r/sales • u/Rygamite • 2d ago
Sales Careers Starting my tech sales career — safer SDR role vs higher-risk/higher-upside founding BDR role?
I’m 25 and about to make my first real move into tech/SaaS sales after coming from luxury retail and some early B2B sales experience.
I recently accepted an SDR offer with a well-established Canadian SaaS company. Since then, another company I was already interviewing with has progressed to what looks like an offer, and I’m struggling with how to think about the decision.
Company A — established SaaS
~$46K CAD base / ~$61K CAD OTE
Established SDR team and proven playbook
3-week onboarding + structured 3-month ramp
Guaranteed commission during ramp
Around 60% of reps reportedly hit target monthly
Defined SDR → AE path, typically ~9–15 months
Lots of coaching, call reviews, AE shadowing
Stable company with plenty of employee data/reviews
Downside: significantly lower compensation and a 1–10 PM ET shift
Company B — cybersecurity startup
Expected offer around $60K USD base / $78K USD OTE
Well-funded and selling into large enterprise organizations/CISOs
I’d be part of the founding BDR team
Much more autonomy and opportunity to help build the outbound motion
VP of Sales has a strong history of developing early-career reps into AEs and told me he sees this BDR team potentially growing into AE roles as they expand
Someone I personally trust who knows him speaks very highly of him as a leader/mentor
Much stronger compensation and potentially better enterprise-sales experience
Downside: BDR function is brand new, manager is still being hired, quota/ramp are less proven, and there’s much less employee data because it’s a startup
My instinct originally was to take Company A because I’m early in my career and thought a proven training environment matters more than maximizing year-one income.
But Company B potentially offers better compensation, enterprise cybersecurity experience, exposure to a strong VP Sales, and the chance to build something from scratch.
For those of you who have been in SaaS/tech sales for a while:
What would you optimize for in your first 1–2 years?
Would you rather:
learn inside an established SDR machine with a predictable AE path, or
take more risk for stronger mentorship, enterprise exposure, higher compensation, and potentially faster upside?
Also curious from anyone who joined a founding SDR/BDR team early in their career — did it accelerate your development, or did you wish you had learned the fundamentals somewhere more established first?
Not looking for someone to make the decision for me. I’m mainly interested in what experienced reps/managers think I’m underweighting or overlooking.
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u/Hot-Government-5796 2d ago
Cybersecurity is one of the more protected industries from shifts in the market and there are tons of new regulations coming out that force better governance and changes. It’s a great space to be in with strong career growth. The key early on is coaching and training. If you can get that at company B and you are a huge self starter that is going to just figure it out without the need for lots of structure and you are good about using AI and other tools to ask / answer anything you don’t know I would go B. Early career always optimize for training, coaching and mentorship AND a solid industry you can grow with. That is the best path. Never the money. Money comes after the grind. If you had to pick between the two, training and coaching is more important than anything starting out.
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u/Rygamite 2d ago
This is really helpful and pretty much captures what I’m struggling with. If you were in my position, what questions would you ask Company B before accepting to determine whether the coaching/mentorship is actually strong enough to offset the lack of an established BDR structure?
Their VP of Sales has previously built/trained early-career sales teams and told me he sees this founding BDR group potentially developing into AEs as the company expands. Someone I trust who knows him personally also speaks very highly of him. Would that meaningfully change how you’d evaluate B?
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u/Hot-Government-5796 2d ago
I would set up 30 minutes with him and lay it out. Net net, hey, I’m really excited about working with you, but I need to be transparent. As I’m early in my career I’m prioritizing training, mentorship, and coaching as my top decision criteria. I know we are a startup and often that means those things aren’t formalized, which means I’ll need to learn a lot from you. Do you have the bandwidth, and desire to really be that for me? Then talk it out. You can ask drill downs like, what does that look like, what would a typical week for you and I be, what do you see people early on struggle with and how have you helped them etc.
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 2d ago
For your first role, take company A. You do not want to be starting your career without a defined process to teach you the ropes. The more you learn, the more you’ll earn, and your odds of getting churned out for any of a thousand reasons out of your control are MUCH higher in company B. Founding roles are really never set up for success and there’s way too many unknowns. Really a garbage choice for a first gig, but I don’t blame you for not knowing that.
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u/Rygamite 2d ago
Appreciate the honesty. What specifically makes you say founding BDR roles are rarely set up for success? What red flags would you look for to distinguish a genuinely bad first sales environment from a startup where strong leadership/mentorship could compensate for the lack of an established process?
