Anakin is a Y-Combinator backed technology company and a competitive pricing intelligence platform for brands and online stores. Anakin sends eCommerce stores and brands the pricing, products and trends data of other similar stores (their competitors) so they can adjust their prices accordingly, fast. We collect web data at scale so that you dont have to. We track and categorize all this data using AI and machine learning.

Company Overview &amp; MissionWe are a fast-growing DaaS startup in the eCommerce industry, on a mission to empower online retailers and brands with data-driven insights. Our platform delivers real-time data and analytics as a service, helping eCommerce companies optimize operations, personalize customer experiences, and drive sales. After achieving $5M in annual revenue, we’re scaling aggressively with a goal to reach $12M by the end of this year. This rapid growth is fueled by strong market demand and recent expansions, and now we’re building out a global sales team to bring our solutions to enterprise clients worldwide. Our culture is dynamic, innovative, and customer-centric – every team member contributes directly to our success and future vision. Role SummaryThis is a Work from Office role based out of Bengaluru (HSR). As the Senior Director Sales, you will be a key member of the executive leadership team, responsible for driving our next phase of revenue growth and global expansion. This role is ideal for a high-achieving sales leader who thrives in a high-growth startup environment. You will develop and execute a winning enterprise sales strategy to take us from $5M to $12M and beyond, while scaling a world-class sales organization across global markets. The VP of Sales will oversee both virtual/inside sales and field sales efforts, ensuring we effectively engage clients from remote meetings to in-person presentations. You will own top-line revenue targets, lead and mentor the sales team, and collaborate cross-functionally to accelerate our momentum in the eCommerce data market. If you have a proven track record of leading enterprise sales teams to exceed targets and are excited to build something big on a global stage, we want to meet you. Key ResponsibilitiesIn this role, you will be accountable for the following activities to drive growth and scale our sales operations:<ul><li>Strategic Sales Leadership: Develop and implement a comprehensive sales strategy and go-to-market plan to achieve ambitious revenue goals (targeting $12M by year-end and sustained YoY growth). Define clear sales objectives, territories, and segments in alignment with company growth plans.</li><li>Team Building &amp; Management: Lead, scale, and mentor a global sales team (including both inside sales and field sales reps). This includes recruiting top sales talent, providing coaching and professional development, and instilling a high-performance culture focused on accountability and success.</li><li>Enterprise Sales Execution: Oversee the entire enterprise sales cycle from prospecting through closure for key deals. Enable your team to secure high-value contracts with enterprise eCommerce clients through both virtual selling and face-to-face engagements. Step in to support and negotiate strategically important deals, building relationships with C-level executives at client organizations.</li><li>Pipeline &amp; Forecast Management: Establish robust sales processes and discipline around pipeline development, deal qualification (e.g. MEDDIC or similar frameworks), and opportunity tracking. Ensure the team maintains a healthy pipeline coverage (e.g. 3x–4x quota) and provide accurate sales forecasts and reports to the CEO and leadership team on a regular basis.</li><li>Market Expansion: Drive expansion into new global markets and verticals. Identify and pursue new enterprise customer segments in the eCommerce ecosystem (e.g. retail chains, online marketplaces, international brands) and develop strategies to penetrate those markets. This may involve setting up regional sales strategies for North America, EMEA, APAC, etc., and occasional travel to meet clients and partners in key regions.</li><li>Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Marketing to align demand generation with sales objectives – ensure a steady flow of qualified leads and develop effective sales collateral and presentations for enterprise prospects. Partner with Product and Data teams to stay informed on our product roadmap and ensure the sales strategy highlights our strongest value propositions. Collaborate with Customer Success to guarantee smooth onboarding of new clients and identify opportunities for upsells or renewals.</li><li>Sales Process &amp; Infrastructure: Define and continuously improve the sales process, playbook, and tools needed for scale. Implement best practices for CRM usage, KPI tracking, and sales funnel management to drive transparency and efficiency. Put in place the necessary infrastructure (systems, dashboards, automation tools) to support a growing global sales organization.</li><li>Performance Management: Set clear performance targets for the team (quotas, KPIs) and establish incentive programs that reward over-achievement. Monitor individual and team metrics, providing actionable feedback and guidance to ensure everyone meets or exceeds their targets. Foster a culture of success, recognition, and continuous improvement on the sales team.</li><li>Customer Engagement: Act as an executive sponsor for major clients and strategic accounts. Cultivate lasting relationships with key customers, ensuring their satisfaction and identifying opportunities to expand our partnership. Represent the company as a trusted advisor in high-stakes negotiations and at industry events or conferences, enhancing our reputation in the market.