Inside Alation's Sales Culture of Collaboration and Success

At Alation, our sales team is our secret weapon. These Alationauts play a key role in our company's growth and help our customers strengthen a data culture in their organizations with AI-ready data.

So how do we attract top sales talent? It comes down to culture. We don’t mean to brag, but we’re going to for one second: we’ve bagged a total of $342 million in funding, are trusted by 550 customers and 40% of Fortune 100 companies, and are a 4X Inc. Best Workplaces award winner. This award-winning company culture allows our Alationauts to excel in their careers and in sales.

To learn more about what sets our sales culture apart, I chatted with two experienced Alation account executives, Kelsey Maylof and Dylan Yelinek in a recent webinar. These seasoned sales executives shed light on the unique aspects of our sales culture, Alation’s market opportunity, and the keys to success for working here.

If you feel the FOMO or want to relive the highlights, check out the key takeaways below.

Moving the ball at Alation

Collaboration is at the core of Alation's sales team’s work ethic. Yelinek explains how the sales team operates as a tight-knit community, working together with leadership to achieve shared goals and overcome challenges. “Sales is not an individual sport,” Yelinek shares. “It's a team sport. I can't lift the whole rock myself; I need everyone around to support me. Some members of our sales leadership have been here for almost 12 years and are a wealth of knowledge. They're really leaders and subject matter experts about data catalogs and data governance, so I'm constantly learning from them.”

Malof praises the sales operations team at Alation for their creativity and flexibility that allows the sales team to get deals across the finish line. “I have been shocked by the level of creativity and flexibility that our sales operations team at Alation has,” reveals Malof. “As salespeople, when we think about meeting our customers where they are, we have to make sure that we're doing the right commercial modeling to get them not only in the door with Alation, but also protect their upside and allow them to scale over time. That's something that isn't always as flexible at other organizations. With our sales operations team at Alation, their creativity is bar none, and that’s a huge part of our deal culture.”

The market opportunity for data intelligence

As the prevalence for AI increases, there’s a growing need for trusted data to make informed, data-driven decisions. Yelinek shares how Alation plays a vital role in helping organizations find trusted data quickly. “When people think about AI, they need to have trusted data,” he explains. “You need to make sure you’re training these models off of trusted data, and that's really our bread and butter. We help organizations find and trust data quicker than anyone else can.”

Yelinek also shares how Alation’s reputation precedes it. “Our credibility is big,” he says. “We've been a leader in this space since we established it, being the first one to pioneer a data catalog. So when people are looking for a new tool, we're on the top of the list. I'm not having to do a ton of evangelizing. People know who we are, we’re well respected in the space, and we have a ton of great partners.”

Global sales team and remote work culture

Both Malof and Yelinek touched upon Alation’s globally distributed sales team and our offices in the US (Redwood City and Salt Lake City) along with London, Chennai, and more. Alation even recently expanded its presence in Japan!

With this global emphasis also comes an appreciation for our hybrid work model that allows for remote work, office collaboration, and even travel. “We get to travel a lot,” explains Malof. “I'm out in the field visiting customers every single week.”

Yelinek celebrates our approach to work, sharing, “I think there's a huge advantage of being able to go in the office and have collaboration and continue building our culture. Our hybrid approach is great, and really the best of both worlds.”

Know why Alation stands out amongst the competition

For those looking to join the Alation sales team, Malof advises knowing why Alation is named a leader in analyst reports such as The Forrester Wave™: Data Governance Solutions, Q3 2023 report and the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Metadata Management Solutions. “Someone with true sales DNA is going to know our competitors, too,” Malof states. “For those of you who are newer to the sales world, a great place to start is going to Gartner and Forrester and leading analyst firms and seeing where Alation is in the market today. That's something I look for when I'm interviewing and something that can oftentimes be overlooked.”

Experience sales success yourself at Alation

Just like Yelinek and Malof, you can kick your sales career into high gear at Alation.

We’re looking for curious, motivated, and results-driven enterprise account executives to join us. Check out our open roles on our careers page and join a company that takes hiring (and data intelligence) seriously.