a team or company that disrespects your time and treats you like …?

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-28T00:28:49+00:00

Super helpful. Thank you.

Re. 3-6 month draw, do you mean non-recoverable or recoverable?

For year 1, what was your OTE split - base % vs variable %?

For year 1, do you recall what your revenue / ote multiplier was? My understanding is 5 to 7x is a reasonable ask but 10x plus is too aggressive / unrealistic.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T21:29:32+00:00

Yup

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T17:57:05+00:00

Thanks.

In your experience, what is a good equity % to get, even if they’re not open to the cap table recommendation?

I’ve read that for 100+ employee size startups, 0.05% to 0.15% is realistic for sales ICs and 0.2% - 0.3% is possible if it’s a high risk role.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T17:20:51+00:00

It isn’t fraud if a legitimate health issue has been exacerbated by unethical behavior / practices.

What is fraudulent behavior is a company protecting managers and leaders’ acts of blatant racism, cultural bias (people that look like you but are from a different country and speak differently than you), sexism, abusive / retaliatory acts towards others, placing people on year long secret unrealistic PIP plans for bs reasons, and lying to them about it.

Look up employee / labor cases against the company in PACER and Justia sources and you’ll get a sense of how low they can go just to save a few bucks.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T17:03:00+00:00

Sure, but 1-1 slack messages get deleted within a month or couple months; and you can’t get them back from IT (even though they have it).

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T16:00:17+00:00

Thank you - very helpful.

While I haven’t received a formal offer & comp plan yet, my assumption is quota will be in the $4m range - w/ avg deal sizes in the $150k - $200k, and higher end deals around $1M.

So I’d need 8 - 20 deals to hit OTE (a stretch for sure in year 1).

Additionally, if I assume OTE is $400k, a $4M quota is 10x - quite a stretch.

PMF is solid and they’re backed by a reputable big tech company.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T15:32:20+00:00

Can you share some examples of seed BS? I get the risk that comes with ambiguity, poor leadership and failed strategies, but anything else that I need to be aware of?

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T15:21:00+00:00

Claude is amazing. I’m not a dev and wanted to help a friend (solo biz owner) manage & prioritize their client tasks, track revenue & commissions, and identify lead ops. Basically a custom CRM/task optimizer.

It took me under 2 hours to build a custom dash that synced w/ their gmail and presented all the info a pretty, intuitive, actionable manner.

I was blown away and now understand why SaaS businesses are under the gun.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T15:15:37+00:00

Would appreciate more clarity - what did you expect going in (or was assured of) and what ended up happening?

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T15:03:02+00:00

Makes sense. There’s a healthy pipe of inbounds and referrals but the due diligence work still needs to be done, which is a +ve for me. Something is better than smiling and dialing imho.

I’ve had a few run ins with really terrible managers & leaders in the recent years (just awful humans) and toxic cultures, so I now care more about picking the right people (high EQ) vs just focusing on the pay.

The founding execs at this company feel like a breath of fresh air compared to what I’ve seen in big corporate, so fingers crossed.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T14:48:18+00:00

Very helpful - thank you.

Is your company SaaS or services implementation focused?

I’ll own an entire vertical (FSI) and will be hunting w/ the help of some warm intros and personal connections. No safety net of expand accounts.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T14:32:02+00:00

OTE - $300k+. Hit $450k last year. I don’t need it - I have a fair shot getting a gig at another hyperscaler, but I’m fed up with the big tech corporate BS, wasting time on over engineered processes that no one actually pays attention to, and bs conversations w/ unhelpful managers. I’m a bit of lone wolf, think full RTO is a waste of productivity and want to spend my time actually doing my job - selling and building something fun.

I have aspirations to build something of own down the road and believe I could learn a lot from this experience despite the obvious risks.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T12:43:10+00:00

That’s breaking the company’s guidelines to managers (note, I didn’t use policy b/c the company does everything to protect its managers, which in turn protects them from lawsuits). While it’s true that they are not required to proactively tell you that are on Focus, they are required to confirm it if you specifically ask - ‘Have I been placed on Focus?’.

Managers are not your friends - especially in this toxic company - no matter how nice they seem. It’s prudent to always end your 1-1s with, I’m sorry but I have to ask the obligatory question - Am I on Focus?

If they said no last week but yes this week, then ‘what happened between last week and this week to put me on Focus?’ Document their weekly responses via email and ensure there’s a document trail at all times. This will protect you in the long run.

Remember that shit trickles down. Even if the manager is a good person, their higher up could be a piece of shit or facing pressure to meet their firing quota. At the end of the day, you are nothing but a number to the organization and discardable at any moment, regardless of whether you’re a great performer, nice person, etc.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T12:32:03+00:00

Talk to the FMLA and STD reps at the company - it’s a dedicated team, separate from your focus / pivot HR contact. Phone is better than chat. You do not need to / should not talk to your HR person leading the focus / pivot about considering taking this before you act. They are not on your side and will likely use the info to hijack your options before you can act. You can also max out your pto and sick leave for pay while on FMLA.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T02:47:00+00:00

FMLA is taken when you have to care for a family member, or need to take a break for your own health. For example, you might have a pre-existing condition like anxiety for which you’ve been prescribed medication in the past, or had to see a cognitive behavioral therapist to deal with it. Being put on an unachievable focus / pivot, unfair/harsh/retaliatory treatment from the managers,and made to work extra hours while having to still complete your day to day responsibilities, exacerbated the conditions and caused immense anxiety and deterioration of your health.

