Shawn Qanun

Hey! I’m Shawn.

I love startups and all the challenges that come with trying to do impossible things. I’ve spent eight years selling technical products to technical buyers, from employee #1 at Float to Snowflake. Today I’m an Enterprise Account Executive at Terminal.

Portrait of Shawn Qanun
Toronto
Work, 2018 → now

Where I’ve been, and what I did there.

Terminal

Oct 2026 – now

Telematics data infrastructure for the commercial fleet industry. Y Combinator, Series A led by Battery Ventures.

Enterprise Account Executive

Back at an early-stage startup. Terminal gives insurers, fleet software companies and fleet operators one API to 300+ telematics providers, so they can build on vehicle, driver, location and safety data without stitching together every integration themselves.

  • Full-cycle enterprise sales: prospecting, discovery, technical evaluation and close.
  • Selling to product, data and engineering leaders at insurers, fleet software companies and large fleet operators.

Snowflake

Feb 2025 – Oct 2026

The AI Data Cloud.

Account Executive, Financial Services

I owned net-new business across Canada’s fintech, crypto, financial services and tech companies, and came in with no prior industry experience. Most of my deals were technical: I sat with data and engineering leaders to figure out what they should build on Snowflake, then helped them buy it.

  • Owned full-cycle sales for net-new accounts in FinServ, fintech, crypto and technology.
  • Partnered with CDOs, CTOs, VPs of Engineering and Directors of AI/Data to design and commercialize AI/ML use cases: custom RAG pipelines, AI agents, ML models and text-to-SQL applications.
  • Went deep on Cortex AI/ML and OpenFlow so I could support technical buyers and unblock complex deals myself.
  • Led the team in cold Tier 1 account closures.
  • Selected for peer coaching, mentorship and the AE interview panel.
117%of first-year quota, with no ramp
206%of quota in Q2 FY26, after 150% in Q1
Top 5in pipeline generation out of 60+ AEs
3 of 4quarters winning the Pipeline Gen Excellency Award, the only rep worldwide to do it

Minerva AI

Mar 2024 – Feb 2025

AI-powered risk and compliance screening for financial institutions.

Senior Enterprise AE → interim Head of Sales

I sold a technical API product to Fortune 500 financial services companies, without a full-time Solutions Engineer. I focused on rethinking the buying experience and proving that an outbound-first motion could work, then stepped up to run sales.

  • Built the strategy to break into Fortune 500 accounts, mapping decision-makers and stakeholders across risk, compliance and engineering.
  • Proved an outbound-first GTM motion with key accounts like FIS, Coinbase and Robinhood.
  • Built C-level relationships and ran onsite and virtual demos tailored to each client’s risk and compliance needs.
  • Worked with product and customer success so implementations actually landed.
  • As interim Head of Sales, owned GTM strategy, pricing, business development, RevOps and cross-functional alignment.
225%of year-to-date quota
$9M+qualified pipeline built
0 SEstechnical API deals run without a dedicated Solutions Engineer

Float

Feb 2021 – Mar 2024

Corporate cards and spend management for Canadian businesses.

Founding Employee → Senior Enterprise AE

Float is what cemented my love for startups. I joined as the first employee, reporting to the CEO, before the company had customers. Over three years and three roles I built the revenue team, then took Float into enterprise. By the time I left, Float had 3,000+ customers, $20M in revenue and close to $1B in annualized payment volume.

Account Executive (Head of Sales), Founding Employee

Feb 2021 – Mar 2022 · pre-seed through Series A
  • Hired to take Float from 0 to 1, building the revenue function across sales, marketing and business development.
  • Built a repeatable sales process that took Float from 2 beta customers to 300+ in six months, growing monthly payment volume from $17K to $6.4M.
  • Recruited, hired, coached and trained up to 20 people across BDR, AE, CSM and Support.
  • Supported the Seed and Series A raises, with investors including Tiger Global and Golden Ventures.

Senior Mid-Market AE & Enablement Partner

Mar 2022 – Mar 2023
  • Managed a team of 7 BDRs while carrying my own quota.
  • Built the enablement program from scratch: playbook, processes, onboarding and training for new hires across GTM.
  • My BDR team’s sales-qualified leads converted at 80%, well above target.
  • Worked across regions and departments to find sales gaps and build strategies for new markets.

Senior Enterprise Account Executive

Mar 2023 – Mar 2024
  • Led Float’s expansion into enterprise, domestic and international, closing accounts like Ada, 1Password, D2L and Neo Financial.
  • Grew enterprise accounts from 0 to 8 in 10 months, working with product, marketing and ops to make Float enterprise-ready.
  • Ran the experiment that moved Float from monthly billing to upfront annual contracts, a 20× increase in ACV.
  • Built partnerships with VCs and institutional partners, and worked opportunities worth up to $300M in annualized payment volume.
143%average quarterly attainment over ~36 months, missing quota only twice
200%four periods in a row
0 → 3,000+customers while I was there
$70Mraised from Tiger Global, Goldman Sachs and Golden Ventures

Conexiom

Apr 2020 – Feb 2021

Sales order automation for manufacturers and distributors.

Senior Global Enterprise BDR Lead

I joined in the mid-market segment just as COVID hit, got promoted to senior within months, and moved up to help lead the enterprise segment.

  • Developed new business across the US Southeast and Midwest, then moved into enterprise after building $4.25M in ARR pipeline.
  • Prospected organizations with $1B+ in revenue.
  • Chosen by leadership as the only rep sourcing new opportunities in EMEA, on top of my own territory.
  • Managed, trained and onboarded 15+ new hires while consistently beating quota.
$6.25MARR pipeline built
15+new hires trained and onboarded

Fidelity Investments

Jun 2019 – Mar 2020

Asset management.

Business Development Representative → Associate

I started on the phones and got promoted in five months, then moved into helping advisors place their clients in the right Fidelity mandates.

  • Took around 60 inbound calls a day from advisors and brokers across Canada, and became a go-to resource on product, policy and process.
  • Set up a mentor system and rebuilt outdated training with senior leaders.
  • As an Associate, supported relationships with 500+ advisor clients, with 30 to 40 outbound calls a day.
  • Booked 120+ in-person meetings with a quarter of the territory in two months.
$15Min sales from those meetings
5 monthsto promotion

RBC

May 2018 – Apr 2019

Royal Bank of Canada.

Client Advisor

Where it started. I worked with clients in the branch, finding the right advice, products, digital tools and partner introductions for each of them, inside strict compliance routines. I beat my sales targets week after week.

How I work

A few things I believe.

  1. Do whatever the business needs to win.

    At Float that meant selling, hiring, building the playbook and answering support tickets. Titles come second.

  2. Be the most curious person in the room.

    The best sellers understand the buyer’s business better than the buyer expects. I read everything: 10-Ks, earnings calls, the docs.

  3. Do less, and do it right.

    Fewer accounts, deeper work, real outcomes. I’d rather close the right deal than chase ten wrong ones.

  4. Leave people better than I found them.

    Coaching reps, running deal reviews, building onboarding. Watching teammates grow is the best part of the job.

Where I can help: building sales from zero, GTM strategy and ICP, full-cycle enterprise deals, coaching and enablement, RevOps, and selling technical products without a dedicated SE.

School

Wilfrid Laurier University, Honours BBA in Economics & Financial Management. Four years of varsity rugby.

Languages

English (native), Farsi and Dari (fluent), French (working).

Tools I use every day

Claude for research, account planning and writing. It also helped me build this site.

Say hi.

Always happy to talk startups, sales or AI. Email is the fastest way to reach me.