Account Executive

Overview

You sell Basis's AI accounting agents to accounting firms (Top 150 firms and mid-market practices). You're convincing partners and operations leaders to replace manual tax prep, CAS, and audit work with AI automation. This means navigating skepticism about AI accuracy, security concerns, and change management across firms that have done things the same way for decades.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Series C equivalent ($1.15B valuation, $100M raise from Accel/GV)

Size: 1,453 employees (likely includes offshore engineering/ops)

Growth: Rapid - 30% of Top 25 firms already using it, expanding to Top 150

Market Position: Category leader in AI accounting automation - they're defining this market

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 40% Inbound - firms hear about them through industry channels, existing customer referrals, partner networks. Quality is high but volume is limited in this specialized market.
• 50% Outbound - targeted prospecting into Top 150 firms. You're researching firms, finding the right partners/COOs, and building relationships through warm intros when possible.
• 10% Existing customer expansion - selling additional use cases (CAS → tax → audit)

SDR/AE Structure: Likely dedicated SDRs for top-of-funnel qualification, but you're doing a lot of your own research and relationship building with senior firm leaders.

SE Support: Dedicated Solutions Engineers for demos and POCs - this is technical and you'll need them.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors: Traditional workflow software (CCH, Thomson Reuters), emerging AI point solutions, and "build it ourselves" sentiment from larger firms with tech teams

How They Differentiate: First to ship production-grade, long-horizon agents that complete entire workbooks end-to-end (not just data entry or review)

Common Objections:

• "AI isn't accurate enough for tax/audit work" (liability concerns)
• "Our clients won't accept AI-prepared returns"
• "We need to see it work for 2-3 tax seasons first"
• "What about data security and client confidentiality?"
• "Our staff will resist this / we'll have layoffs"

Win Themes: 30% productivity gains, accuracy that meets/exceeds human preparers, deployed at Top 25 firms (social proof matters here), end-to-end automation vs point solutions

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Active Deals (45%) | Prospecting/Pipeline (25%) | Internal/POCs (30%)

Key Activities

• Discovery with firm partners and operations leaders: Understanding their current workflow, pain points (staff shortages, busy season crunch, error rates), and ROI requirements. These conversations are consultative - you need to understand accounting workflows deeply.
• Coordinating proof of concepts: Working with your SE to set up POCs where Basis processes actual client workbooks. You're managing expectations, defining success criteria, and navigating internal politics when results challenge the status quo.
• Multi-threading deals: Building relationships with managing partners (economic buyer), operations/technology leaders (champion), and IT/security teams (gatekeeper). Missing any of these can stall your deal for months.
• Managing long sales cycles: Following up after POCs, addressing concerns that emerge, getting on partner meeting agendas, negotiating MSAs and security reviews. Deals slip quarters regularly - you need patience and persistence.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Conservative buyers: Accounting firms move slowly. They need proof, references, multiple POCs, and partner consensus. You'll hear "let's revisit after tax season" a lot.
• Technical complexity: You need to understand accounting workflows (tax prep, CAS, audit procedures) well enough to speak credibly with partners. There's a learning curve.
• Long cycles with no guarantees: You'll invest months in a POC only to have a deal stall because one partner is skeptical or a competing priority emerges. Pipeline management is challenging.
• Change management selling: You're not just selling software - you're selling organizational change. Firms worry about staff morale, client acceptance, and liability. These aren't easy objections to overcome.
• POC dependency: Deals rarely close without a successful POC. You're dependent on your SE, the firm's willingness to provide real data, and the AI performing well on their specific use cases.

What Success Looks Like

• Closing 8-12 deals per year at $100K-500K ACV
• Building a pipeline of 3-4x your quota (deals slip, you need buffer)
• Getting firms to expand from one use case (e.g., business tax) to multiple (CAS, audit)
• Developing deep relationships with partners who become references for other prospects

Who You're Selling To

Primary Buyers:

• Managing Partners (economic buyer - cares about firm profitability, competitive positioning)
• COO/Director of Operations (champion - feels the pain of staff shortages, workflow bottlenecks)
• IT/Security (gatekeeper - needs to approve vendor, data security, SOC 2 compliance)
• Tax/Audit Partners (influencer - skeptical of AI, needs proof it works)

What They Care About:

• Accuracy and liability: Can they trust AI not to make costly errors? What happens if it does?
• ROI during busy season: Will this actually save them time when it matters most (Jan-April for tax)?
• Staff retention: Will this help them do more with less, or will it cause their best people to leave?
• Client acceptance: Will their clients (often conservative small businesses) accept AI-prepared work?
• Implementation risk: How long to get value? What's required from their team? Can they pilot before committing firm-wide?

Requirements

• 3-5 years selling B2B software, ideally complex/technical products with POC-driven sales cycles
• Comfortable with long sales cycles and enterprise deal complexity (multiple stakeholders, procurement, legal)
• Ability to learn accounting workflows and speak credibly about tax, CAS, and audit processes (they'll teach you, but you need to be a fast learner)
• Experience navigating conservative, relationship-driven industries (professional services, healthcare, financial services)
• Strong discovery and consultative selling skills - this isn't transactional
• Resilience and pipeline discipline - deals will slip, you need to stay organized and persistent
• Willing to work in a fast-moving, high-expectations environment ("intense people who want to build at the frontier")