Founder — BizDev Labs. Progressive outbound BDR agency (45+ SaaS clients 🚀)

In 2020, I quit my job with $3K in the bank and no plan. 

Two years later, I built a multi-million-dollar BDR agency and earned a spot on Forbes 30U30.

Today I am redefining the role of a BDR. I believe the BDR role is a lifelong career. And my goal is to build the most tenured BDR team on the market.

—-

Outside of work, I was an Olympic-class windsurfer. 

I lived in Israel, Canada, USA, England, Mexico, Hong Kong, Portugal and Aruba.

Roy Itzhaki

Your first BDR should get paid $200K.

And if that sentence triggers you…
you probably haven’t built outbound from scratch.

Your first BDR is not a rep.

They’re not “booking meetings.”

They are the first version of your GTM engine.

There’s a massive difference between:

• 2 → 10 (scaling a working system)
vs
• 0 → 1 (creating the system)

Most founders confuse the two.

A true first BDR hire:

• Turns founder-led sales into a repeatable motion
• Defines ICP through real conversations, not slide decks
• Tests positioning until it actually lands
• Builds sequences that don’t embarrass the brand
• Identifies triggers that convert
• Documents what works and what doesn’t
• Creates the first predictable pipeline

They’re not following a playbook.

They’re writing it.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:

If you underpay this seat, you don’t save money.
You delay momentum.

A weak 0→1 foundation compounds.
Bad messaging scales.
Wrong ICP scales.
Low-quality pipeline scales.

And then you wonder why 5 SDRs can’t fix what 1 strategic operator could’ve built properly.

You’re not paying $200K for activity.

You’re paying for leverage.

The right first BDR hire builds an asset.
The wrong one creates noise.

Founders who understand this scale faster.
The ones who don’t keep “trying outbound.”

#BDR #Outbound #GTM #SaaS #Sales #Startups

Roy Itzhaki 

Founder @ BizDev Labs | Forbes 30 Under 30

You don’t have a pipeline problem.
You have a “no one wants to call” problem.

In a world of automation, 
AI-written emails, 
and perfectly timed sequences…

Cold calling is becoming rare.

And rare becomes valuable.

Everyone can send 1,000 emails.
Everyone can automate LinkedIn touches.
Everyone can build a 12-step cadence.

Very few are willing to interrupt their day,
ask a direct question,
and handle a real objection live.

That’s why the phone is quietly becoming the edge again.

When something becomes uncomfortable,
most people avoid it.

When most people avoid it,
it becomes opportunity.

The less the market calls,
the more powerful your voice becomes.

If pipeline is slow,
don’t look at LinkedIn and Email.

Look at your call blocks.

#Sales #Outbound #BDR #Pipeline #GTM

Want to know the real difference between 
$120k and $500k Account Executive?

It's not just about:
• Product knowledge
• Negotiation tactics
• Closing techniques

It's what happens AFTER the meeting.

Most sales people:
• Take days to follow up
• Send generic check-ins
• Forget key details
• Hope for the best

Here's how top performers do it:

"Hey [name] - 
I hope you had a great weekend!
I was just looking over our call notes and noticed you mentioned reviewing the proposal Friday.
I know there's a lot to process.
Is there anything I can help with?"

And they send this on a Monday.
Right on schedule. 

Simple. Personal. Attentive.
Shows you're listening.
Shows you care.
Shows you're organized.

Because great follow-up isn't about:
• Fancy words
• Aggressive tactics
• Complex strategies

It's about:
• Being present
• Staying organized
• Showing you care
• Guiding the journey

P.S. Your prospects can feel when they're being prioritized. I can't tell you how many compliments we get about this 🎯

The best BDRs should stay BDRs.

Read that again.

Every company says they want consistent pipeline.

But the moment a BDR gets really good…
you promote them out of the role.

Or you lose them.

Think about the timeline.

Month 1–3:
They’re learning the product.
Learning the ICP.
Learning how to not sound robotic.

Month 4–9:
They start figuring it out.
Messaging improves.
Confidence builds.
Meetings go up.

Month 10–14:
Now they’re dangerous.
They understand objections.
They know which triggers convert.
They are able to maximize efficiency.

And that’s exactly when they leave.

AE.
Management.
Another company.

So you restart.

New hire.
New ramp.
New mistakes.
Lost momentum.

You don’t have a pipeline problem.
You have a tenure problem.

We decided to fix that.

Instead of building “future AEs,”
we built career BDRs.

• Pay them like closers
• Give them specialization tracks
• Give them strategy ownership
• Remove the “junior” label
• Treat outbound like a craft

Our average BDR tenure? 3–4 years.

---

The best BDRs shouldn’t be promoted out.
They should be leveled up inside.

#BDR #Outbound #Sales #SaaS #Pipeline

CEO: We need to hire a BDR.

ME: For what exactly?

CEO: Pipeline. We need more meetings.

ME: Do you already have an outbound motion that works?

CEO: We have sequences. Lists. A script.

ME: I’ll rephrase.

ME: Do you know who to target, why now, what to say, which channel, in what order, and how to adjust when it stops working?

CEO: …Not fully.

ME: Then you don’t need a BDR.

CEO: What do you mean?

ME: Most companies THINK they just need BDRs.

ME: But they don't.

ME: A BDRs isn't supposed to figure out the outbound motion
They're just supposed to perform inside of it.

CEO: Tell me more.

ME: That’s the gap you're missing.

ME: Discovery and execution are two different jobs.

ME: You’re asking one person to:
• Discover ICP nuance
• Test messaging
• Find triggers that convert
• Decide channel order
• Fix deliverability
• Handle objections they’ve never heard before

ME: While also being judged on meetings booked.

CEO: But we need activity now.

