ElevenLabs VP warns sales candidates: 20x quota, long hours, or get out
In short: Carles Reina, ElevenLabs’ head of go-to-market and one of the company’s earliest employees, has issued a candid warning to candidates considering sales roles at the $11 billion voice AI company: expect long hours, constant travel, and an annual quota worth 20 times your base salary, with termination as the direct consequence of missing it. The comments, made on the 20VC podcast hosted by Harry Stebbings, have drawn attention for their directness at a moment when ElevenLabs is one of the fastest-growing AI companies in Europe. The company raised $500 million in a Series D led by Sequoia Capital in February 2026, having scaled to $330 million in annual recurring revenue in three years without relaxing the performance bar Reina describes.
