How to build your first SDR or BDR team at a startup

Updated September 2026

To build your first SDR or BDR team, prove that outbound works with a founder or AE first, then hire two or three coachable SDRs together so you can compare results, with a clear owner who coaches them daily. Assess with a written outreach exercise and a role-played cold call, and set meeting targets from real conversion data rather than guesswork.

When a startup needs SDRs

SDRs multiply a motion that already works. They do not create one. Before hiring, make sure you have an account executive or founder who can close the meetings SDRs book, an ideal customer profile clear enough to build lists from, and messaging that has produced replies at least some of the time.

If AEs are spending most of their week prospecting and still have capacity to run more meetings, that is the signal. If AEs are already overloaded with deals, fix closing capacity first. And if there is no sales leader yet, read our guide on hiring a VP of Sales before building a team underneath nobody.

Who to hire, and why more than one

Hiring a single SDR makes it hard to tell whether a slow start is the person, the list or the message. Two or three hires starting close together give you a comparison and build a small peer group, which helps morale in a role with a lot of rejection.

• Coachability: takes feedback on a call and changes behaviour the same day.
• Resilience: has done something with lots of rejection, such as retail, recruitment, hospitality or earlier sales work.
• Written clarity: writes short, specific messages without jargon.
• Curiosity: researches an account before contacting it.
• Ambition with a path: wants to become an AE, and you should be able to explain how.

Decide who manages them. A founder or senior AE can coach a small team at first, but someone must own daily call reviews and weekly metrics.

Where to find SDR candidates

• Graduates and career changers from customer-facing jobs.
• SDRs at larger companies who want more responsibility and a faster route to closing.
• Referrals from your AEs and customers.
• Sales bootcamps and communities for early-career sellers.

Because this is an early-career role, a well-written job post often attracts volume. The challenge is screening that volume quickly and consistently.

How to assess SDRs

• Short screen: motivation, why sales, why your market, and how they handle rejection.
• Written exercise: give them a real target account and ask for a three-message outreach sequence. Look for research and brevity.
• Role-played cold call: a few minutes with a founder playing a busy prospect. Then give one piece of feedback and run it again. The second attempt tells you more than the first.
• Team conversation: meet the AE they will book meetings for.

Score everyone on the same rubric so you can compare candidates who applied weeks apart.

Onboarding, targets and common mistakes

Give the team a playbook before day one: ideal customer profile, sample sequences, objection handling and the definition of a qualified meeting. Start with activity targets for the first weeks, then switch to qualified meetings once you have data. Close offers with a clear variable plan and a visible path to an AE role.

• Hiring SDRs before anyone can close their meetings.
• No agreed definition of a qualified meeting, which creates friction with AEs.
• Hiring one SDR and judging the whole model on them.
• No time set aside for coaching.
• Paying commission on meetings booked without checking quality.

Where Funded.club fits for SDR hiring

Screening a high volume of early-career applicants takes time founders rarely have. Funded.club assigns one dedicated recruiter who handles sourcing, headhunting and screening, and supports you through offer. First screened candidates arrive within 7 days, and the fill rate is 100%.

Because the fee is fixed per hire, building a team stays predictable. If each SDR role is budgeted at $65,000, three hires on a 20 to 25% contingency model would cost $39,000 to $48,750. At Funded.club's $4,900 band for roles up to $70,000, three hires come to $14,700. See pricing for all bands.

Frequently asked questions

How many SDRs should a startup hire first?

Two or three is often a good starting point, because it lets you compare performance and gives the team peers. One SDR can work, but it makes results harder to interpret.

Who should manage a startup's first SDRs?

A founder, a senior AE or a sales leader can manage them, as long as someone owns daily coaching and weekly metrics. SDR teams without a clear owner tend to drift.

What is the difference between an SDR and a BDR?

Companies use the terms differently. Often SDRs work inbound leads and BDRs focus on outbound prospecting, but many startups use either title for both. Define the role by what the person will do each day.

Can a recruiter help hire several SDRs at once?

Yes. Funded.club runs searches with a dedicated recruiter and charges a fixed fee per hire, so hiring several SDRs has a known cost from the start.

Worth a brief chat about your next hire? Book a free call.