Garage — Account Executive

• →2+ years in a full-cycle, closing-focused sales role at a venture-backed startup. [Required]
  • →Intake nuance: target is ~3+ years; exception made for exceptional 2-year candidates with fast promotions.

• Experience at an early-stage, venture-backed startup. [Must have]
  • Late-stage venture-backed is acceptable if the company kept startup velocity and the candidate has the drive to go early again. Large public companies (e.g. Salesforce, SAP) and non-venture-backed businesses are a no-go, with rare exceptions.
• Experience in a full-cycle sales role, including outbound prospecting (owning outbound themselves, not via an SDR team). [Required]
• Experience selling to government municipalities (e.g. fire departments). [Strongly preferred]

• Competitive spirit and desire to win; strong work ethic; low ego, collaborative, coachable; ability to build relationships with non-technical buyers (fire chiefs, fleet managers). [Must have]

• Willingness to travel to meet customers in person (prior travel in a sales role is a plus). [Required]
• Located in the Midwest, US South, West Coast, or Southeast. [Strongly preferred]
• Organized and comfortable living in a CRM and on the phone. [Intake-added, screen for it]

Positive scoring signals raised in the intake and profile review.

• Promotions / fast promotion track in a prior role (a top signal of work ethic and success).
• Early-stage venture-backed success, ideally building or being among the first sellers.
• Sold directly into Garage's ICP (government / municipal buyers).
• Traveled in a sales role.
• Former firefighter with genuine sales experience (deep ICP understanding).

• Experience exclusively at large, public companies (e.g. Salesforce, SAP) or non-venture-backed businesses, with no earlier-stage startup chapter.
• Multiple consecutive roles lasting less than one year (roughly three back-to-back sub-one-year stints is the red-flag pattern).
• Over-tenured candidates who have moved into management and may not want a hands-on IC role. Flag, not an auto-DQ: screen for genuine willingness to return to IC work with no SDRs underneath.

• Base salary: $93K–$118K
• OTE: $185K–$235K (50/50 base/variable, uncapped commission)
• Equity: Competitive equity
• On-site policy: Remote within the US; prioritizing Midwest, South, West Coast, Southeast
• Visa sponsorship: None; US citizens / Green Card holders only
• Employment type: Full-time
• Location: Remote (US); company HQ NYC (Flatiron)
• Hiring count: 6 (target 3 in next 60 days)
• Pipeline SLA: No candidate in pipeline more than 10 days

The three Paraform "questions to ask candidates" were collapsed in the copied role-page HTML and are not captured here. Re-copy the outerHTML with that section expanded to populate. (Note: per the intake, all interview stages are effectively screens; the substance to screen for is captured in the Qualifications, Green Flags, and Traits to Avoid above.)

Confirmed in the intake as four steps (the role page's "8 steps" label appears to count sub-stages/offer/hire; the HM described the following):

Process notes: all virtual until the onsite. HM declined to consolidate the three screens. Internal SLA keeps total time under 10 days.

Updated from intake call.

ICP-adjacent (government / municipal space) GovDeals (and similar gov-space players)

• Sourcing steer: the HM said NOT to prioritize sourcing these; Garage self-sources the handful of gov-space companies it knows. Bring them candidates they can't reach on their own.

Venture-backed, selling into a similar ICP / value prop Flock Safety, Prepared (911), Trava, Okave

Strong venture-backed training grounds Toast, Verkada, ShopMonkey, Hotel Engine (raised ~$221M)

Avoid Salesforce, SAP, other massive public companies, and non-venture-backed businesses (unless paired with earlier-stage startup experience). A do-not-contact company list is being provided separately by Garage.

For reference only — do not source these specific profiles.

Mike Harris — LinkedIn Enterprise Sales @ FurtherAI (a16z & YC) | San Francisco Bay Area

• Verkada (Series C, early-ish) and ShopMonkey: early-stage venture-backed with a strong promotion track.
• Watch-out: ~8 years' experience with a Team Lead stint (2020–2021) then back to IC; confirm genuine comfort with a hands-on IC role. Different-space ICP is acceptable if the drive and venture-backed track record are there.

Randy Zobel — LinkedIn — hired Account Executive @ Garage | Denver

• Flock Safety: venture-backed, sells into a similar ICP.
• Hotel Engine: venture-backed ($221M raised); promoted 4x in 3 years. 3.5 years at a prior company (tenure shows he's not a job-hopper).

Kaleb Schumann — LinkedIn — hired Growth @ Garage | Dallas

• GovDeals: sells into Garage's ICP (deep value-prop understanding).
• Only had Account Manager (not AE) experience; they tested and gained conviction he could bring in new logos and do the outbound grind.

Tyler (Therrien) — hired (mentioned in call)

• Toast: top performer for a long time (quota not required, but strong).
• Early stage at Cold Life (one of the first AEs, effectively built out sales), entrepreneurial and comfortable with ambiguity.
• Boston Beer Company earlier: foundational sales, not weighted heavily.

• Startup & Gov fit: Focus on proven full-cycle sales at early-stage, venture-backed startups and clear experience selling to or navigating government/municipal procurement.
• Appropriate experience level: Prioritize self-sourced outbound success and startup grit over overly senior or large-public-company trajectories; align with the low-ego, growth-oriented culture.
• Location & engagement: Target submissions from prioritized geos (Chicago, Detroit, Miami, etc.) and require a video clip demonstrating genuine excitement and clear communication.