</li><li>Reporting &amp; Strategy Input: Track and analyze sales performance data to inform strategic decisions. Provide regular updates to the CEO and board on sales results, market feedback, and adjustments needed in strategy or resources. Offer insights on market trends, competitor moves, and client requirements to help shape the overall direction of the company.</li></ul> Desired Qualifications &amp; ExperienceWe are seeking a seasoned sales leader with the following background:<ul><li>Extensive Sales Experience: 15+ years of successful B2B sales experience, with at least 5+ years in a senior sales leadership role (Sales Director, Head of Sales, VP, etc.). Enterprise sales expertise is a must – you have a proven record of closing complex, high-value deals with large organizations and navigating long sales cycles.</li><li>Track Record of Scaling: Demonstrated ability to scale revenue and sales teams in a high-growth environment. Experience taking a company from single-digit millions to double-digit millions in revenue (or greater) is highly desired. You know how to build the sales engine from the ground up and have led teams through periods of rapid growth and change.</li><li>Team Leadership in Global Markets: Hands-on experience in hiring, leading, and managing high-performing sales teams, including remote and geographically dispersed reps. You have successfully led teams across multiple regions or countries, and are adept at managing cultural differences and market nuances. Strong people management skills and the ability to inspire and develop talent are essential.</li><li>Startup &amp; Corporate Experience: Background can be from a startup or a larger enterprise – in either case, you’ve been an agent of growth. You’re comfortable operating with the resourcefulness and agility required in a startup, and you can also implement the structured practices needed for scale. Ideally, you have built or significantly expanded a sales function at a tech company before.</li><li>Domain Knowledge: Experience in data products/services or SaaS is a strong plus. Selling a technical product, analytics solution, or data platform (especially to retail or eCommerce clients) will help you ramp up quickly. While not required, familiarity with the eCommerce industry’s pain points and data needs is beneficial.</li><li>Educational Background: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or related field preferred (MBA or advanced degree is a plus). An equivalent combination of education and experience will also be considered.</li><li>Proven Results: Concrete evidence of meeting and exceeding sales targets consistently. (For example, beating annual quota by 20%+ or driving 100%+ YoY growth in previous roles.) References or examples of leading a team to land major accounts or break into new markets will set you apart.</li><li>Willingness to Travel: Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed (approximately 20-40%) to support field sales efforts, attend key client meetings, and represent the company at events. (Our sales team operates with a mix of virtual meetings and strategic in-person visits.)</li></ul> Skills &amp; Leadership TraitsThe ideal candidate will exemplify the following skills and leadership qualities:<ul><li>Strategic Vision &amp; Execution: Able to see the big picture and chart a clear sales strategy, while also diving into the details of execution. You can craft a long-term vision for global sales growth and translate it into actionable plans, tactics, and processes that your team can implement quarter by quarter.</li><li>Inspirational Leadership: A natural leader who can motivate and rally a team around ambitious goals. You lead by example, set high standards, and aren’t afraid to roll up your sleeves alongside your team. Your coaching and mentorship help others succeed; you create a culture of trust, enthusiasm, and excellence where top talent thrives.</li><li>Exceptional Communication &amp; Negotiation: Outstanding communication skills, both internally and with customers. You can articulate our value proposition and strategy clearly to diverse audiences – from front-line sales reps to CEOs of client companies. You are also a persuasive negotiator, capable of navigating complex deal discussions and closing win-win agreements at the executive level.</li><li>Analytical &amp; Data-Driven: Highly analytical in approach to sales management. You leverage data and key metrics to diagnose performance, inform decisions, and identify opportunities for improvement. Whether it’s refining a sales pitch based on win/loss analysis or adjusting strategy from pipeline analytics, you believe in measuring what matters. Familiarity with sales analytics tools and an ability to interpret KPIs is important.</li><li>Results-Driven &amp; Accountable: Passion for results with a relentless drive to exceed targets. You take ownership of outcomes and instill that accountability in your team. When challenges arise, you respond with solutions and a competitive spirit to win. Hitting the number is paramount, and you know how to organize resources and focus efforts to make it happen.</li><li>Adaptability &amp; Resilience: Thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. As a startup, our strategies and tactics may evolve – you are adaptable and embrace change, quickly adjusting course as needed. You demonstrate resilience under pressure, maintaining composure and optimism even when facing setbacks, and you encourage your team to do the same.</li><li>Customer-Centric &amp; Relationship-Oriented: Deeply empathetic to customer needs and committed to delivering value. You prioritize customer success and ensure that our solutions genuinely solve client problems. Your approach to selling is consultative and relationship-driven – you aim to become a trusted partner to our clients, not just a vendor.</li><li>Collaborative &amp; Cross-Functional: Effective at working across departments to achieve common goals. You break silos by collaborating with Marketing, Product, Operations, and other teams, understanding that sales success is a team effort across the organization. You’re also skilled at managing up and sideways, keeping executives and peers aligned with the sales strategy.