If you send too many “A” commands, you will immediately re-enter the “change grip/order” screen and the Pi will be disconnected from the switch. Once your first “A” command is recognized, you will return to the Controllers menu. The first few button presses can take a moment to take hold, so be patient and wait for a response even if you see the “cmd>” prompt.
Press enter and wait until the Switch responds. At this point, you’re connected and ready to input commands into the CLI. This can sometimes take a moment or two, but eventually you’ll see “cmd>” printed in in the terminal. A bunch of info will be printed out to your terminal on the Pi.