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On October 22, 2026, Bardia Shahali offered the judgment that a single deal at the AI infrastructure layer can reach tens of millions of dollars and can be completed within two weeks. The same report introduces that he once grew the sales team from about $3 million to about $400 million at Fireworks AI, and is now Vice President of Sales at Granola. The report also states that all inference providers are competing for the same set of customers, making competition fiercer; because model capabilities reach new heights every 45 days, compensation plans have been changed from annual to quarterly. At the infrastructure layer, FDEs, SEs, and AEs are paired to deliver complex products, while at the application layer, AEs and CSMs deliver software, but with higher productivity and speed of adoption. At present, this judgment appears only in this one report, with no other independent sources or subsequent developments.
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Tomasz Tunguz: Differences in AI Application and Infrastructure Sales—Eight-Figure Deal Closed in Two WeeksDevelopments
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Bardia Shahali says he can close eight-figure deals within two weeks
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Oct 22
Tomasz Tunguz's blog
Tomasz Tunguz: Differences in AI Application and Infrastructure Sales—Eight-Figure Deal Closed in Two Weeks
At Fireworks AI, Bardia Shahali grew the sales team from about $3 million to about $400 million; he is now VP of Sales at Granola. He points out that at the AI infrastructure layer, individual deals can reach tens of millions of dollars and close in as little as two weeks, but all inference providers are competing for the same set of customers, making competition fiercer. Because model capabilities reach new heights every 45 days, compensation plans have shifted from annual to quarterly. At the infrastructure layer, FDEs, SEs, and AEs are paired to deliver complex products, while at the application layer, AEs and CSMs deliver software, but with higher productivity and adoption speed.