[Hiring] Founding Account Executive @Brightidea New

Role Description

We're hiring a Founding Account Executive to sell Hackathon exclusively — a new kind of Account Executive who doesn't just sell the product as it exists today, but actively finds the gaps between what a prospect needs and what Hackathon currently does, closes that gap in real time, and helps build the go-to-market motion itself as the first go-to-market hire on the team.

This is a full-cycle sales role focused entirely on the Hackathon product:

• Generate your own pipeline through outbound prospecting.
• Run the sales process end to end and close.
• Use AI tools to prototype missing capabilities or diagnose feasibility quickly.
• Help stand up the playbook, process, and tooling for future AEs.

What You'll Do

• Sales Execution — Hackathon
  • Own full-cycle sales for Hackathon.
  • Source, qualify, run discovery and demos, negotiate, and close new business for the Hackathon product — no handoffs required.
  • Prospect relentlessly.
  • Build and execute your own outbound motion (email, LinkedIn, calling) to fill your own Hackathon pipeline.
  • Identify gaps in the Hackathon product during discovery and demo calls.
  • Use AI coding tools to rapidly prototype solutions for prospects.
  • Quickly assess when something can't be reasonably solved for.
  • Turn field learnings into structured input for Hackathon's product and engineering effort.
  • Forecast accurately and manage a pipeline with discipline in the CRM.
• Go-to-Market Build — Hackathon
  • Help define the ICP and messaging based on real signals from deals.
  • Document what's working in discovery, demo, and closing.
  • Weigh in on and help implement the CRM, sales engagement, and AI tooling.
  • Work directly with Hackathon's product and marketing functions.
  • Bring real objections and win/loss patterns back to leadership.
  • Help source, screen, or reference-check future sales hires.

What Makes This Role Different

This Account Executive closes product gaps and helps build the product's go-to-market engine. You're equal parts closer, builder, and GTM architect, comfortable being judged on quota and your ability to prototype solutions quickly.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of full-cycle B2B SaaS sales experience.
• Track record of self-sourced pipeline and closed-won revenue.
• Prior experience as an early or founding sales hire.
• Genuine hands-on comfort with modern AI coding tools (e.g., Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT).
• Strong outbound instincts.
• Comfortable in front of technical and executive buyers.
• Curious, low-ego, and energized by ambiguity.
• Comfortable being the sole (initial) go-to-market hire on a single-product startup team.

Nice to Have

• Experience selling into innovation, HR, people ops, event, or L&D personas.
• Prior experience at an early-stage or lean-team SaaS startup.
• Experience selling event, community, or engagement-platform products.
• A portfolio, GitHub, or demo of something you've vibe-coded.
• Experience helping build or formalize a sales process, playbook, or tooling stack.

Why Join Hackathon

You'd be the founding go-to-market hire for Hackathon, with full ownership of the sales cycle for a focused product and a genuine hand in shaping the go-to-market organization.

Compensation

$150,000 - $300,000 OTE depending on size of quota.