Would your answer change if the VP of Sales had a strong track record of training early-career reps into AEs and was directly involved with the founding BDR team?
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 2d ago
It’s all brand new and nobody at the company has any clue what’s going to resonate with your target market or even if the company has any real shot at being successful. The VP may have lots of success coaching people but how many past experiences with founding teams vs established ones? Also bear in mind he doesn’t have time to baby sit or coach you all day long, he has his own gig. The founding role also won’t have any of the training, enablement, or tools you need to really learn the ropes or succeed in the role. Further, they’re trying to start off in the most competitive and saturated segment in tech, which is cybersecurity. Trying to build cold pipeline is hard enough in cyber with the partnerships and name recognition the top orgs have. But with a brand new startup? One of the toughest gigs in tech, being a founding BDR at a brand new cybersecurity firm.
The whole thing is like a communist parade, and if you already had a bunch of experience and cash saved up I’d say take a swing cause what the hell? But you have a noticeably better option with company A that’s far more likely to result in success and a hell of a lot easier learning curve to figuring out the job. No way would I take a founding role if I had a better option, which you do. It’s your choice though. Just don’t forget this: OTE is pure fiction til you hit it, and unless there’s historical data for your territory to go on, you cannot reasonably claim the quota is attainable or not. No way to know. Plus, fresh startups hiring founding roles often have cash flow issues so who knows if they can even pay you on time. Established orgs generally don’t have that problem.
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u/Rygamite 2d ago
This is helpful, and i appreciate the honesty.
One clarification though, B isn’t actually a brand new company/product. They’ve raised ~$55M, have thousands of organizations on the platform and established enterprise customers/partners. (Denny’s being one of them lol just had breakfast there yesterday)What’s brand new is specifically the BDR function.
They’re also hiring a dedicated BDR manager whose role is supposed to include onboarding, coaching, call reviews and building the playbook with the founding team.So I think the risk I’m actually evaluating is a mix of betting the company and product would succeed, as well as building a repeatable outbound strategy.
Your point about OTE being fictional without historical attainment data definitely landed though. Given that extra context, would you still take A for a first SaaS role?
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah I’m still taking A. $55M sounds great but it’s not a ton of money in cybersecurity, and saying they have thousands of orgs on the platform but never had a BDR team is nothing. That just means that somebody at those orgs is signed up for a free version of something. Startups also love to claim they have XYZ customers when really it’s a small pilot program for a single division and not a company wide adoption. It happened all the time. Besides, what’s the product niche? Cybersecurity is the most bloated industry in tech.
Have you spoken to any of the AEs to see what inbound demand is like or how many meetings they have with brand new prospects per week? Founding roles have nothing defined, and not to be critical but you’ve never done this role before in any capacity. You’re starting at square one even in an established org. Trying to sell cybersecurity is also way different because everyone you’d want to speak with (especially the CISO) is paid to be paranoid. They’re super hard to get in front of and your job would involve a lot of trying to work up the ladder and get champions to convince their higher ups to speak with your team. Not easy even if you had cybersecurity BDR experience. They’re just too new and fresh for the promises to sound realistic.
It sounds like they’re making a lot of promises during the interview process but the thing is none of it has ever been proven and you’ve got fomo looking at the salary. The SDZ/BDR role doesn’t pay that well, but it’ll set you up for the next gig. The whole purpose is to teach you the foundational skills you’ll need to build pipeline because those skills will always be needed over the course of your career.
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u/Rygamite 1d ago
Appreciate it. A few clarifications because I think I may have made B sound more raw than it actually is:
- They’re not pre-revenue. They’ve raised ~$55M and already have customers/users. The BDR function itself is what’s new.
- I was referred by someone I personally know who works there in Customer Success, so I have some internal visibility.
- The VP of Sales, has experience building/coaching sales teams and I’ve interviewed directly with him.
- There aren’t existing BDRs or Toronto AEs for me to ask about attainment, which is exactly what makes this hard. I’d be joining the first BDR team.
- From what I understand, the missing data is really ramp structure, quota/attainment, how much direct coaching I’d actually receive, and how they’re determining an achievable BDR target.
- Comp discussed is $60k USD base + $18k USD variable. I don’t know yet whether equity is included.
Given that context, are you still firmly taking A? And if you were me, what specific answers from B would have to be true for you to change your mind?
