startupgeek23

SDR

Sr. Enterprise BDR- > SMB AE

Hey team,

Recently got promoted to Sr. BDR after 3 quarters of hitting quota in a row in a startup with not much promotion structure. Have been an Enterprise BDR for 5 months as well. All the AE's have been here for a while, I like the people around me a lot, but there's not much investment in SDR's and there are always constantly changing things that we can't control like stage 3 conversions which are fully in the AE's hands.

It's looking like 3+ more quarters to be an AE here, but I recently started looking around and have gotten interviews from pretty big companies (crowdstrike) for SMB AE roles and Sr. BDR(360Learning, and a couple others) with a lot more pay and clear path to promotion.

I've been an SDR for 16 months total now, and am looking for some advice on what my next step should be.

🗣 Interviewing

15 comments

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Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Get your $ my guy, that's all I have to say. I've been a BDR for 11 months at my company and got promoted to AE, but I've been getting competing offers as well.

Keep your DMs open on LinkedIn and take as many interviews as you can. If you change your settings to open to "Enterprise AE" roles that's a passive way to get interviews, the more direct way is to cold dm the hiring managers or the Enterprise Directors(Which I'd recommend)

If your company won't appreciate you, jump ship and make your money. Good luck!!

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Yes yes yes 🍺🐬

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

That’s the risk many companies take is not promoting SDRs quickly enough.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

A lot more pay and a clear path to promotion sounds great, actually. Have you gotten past the interview stage and into solid offers yet?

startupgeek23

Fire Starter

SDR

I'm on my 3rd interviews with the Director's/VP's for a couple SMB AE and Sr. Enterprise BDR roles.

ClutchDeluxe

Valued Contributor

asking people for money

Congrats on the promotion!

My two cents? Depends if you want a closing role now. It seems to be harder to get into enterprise AE roles so if there is a clear path the enterprise closing (and that is what you want), then I suggest creating a plan with your manager that leads to a closing role within a reasonable time. Closing smaller deals now by switching might be super satisfying, but it's hard to go from SME to enterprise again.

startupgeek23

Fire Starter

SDR

Thank you! Manager reports to the CRO, and they recently just created an SDR promotion path, everytime I bring up AE they say "we'll talk when there's the right opportunity".

ClutchDeluxe

Valued Contributor

asking people for money

Hmm sounds like a fob off to me. Keep an eye on the sales team and any leave, jump in. If the AEs all hit their quota you could argue that there is more out there to close so they should expand the team to include you.
But it sounds like the move out might reap rewards a lot faster.

startupgeek23

Fire Starter

SDR

Agreed, I like that move. Funny thing is SDR's don't even know the AE quota and they aren't held very accountable to their number compared to ours. Thanks again!

E_Money

Big Shot

💰

Make sure you communicate to your manager too. Let them know that you are itching to get into a closing role and give them the chance to make it happen for you. If they can't/won't then that's what you pull out the big guns and go get some offers at other places.

ABCvs

Valued Contributor

VP of Growth

Grats on the promo!

You need to lean on management to determine your path to AE. If you aren’t satisfied, find a new role that provides the path you are comfortable with.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Congrats! Next - do you want to close? (more money) or do you want to manage?

startupgeek23

Fire Starter

SDR

I want to close and make $$ haha.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

Professional Day Ruiner

If you can make the jump from being an SDR at your company to an AE somewhere else, do it.

Don't make the jump from an SDR where you are now to an SDR somewhere else. The last thing you want is to reset that clock of being an SDR for another 12+ months somewhere else.

vlookup1990

Vice President, Enterprise

if you can get SMB AE at crowdstrike, do it. while it's not enterprise, AE > BDR and crowdstrike > startup. you'll also get paid

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startupgeek23

Sr. Enterprise BDR- > SMB AE

15 comments

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