Founding Account Executive

Cranston

$90K — $125K *
Legal & Accounting
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 2-5 years B2B software sales experience with proven quota attainment
  • Strong communication skills for various audiences, including accountants and firm owners
  • High ownership and proactive follow-up skills
  • Familiarity with AI tools and their application in sales
  • An eagerness to learn about the accounting profession

Responsibilities

  • Own the entire customer journey from initial demo to onboarding and ongoing support
  • Conduct 15-25 demos weekly, focusing on urgent opportunity progression
  • Become an expert in both the product and relevant accounting workflows
  • Build trust with clients by understanding their needs and providing clear solutions
  • Gather and synthesize customer feedback to inform product development
  • Represent Cranston at industry events and build professional relationships
  • Leverage AI tools to enhance sales efficiency and customer interactions

Benefits

  • Gain significant ownership as the first sales hire in a high-demand environment
  • Collaborate directly with company founders and product teams to influence product direction
  • Join a small, agile team during a pivotal moment in AI and accounting transformation
Full Job Description
Role Overview

You'll step into an active inbound motion and own relationships from the first conversation through signed contract, onboarding, and expansion. This role is a mixture of consultative selling, product fluency, industry curiosity, and relentless follow-through.

Our buyers are owners and partners of CPA firms. They have been pitched bad software for years. They will buy from people who understand their work and earn their trust. You'll learn accounting deeply, demo Cranston with credibility, and become a partner to firms as they adopt AI.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in early-stage environments, loves building from zero, and wants to help shape the sales motion, product, and customer experience.

What You'll Do
  • Own the full customer journey from the first inbound demo to signed contract, onboarding, and a customer confidently running Cranston.
  • Convert real demand into revenue. Run 15-25 demos a week with owners and partners of accounting firms, understand what matters, and move good opportunities forward with urgency.
  • Become a product and accounting expert. Demo Cranston credibly, understand the workflows it changes, and translate capability into a clear business case.
  • Earn trust with skeptical buyers. Listen closely, communicate plainly, and show firms how Cranston fits the way they already work.
  • Inform the roadmap. Synthesize objections, customer feedback, and market signals. What you learn in the field will shape what we build.
  • Represent Cranston in the industry. Attend 4-6 accounting conferences a year and build lasting relationships across the profession.
  • Work AI-native. Use Claude or ChatGPT to prepare calls, draft follow-ups, and keep the CRM current so your time stays focused on customers.
Who You Are
  • Exceptional on sales calls. You ask sharp questions, listen well, and make buyers feel understood.
  • A proven closer. You've carried a quota and hit it, with 2-5 years selling B2B software to small or mid-market companies.
  • High ownership. You follow up the same day, every time, and you don't wait to be told what to do next.
  • A sharp communicator. You write clearly, present with confidence, and adapt from a working accountant to a firm owner.
  • AI-native. You already use AI tools in your daily work and keep finding better ways to use them.
  • Curious about accounting. You're interested in the profession, or willing to get deep into it fast.
Why Cranston
  • You'll inherit massive demand and have unusual ownership as the first sales hire.
  • You'll work directly with the founders and product team. Customer conversations will translate quickly into the product.
  • You'll join a small team at the moment AI is changing how accounting work gets done.
Compensation
  • $90-125k base, $180-250k OTE, uncapped
  • 0.25-0.5% equity depending on experience
  • Variable compensation is guaranteed for the first 90 days and ramps through day 180
  • Health, dental, and vision

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