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Founding AE Hub

The Founding AE seat looks like ownership.
Sometimes it is.

Most AEs find out which one they signed up for in month four — not month one. I was a Founding AE who took a company from $0 to $10M ARR. Now I help reps tell the difference before they say yes.

$10M
ARR built as a
Founding AE
6 yrs
sales leadership
at Salesforce
250+
founder conversations
in the last year
Book 15 Minutes → Not ready? Start here →

Ready to talk: no pitch, you talk and I listen — and I’ll tell you when a role isn’t worth your time, even if I’m the one placing it. Not yet: start with the read I wish I’d had before I said yes — how to read a founder before you sign. All of it is free.

What AEs say

"I've sold with Dave. If he calls, I pick up — and I send people his way."

Jay Canete
Jay Canete
Founding AE · First hire on Dave's team at Outreach

"Dave just gave me his straight read and coached me through it. If you're a Founding AE and you're not in this network, you're navigating blind."

Brennen Amann
Brennen Amann
Founding Account Executive
What you get
→A coach across the move, not one decision — wherever you are. Curious what’s out there, not sure if it’s time, stuck on whether to stay. Bring the question, not the conclusion.
→A real-time read on what’s working in the role — outbound, AI tools, tactics. Not what worked five years ago. What landed yesterday.
→A monthly group of Founding AEs trading what’s landing, what’s stuck, and what to try next.
→Deal flow from 250+ founders — roles before they’re searches. Most of the strong ones get filled before they ever hit the market.

All of it is free.

"If you're a founding AE but not a lone wolf type, the monthly meetings are amazing. Dave is building a really solid network of Founding AEs and I've made some great connections so far."

Helen Rowe
Helen Rowe
Founding Account Executive

"Dave helped me evaluate an opportunity I was on the fence about. His insights helped me make the right decision — saved me 6 months in a role that wasn't the right fit. I'll run other opportunities by him going forward."

Jake Woodrich
Jake Woodrich
Founding Account Executive
What I’m working right now
One open search

This isn’t a job board — there’s nothing to browse. I take on a few searches at a time. Here’s the one I’m spending most of my time on. A handful of others are mid-process.

Hundreds of physician scribes exist. The count for nurses is in single digits.
A $50M Series A healthcare AI company is closing that gap. NYC, first US AE.
Read the thesis →

Most of these seats are a founder closing on force of personality, handing you a motion that only works when they run it — and you find out in month four. I took a company from $0 to $10M as a Founding AE. Below is what I wish someone had handed me before I said yes.

What is the Founding AE Hub?

The Founding AE Hub is a free network for Account Executives at seed and Series A B2B SaaS companies — whether you’re considering the move, evaluating offers right now, or already in the seat with a founder who’s never sold. The 15-minute conversation is the entry point. From there: a coach who’s been in the seat, deal flow from 250+ founders, and a monthly group of Founding AEs working through what’s actually happening in the role.

Where are you?
Considering New Role → First 90 Days → In the Role →
For Founding AEs

How to tell a real seat from a title.

Written for AEs, not founders. From someone who took the seat, got it wrong once, and now talks to the people doing the hiring.

Before you decide
Start here How to Read a Founder Before You Sign You’re not evaluating a company — you’re evaluating one person. Three signals worth more than the pitch deck: their background, how they describe their last failed hire, and what they say is holding the business back. Read it → Considering a Founding AE Role Seven questions that quietly sink a role that looks good on paper. Most AEs don’t ask half of them until month three — when the answers no longer matter. Read it → What I Look for in a Good Founding AE Opportunity A “$1.2M quota” and a “great founder” tell you nothing. The signals that separate a real seat from a good comp number on a motion that doesn’t exist yet. Read it → What I Look for in a Founding AE The other side of the table. What founders screen for when they hire their first seller — so you can walk in already looking like the person they’re searching for. Read it →
Once you’re in the seat
How to Thrive in Your First 90 Days as a Founding AE No manager, no playbook, no senior rep to copy. What to build in the first 90 days — before the founder’s patience and your ramp both run out. Read it → Your First 90 Days as a Founding AE Most Founding AEs think their job is to sell. It isn’t. Your real job is turning the founder’s credibility into a company system — before that credibility leaves the room. Read it →
Getting noticed
How to Optimize Your LinkedIn for Startup Recruiters The founders hiring Founding AEs are searching LinkedIn right now. What makes them stop on your profile instead of scrolling past. Read it →
What I’m working right now
As of June 2026

Right now I’m actively working Founding AE roles with OTEs from $200K to $350K+ across NYC, San Francisco, Boston, and Remote. Want in? Send me a connection request on LinkedIn and tell me what you’re looking for. If I see a fit, I’ll share a founder video walkthrough of the role and the motion — so you can decide whether it’s exciting before we ever get on a call.

