How are promotions handled at Abnormal AI?

I worked at Abnormal Security for just over two years on Kevin Moore’s sales team under the leadership of Albert Staley and Manami Chiba (Kidera) and to say that it was an incredible growth experience would be an understatement. What makes Abnormal so special is the combination of their fantastic leadership, stellar product, and collaborative sales atmosphere. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to work on such a fantastic, motivated, enthusiastic, and collaborative team and to have had the opportunity to attend fantastic industry and partner events across the country. Even though we were primarily remote, there were an abundance of regional team meet-ups and optional work from office days which made for a far more engaging team culture that I really appreciated. If you have the opportunity to work here, I couldn’t recommend it enough! From a sales perspective, there are three core aspects that set Abnormal Security apart from other companies: Leadership: The leadership at Abnormal is second to none. They lead with a humanistic approach and foster a sales culture of collaboration and motivation rather than cutthroat competitiveness. (That said, we’re in sales, of course competition is a primary motivator and isn’t completely lost!) The leadership team at Abnormal Security does a fantastic job of balancing a healthy sense of competition while weeding out the “bro-y” “fratty” culture prevalent in San Francisco-based tech start-ups. This is truly a management team that wants to see you grow, thrive, and work with autonomy and, most importantly, they lead by example. Product: I joined this company because I lost to them while working for a competitor in 2021. I asked our VP what we could do to beat Abnormal and they said, “nothing.” True to form, Abnormal has consistently outperformed the competition from a product-perspective since I joined and continues to advance in capabilities and customer adoption at a rapid pace. This product sells. Upward Mobility: Abnormal is a place that looks internally first for promotions. My regional director was an AE (my peer) when I first started and was promoted to regional director (my manager) within the two years I was at Abnormal. I can imagine in most places this would be a difficult transition (both for manager and direct reports) but from my perspective it went incredibly well. From what I can tell, she was given all the resources and enablement needed to succeed and be seen as a trusted leader of our team and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work under and be mentored by Manami Chiba. Sales team: The team was just awesome and so much fun to work with!

Nothing that you can't work through but definitely expect some operational growing pains that are typical for a start-up at this stage.

Product market fit is amazing Team is full of talent and personable Not afraid of feedback and so much potential for growth as an organization

Upward mobility (they’re getting better at it but some departments are still struggling with promoting internally) Territories getting smaller (the case with every fast growing start up)

While pay IS competitive there were a few employees that were well underpaid even at the level they were at. Pro's - are that they educate you to use AI, the overall people team is great.

There was a shift in leadership last Fall and there have been cultural changes and not great ones. People are promoted without having the right experience required for the job aka senior manager roles. It seems like everyone is not happy and wants to leave. It is just a matter of time until turnover happens. There has been too many promises broken, broken leadership communication which results in a lack of trust, some managers are now micromanaging and it comes across as they fear for their jobs. They want to IPO which is great but ousting the entire GTM leadership sales team and head of people around the same time raised eyebrows.