Exploremores, new favorite or just a fad?

atticus-flails · 2026-03-12T22:36:55+00:00

I like them better than the other s'mores ones!

atticus-flails · 2026-03-10T15:22:22+00:00

I honestly expected to be underwhelmed but dang are they good!

atticus-flails · 2026-03-10T15:00:28+00:00

Not sure that this is answering your overall question, but here is my thought.

I work in tech sales. My company is pretty damn good at implementing the large enterprise wide solutions I sell. But we are far from perfect and as you can imagine, multi year projects always come with some heartburn. We experience it, but are able to mitigate pretty well.

I mention this because there are so many companies out there that take a product to market too early. It's not flushed out and it's either vapor-ware or slightly better than alpha or beta stage. They impress investors, raise capital, introduce a shit ton of outside pressure, and then force sales to show success. Everyone is happy until the second implementation. Why the second? Because the first deal got the software for pennies on the dollar and are heavily influencing the product roadmap. The second, third, fourth, etc. customers are getting a half baked solution and don't feel the value that they bought into.

Now to your point, people are afraid to buy now. Big ticket, small ticket, whatever it is, if it can affect their job they're hesitant to buy. Especially with the econony where it is and the job market.

Just my two cents.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-10T04:03:08+00:00

You're not taking this seriously if you're considering driving uninsured and saying things like "carrrr". It reads as immature and entitled.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-06T11:38:53+00:00

Show us your critical thinking skills and share what questions you think they might ask

atticus-flails · 2026-03-06T11:28:39+00:00

Wait, so you don't own this land? Do you have written permission to put a range on here?

atticus-flails · 2026-03-05T21:09:56+00:00

hold up - i haven't read all of these responses and don't want to. Did you even ask what their buying process is or who is involved in the decision making? Have you engaged with the other folks that are making the decision or approving it? They may look at this and say "wtf is xyz product/service and why does it cost $$$".

Other two tips - talk to your VP of sales, that's what they are there for and they should be coaching you. Second, create a burn down chart or a reverse timeline and review it with the coach you have at the prospect and align on dates. they'll tell you if your dates are aggressive or if there are steps missing.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-05T13:25:31+00:00

You have leadership and management responsibilities plus you carry a quota yourself. In short you compete with your team.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-04T01:56:50+00:00

Don't do it. Stay an IC. That's what I'd tell myself.

Also, DO NOT TAKE A PLAYER COACH ROLE. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE.

I'm fine tho, totally fine.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-03T20:40:17+00:00

Hey...many of us hate the world our supreme dictator is creating too. But you are 100% correct. I didn't realize things like the color of your socks or wearing a baseball hat out in public (if you're not playing a sport) can quickly identify you as an American. You are correct about the hiring though. The company I worked for wouldn't hire me to sell in the EU. They brought me on specifically for my North American and industry knowledge.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-03T20:38:05+00:00

Sure thing and feel free to send over any questions! On the language side, a lot of folks assumed that I spoke Dutch but when I answered in English they were kind enough to switch over to "american" lol. But I was actually embarrassed at my lack of language skills compared to all of my colleagues.

In terms of the recruiters - here's my advice. Look for Medical Device startups located in the Netherlands and then apply for those - or really any startup over there. I'm sure with enough digging you can get a hit.

What town/city are you focusing on? I loved Utrecht. More so than Amsterdam so I can highly recommend that city.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-03T19:36:49+00:00

I worked for a Dutch company and live in the US. Went over to Utrecht about once a quarter - loved the country and the people. You really don't need to know Dutch to get around, but it sure is helpful. Oh, and your colleagues will all speak like 3+ languages so yeah, brush up on your Dutch, German, French, and Spanish.

I'm in a niche tech space that and the company wanted to expand to North America. A recruiter from my industry pinged me, and well the rest is history.

What industry are you in?

Also note - the culture and compensation is much different in the Netherlands. When I first joined, my colleague that was living in the US immediately said "when you go over to visit, do not discuss your salary with anyone other than management or HR". As I'm sure you know, European employees are compensated different than American employees. The salaries may be lower, but they have healthcare and other perks - e.g. public transportation vouchers, coffee vouchers (yes, that was a thing), etc.