$200K–$350K+
OTE range across the roles I’m working today
4 markets
NYC, San Francisco, Boston, and fully Remote
Video first
Founder walkthroughs recorded for several roles — no wasted intro calls
Connect with me on LinkedIn →

Tell me what you’re looking for. If there’s a fit, I’ll send a video — no call until it’s worth your time.

Already in the seat?

Same problem. Different angle.

Your founder has never sold. There’s no senior IC to learn from. The CRO hasn’t been hired yet. You’re translating a motion no one wrote down — and the only people who actually get it are other Founding AEs going through the same thing somewhere else.

Same coach. Same group. Same network. Different conversations.

The monthly group

Working sessions with other Founding AEs.

One Zoom a month. Working sessions on what’s actually happening in the seat — how we’re leveraging Claude and other tech to move ahead, founder behavior to navigate, what’s landing in outbound right now, ramp problems no one warned you about.

It’s the room you wish existed at every Founding AE company — full of people who get the seat because they’re sitting in one, somewhere else.

Free. Fit is assessed in the 15-minute conversation. Not everyone is right for the room.

What a session covers
How we’re leveraging Claude and other tech

The tools and workflows people are actually using to move faster — research, prep, outreach, follow-up. What’s working this month, shared straight across the room.

Founder behavior to navigate

The patterns people are working around — without naming names. How others have handled the same thing.

What’s landing in outbound

Channels, hooks, messaging. What’s working this month vs. what worked six months ago and stopped.

Get into the room →
Is the offer fair?

Most Founding AEs don’t actually know.

Every AE wonders if they’re underpaid. The honest answer is most don’t have a way to find out. Levels.fyi doesn’t cover $1M ARR companies. The mentors you’d ask ran the role before AI changed it — their reference points are years out of date.

I see comp every week across stages, geographies, and founder profiles. I’ll give you a real read on the OTE structure — whether the quota is real or founder hopium, and whether the ramp terms are reasonable for what’s actually built.

What I won’t do is pretend to assess equity. There are too many unknowns at this stage. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.

The questions you should be asking

Does the quota math hold up?

A $1.2M quota means nothing if the pipeline math doesn’t support it. I can usually tell within ten minutes of looking at the GTM motion.

Are the ramp terms reasonable?

Three-month ramps at companies without a repeatable motion are how Founding AEs end up working for free.

Is the offer better than you think?

Sometimes. I’ll tell you that too. The goal is a real read, not a renegotiation.

Get a read on your offer →
Across multiple processes

If it’s a no, you’ll know why.

You spent eight hours on a case study. Wrote a 30-60-90. Ran a mock discovery call with the founder. Prepped for the panel. You showed up.

Then the email lands: “They’ve decided to go in a different direction.” No detail. No context. Nothing you can use the next time.

That’s the standard recruiter close. It’s not how I run it.

If you interview for a role I’m placing and it doesn’t land, you’ll get a real read — what worked, what didn’t, and what to change going into the next conversation. The hours you put in become signal you can use, not effort that disappeared.

01
The founder’s read

The real reasons, not the polite version. What landed, what didn’t, and what they were looking for that didn’t come through.

02
My read

What I see across 250+ founder conversations — where strong AEs get tripped up in this kind of process, and what I’d change for the next one.

03
What’s next

Roles aren’t one-shots. The next match is often a better fit than the one that didn’t close. I keep tracking.

Vouched for by the people who’ve worked with me

A network is only as good as the operator behind it.

Three people who’ve seen me from different angles — the leader who hired me, an AE I coached into a leadership seat, and an AE building her career on the same playbook now.

From the leader who hired me

“DR is a top 1% of 1% type of sales leader. He attracted, retained, and promoted top talent and was an amazing cross-departmental collaborator.”

