Hire an AE who has closed deals at a similar price point and sales cycle length to yours, not the most impressive resume. Your first AE needs to be a hunter who can close without much support. Prioritize coachability, grit, and proof of consistent quota attainment over pedigree.
See what to pay and when to hireEnterprise AEs who have spent five years closing $500K deals are not the same as the person who will thrive closing $15K deals in 60 days at your 30-person startup. The skill sets are genuinely different. Before you post the job, get clear on three things.
Under $20K ACV: hire a high-velocity SMB rep. $20K–$80K ACV: hire a mid-market AE with a consultative sales motion. Over $80K ACV: hire enterprise, but only if your sales cycle is longer than 90 days and your product is genuinely complex.
If your AE needs to source 60% or more of their own pipeline, do not hire a pure closer. You need a hunter-farmer hybrid. Ask for this in the job description and screen hard for it in interviews, ask for their top 3 self-sourced deals from the last 12 months.
A rep at 110% quota at a company where average attainment is 65% is very different from a rep at 85% where average attainment is 90%. Always ask what percentage of the team hit quota when you are evaluating a candidate's numbers.
| Profile | Base | OTE |
|---|---|---|
| SMB AE (10–50 employees) | $55K–$75K | $110K–$140K |
| Mid-Market AE | $75K–$95K | $140K–$180K |
Ramp periods are typically 3 months with a ramp quota at 50–70% of full quota, consistent with Bridge Group AE ramp benchmarks. Do not cap commissions in year one, it kills motivation during ramp.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks two sales occupations close to a software AE. For May 2025, across all industries, sales representatives of technical and scientific products (SOC 41-4011) had 284,800 employed, a median of $104,920, a 75th percentile of $158,160 and a 90th of $200,440. Sales representatives of services (SOC 41-3091) had 1,256,010 employed, a median of $69,990, a 75th of $100,480 and a 90th of $148,840. BLS wages include commissions, so they compare with OTE.
The $110K to $140K SMB band sits between the technical median and 75th percentile. The $140K to $180K mid-market band runs from just below the 75th percentile toward the 90th. Beacon's view: that is the upper half of the distribution, as you would expect for software, but the BLS figures span every industry and tenure level, so treat them as a sanity check rather than a market quote.
Assume a $140K OTE split 50/50, so $70K base and $70K variable, and a quota of 5x OTE (an assumption for this example, not a benchmark). That is $700K a year, or about $58K a month. Run a three-month ramp at 60% of quota and the year-one quota is 3 x $58K x 0.6 = $105K, plus 9 x $58K = $525K, for $630K.
At a $20K ACV that is 32 closed deals. At a 20% win rate you need about 158 qualified opportunities, or 13 a month. If the AE self-sources 60%, that is about 8 a month from their own prospecting, and the other 5 must come from inbound or the founder. If your funnel does not produce those 5 today, the quota is a promise you cannot keep. At 100% of that year-one quota, paying variable pro rata, the rep earns about $133K, not $140K.
Good: a number with examples, such as 55% across 11 deals. Weak: "most of it," or a number that falls apart when you ask for the top three accounts.
Good: 14 deals around $18K against your $20K ACV. Weak: 110% attainment from two large deals, which does not transfer to a fast, small-deal motion.
Good: a manager reference, and willingness to share a recent commission statement. Weak: only a self-reported figure with no one named.
Add a 30-minute mock discovery call on your own product, with the founder as the buyer. Beacon's view: the strongest signal is whether they ask about the buyer's current process before they pitch.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2025, all industries: 41-4011 and 41-3091.
Ask them to walk you through their single biggest self-sourced deal from scratch, from how they identified the account, to first contact, to close. Then ask what they would do differently. Hunters have a detailed, specific answer. Farmers struggle here.
A founder or non-sales employee has already closed 3–5 customers using a repeatable pitch.
You have a defined ICP and know your sales cycle length.
You have enough inbound or outbound infrastructure to give the AE a pipeline to work with on day one.
Hiring an AE before these are true is expensive and demoralizing for everyone.
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