Account Executive

Overview

You're selling Solink's video + data analytics platform to retail stores, restaurants, and multi-location operators. The product helps them catch shrink, improve operations, and spot issues by connecting video footage with POS/transaction data. You'll be prospecting into operations managers, loss prevention leads, and occasionally CFOs at mid-market companies. This isn't a mature sales motion - you're helping build v2 of their go-to-market playbook while carrying quota.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Growth stage (appears well-funded based on scaling language and "S2 Summit" reference)

Size: Unknown, but actively scaling sales org

Growth: Opening new AE roles, just held a partner/customer summit, talking about platform evolution

Market Position: Established player in video analytics for retail/restaurant operations - competing on intelligence layer, not just surveillance

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 30% Inbound - leads from existing customer referrals, website conversions, some marketing campaigns. Quality varies - lots of tire-kickers looking for security cameras, not business intelligence.
• 60% Outbound - cold calling into retail chains, restaurant groups, convenience stores. You're targeting ops leaders and LP teams. Lots of voicemails and unreturned emails.
• 10% Partners/Referrals - existing customers occasionally refer sister locations or franchisees

SDR/AE Structure: Likely some SDR support, but expect to self-source 50%+ of your pipeline. This is a "builder" role - you're not just taking handoffs.

SE Support: Probably shared SE resources for technical demos and POCs. You'll handle discovery and initial demos yourself.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors: Traditional surveillance camera vendors (Axis, Milestone), other video analytics platforms, internal "we already have cameras" objections

How They Differentiate: Intelligence layer - connecting video to POS/transaction data to surface actionable insights (shrink detection, operational exceptions, audit trails), not just recording footage

Common Objections:

• "We already have cameras" (they're thinking surveillance, not analytics)
• "Too expensive vs traditional systems" (ROI justification required)
• "Our LP team can review footage manually" (change management resistance)
• Implementation complexity with existing POS systems

Win Themes:

• Quantifiable ROI stories (shrink reduction, false refund detection)
• Time savings for LP/ops teams (alerts vs manual review)
• Multi-location visibility for regional/district managers

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Prospecting (35%) | Active Deals (40%) | Internal/Admin (25%)

Key Activities

• Cold outreach to multi-location operators: Calling into retail chains, restaurant groups, c-stores. You're trying to get 10-15 first meetings per month. Most prospects don't understand the difference between cameras and analytics, so early calls are educational.

• Discovery and ROI building: Walking prospects through their current shrink/loss prevention process, quantifying hours spent reviewing footage, calculating potential savings. You're building a financial case, not just demoing features.

• Product demos (initial): You'll run first demos yourself - showing how video + POS data catches issues. More technical demos with integrations get handed to an SE.

• Multi-stakeholder coordination: Deals involve ops, LP, IT (for integration), and finance (for budget approval). Lots of time spent chasing down the right people for next steps.

• Playbook development: Since this is a "build the machine" role, you're documenting what works - which personas respond, what messaging lands, which objections kill deals. More strategy work than a typical closing AE role.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Building while selling: You're expected to hit quota AND help refine the sales motion. That's two jobs. Some people love this autonomy; others find it exhausting.

• Education-heavy sales cycle: Most prospects think they need cameras, not analytics. Early conversations are slow because you're creating category awareness before you can even qualify the deal.

• Integration complexity: Deals can stall in implementation phase when IT pushes back on POS integration requirements. You'll lose deals you thought were closed.

• Ambiguity: There's no perfect playbook to follow. What worked last quarter might not work this quarter as they move upmarket or target new verticals. You have to figure things out.

What Success Looks Like

• Closing $100K-150K per quarter consistently
• Building a pipeline of 3-4x your quarterly quota
• Contributing insights that actually change how the team sells (not just hitting your number)
• Getting promoted into a player-coach or enterprise role within 12-18 months if you prove you can build

Who You're Selling To

Primary Buyers:

• Director/VP of Loss Prevention (retail chains, restaurant groups)
• Director of Operations (multi-location retail/restaurant)
• CFO or Controller (smaller chains, budget approval for larger deals)
• Regional/District Managers (end users who become champions)

What They Care About:

• Shrink reduction and false refund detection (hard dollar savings)
• Time savings for LP teams (audit efficiency)
• Operational compliance and exception management
• Integration with existing systems (POS, back-office)
• ROI payback period (need 12-18 month payback typically)

Requirements

• 2-4 years in B2B SaaS sales (mid-market or SMB segments)
• Comfortable with consultative, ROI-driven selling (not transactional order-taking)
• Self-starter mentality - can build your own pipeline and figure out messaging without hand-holding
• Experience selling to operations or retail buyers is a plus (they buy differently than IT/tech buyers)
• Proven track record of hitting/exceeding quota in a previous role
• Comfortable with ambiguity and changing processes - this isn't a plug-and-play role