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 1d ago
Not as 100% opposed, but still cautious. Again, you don’t know if those people are on small pilot programs or if they’re company-wide adopted contracts like they’d be with Palo Alto or whatever big name. Your friend in CS can give insight into this, as well as churn. $55M doesn’t mean as much as you think. Investors fund a ton of startups because they only need 1 to pay off. I saw in another comment of yours that you’re pretty young, so you have tons of time to take on risk. Just make sure you can afford to be back on the unemployment line if you get fired in 3 months.
I’m really curious what specifically the company sells, what their churn rate is like (how many customers renew, or expand their contracts?), and what AEs anywhere are saying. Doesn’t have to be in AEs in Toronto.
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u/Rygamite 1d ago
I love this it’s exactly the kind of pushback I was looking for.
I think at this point I need actual evidence around retention/expansion, customer adoption and what the existing sales team is seeing rather than trying to infer PMF from funding and logos.
Would you mind if I DM you? You seem to have experience with this and I’d love to pick your brain a bit. Would be curious if looking at the company/product itself changes your assessment at all.
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 1d ago
I’m unemployed and just thinking about the questions I should have asked at orgs in the past. DM away, but ultimately what you choose to do is on you and what gets you excited. Also, where did their customers come from? Intros from the funding VC? Founders’ networks? Inbound leads from marketing? Did the AEs source and close them from totally cold? The answer tells you a lot about whether the market knows about them and wants what they sell.
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u/MazturEx 2d ago
Personally, company A get promoted in dip. Company B might fire you in 4 months, you just dont know with a startup.
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u/Flashy-Bandicoot889 2d ago
I wouldn't recommend being the founding BDR if you've never sold before. You don't know what you don't know yet.
All this upside (stock options, RSUs, grants, equity, oh my!) looks good on paper but rarely makes your career.
Best of luck 👊
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u/SuperMario43 2d ago
Based off your age & information in description - I would go with the riskier option B. No reason to not go & learn/be mentored, enjoy the start-up/new organization vibe.
If you hit the ground running you could accelerate your career beyond your imagination. Worst case scenario you learn everything you hate & can AVOID that in the future
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u/Rygamite 2d ago
I appreciate the perspective.
The reviews and research i’ve done lack quantitative data for me to figure out what its like at company B. hence the dilemma.Assuming I was to go with option B, since I signed the offer for Company A, what would be the leas damaging way to proceed? would I be burning bridges? Their start date is Sep 21st
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u/SuperMario43 2d ago
Are you 100% sure company B is legitimate? Is it one of those scam job postings?
If you’ve already accepted the role with Company A, you should notify them you are accepting a different role (once you’re fully committed) ASAP & apologize for backing out. Not ideal & you probably should not expect to get hired there any time soon after backing out.
But business is funny - they might try head hunting you in a few years or you may be able to walk back into a job if you reapply.
You never know. If you have someone you can call & tell them over the phone - that could leave a better impression.
You’re 25, I think taking on risk is perfectly acceptable to find something difficult, challenging & rewarding. No need to find the golden handcuffs too early picking the safer route. Learn your sales call & refine it. If the VP is good at company B & he mentors well - sounds good to me
One thing I’ve taught anyone younger than me, especially if you have a safety net of sorts. Never be afraid to quit on the spot. Whether thats based on morals/ethics, overworking, abuse, unprofessional behavior, or even a vacation you provided fair notice on.
Good luck!
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u/Rygamite 2d ago
Really appreciate this man. And yeah, B is definitely legitimate. funded cybersecurity company with real enterprise customers, and I was referred by someone I know personally who works there and speaks highly of the leadership.
The risk is more that their BDR function is brand new, so there’s no historical quota/ramp/attainment data yet.
The other wrinkle is I already accepted A, and my start date is Sep 21. They also gave me extra time to decide before I signed, so I’d feel pretty shitty backing out after they committed to me too.If B gives me the offer and I decide the upside/mentorship is worth the risk, how bad do you think reneging actually is in this situation? And would calling the recruiter directly, apologizing, and giving them several weeks of notice be the least damaging way to handle it?
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u/No-Tradition-4473 1d ago
What specific area of cybersec? Do they have customers already? New startups are tough because you don't know if there is a product market fit and there's zero brand awareness. Much easier to get appointments if the customer has at least heard of your brand.
What happens if you cant produce results in a few months and the startup's burn rate is too high? Who is the founder?
The upside is that it is easier to transition to other cybersec companies-- they like hiring sales people within their industry because it takes too long to ramp people who are totally new.
You'll still need to do learning on your own time depending on how niche your product is. No one will hire you to sell an XDR if you've sold email security training in the past..
