Paffenholz: Same-company AE promotions are stronger signals than job-hopping
David Paffenholz · The Startup Playbook for Hiring Your First Engineers and AEs · Y Combinator · Nov 7, 2025 · at 11:04
Juicebox CEO David Paffenholz explains how founders should source and evaluate early Account Executives during a Y Combinator Startup School module.
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“Another factor that can be useful signal in AEs is candidates who have quickly gone through promotion cycles from SDR to AE, AE to senior AE, and more. It's particularly helpful if they've done that while being at the same company and they've been promoted while working for either the same manager or within the same team, rather than having hop between companies to get those promotions.”
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