The Founding AE Stack · New · Charter cohort

Get your product in the hands of the operators actually using it.

A quarterly partner program for B2B GTM tools. Real Founding AEs at seed and Series A B2B SaaS companies get 90-day trials of your product. You get vetted feedback, referenceable users, and a path to paying customers. Not a directory. Not a sponsorship. A working relationship.

Q3 is the inaugural cohort. Charter pricing for first vendors in — the program economics will normalize once we have closed deals to point to.

Apply to the Q3 Cohort →

15 minutes. I’ll tell you if it’s a fit.

Who’s in the Stack

Tip-of-spear sellers using technology to punch above their weight class.

Founding AEs at seed and Series A B2B SaaS companies. Selling against incumbents with bigger teams, bigger budgets, and bigger brand. They win by being sharper — and the tools they pick are part of how they get sharp. If your product helps them outrun a better-resourced competitor, this is your audience.

Seed — Series A

Stage rangeThe exact AE persona shaping early GTM at the companies you’re selling to.

B2B SaaS · AI

VerticalsReal operators across category-defining and category-creating companies.

Hand-matched

AE to tool, every timeNo bulk distribution. I match tools to AEs whose stack, motion, and stage make the trial meaningful.

Why it shortens your sales cycle

Land the Founding AE. The decision follows.

Selling to early-stage B2B SaaS companies through cold outbound to the founder is one path. Selling through the AE who’s already using your product is faster.

A Founding AE picks up your tool, uses it in real deals for 90 days, and brings it to the founder directly: “I’ve been testing this. We need this for the team.” At seed and Series A, that conversation IS the buying decision — there’s no VP between the AE and the founder, no procurement, no security review pre-qualification. The AE’s judgment is the company’s judgment.

That’s the bet of the program. Get the tip-of-spear seller using and trusting your product, and the decision happens in days, not quarters.

How it works

A real trial. Real feedback. Real attribution.

Each quarter I take a small number of vendors into the Stack. The mechanic is the same for everyone.

You apply, we talk

A 15-minute call. I want to understand the product, the price point, what stage of buyer it’s for, and what a useful trial looks like for both you and the AEs. Not every product is right for this audience. If it’s a fit, you go into the next quarterly cohort.

I match AEs from the network

I personally match Founding AEs whose current stack, motion, and stage make them the right tester. Matching happens through the first weeks of the quarter. Each matched AE opts in — they get a real intro, not a cold outreach.

90-day trial begins

Each AE gets full free access for 90 days from their individual start date. They use it in real workflows. You get a working product test — not a demo, not a survey. The trial runs to completion regardless of when the program quarter ends.

Feedback flows both ways

During and after the trial, AEs share what worked, what didn’t, what they’d change. You get vetted product input from operators in the seat. I help synthesize the feedback and surface the patterns that matter.

Conversion paths

At the end of the trial, each AE decides: recommend to their founder, buy directly, refer to another operator, or pass. You pay a referral fee on any business that closes through the AE or their intro — tracked for 12 months from the trial start date.

The economics

Pay for access. Pay more when it works.

Pricing is straightforward and aligned. The access fee covers the quarterly cohort. Referral fees on closed business align my incentive with yours — and the AE’s incentive with both of ours.

Per cohort

Quarterly access fee

Paid at the start of the quarter. Covers the matching, the AE intros, the synthesis of feedback, and your inclusion in Stack communications. Quarterly so you can prove value one cycle at a time. Annual partnerships available once we’ve run a cohort together.

If their company buys

Standard referral fee

The matched AE trials your product. Their company buys. Standard referral percentage of first-year ARR to me. Attribution window is 12 months from the AE’s trial start.

If they intro you elsewhere

Referral fee, split with the AE

The matched AE intros you to their former colleagues, friends at other startups, their network. Any deal that closes from those intros: referral fee is split 50/50 with the AE. Their network becomes your distribution channel — and they have skin in the game.

Splitting commission with the AE is what makes this different. Most partner programs treat AEs as a one-time trial audience. The Stack treats them as a long-term referral source — because they are.

The bar

Most vendors won’t get in. That’s the point.

The Stack only works if the AEs trust what I put in front of them. So the filter is real. Here’s what I’m looking for.

Built for the buyer my AEs work with

Seed and Series A B2B SaaS budget reality. If your product is priced for enterprise IT, the trial wastes everyone’s time. If it solves a problem Founding AEs actually have, we should talk.

An AE can start using it on day one

No implementation team. No IT request. No 4-hour onboarding call. If a Founding AE can’t get value from your product within the first hour of free trial, the program doesn’t work. The whole point is the AE becomes the inside champion before a sales cycle has to start.

A founder who’ll engage with feedback

If a Founding AE shares hard feedback, your team responds. Vendors who treat the trial as a free customer acquisition channel won’t be invited back. Vendors who treat it as product input get a real testing relationship.

An honest read on fit

I’ll tell you on the intro call whether the Stack is right for what you’re trying to do. Sometimes the answer is “not yet” or “you’d be better off with a different motion.” I’d rather be honest than collect access fees from vendors who won’t see results.

Transparency, in writing

Vendors pay me to be in the Stack. AEs know this. The whole network knows this. The model only works because the bar is real and the disclosure is upfront. I only accept vendors whose tools I’d actually recommend to a friend in the seat — and I’ll turn down access fees from vendors who don’t clear that bar.

If the AEs in your buyer profile would actually use it, let’s talk.

15-minute intro call. I’ll tell you on the call whether the Stack is right for what you’re building. Next cohort opens at the start of the quarter.

Apply to the Stack →

Limited slots per quarter. Honest read either way.