You’re excited. This is the seat you wanted — the one with real ownership, real upside, real proximity to a founder who’s building something that matters.
You’re also overwhelmed. Onboarding is a 20-page Notion doc, access to every recorded call ever, and a founder who says “just ask if you have questions.” That’s it. That’s the onboarding.
You knew this would be different. You didn’t know it would be this different.
You’re here. You’re ready. And you’ll take any help you can get.
Each phase is about something different. Trying to do all three at once is how most Founding AEs burn out by month four. Here’s what the work actually looks like at each stage.
All three written from 250+ founder conversations. The patterns repeat. Knowing them in advance is the difference between figuring it out and watching it fall apart.
More on the way. New writing drops in the 100Founders newsletter every Saturday.
Articles are good for the questions you knew you had. They’re terrible for the ones you didn’t see coming. The deal that’s stalling for reasons you can’t name. The founder dynamic you can’t talk about with your founder. The forecast you’re not sure you can defend. The week where nothing’s working and you’re wondering if it’s you.
There’s a room of Founding AEs in the seat right now, comparing notes on exactly this. You don’t have to figure this out alone — and figuring it out alone takes twice as long anyway.
Not a sales pitch. Not a coaching package. Sometimes you just need someone who’s seen this 250 times to tell you whether what you’re seeing is normal, or whether it’s a real problem worth raising.
Most Founding AEs who succeed long-term get the first 90 days right. The ones who don’t, struggle through every quarter that follows. Worth the effort to get this part dialed.