Jacob Irizarry

Hey, thanks for stopping by!

I built this site to give you a real sense of who I am, beyond the resume. The short version: I'm an AE with a track record of consistently overachieving quota.

At Lindy, I was a founding AE selling AI to technical buyers, CTOs, Heads of Ops, security-conscious teams who needed to see real value before signing. No playbook, no brand recognition. I closed over $900K in net-new business in 8 months by running strong discovery, and building trust with technical stakeholders. That's the same motion Vanta needs: selling a technical product to buyers who care about outcomes, not fluff.

Take a look around. I hope it gives you a feel for how I think, what I've done, and why I'd be a great fit for the team.

Career Journey


  • Joined as the founding AE at an early-stage AI startup. No playbook, no SDR support, no established process. Just a product and a quota.

    I owned the full sales cycle: prospecting, discovery, demos, negotiation, and close. Sold across SMB, Mid-Market, and Enterprise.

    Results:

    • >$900k in closed/won net-new business in 7 months

    • Q2: 275% (ramp) → Q3: 250% → Q4: 140%

    • Sourced and closed the company's first enterprise deal—largest contract since founding

    Building beyond my own number:

    • Developed the GTM playbooks for our first two SDRs

    • Led their cold calling training and outbound ramp

  • Joined Deel to sharpen my full-cycle closing skills at a hyper-growth company.

    Results:

    • $175K closed-won in year one

    • Q1: 87% (ramp) → Q2: 102% → Q3: 120%

    Beyond the numbers:

    • Consistent performance earned me a spot launching Deel's new crypto vertical—a bet the company made on reps they trusted to figure it out.

  • Promoted to SDR manager after 10 months as a top-performing SDR. Inherited a team that hadn't hit 36% quota in over a year—75% of my reps had less than 5 months of experience.

    The turnaround:

    • Q1 FY 25 90% of Quota first quarter in role

    • Q2 FY25 122% of Quota

    • 6 of my 7 reps have hit quota for the first time in their SDR career.

    What I learned: How to coach reps, build repeatable outbound processes, and turn underperformers into closers. I know what good SDR partnership looks like from the management side.

  • Started in SaaS sales with one goal: learn the fundamentals and earn a path to closing. Became a top performer by Q2 and stayed there.

    Results:

    •  Attainment FY24:

      • Q1 191% to quota (Ramp)

      • Q2 165% to quota (Top Performer)

      • Q3 156% to quota (Top Performer)

    Beyond the numbers:

    • Created "Roadmap to Quota". An onboarding session I led for every new-hire cohort

    • Mentored 3 new SDRs through their ramp

    • CORE4 Award Recipient - Mentorship & Collaboration

Feedback

30 Days

  • Ramp quickly on Vanta’s platform, competitive positioning against Drata/Secureframe, and what actually makes deals close.

  • Shadow top performers and absorb everything.

  • Meet with product, sales engineering, and customer success teams to understand the technical side well enough to hold my own with security leaders and CTOs.

  • Map out target accounts in my territory and start building pipeline through daily outbound. Test messaging, figure out what resonates.

  • Build internal relationships early. I know from experience the best AEs are tight with SEs, product, and leadership.

30-60-90

60 Days

  • Pipeline should be healthy at this point. Balance inbound with self-sourced outbound and move early deals through the funnel.

  • Get confident in the compliance space so I can speak credibly with technical buyers. Translate my experience selling to security-conscious orgs at Lindy.

  • Leverage my professional network and former leadership roles to uncover new opportunities and connect with champions across my territory.

  • Tap my network for opportunities. A lots of companies I've talked to need SOC 2 to close enterprise deals.

  • Run strong discovery and work with RevOps/marketing to sharpen positioning against competitors in live deals.

90 Days

  • Exceed ramp quota by closing initial deals and showing consistent pipeline velocity. I want leadership to see that I can generate and close my own business.

  • Become a trusted partner to my customers, not just someone who closes deals but someone who helps them get real value from Vanta. That's how I’ll build expansion and referrals.

  • Start multi-threading into accounts and setting up long-term growth. The best deals I've closed came from going wide early.

  • Partner with sales leadership on strategic deals and contribute to team wins. I want to be someone other AEs can learn from, not just a solo performer..

  • Continue learning and iterating. Find a mentor on the team, share what's working from my outbound experiments, and stay plugged into what's changing in the market.

From Manager to Seller

As an SDR Manager at Workday, I inherited a struggling team that hadn't hit quota in over a year. We hunkered down, rebuilt our outbound strategy from scratch, and implemented coaching rhythms that actually stuck. The result: 6 of 7 reps hit quota for the first time in their careers. The one who didn't missed by just 3%.

That experience taught me what it takes to build pipeline from nothing. I learned how to prospect into complex orgs, navigate technical buyers, and create urgency without gimmicks.

At Lindy, I took those fundamentals and applied them as a founding AE selling AI to technical teams. No playbook, no brand recognition. Just product, process, and persistence. I closed over $900K in net-new business in 8 months.

Vanta is selling to the same buyers I've been building relationships with for years, security leaders, CTOs, and ops teams who need to move fast but can't cut corners on compliance. That's my wheelhouse: translating complex value into business outcomes, building pipeline through outbound, and earning trust with buyers who know their stuff.

My SDR team sending me off on my final day at Workday

I’m originally from Ft. Lauderdale, FL but grew up moving between Texas, Arizona, and Utah. I love to swim laps, hike, and snowboard. In my free time, I enjoy traveling with my wife, playing the guitar, baking and being outdoors.

Languages are a huge passion of mine. Most people don’t know this, but I speak Mandarin, Papiamento, and Spanish.

I come from a Hispanic family. My dad is from Puerto Rico and my mom is from Bolivia. They instilled in me a relentless drive to chase big goals and push through obstacles. That mindset has made me a top performer in every role I've held, and it's exactly what I'm bringing to Vanta as your next AE.

About Me