Founding Account Executive

Company Description

Foothill Ventures is a technology-focused venture fund based in Los Altos, California. We make pre-seed, seed (preferred), and A-round investments in startups across software, life science, and deep tech. We grew out of the TEEC Angel Fund, which made seed-stage, highly successful bets on companies like Zoom Communications, Carta, Plus.ai, WeRide.ai and Ginkgo Bioworks, all subsequent Unicorns.

We provide support to our portfolio companies in various areas, including recruiting and talent acquisition. This role is posted on our website for our portfolio companies.

Job Description

About our portfolio company Jacobi Robotics: 

Join us at Jacobi, a well-funded Silicon Valley startup revolutionizing the field of robotics with cutting-edge software for robotic arms. The company’s AI-powered platform leverages proprietary motion planning technology to accelerate deployment time by 20x within production environments. Founded in 2022 by world-leading roboticists and AI researchers from UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University, Jacobi makes advanced robotics capabilities accessible and reliable for real-world production settings.

Jacobi is an early-stage company with grand ambitions to change how robots operate. As we grow, our sales function will become a crucial and integral part of the company. You are the first hire here, and you will work closely with the company’s founders to expand our customer base from a handful to dozens of accounts. In the long term, your growth within the company is solely determined by your dedication and impact. Whether you choose to remain an individual sales contributor or aspire to become the Director of Sales of a multi-billion dollar organization, the future is yours to shape.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the sales cycle for our mixed palletizing and logistics solutions, targeting end customers and integrators.
• Identify strategic opportunities, with emphasis on early adopters and design partners.
• Evaluate customer requirements for automation projects, work with the Solutions team to develop concepts, and follow up with quotes.
• Generate new business, qualify potential projects, attentively follow up with leads, lead customer visits for new project discovery, and present proposals to customers to fulfill their business needs.
• Represent Jacobi at trade shows, industry events, and customer meetings.
• Document all relevant information in great detail. Over-communicate with stakeholders and peers to ensure a well-coordinated sales process.
• Understand the customer base and market, competitor offerings, customers, and decision influencers, and stay updated on automation market trends.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of success selling technical solutions, preferably robotic cells, industrial automation, or other capital equipment, to logistics customers. Familiarity with mixed palletizing or related logistics applications is a strong plus.
• Demonstrated success in enterprise-level, strategic consultative sales, including the ability to navigate complex sales cycles, manage multiple stakeholders, and tailor solutions to meet diverse customer needs.
• A customer-centric approach with a focus on building long-term relationships and providing outstanding customer experiences.
• Evidence of consistently meeting or exceeding sales targets in prior roles. Proficiency in pipeline management, CRM tools, and data-driven decision-making to optimize the sales process.
• Technical experience in applications or solution engineering is preferred.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally to attend customer meetings, trade shows, and other industry events.
• Comfortable navigating the challenges of selling innovative solutions to new markets, overcoming objections, and staying positive through setbacks.
• Excited about working in an early-stage startup environment with ambiguity, limited structure, wearing multiple hats, and helping build scalable sales processes from scratch.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to create clear, persuasive proposals and presentations. Confidence in presenting to diverse audiences, including C-suite executives.

Additional Information

Foothill Ventures is an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment including the decision to hire, promote, discipline, or discharge, will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical​​​ condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or ​expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.