Founder Tools
When Does a Sales Team Pay for Itself?
Your Numbers
Example: one missionary AE at $225,000 OTE, $60,000 deals billed annually, 2 month ramp. Replace with your plan.
Market Estimates
Prefilled from the sources below. Change any of them.
Choose a segment, then fill in the four numbers.
Cash to Fund
Waiting
Deepest point of the dip
Lowest Point
Waiting
Month it bottoms out
Cash Turns Positive
Waiting
Within 18 months
Deals per Seller
Waiting
A month, from quota math
Money Created in 18 Months
New Recurring Revenue
Waiting
Contract value signed. No customers leave.
Cash Collected
Waiting
Payments received from customers
Team Cost
Waiting
Pay, benefits and tools
18-Month ROI
Waiting
Net cash divided by team cost
Cash by Month
Drag along the curve, or use the arrow keys, to read any month.
Below zeroAbove zero
The curve appears hereFill in segment, ACV, sellers, ramp and billing.
What the Model Leaves Out
- All sellers start in month 1 and are paid from day one.
- No customers leave.
- Delivery, sales engineer, RevOps and manager costs aren't counted.
- ROI uses revenue, not profit, so real ROI is lower.
Sources
- PrimaryBLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026Benefits are 30.0% of private-industry employer cost.
- SecondaryOptymyze, citing RepVue 2026Target pay: SMB $110k to $160k, mid-market $160k to $220k, enterprise $230k to $270k+.
- SecondaryOptymyze, citing the Bridge Group 2024 SaaS AE Compensation ReportMedian quota-to-pay ratio of 4.2.
- SecondaryQuotaPath, citing RepVue Q2 2025Average quota attainment of 42.69%.
- VendorIntempt, citing OneAway 2026$3,000 to $4,500 per rep per year for sales tools.
Want to run your own numbers? Bring them to a discovery call.