It's SO Different

Good morning, and welcome back to First Meeting Set, the official newsletter of TopSDRs.

Before I go any further into the newsletter, I do want to call one thing out: NYC is alive right now in a way I have never experienced before. The combination of impeccable weather PLUS the Knicks being in the finals has the city buzzing in a way I have never experienced in my 7+ years living here. This is a picture I took Monday night, walking from a candidate dinner to a Knicks watch party:

Just awesome stuff. If you don’t already live here…it’s worth thinking about 👀 

Alright, now into the newsletter.

Today I want to talk about the SDR/startup interview process. Interviewing for an SDR role, and for a startup in general, is a very different process from interviewing for a large company. Where big corporations have long, political interview processes with HR involved at every step, startups are able to move at warp speed in their hiring and all bureaucracy is cut out. If you haven’t actually been through one of these processes before, it can be a little jarring, so the below is designed to help set expectations when it comes to SDR/startup interviews.

1. Expect Speed - The first thing that I think people should know about interviewing with a series A/B startup is that these companies move fast. When I say fast, I mean I have seen candidates go from first conversation to offer in a span of 10 days. Granted, that isn’t the norm, but even the slowest of processes is wrapping up in under a month. So what does this mean? Generally speaking, don’t start interviewing with startups unless you’re actually ready to make the leap.

2. Vibes Matter…A Lot - There I said it. People don’t seem to like to talk about this, but it’s a reality. Interviewing for a startup isn’t just about CAN you do the job. Startups are looking for people who are the full package. Doing the job is part of that, but it’s not the whole thing. You have to be smart, personable, articulate, able to banter/show you can have fun, and have a personality outside of work. But here is the harsh reality, as someone who interviews tons of people every single day: most people fall flat here. They speak slowly, have no intonation, use too many filler words, and just generally fail to let real, genuine energy shine through when speaking. The other tough truth here: studying up on the company more won’t solve your vibes problem. I’ve seen people with way less product knowledge outperform product experts because the former group knows how to show up to the conversation and build rapport, where the latter doesn’t. The other final harsh truth here: nobody is going to tell you you’re not passing the vibes test. BUT odds are, if you’re having a tough time getting through early rounds despite good experience/product knowledge, you may fall into this category. My recommendation if this is you: stop studying the product and start listening to podcasts, commencement speeches etc. from bonafide A-players. Absorb how they engage with their audience, be deliberate about integrating what you observe into your own patterns. It is fixable!
   

3. The Actual Structure - Generally speaking, startups structure their SDR interview processes into 4 parts.

   1. Round I - Behavioral 1: 15-30-minute behavioral screen. Depending on the size of the company, this may be with one of the members of the SDR team, a manager, a team lead, or someone from HR. In my mind, the key things being assessed here are 1) Vibes 2) do you really want to do sales 3) do you actually know what the company does and have a good reason for being interested in it 4) do you have a few REAL questions prepped. My recommendation for how to prep: do your research on the business. Go beyond just the website. Google the business/founders and find podcasts, read their blog posts on LinkedIn. Dig in. That prep will really serve you well throughout the process.

   2. Round II - Behavioral 2: This one can vary, but generally it’s another behavioral conversation with someone else on the team to gut check that the person is good. Again, the goal is to check vibes and feel out if the person REALLY wants to work in sales at a startup.

   3. Round III - Technical: Every single startup that is hiring for an SDR seat will run some type of technical interview. Generally, it is a mock prospecting/outbound exercise. You’ll be asked to identify a company + individual to reach out to, and then tasked with writing outbound emails and acting out a mock cold call on behalf of the company. Do NOT underestimate this round. If you haven’t prospected, outbounded, or cold-called before, talk to people who have. We work with every candidate we place on this because it is a very particular skill set. Even the best candidates can flop if they haven’t practiced. NOTE: we will do a future blog post with tips on how to nail this piece of the process specifically.

   4. Round IV - Onsite (final): As a final round, most startups will have candidates in process come in the office for a super day. Over the course of 3-4 hours, you’ll meet members of the team across engineering, CS, sales, and C-suite. Don’t get comfortable if you’ve made it to this round. Nail the basics. Show up 10 minutes early, dress 1-level above where you think you need to (polo + khakis is generally good…suit/tie isn’t needed EVER for startups). Have good questions prepped, and dig into the team ahead of time so you know who you’re going to be meeting. NOTE: sometimes rounds III and IV are combined into one it really just depends on the company.
      

4. SEND FOLLOW UPS - This is the lowest-hanging fruit in an interview process, but it can make all the difference. In the past, I have asked hiring managers “how did it go with X candidate” and they’ve replied “good, but waiting to see how is follow up is before making a decision.” You’re interviewing for a sales role. Follow ups are essential in sales and so companies want to see if you have the wherewithal to do it in the interview process. It doesn’t need to be anything crazy by the way. 2-3 sentences thanking them for the time, mentioning one thing you specifically enjoyed/took away from the convo, and excitement for next steps is more than enough.
   

5. Negotiate:

   1. In junior roles at big corporations there is very little room for negotiation. Every analyst gets paid the same as the next guy. In startups, it’s a bit different, especially for sales roles. People expect salespeople to negotiate. I’m not saying that you should go out and demand 50% more than you’re offered, but asking for 5k more on the base or 10% more on the OTE/variable is reasonable. One note here…I generally think you can negotiate on one of the three (base, variable, equity). In my opinion, companies like to see salespeople who negotiate on variable because it shows they really believe in themselves. (80k base 120 OTE is standard comp guidance for the roles we place for reference).

Alright, that’s all for now. Hopefully, this has helped you paint a picture of what to expect from the SDR interview process. We’ll do more deep dives on how to ace each of the above steps in the future. As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions, and thanks for following along!

- Andrew and Chris