Fireworks AI 前销售负责人 Bardia Shahali 谈两周签下八位数美元大单
Closing Eight Figure Deals in Two Weeks
- 1Bardia Shahali 称 AI 基础设施层两周内可签下八位数美元订单，但所有推理厂商争抢同一批客户
- 2他在 Fireworks AI 将销售规模从约 300 万美元做到约 4 亿美元，现任 Granola 销售副总裁
- 3模型能力约每 45 天达到新高度，销售薪酬方案已从按年制定改为按季度调整
- 4基建层由 AE 搭配 FDE 与 SE 交付复杂产品，应用层为 AE 加 CSM，采用与扩张通常更快
AI 基础设施层的销售是另一套打法，两周可成八位数美元大单，但组织节奏与薪酬也要从按年改为按季。
- 影响：面向 AI 原生客户的基建生意单笔可达数千万美元，单个销售可承载的配额是数倍；所有推理厂商争抢同一批客户；市场每季度都在变，年度销售计划容易失真，人手不足还会挤压外呼与客户扩张。
- 参考：可考虑将销售薪酬与目标改为按季度校准；值得先判断自家处在基建层还是应用层，再匹配 AE 加 FDE、SE 或 AE 加 CSM 的人员组合；先算出单个销售可承载的配额上限。
- 依据：八位数订单、季度薪酬、45 天模型能力周期均出自 Bardia Shahali 在 Office Hours 访谈中的一手经验口径，暂无独立验证。
There are two markets in AI : applications & infrastructure. Bardia Shahali has built sales teams both : first at Fireworks AI from roughly $3m to roughly $400m, & now VP of Sales at Granola.
In our conversation at Office Hours earlier this week,1 we talked about the differences in building modern sales organizations in each domain. Here are three takeaways :
Watch the full conversation on YouTube : Office Hours with Bardia Shahali
“You can close an eight-figure deal in two weeks.”
At Fireworks, whose customers are AI-native companies growing at extraordinary rates, single deals can reach the tens of millions with a very fast sales cycle. The counterpoint is competition. Every inference provider chases the same accounts. The stakes are higher & the competition more intense.
“But each rep, the quota they can carry is just multiples higher.”
“We used to set like comp plans on an annual basis…Now we’re setting comp every quarter because things change so much from quarter to quarter.”
Second, annual planning in an environment this dynamic can be a challenge : products evolve faster, model capabilities reach a new zenith every 45 days,2 & the competitive landscape shifts quickly.
“If you have a small team, then you’re not putting in the extra effort to go after, to do a little bit of outbound.”
Last, the risk of understaffing is a lack of emphasis on outbound & expansion. At the infrastructure layer, FDEs (forward-deployed engineers) & SEs (sales engineers) pair with AEs (account executives) to invent new acronyms I need to define within parens. Still with me?
In reality, they pair to deliver a highly complex product. At the application layer, the AE & CSM (customer success manager) deliver software similar to the previous era, but with higher productivity & typically faster adoption/expansion.
There’s lots more to the 15 minute conversation : on-target earnings numbers in the AI era, on-boarding, burnout, usage-based pricing at the app layer. Watch the full episode here. Office Hours with Bardia Shahali
I’m grateful to Bardia for sharing his insights at Office Hours!
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来源：Tomasz Tunguz 博客 · tomtunguz.com