For Founding AEs in the seat

The seat is lonely. The room isn’t.

A community of Founding AE operators across stages, verticals, and motions. Comparing notes on what’s landing this month, how people are using Claude and other tech to move ahead, and founder behavior to navigate. The conversations you can’t have inside your own company.

Request Access →

Hosted as a private LinkedIn group. I review every request personally.

Two ways to be in the room

Async on LinkedIn. Live on Google Meet.

Async · Always on
The Room

A private LinkedIn group where Founding AEs trade notes throughout the month. What’s landing in outbound. How people are using Claude and other tech to move ahead. Founder behavior to navigate. Comp benchmarks. The conversations you can’t have inside your own company.

Hosted on LinkedIn · No content quotas · Free
Synchronous · Monthly
The Meet-Up
Next session Friday, June 12 · 3pm ET

60 minutes on Google Meet, roughly once a month. A small group of Founding AEs from the room, working through the problems each is sitting on right now.

60 min · Google Meet · Small group, selected for stage and motion fit
How to get in

One request. Both the room and the meet-up.

Both are gated through the same access request. Everyone who fits the room gets in. The meet-up is smaller — selected for stage and motion fit, kept that size so the conversation stays useful. I review every request personally, usually within a couple of days.

Request Access →
What’s actually inside

Operators comparing notes — in real time.

Not a job board. Not a content channel. A room of people sitting in Founding AE seats somewhere else, asking each other the questions they can’t ask their own founder.

Founder behavior to navigate
First-time founders making textbook mistakes. CEOs who don’t get why sellers get paid on revenue. Magician founders who keep closing your deals. How others handled the same thing — without naming names.
Comp plans and the numbers behind them
OTE math the founder didn’t do. Restructures after a great year. Usage-based plans that quietly back-end the seller. Where to dig in and where to let go.
What’s landing in outbound right now
Email is a desert. Direct mail experiments. LinkedIn voice notes. Native video over external links. What’s working this month, not what worked five years ago.
The AI stack people are actually using
What Claude does well. What it hallucinates. When to bring in Perplexity. What people are building — buying-committee research, pre-meeting prep scripts, champion one-pagers pulled from internal docs, custom databases that filter call transcripts like a CRM. The stack that’s compounding, not the one on LinkedIn.
Try the newest tech
Each quarter, a small number of B2B GTM tools come across my desk, and matched AEs get free trials. Every tool clears the same bar: you can sign up and use it in minutes — no CSM call, no IT request, no setup.
Who fits

Operators only.

I review every request personally. Not everyone is right for the room — and the bar is what protects the value for everyone inside.

A fit
  • Current Founding AE at seed or Series A B2B SaaS
  • Recent Founding AE between roles
  • Anyone sitting in the seat or has been recently
Not a fit
  • Recruiters or vendors
  • AEs at established sales orgs
  • Founders looking for hiring intel
Common Questions

Frequently asked questions

What is the Founding AE community?

A community of Founding AE operators across stages, verticals, and motions. Hosted as a LinkedIn group with periodic working sessions. Members compare notes on what’s actually happening in the seat — what’s landing in outbound, how they’re using Claude and other tech to move ahead, and founder behavior to navigate.

Who can join the Founding AE community?

Current or recent Founding AEs at seed and Series A B2B SaaS companies. Access requests are reviewed individually. The community is for operators sitting in the seat, not for people interested in the seat from the outside.

What does the Founding AE community cost?

Nothing. The community is free for accepted members. Dave benefits when more vetted Founding AEs are in the network, so helping operators sharpen each other is part of how he builds a reputation founders trust.

How do I get access?

Request access through the private LinkedIn group. Dave reviews every request personally, usually within a couple of days. Not everyone is right for the room — the bar is what protects the value for everyone inside.

Is there a time commitment or participation requirement?

No. There are no content quotas and no participation rules. Members engage as much or as little as is useful to them. The optional monthly meet-up is there if you want live conversation, but nothing is required to stay in the room.

Is there a live or group call component?

Yes, optionally. There’s a 60-minute meet-up on Google Meet roughly once a month, scheduled in the group — a small group of Founding AEs from the room working through the problems each is sitting on right now. The meet-up is smaller than the group, selected for stage and motion fit so the conversation stays useful.

What do members actually get out of it?

A vetted room of peers in the same seat, comparing notes on what’s landing in outbound, how people are using Claude and other tech to move ahead, founder behavior to navigate, and comp benchmarks — the conversations you can’t have inside your own company. Members also get access to the optional monthly meet-up.

If you’re in the seat, you belong in the room.

Request access through the LinkedIn group. I review every one personally — usually within a couple days.

Request Access →

Free. No content quotas, no participation rules.