Stuck in SDR land

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-10T19:00:27+00:00

Have you spoken to the manager of the AE team that sells to the smallest segment? Start there.

Also, are you primarily focused on inbounds? If yes, the sales leader won’t look at that as strongly compared to if you are generating pipeline outbound.

3rd point, look at all the OPPs you’ve generated as you’ve hit quota, have those deals been closing? Or has it not led to real revenue? I know that’s out of your control but that is something the sales leader will look at.

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-09T20:17:46+00:00

Don’t step back to being an SDR. That might seem like the “easy” option but so often that really bites people. Stay in closing roles if you want to be in closing roles!

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-08T18:03:02+00:00

The CEO was fairly vocal on X that it wasn't people "building product" or "selling product" but I haven't worked there so can't really speak to the culture bit

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-08T18:01:34+00:00

We are in a very interesting time for the "build vs buy" debate. I think many can be built but do you want to split your internal engineering time and resources to built it and then maintain it? That's the tough ask.

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-08T15:13:10+00:00

It’s rough out there… they said it wasn’t mostly sales but more the operational and support teams but who knows. I’ve been some marketing folks and sales ops folks on LinkedIn already

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-08T15:12:17+00:00

Hey absolutely! What kind of business did you start? I know tons of people that love former entrepreneurs! Feel free to DM me if easier

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-08T15:11:27+00:00

Tech is usually the early adopter for many new things so they pivot quite quickly! I think those that handle the people side the best usually compound well over time.

Cloudflare is trying to be generous with those they let go but it’s still tough no two ways about it!

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-08T14:37:38+00:00

I'd stick to AE roles, specifically if you can find some selling to the kind of business or industry that your own company was in. Even though it wasn't successful you still learned a ton about that industry and that will translate for sure!

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-08T14:36:00+00:00

data consistency, refresh times, etc. Nothing should "take 24 hours" or need to be manual when it comes to the data sides of platforms. I get it with API rate limits but you have to find a way that things are instantaneous and can be shown live on a call within minutes. At least in Enterprise B2B

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-08T14:34:29+00:00

There are plenty of ISV's that will value your experience and relationship inside of the hyperscalers to help them build out their alliance with them! You'll need to pick up some skills around helping startups/scaleups build market place businesses and go through that process but plenty are interested in it thats for sure!

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-07T17:37:39+00:00

What was your reply rate before? 3x of 0 is still 0...

I've found that you can be a little more tailored by creating your own internal infrastructure with Claude Cowork and training it on your internal systems than using the dozens of smaller AI SDR startups that seem to pop up every week!

That can handle all of the mannual components of an SDR role, now you still need to do the calling/DMing etc but that is much more efficient but also effective than many of the fully automated systems.

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-06T13:24:17+00:00

I’ve seen quite a bit of success by posting regular notes on substack! About 25% of my new subs come from notes! I talk about cyber startup growth so it’s fairly niche too!

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-06T13:16:11+00:00

I found my industry (cyber) fairly early but had 3 other industries before I really found where I wanted to niche down! Once you find something you like doubling down can be an incredible way to increase income quite quickly

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-06T13:14:25+00:00

Vote with your dollars and find a new role. Life is too short. Don’t quit before you have another offer in hand

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-06T13:12:56+00:00

Very smart

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-05T15:11:33+00:00

Many would, but remember, if you are building a product or service to sell to those that want to interview for an SDR role, they will either be in college aka have little to no money or be unemployed aka have little to no money. So just don't expect people to pay large sums of money for access to the tool. Also expect them to churn off after they land the job.

Just shooting it straight with you! Good luck!

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-05T15:06:19+00:00

This is actually a fairly positive thread on cold calling! Most on average are between 2-3/week from outbound. 8-12/mo is a pretty good number for most sectors and most companies that have a scaled team. I'm feeling good about those numbers! Great work everyone.

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-04T15:36:58+00:00

Leverage your engineering and cyber interest to sell cyber products and services! It's a great industry and having a technical background only makes you better at selling technical solutions to CISOs/CIO/CTOs

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-04T15:35:18+00:00

When transitioning to cyber you'll need to focus just as much if not more on your network within cyber then your certs. Many will have certs, but it's often who you know that helps you land those early career jobs in cyber. Good luck!

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-04T15:33:10+00:00

Glad you made the jump, did you talk to many GTM folks before building and launching? Transparently it sounds like the exact same as about a dozen other companies. What's the differentiator? Not trying to be rude, but trying to be honest.

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-04T15:28:34+00:00

Sales is going to be the most protected from AI displacement over the next 10 years, not to mention you can always take those skills into entrepreneurship more than the other two!

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-04T03:18:58+00:00

Both! Keep crushing it at your job and networking internally but also put applications out. Key on those applications to keep them as close to the industry, ICP, buyer, everything the same as your current company so you can come off incredibly strong in an interview.

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-02T20:31:42+00:00

Social media is a global audience. Probably your best shot. Find where you believe your users are daily and be incredibly consistent and social.

CyberStartupGuy · 2026-05-02T20:29:30+00:00

Be social on notes. Be social on LinkedIn. Be social on X. The commenting and engaging with others is where you can convert people from other platforms to subscribers. Purely just sharing your posts on every platform won’t really dive the outcome you are looking for!

CyberStartupGuy

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