Meet Alex - Account Executive at Encord

Another day, another episode of "Behind the Enc-urtain", where we go behind the scenes with the Encord team and learn more about their life and work! Today we sit down with Alex Winstone, Account Executive here at Encord.

As one of our first AEs in our London office, Alex has worn many hats in these first 6 months — he's brought onboard some of the leading AI research labs, F500 organizations and fast growing scale-ups, run industry roundtables in 5+ countries, helped onboard 4 new members of the UK Sales team... and somehow also managed to almost never miss an Encord Thursday bar!

Let's start with a quick introduction — can you share a bit about your background and how you found your way to Encord?

I joined Encord after spending 4 years at an AI scale-up, joining as the first Sales hire and seeing their growth from seed to a $45M Series A and beyond. It was an incredible journey. As I was thinking about what was next for me, I had some key criteria in mind.

I was firstly looking for a great sales team I could learn from and develop with. From the outset, I was impressed by Leo and the team, and was certain this was an environment within which I could continue developing. Having been first on the ground previously, I wanted to ensure I could take ownership and have a tangible impact on the company's outcomes.

Secondly, I wanted to find a deeply interesting problem-area with huge growth potential. And lastly, I was looking for a company with product market fit (or strong signs of it). This was potentially the hardest criteria to fulfil, as often companies where you can have meaningful impact are yet achieve PMF. I was convinced through my conversations that Encord was delivering true value to their clients and have now seen this first-hand in these first 6 months!

What does a 'day in the life' of an AE at Encord look like?  

Each day is quite different! Around two thirds of the day is usually spent running demos, presentations and 1:1 meetings with companies who are exploring Encord. I get to work with firms at the cutting-edge of AI, consultatively showcasing the Encord platform and working with the Solutions Engineering team to solve their pains around data curation, annotation, RLHF and model evaluation.

Internally, I also work very closely with Commercial Associates — who identify companies where Encord can really move the needle and solve MLOps bottlenecks — and the Product team, sharing feedback and ideas from customers, and seeing them turn into reality.

What kinds of companies or personas do you usually sell to?

We typically work with ML and AI teams — from engineers and data scientists, to CTOs and Heads of AI. Encord is industry-agnostic, so I might work with healthcare or logistics companies in the morning, and sports analytics and robotics teams in the afternoon! We also work with organizations of various sizes, from large Fortune 500 orgs to big tech companies and fast-growing scale-ups. No two conversations are ever identical, but it's interesting to see so many similar pain points.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to join Encord as our next AE?

Reach out to me on LinkedIn (..we have a referral bonus! 😉) Jokes aside, I'd say be prepared to get stuck in, learn quickly, and be a team-player. I'd join as many calls as you can in your early weeks and really absorb everything. If you’re at a point in your career where you are looking for a sales team to grow in, a fast-paced environment and strong signs of PMF, I'd wholeheartedly recommend Encord.

And now for a rapid fire round...

What 3 words would you use to describe the Encord culture?

Focused, collaborative & transparent.

Which fictional character would make the best Encord hire and why? 

Mystery Incorporated (Scooby-Doo and the gang). You’ll always be getting to the bottom of mysteries (bottlenecks in MLOps and data pipelines) and it’s a dog friendly office.

What is one thing you found surprising or different about Encord when you joined?

How customer-focused the team is. Every idea or bit of feedback that could improve a client's 'life' is meaningfully fed back to the product and engineering team, where it's considered, discussed and often implemented. It’s also great to see the founders regularly share their vision for the platform (as well as historic views) and see how these materialize in real time. 

You can find Alex on Linkedin here.

We are hiring AEs in London and San Francisco - you can find more about the London AE role here and SF AE role here.

See you at the next episode of “Behind the Enc-urtain” 👋