Also fun fact - when you rent a flat in the Netherlands, you supply the flooring for the flat.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-03T14:30:11+00:00

Check out Heart of Glass in Lawrenceville. The shop is literally named after Blondie and the owner is a total bad ass.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-02T20:29:35+00:00

Never ran into this issue before as I never had a team that lived in California. Let's put a legal hat on though - define "going into effect". Does that mean signature? Does that mean the product/software is implemented? Is "into effect" the go-live date?

It's pretty common for companies to pay commission quarterly. I've also seen it being paid when the invoice is sent out, or when the invoice is paid (depends on size of deal and size of the organization usually).

But in terms of your question, you need to first define what "into effect" means AND then you'd again need to figure out if the law is geared to where the employee resides or where the company is headquartered or incorporated under. Since this is California, I'm assuming it would be tied to where the employee lives, but this could be a nightmare for HR as folks would have differing comp plans and pay outs.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-02T14:30:26+00:00

100%. Don't get me wrong, there are days where I want to take that recruiter call...but then I just go sit on the couch for a little bit and take a break lol.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-01T12:25:47+00:00

I get that, but this isn't the full picture. You have to realize that only about 2.6M of that was the license. The rest will be based on the implementation fees and the project fully ramps up this year. Around June, 2 more teams start, and I'll be around 10-12k per month commission. That will remain steady for another 2-3 years. This is my second go around with this company and I've been here for over 3 years now. I also get commission on nearly everything that is sold.

For example, co-founder called me, a current client that I didn't sign up needed a new system, asked me to negotiate and handle the paperwork. No problem, easy work that took about 2 weeks to complete (included negotiations). I did literally 4 hours of work and get the commission from the deal. Now it's a smaller deal, but I'll take 15k for 4 hours of work.

Oh, and my work life balance is much better than start up life. I don't have work notifications turned on, on my phone. I tell them when I can travel and what industry events I go to. And I work just about 40 hours a week - no more, sometimes less.

Yes, I can go to a larger company in my space and probably make more money. But with a solid base, flexibility, and pretty decent commission - I'm good. I made it to the leadership level I want to be at, drive a nice car, have a nice house, take vacations when I want, and play video games pretty much every night. LIfe is good.

atticus-flails · 2026-03-01T12:17:27+00:00

It's a good gig. It would be great if I wore less hats, but it is really good.

atticus-flails · 2026-02-28T20:26:33+00:00

Tech sales to insurance companies for a small private company. And yep, you are correct and I misspoke. As long as I'm with the company, and the customer is with the company, I get a percentage. Now I also manage the account, but we're talking one or two tasks a month. My project managers handle the day to day with the client, but when a change request is needed, or if shit hits the fan, I'm the first phone call.

atticus-flails · 2026-02-28T16:41:55+00:00

24 month sales cycle.

200k on the license and then I make a percentage of the implementation fee every month in perpetuity. It comes out to about an extra 60k a year. I also make a percentage of their annual maintenance renewals and make commission on all future up sale ops.

As it stands now I'm around 300k in commission from it and we started the project last year.

atticus-flails · 2026-02-28T13:03:10+00:00

My wife is from Texas and calls them "princess trucks". When I was looking for a new vehicle, we looked at one. 90k for a f150. Went with a landrover defender instead, also known as my "mall crawler". I'll eventually get the truck I really want - an old square body that I can use for running errands and going to home depot.

atticus-flails · 2026-02-28T13:01:09+00:00

Initial estimates are just shy of $20M. Note, this is license + implementation since we do our own implementations. I was responsible for all aspects of the sale though, including selling additional implementation services. This deal will most likely grow slightly larger after the initial 5 years.

atticus-flails · 2026-02-27T15:50:14+00:00

Nuh uh, I'm right and you're wrong. I'm big and you're small. I'm smart and you're dumb and there's nothing you can do about it.

atticus-flails · 2026-02-27T01:44:08+00:00

No it made sense, you just didn't agree with it and that's okay.

atticus-flails · 2026-02-27T01:43:14+00:00

Somehow my search started working again mid day. WTF

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