

Ask HN: How to overcome big company resume to work at a startup? - davemurphysf

I&#x27;m mildly terrified to ask this question publicly, but I&#x27;m getting very frustrated and really need some ideas about what I can do, if anything, to change my current trend.<p>For lots of reasons I won&#x27;t go into, after getting an engineering degree at a pretty good school (UC Santa Barbara), I have only worked in sales at large companies (Intel, Gartner, and British Telecom). I think I can objectively say I&#x27;ve been successful as both an individual contributor and my 18 months as a sales manager: multiple 100%+ achievement years as an IC and my only year as sales manager was 110% (with a 40% team target increase to boot); you can see my LinkedIn profile and judge for yourself (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.linkedin.com&#x2F;in&#x2F;davewmurphy).  At the same time, during my entire sales career, I&#x27;ve never stopped coding on the side; both to &#x27;keep the saw sharp&#x27; (i.e. stay up to date with current trends) and just because I like it. I&#x27;ve got an app in the app store I just finished (obligatory plug: try CallAGrownUp, website: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.callagrownup.com&#x2F;, App Store: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;itunes.apple.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;app&#x2F;apple-store&#x2F;id975758532?mt=8) where I wrote the entire solution on both the server and the client.<p>Over the last 4+ years, I have tried to find a (preferably technical) sales job at a startup with zero success. For the roles that match my experience level, I have been told directly several times and had it inferred several more times that they are only looking for people with SaaS backgrounds and&#x2F;or people who have worked at &#x27;fast growing startups&#x27; or Google&#x2F;Facebook&#x2F;Twitter.<p>Any thoughts about what I can do to make myself more attractive to smaller companies, would be greatly appreciated.
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seregarev
A few things: Startup founders need to be convinced that you'll be willing to
do the work that at big companies you might have had a support team for. So
you need to prove that nothing is beneath you. The best way to get their
attention is to demonstrate the type of work you'd do for them right in your
cover letter/email. (ex) In your case it could be sending a recording of how
you might lead a technical demonstration for their product even if it's just a
mock demo.

Also, I'm not sure how early stage you're willing to go (looks like you want
at least 10-20 employees), but with your experience you can fairly easily
start to engage startup founders that are just starting to think about
building out a sales team and process, and help guide them. Whether it's tips
on how to create pitch documents, how to set meetings, or the best way to
think about how they will scale their sales team. I've seen a number of
startups where someone has started off as an advisor (whether formal or
informal) and later on was hired as a FT employee. This approach might take
some time, but at the very least you'll build relationships with interesting
companies and get to see how they're run before joining them.

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legitster
I can't speak for all startups, but I have worked for a couple, and this is
what I know:

\- It's very easy to be overqualified for a startup. We are looking for
brilliant people we don't have to "untrain".

\- Price is also a big factor. We can't afford to bring on experienced
salespeople, who will often require a certain level of pay and benefits for
their experience (we're not even set up to offer benefits yet). What we really
offer is future potential for growth and personal investment.

\- Startups really value loyalty. It's great that you are up to speed on
coding and have side projects, but you don't want to convey the message that
you aren't devoted to your day job.

\- Have you applied to a wide variety of startups, or just the big "cool" ones
in your area?

Is there any reason why you want to work at a startup? Unless you're a
founder, working at one can be a frustrating and unrewarding experience. The
vast majority of workers are fresh out of college and trying to build
experience; either that or super-stars brought in to give direction.

~~~
davemurphysf
Thank you very much for your feedback and insight.

Comp has never been an issue, but I usually don't get that far. I definitely
do have some base requirements in terms of what stage the startup is in from a
maturity/funding standpoint, because things like benefits are a deal breaker
for me. My comp/equity expectations are definitely adjusted for the fact that
I am not a founder nor likely employee 1-5 or 10, and if numbers are ever
discussed, we're always in the ballpark.

Your first point about being overqualified is a good one; I don't know how I
can demonstrate that I'm not expecting a 'process' or an 'environment' in
which to sell; those are both horrible at my current company, so I wouldn't
want them if even given the option.

I don't know how I square your circle of staying relevant in terms of
technology unless it's my day job; that's what I'm trying to do! I'd love to
get my 'geek fix' at work and not after hours.

~~~
legitster
Maybe your cover letter is a bit too straight-jacketed. Some candidates I have
looked at try too hard to convey professionalism, when what we want as a
salesperson is personality.

And about the app: one of the red flags for us is someone's side project. The
nature of a small startup is that everyone has to live and breath the work (we
all have terrible, terrible work-life balance). Some projects are fine, but
for our salespeople, we don't want them selling anything else on the side. You
can't serve two masters.

Other than that, I don't exactly know what I can offer. Being in Seattle, I
imagine the hiring scene is completely different down there.

~~~
jklein11
I'm curious, have you been burnt before by sales people with a side project?
My intuition is that if the products aren't competing there wouldn't be a
problem. Do you have anecdotal evidence to the contrary?

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onion2k
I would recommend rewriting your CV to focus on the team, department, project,
etc you were part of rather than the company. Most companies operate like a
conglomeration of smaller companies, so make the most of that. I would
actually leave off the big name and use something that sounds smaller -
instead of "BT" try "BT North America".

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atsaloli
I'm looking for help with Sales in my startup which provides IT training. It's
a very small company. I don't describe it as a "start-up" because it's been
around 5 years. I'm doing it full-time now (4 months already) so it's
definitely coming along.

