Advice for an AE on a Sinking ship.
As the title suggest I am on a sinking ship... a rapidly sinking ship...like the company feels like its about to go explode tomorrow. Company wide issue. Multi year revenue misses and now its accelerating at a scary pace because we never innovated. No ones hitting.
While selling to SaaS companies we aren't SaaS( though i might be able to vaguely frame it like we are?)
The issue I'm having is my motion has been very different than the typical saas AE model that I'm aware of. I own a churning book of business. We hunt, disco ,build the case, pitch, bring them on, build the relationship, manage/grow the account then hand them off to AMs after about a year if they don't churn. 100% outbound, no SDRs, no inbound marketing support. Yearly targets and rolling monthly/Quartey contracts. no defined territories or required account size targets. I do have a solid resume going for me though: Mid 20s, only been with the 1 company, a couple promotions , 2 100%+ years in a row with this past year blowing quota completely out of the water. Have closed deals with SMBs that have realized $20K and I've closed multi stake holder fortune 500s that have realized over a million while under my direct management.
Where I'm struggling is translating my experience & success into tech AE positions. I'd really like to avoid 'taking a step back' and getting an SMB role. Ideally I land mid-market somewhere ( aligns more closely with earnings and motion...maybe?) It it comes to it I'd take an SMB role but even then my motion and velocity is crazy different than an SMB role. I'd never consider taking an SDR role at this point.
Feeling like I've Pidgeon holed myself. Have had a few rejections already for MM and SMB roles citing that they opted for candidates with experience that aligned better. Is there a sector of tech that aligns best with with my experiences? How do i frame my experience? what's most important? Any advice on any of this would be greatly appreciated.
Posted Jun 11, 2026, 2:33 AM UTC