Mark Kosoglow
Mark Kosoglow
Former SVP Sales, Outreach
From an AE I coached into leadership

“Hands down one of the top sales leaders I’ve ever worked for. I’d work for him again in a heartbeat.”

Curt Clauss
Curt Clauss
Founding AE at Samaya AI · ex-Harvey, ex-Outreach
From an AE on the playbook now

“DR was instrumental in my development to become a more strategic seller — coaching me to think bigger, call my shot, and be a broken record.”

Laura Roumani
Laura Roumani
Strategic Account Executive · ex-Outreach
Common Questions

Frequently asked questions

What Founding AE roles are you working right now?

As of June 2026, I'm actively working Founding AE roles with OTEs from $200K to $350K+ across NYC, San Francisco, Boston, and Remote. This isn't a job board and there's nothing to browse. The easiest way in: send me a connection request on LinkedIn and tell me what you're looking for. If I see a fit, I'll share a founder video walkthrough of the role and the motion, so you can decide whether it's exciting before we ever get on a call. I won't put a role in front of you that doesn't fit.

I’m not actively looking yet — is the Founding AE Hub still for me?

Yes — especially. The reps who land the best Founding AE roles started the conversation six months before they needed to. By the time you’re three offers deep with severance running out, your options are whatever happens to be in front of you that week. Start the conversation early and you get to be selective when it matters.

I’m already in a Founding AE role — what’s in it for me?

If your founder has never sold, there’s no senior IC to learn from, and the CRO hasn’t been hired yet, you’re translating a motion no one wrote down — alone. The Hub gives you a coach who’s been in the seat, plus a monthly group of other Founding AEs working through the same problems somewhere else. It’s the room you wish existed at every Founding AE company.

How does the monthly Founding AE group work?

One Zoom a month with other Founding AEs. Working sessions on what’s actually happening in the seat — how we’re leveraging Claude and other tech to move ahead, founder behavior to navigate, what’s landing in outbound right now. Free. Fit is assessed in the 15-minute conversation. Not everyone is right for the room.

Is this Founding AE offer fair?

Comp varies by stage, motion, and how much risk you're absorbing. A Founding AE at a seed company with no proven motion should expect more equity and accelerators than someone joining at Series A with a working playbook. Before evaluating any single offer in isolation, get context on what the rest of the market looks like right now — which founders are worth pursuing and what comp ranges are reasonable for your specific situation. That's what the 15-minute conversation is for.

How do I tell if the founder is strong enough to bet a year on?

Look for clarity, not charisma. Strong founders can answer who buys, why they buy now, and how deals actually close. They have closed enough deals themselves to know the pattern, written it down, and need leverage to scale what already works. Founders who want you to figure out sales for them rarely succeed. The right test isn't whether the pitch is exciting. It's whether the work that comes next is real.

What questions should I ask before saying yes?

At minimum: who's already buying and why; what happens to your quota in month four; how the founder will support you when deals stall; what the actual ICP is, not the aspirational one; and what changed for the buyers who closed most recently. If the founder can't answer these clearly, you're walking into a search problem, not a sales role.

How do I set myself up to ramp successfully?

Most Founding AEs fail because nobody designed their ramp. The motion exists in the founder's head and they're left to figure it out alone. Before starting, push the founder to document what's already closing, identify the patterns across recent wins, and structure your first 30 days around extracting that knowledge rather than generating new pipeline. You're a translator first, a closer second.

What does the Founding AE Hub cost?

Nothing. The Hub is a free resource. The 15-minute conversation, the ongoing coaching, and the monthly group are all free, no obligation, no pitch. Dave benefits when more vetted Founding AEs are in the network, so helping AEs make better decisions about roles is part of how he builds a reputation founders trust. AEs who engage with the Hub may also be considered for live searches when the fit is right.

What kinds of AEs is the Hub for?

Early-stage AEs evaluating offers, currently in a Founding AE role and questioning whether to stay, considering whether to take their first Founding AE role, or trying to navigate the broader job market at seed and Series A. If you're early enough in your career to still be making big career bets, the Hub is for you.

Fifteen minutes. No pitch.

You talk, I listen, and I tell you what I’m seeing — the roles worth pursuing, the comp that’s reasonable for where you are, and whether it’s even the right time to move. Even if the honest answer is to stay put.

Book 15 Minutes with Dave →