Alex Carmel is our driven Enterprise Account Executive! He enjoys problem-solving with prospects and thrives when navigating complex customer challenges. Alex was inspired to get into sales by his dad; his first job out of college was selling Body Armor drinks “door-to-door” to convenience stores, an experience that sharpened his interpersonal skills and built grit. He works closely with his team to drive success and is eager to help others because he believes sales is a team sport. Outside of work, Alex is a family man. When he’s not caring for his two toddlers, he enjoys exploring new restaurants, snowboarding, traveling, or playing in his beer hockey league.
Read on to learn why Alex values runZero’s unique culture, a place where leadership is accessible, teamwork is essential, and people come first!
Q&A #
â–şWhat do you love most about your job?
I think the most exciting part of selling, especially at a startup like runZero, is that you’re the face of the company to the customer. I get to meet a lot of interesting people, and regardless of a customer’s use case, it’s problem-solving. I enjoy navigating the complexities and even the politics of these bigger companies.
As a sales rep, every day is different to some degree. That's what gets you up in the morning - it’s the excitement of starting a new project - or when we have a customer we know we can help, the team dumps all the resources we can into making them successful and it’s fulfilling when that prospect becomes a customer or we complete a feature request super fast. I’m constantly learning new things and meeting new people with every project I take on, and I love it. Ultimately, I think everyone has the same problem in some way or another, but how they approach it, how they want to fix it, and how we can make that happen varies, and it’s probably the most exciting part of what I do.
â–şWhat makes runZero different than other organizations you've worked at?
Sales at runZero is synergistic; everyone has to come together and do their job for us to close a deal. I've never worked at a place where I could get the founder or the CEO to meet my customers, no matter how big the deal was. As an individual contributor at bigger companies, you're very siloed, whereas here we are a true team, in my opinion, and it's the first company I've worked at where our executive team is accessible. Everyone is clear on the ultimate goals of growing the company and becoming an industry leader.
Another thing that makes runZero different from other organizations is compassion. A unique example of this is the 10-year cliff on our equity, it sends the message that HD and leadership care about their people. You always hear profits over people. We have the inverse here. We’re not perfect, no company is, but leadership and employees really care.
â–şHow do you balance your career and family?
It's tough. Honestly, there are times when you don't. There are times when you have to put your family first, and there are times when you have to put work first. So there's not an easy answer to that. I try to spend at least an hour and a half to 2 hours in the morning with them before I start my day, and unless I have something super pressing, normally my day ends at 5. I like that I can disconnect. I try to not look at my phone until my kids go to bed, but I am in sales... if someone calls, I'll pick up.. I appreciate that leadership provides us with the trust and flexibility to set our schedules. It allows me to be more present, and honestly, I do not miss going into the office.
â–şWhat was the last TV show that you watched?
Landman with Billy Bob Thornton. It's on Paramount Plus and has the same creators as Yellowstone. I never got into Yellowstone, but someone recommended Landman. I get about an hour a night of free time to myself. So I watch one episode a night. It was good. It would not be everyone's cup of tea, a lot of expletives, but it was interesting. I enjoyed it.