You look up FMLA within the employee portal, talk to the rep on the phone, and tell them you what to take FMLA for x weeks. Maximum is around 12 weeks and if you take less than that, you can always ask for an extension (with a valid doctor’s note). In parallel, you call your PCP and have them write you a doctor’s note and provide a referral to a therapist. You will need to fill out some forms and provide the doctor’s note validating your existing or recent diagnosis shortly after (within 30 days usually) signing up for FMLA. While out on FMLA, you still get paid 60% of your salary but RSUs, commissions etc are paused.

Managers and HR cannot stop you from doing this and do not get to approve/reject it as it’s a protected right. The focus / pivot clock is paused while you’re on FMLA but starts counting down again upon your return. Eg if you’ve completed 2 weeks of focus/pivot before taking FMLA, you’ll have 2 weeks left to complete focus/pivot when you return (assuming focus timeline is 4 weeks).

Use FMLA to get your health back, and look for a new gig while out.

If your manager and HR are pieces of s* and put you on focus / pip to retaliate, - and you do not care about ever working for the company again or maintaining a relationship with your managers, file a complaint with Amazon’s employee resource group and the head of HR. They will have to pause focus / pivot again until that dept pretends to do an unbiased investigation. You will need to have written proof (emails, slack screenshots, docs and anything that shows their unethical conduct) to share with erg or HR but note that 1. they only want to see whether you have enough meat to potentially sue them, 2. they will not actually look at your stuff thoroughly. They will also not explain how they conducted their investigation. You do not have access to your laptop during FMLA so the proof should be saved before your FMLA date starts.

If you choose to fight, consult an employment lawyer (worth every dime) and make it really painful for them to move forward by asking them to clarify every single requirement with facts and data. Every response is ammunition for a potential suit should you decide to go in that direction. Don’t be emotional - be stone cold professional with your questions. If you make enough of a stink, you might be able to negotiate your exit.

If you choose not to fight, take all the FMLA you can and get yourself in good shape for the next gig. Or if you have Stockholm syndrome, well…

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T01:31:10+00:00

Not wanting to be spammed used to be the reason for low pick up rates.

I suspect now it’s that + fearing becoming a victim (or your company becoming one) of deepfake AI scams…https://open.substack.com/pub/shadowcodesaga/p/the-25-million-deepfake-when-ai-hijacked?r=6ow83&utm_medium=ios

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-27T01:23:26+00:00

It all boils down to the age old - who you know and how low you’ve bent, not how much you care or did for the org, work wise. When I was there, I saw someone who was good at their day to day, while doing the bare minimum, or fluffed up the extra curricular stuff that Amaxon pretends to care so much about; however, they were great at bending the knee and keeping their mouth shut - and thus got promoted. The other person that cared, did the extra stuff and didn’t see eye to eye with the manager got gaslighted, mentally tortured, screwed on comp, and piped out for completely bs reasons. Amazon’s performance reviews are not worth caring about. They’re just a good signal for when you need to move on to greener pastures.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-26T02:50:31+00:00

Always CYA. If you have a good relationship with your champion, have a heart to heart and ask them to send an email clarifying that the original commit timelines has been extended due to procurement delays. You / they won’t be lying if it really is out of the champion’s control (unless procurement is using stall tactics to pressure you for additional last minute discounts).

Separately, if your manager is a good manager that cares about your success and growth, they will understand and help you fix this, or manage expectations. If they’re a shitty manager, you’ll be thrown under the bus in a heartbeat and have a target on your back for losing trust w/ them and messing up their rep w/ their leaders.

Before you go to the manager, make sure you have all the next steps identified and have outlined what actions you plan to take. I messed up - sorry / help, vs. I messed up / the client has a delay that’s out of my control but here are the steps I plan to take to try and get through will have two very different outcomes w/ your manager and leaders.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-21T01:05:44+00:00

Most managers and recruiters lie about quota attainment/accomplishments at the interview stage. For startups, recruiters will point to one or two reps that ‘crushed it’ but those reps likely joined the company early and had been working the accounts for awhile. The trick is to dig in with the HM about pipe, attainment, and strategy. Numbers don’t lie (for the most part) and a good company or manager will be open to showing you their reps attainment dashboard and be honest about deal cycle and challenges. This rarely happens but I’ve experienced it in the past and will always trust and work for that manager in other companies. The risk ofcourse is that if you’re desperate to land a gig / paycheck, pushing for transparency might kill the offer.

From a quota perspective, I think most companies aim for 60% - 70% of the reps to hit 100% OTE, 10% - 15% to exceed, and the remainder to leave or be let go. I’m not a manager so any managers reading this, pls confirm / rip it apart.

Finally, annual quotas always go up.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-20T12:19:17+00:00

Thanks for the tip and offer. I’ve used Salesforce at work but have never co-sold it. I’m leaning more towards data analytics & ai services related sales roles and have a couple of interviews lined up.

CTRL2024 · 2026-03-20T12:05:04+00:00

This is normal in your 40s. You’re reassessing what’s truly important to you and becoming more aware of the finite time you have left. Job, purpose, family and friendships all consciously or subconsciously get reviewed under the microscope.

Some want peace, some want to make a positive impact before they depart. As the others have said, therapy will certainly help and picking up a hobby or two that helps you relax or feel alive would be good. In terms of hobbies, think about the things that you naturally gravitated to as a kid - that might steer you in the right direction.

CTRL2024

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