</li><li>High Integrity &amp; Professionalism: You do business the right way. Upholding ethical sales practices, honesty, and transparency is second nature. You build credibility through integrity and gain the respect of customers, team members, and partners alike.</li></ul> KPIs &amp; Success MetricsSuccess in the Senior Director role will be measured by key performance indicators that align with our growth objectives. These include:<ul><li>Revenue Achievement: Hitting or exceeding the annual revenue target (e.g., driving revenue from $5M to $12M within the year) and meeting quarterly sales quotas. Revenue is the primary metric – delivering on top-line results is your chief responsibility.</li><li>Sales Growth Rate: Year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter growth in sales. This reflects how well we are scaling – for example, achieving 140%+ YoY growth by expanding our customer base and increasing deal sizes.</li><li>New Customer Acquisition: Number of new enterprise logos (clients) acquired, particularly in our target eCommerce segments and new geographic markets. Growing the roster of marquee enterprise customers is a key sign of success.</li><li>Market Expansion &amp; Penetration: Progress in entering and growing new markets or regions. Key metrics might include revenue contribution from international markets, or market share captured in specific strategic segments (for instance, securing lighthouse customers in Europe or Asia within the first 12 months).</li><li>Pipeline Health &amp; Conversion: The overall health of the sales pipeline and efficiency of the sales process. KPIs include pipeline volume (e.g. maintaining a 3x pipeline-to-quota ratio), lead-to-opportunity conversion rate, and win rate on qualified deals. Shortening the average sales cycle time while improving conversion rates will be a focus.</li><li>Team Performance &amp; Growth: Metrics around the sales team’s productivity and development, such as the percentage of sales reps hitting individual quotas, time-to-productivity for new hires, and retention of top performers. Successful hiring and ramp-up of X new sales team members this year (as we expand globally) will also be a key milestone.</li><li>Forecast Accuracy: Accuracy of sales forecasts and pipeline predictions against actual results. Being able to reliably predict the business (within a tight variance) is important for planning and indicates strong handle on the sales funnel.</li><li>Customer Satisfaction &amp; Retention: While primarily a new-sales role, the VP of Sales works closely with Account Management/Success on key accounts. Metrics like enterprise customer retention rate and expansion revenue (upsells/cross-sells) from existing clients can indicate how well sales is setting up customers for long-term success. High customer satisfaction scores (NPS, CSAT) from the sales process perspective are also desirable outcomes.</li></ul> Tools &amp; MethodologiesTo excel in this role, familiarity with the following tools and sales methodologies is expected:<ul><li>CRM &amp; Sales Tech: Proficiency with Salesforce CRM for managing pipeline, contact data, and forecasting is required. Experience leveraging sales automation and enablement tools (such as sales engagement platforms, lead scoring systems, or business intelligence dashboards) to increase team efficiency is a plus.</li><li>Sales Methodologies: Working knowledge of modern enterprise sales frameworks such as MEDDIC, Challenger Sale, or similar (e.g. SPIN Selling, Solution Selling). The ideal candidate knows how to implement a structured sales methodology to improve qualification, needs analysis, and closing strategies for complex B2B deals. You can train and coach the team on applying these methodologies in real opportunities.</li><li>Pipeline &amp; Performance Management: Strong command of pipeline management techniques and tools. Ability to define sales stages, criteria for progression, and to use data/analytics (for example, Salesforce reports and dashboards or tools like Tableau, InsightSquared, etc.) to monitor performance. Comfort with Excel/Google Sheets for modeling and analysis of sales metrics is expected.</li><li>Communication &amp; Collaboration Tools: Familiarity with leading communication and collaboration tools (e.g., Slack, Zoom, PowerPoint/Google Slides for presentations) as well as proposal/contract management systems (e.g., DocuSign, proposal automation software). You should be able to equip the team with the right tools and ensure they are utilized consistently.</li><li>Continuous Improvement Practices: Experience with instituting sales playbooks, training programs, and QA processes. Perhaps you have used call coaching software or win/loss analysis frameworks to continuously refine the sales approach. You stay updated on cutting-edge sales techniques and tools, and are comfortable piloting new methodologies that could give the team a competitive edge.</li></ul> Why Join Us?Joining our team as VP of Sales means taking on a career-defining challenge with enormous upside. You will have the opportunity to shape the growth strategy of a disruptive DaaS company, build a global sales organization from the ground up, and make a direct impact on the future of data in the eCommerce industry. We offer a competitive compensation package (including base, commission, and equity options) and an environment that celebrates initiative, creativity, and results. If you’re a driven sales leader looking to apply your talents on a global stage and truly own the outcome, we’d love to hear from you!Apply now to become a driving force in our journey to become the leading data-as-a-service provider for the eCommerce world. Let’s achieve great things together.

Anakin (YC S21)