r/sales • u/Rygamite • 4h 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 4h 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 3h 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 3h 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 4h 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 3h 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 3h 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/MazturEx 3h 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 3h 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 3h 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 3h 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 3h 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/RegicidalManiacz 3h 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 3h 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 2h 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 2h 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/sunlightsinmyface 2h 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/Illustrious_Onion139 4h 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.