How to Hire Your First SDR at a Startup

What an SDR actually does

An SDR (Sales Development Representative) is responsible for top-of-funnel pipeline generation. They identify target accounts, run outbound sequences, make cold calls, and book qualified meetings for Account Executives. They do not close deals, their job is to get the right people in the room for your AEs to close.

It sounds simple, but done well it is a highly skilled role. Great SDRs have sharp written communication, thick skin, a systematic mindset, and genuine curiosity about the buyer. That combination is less common than it looks on a resume.

When to hire your first SDR

Hire your first SDR when:

• Your AEs are spending more than 25% of their time on prospecting instead of closing
• You have a proven outbound sequence that books meetings
• You can define your ICP precisely enough to give the SDR a clear target list

If you hire an SDR before you have a working outbound motion, you are paying someone to figure out something that should be figured out at the founder or AE level first. This is one of the most expensive and common early-stage mistakes, especially in markets like Boston and Chicago where SDR salaries have climbed with the broader GTM talent market.

What to look for

Coachability is more important than experience. Work ethic is more important than polish. For a first SDR, look for:

• 0–2 years of sales or customer-facing experience
• Genuine curiosity about your product and buyer
• High energy and resilience under rejection
• The ability to write a compelling cold email without help

Run a writing test, give them your ICP and ask them to write a 3-email cold sequence. How they do tells you more than their resume. Look for clarity, specificity, and a hook in the first line that would make you want to keep reading. Most candidates fail this test. The ones who pass are worth pursuing hard.

What to pay

At an early-stage startup: $45K–$60K base, $65K–$85K OTE. Variable comp tied to meetings booked and pipeline generated, not revenue closed. Pay monthly. Provide a laptop and all tools they need from day one. Do not make them share a Salesforce seat or wait two weeks for a sequencing tool license. Those friction points signal disorganization and set a bad tone early.

How to set them up to succeed

Give them a target account list on day one, do not make them build it themselves. Give them your best-performing sequences to start from, not a blank page. Assign them to shadow your best AE for the first two weeks.

Set a clear 30-60-90 day ramp plan with specific activity metrics (calls, emails, meetings booked) for each phase. Do weekly 1:1s focused on skill development, not just pipeline review. The SDRs who wash out fastest are the ones left to figure things out alone in their first 30 days.

The metrics that matter

In months 1–2: activity volume (calls, emails sent), response rates. In month 3+: meetings booked, show rate, pipeline generated. A good SDR should be booking 8–15 qualified meetings per month by month 3, depending on your ICP and sales cycle. If they are not hitting those numbers by month 4, diagnose whether the gap is effort, skill, or tooling, before assuming the hire was wrong.