James Deacon

CEO

San Francisco, California, United States11 yrs 7 mos experience

Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

Top-performing Account Executive with consistent sales success.
Established revenue enablement function at Mercury.
Built foundational sales processes in early-stage startups.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS sales and enablement expert with a strong background in early-stage startups.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Strategic PartnershipsGtmSales EnablementGo-to-market StrategySalesTeachingPhotography

Other Skills

Community DevelopmentStart-up VenturesEnablementStrategic PlanningCross-team CollaborationStrategic SalesEarly-Stage StartupsSales Process DevelopmentSales ProspectingSales ProcessSales PresentationsSales TrainingsSales OperationsSales LeadershipCold Calling

About

Currently: All things venture ecosystem at Mercury. Previously at Mercury: I built and led revenue enablement, supporting our GTM teams with playbooks, onboarding, competitive insight, and cross-functional alignment. Earlier at Mercury, I was a top-performing Account Executive, leading the company in total deposits and new accounts opened across a two and a half year period. Before Mercury: I was the founding sales hire at HiHello, an early AE at Prelude (acquired by Calendly), and an SDR at Everlaw. Across these roles, I helped build GTM motions from the ground up and sold into a variety of markets. My experience spans sales, enablement, partnerships, and early-stage GTM, with a consistent focus on long-term outcomes. I bring a track record of exceeding targets, building high-value relationships, collaborating cross-functionally, and executing go-to-market strategies that deliver measurable impact. Before tech: I was an English teacher and sports coach in the UK. A wonderfully rewarding first career where I helped students achieve excellent results in the classroom and on the sports field.

Experience

Mercury

4 roles

Venture Ecosystem - SF

Promoted

Jan 2026 – Present · 2 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Focused on building high-trust relationships with founders & investors.

Strategic PartnershipsGTMCommunity DevelopmentStart-up Ventures

Revenue Strategy & Enablement

May 2025 – Jan 2026 · 8 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

First Revenue Enablement hire at Mercury, establishing the function’s mandate, operating model, and priorities.
Designed and shipped scalable GTM systems that improved execution speed, cross functional alignment, and day to day effectiveness across Revenue, PMM, and Ops.
Led a full redesign of revenue onboarding, shortening ramp time and enabling new hires to reach productivity faster with less manager overhead.
Launched centralised Enablement and Product Launch Hubs, replacing fragmented knowledge with durable systems of record used across GTM.
Established Mercury’s first structured competitive intelligence program, equipping reps with actionable insights and improving confidence in competitive deals.
Created Mercury’s first standardised Value Prop Matrix, aligning teams on consistent product messaging and improving call quality and onboarding effectiveness.

Sales EnablementEnablementGo-to-Market StrategyStrategic PlanningCross-team Collaboration

Senior Account Executive

Promoted

Feb 2024 – May 2025 · 1 yr 3 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Q2 2025:
#1 salesperson in total deposits
Q1 2025:
#1 salesperson in total deposits
#1 salesperson in accounts opened
2024:
#1 salesperson in total deposits
#1 salesperson in accounts opened
Led the sales/BD team in revenue and new business acquisition
Cross-functional GTM strategy:
Sales lead on: Y Combinator, Berkeley SkyDeck, PearX & ODF
Supported cross-functional GTM efforts on: South Park Commons & 500 Global
Sales lead on all in-person and community events in the Bay Area

Strategic SalesSalesEarly-Stage StartupsGo-to-Market StrategySales Process Development

Account Executive

Nov 2022 – Feb 2024 · 1 yr 3 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

2023:
#1 salesperson in total deposits
#2 salesperson in accounts opened

SalesSales ProspectingSales ProcessSales Presentations

Prelude

Mid-Market Account Executive

May 2022 – Nov 2022 · 6 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

First mid-market AE and sales hire #3
Closed $X00K in new ARR during ramp period, contributing to early revenue growth.
[Prelude was acquired by Calendly in September 2022]
Backed by: Fuel Capital, Elad Gil, Sam Altman and Jack Altman.

SalesSales ProcessSales Process DevelopmentSales TrainingsStrategic SalesSales Presentations

Hihello, inc.

Founding Account Executive

Apr 2021 – May 2022 · 1 yr 1 mo · San Francisco Bay Area

Employee #9 and first sales hire, reporting directly to the Co-Founder & CEO.
#1 seller in 2021 and Q1 2022, closing 70% of the company’s largest ARR deals and driving the first $X00K in revenue to establish early GTM traction.
Built the company’s foundational sales engine: scalable processes, pitch decks, talk tracks, onboarding materials, and AE training that shaped the sales culture as the team scaled.
Expanded top-of-funnel and brand visibility by producing SEO content, product walkthroughs, and social video assets used across Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success.
Backed by: Foundry Group, Lux Capital, August Capital. Additional investors included the co-founders of Lyft, Everlaw, Auth0, Path/June, and Military.com, and product leaders from LinkedIn and Facebook.

SalesSales EnablementSales OperationsSales ProcessSales Leadership

Everlaw

Sales Development Representative

Aug 2020 – Apr 2021 · 8 mos · Oakland, California, United States

Q1 2021: 110% to quota - top-performing SDR company-wide
Q4 2020: 105% to quota during ramp period
Backed by: Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures, TPG, HIG Growth Partners, CapitalG and K9 Ventures.

SalesCold CallingOutreachStrategic SalesSalesforce Lightning

Career break

Relocation

Sep 2019 – Jul 2020 · 10 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Relocated from the UK to the USA, and transitioned into a new career in tech.
During this time, I volunteered across a diverse range of nonprofit causes, delivering fifteen marketing and communications projects via the Catchafire platform.