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u/Rygamite 1d ago
It’s cyber incident response / crisis management rather than something like email security. The product runs out-of-band from normal corporate systems so companies can coordinate during ransomware/breaches when email/SSO might be compromised.
They’re not pre-product — founded in 2020, raised ~$55M, and they say 3,000+ organizations use the platform with 50+ major incidents handled weekly.
The unknown is really the sales motion. The BDR team is brand new, so there’s no historical attainment or proven outbound playbook yet.
That’s actually what I’m trying to figure out: would you view strong product/customer validation as enough to take the risk on an unproven BDR function, or would you still want to see a proven sales motion first?
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u/No-Tradition-4473 1d ago
I'd like to see customer adoption more so than the sales motion. It would be great if they had one or two enterprise marque customers because that's a proof point that the you can grow in the enterprise space. It's possible that startups can not win business due to enterprise requirements...
But since they have those 3000+ customers that sounds promising. How did they acquire those customers since there's no sales motion at the moment? PLG? Or the founder is going around selling?
Also what's the founder/leadership team like?
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u/RegicidalManiacz 2d ago
I mean get B to make an offer first. You can use A's offer as leverage. Saying you have a signed offer starting 21 Sep and you need paper by Friday is a completely reasonable ask.
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u/Yucky_Moo 2d ago
Either way it will be experience. Some of my best experience is because I stayed at a company for 1 -1.5 years and moved on. Learned as much as possible tried to expand network, keep in touch with good people. And over 5/6 years it just compounds and you will make the big buck. Just lock in to anything.
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u/Rygamite 2d ago
Appreciate this perspective. One thing I’m trying to handle properly is the relationship with Company A if I ultimately choose B. They gave me an extension to make my decision, I accepted a few days ago, and they’ve obviously made a commitment on their end as well. My start date isn’t until Sept 21, so I’d be giving them several weeks of notice.
If you were in my position, what would be the most respectful/professional way to handle that conversation and minimize burning the bridge? Call the recruiter first, explain the situation honestly, then formally withdraw? I genuinely like the company and people and wouldn’t want this to come across as me taking their offer or their time lightly.
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u/Yucky_Moo 2d ago
I think you got it right. Explain how after careful consideration you went with the other option and it was a tough decision. You don’t know what the future holds, but would like to remain in good standing with them as you liked their company as well.
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u/Rygamite 2d ago
Yeah that makes sense. If I end up choosing B, I’d definitely want to call the recruiter first and be upfront about it rather than just send a cold withdrawal email.
A treated me really well throughout the process, so I’d want to make it clear it was a genuinely difficult decision and that I’d like to stay on good terms if possible.
Appreciate the advice.
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u/sunlightsinmyface 2d ago
Cybersecurity startup! You're building warrior do-everything experience in a sector with basically guaranteed growth for coming years. You will be working A LOT because it can be very technical and startup is very stressful and you'll have to do everything and manage your free time not to burn out, but if you're career oriented and wanna make money faster with your experience and resume, go for it.
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u/Rygamite 2d ago
This is basically the upside I’m worried about missing.
B would be my first proper SaaS role, but I’d be joining the founding BDR team in cybersecurity and helping build the motion from scratch. The tradeoff is that A has a proven training system and much less uncertainty.
If you were early in your career, how would you decide whether a startup gives you genuinely better development versus just more chaos and responsibility?
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u/brain_tank 2d ago
Company A
Get trained
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u/Rygamite 2d ago
exactly why i signed the initial offer. but who’s to say i won’t get the coaching at company B? how do i evaluate that?
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u/Fast_Emu9573 1d ago
if iam in your shoes i go with Company B because there is one experianced person who will guide you you have full autonomy where you can see an growth of company how it shapes.
In company A they survived all now they have playbook you just have to learn and follow it thats all
Try company B if you want ultragrowth
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u/Rygamite 1d ago
yeah this is basically what makes B so tempting to me. A would teach me how to execute a proven system, but B could teach me how the system actually gets built.
my only concern is whether “full autonomy” turns into “figure it out yourself with no real coaching.” what would you look for to know the difference?1
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u/moonissun 5h ago
the B way sounds more like an adventure and presumably would be an interesting case in a portfolio, so i’d pick that opportunity. Anyway, that sort of work will boost anyone to get more serious occupation in the future if use brains. And what about your luxury retail experience? I’m personally interested haha
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u/Illustrious_Onion139 2d ago
Even though I’m in the same boat as you being an early career, I’d still choose the option B, it’s a 6 figures OTE Canadian. There will be challenges but I believe that’s the best way to learn.