ME: Activity without a solved motion is just paid guessing.

ME: Especially when the BDR is junior, inexperienced,
or hasn’t done this across multiple companies.

ME: They’re learning and being evaluated at the same time.

ME: That’s not scalable.
And it’s not fair.

CEO: So what do we actually need?

ME: If outbound isn’t already solved…

ME: You don’t need a BDR.

ME: You need:
• Process before people
• Strategy before volume
• A team that’s already done this before
• Clear rules for targeting, messaging, and sequencing
• Feedback loops that compound

ME: Once that exists?

ME: A BDR becomes leverage.

ME: Before that?

ME: They’re just an experiment with a quota.

#BDR #Outbound #Sales #SaaS #GTM

P.S. If your BDR has to invent outbound before they can run it…
you hired too early.

You call BDR entry level?

Cool.

If it’s truly entry level…

Why do so few ever become elite?

Think about it.

If it’s “junior,” then why can’t most people do it well for more than 6 months?

Why do performance numbers collapse the moment pressure increases?

Why does rejection break people?

Because it’s not entry level.

It’s emotional control at scale.

You’re asking someone to:

Call executives who don’t want to talk.
Get rejected 20–50 times a day.
Stay sharp.
Stay confident.
Write messages that convert in 3 lines.
Manage multiple channels at once.
And not let yesterday’s losses affect today’s calls.

That’s not beginner work.

That’s psychological endurance.

If it were truly entry level…

You’d have thousands of elite BDRs.

You don’t.

And that tells you everything.

#BDR #Sales #Outbound #Leadership

If your best BDR leaves tomorrow:

• Pipeline drops immediately with no warning
• Ramp time goes back to zero
• ICP nuance and buyer context disappear
• Messaging quality regresses overnight
• Objections get pushed downstream to AEs
• Campaign momentum stalls or dies
• Marketing loses its most valuable feedback loop
• AEs feel the impact on day one
• Leadership shifts into reactive mode
• A new req gets opened to plug the gap
• A junior is hired to replace leverage
• Paid less to “prove themselves”
• All the learned knowledge leaves with them
• The cycle starts all over again

If your best BDR stays:

• Pipeline compounds instead of resetting
• ICP understanding sharpens over time
• Messaging improves with real market data
• Objections are handled before AEs get involved
• Campaigns launch faster with fewer mistakes
• Less management is needed to maintain output
• Knowledge compounds year after year

BDRs aren’t expensive.
Losing top performers is.

Pay top performers more.
Way more.

#BDR #Sales #GTM #Outbound

🚀 35 Software & SaaS companies hiring SDRs / BDRs in the US right now - February 2026 edition 👇

1. Snap Inc. (8,465 employees) — BDR — New York, NY
2. Slice | Global Equity (42 employees) — BDR — New York
3. Deck (80 employees) — BDR — SF Bay Area
4. Hopper (1,156 employees) — Founding SDR (Remote) — NY
5. Runware (30 employees) — Founding BDR — SF, CA
6. Storyblok (291 employees) — BDR — Boston, MA
7. PlaybookUX (36 employees) — BDR — US
8. Prospecta Software (299 employees) — BDR — US
9. Jumio Corporation (620 employees) — BDR — US
10. Syndigo (1,423 employees) — BDR — Chicago, IL
11. Yext (2,367 employees) — BDR — New York, NY
12. Rounds (12 employees) — SDR — SF Bay Area
13. Tessera Data (31 employees) — Enterprise BDR — Denver
14. Quantum Health (1,532 employees) — BDR — US
15. Inspiren (145 employees) — SDR — New York, NY
16. Adaptive Security (179 employees) — BDR — NY, NY
17. WireMock (12 employees) — BDR — US
18. Tangent (274 employees) — SDR — NYC Metro Area
19. Okta (7,056 employees) — BDR (East) — Washington, DC
20. Inworld AI (90 employees) — BDR — Mountain View, CA
21. ControlRooms.ai (17 employees) — BDR — San Jose, CA
22. Adaptive6 (48 employees) — SDR (Remote) — Seattle, WA
23. Nimble (135 employees) — BDR — New York, NY
24. Astrix Security (124 employees) — SDR — Boston, MA
25. Rilla (134 employees) — BDR — New York, NY
26. SafetyKit (18 employees) — BDR — San Francisco, CA
27. Mirakl (863 employees) — BDR — Boston, MA
28. Zartech (54 employees) — BDR (Entry Level) — Dallas
29. Telnyx (349 employees) — BDR — Denver, CO
30. Odoo (8,023 employees) — SDR — SF Bay Area
31. Dragonfly AI (51 employees) — SDR — Boston, MA
32. IXOPAY (160 employees) — BDR — US
33. CHAMP (138 employees) — BDR — US
34. Avvale (2,842 employees) — BDR — Chicago, IL
35. Timus (46 employees) — BDR — Tampa, FL

If you’re looking to break into tech sales or level up in a BDR/SDR role, this market is still very active.

Who should I add next?

#saas #salesjobs #sdr #bdr #techsales #startups

Most people think the BDR role is temporary.

A phase.
A stepping stone.
Something you “get through” before the real job starts.

That belief is exactly why lifelong BDRs have a massive edge.

Because the BDR role is built on fundamentals that never go away.

• Prospecting.
• Starting conversations.
• Handling rejection.
• Following up.
• Doing the unglamorous work, every single day.

Most people can do that for a year or two.
Then they get bored.
Or they think they’ve outgrown it.

Lifelong BDRs don’t...

They accept something early that others resist:
No matter how good you get, this work never stops.
And instead of fighting it, they lean into it.

While others move on and reset their learning curve,
they compound skill in the same role.

Every year adds:
• Better judgment
• Faster pattern recognition
• Sharper instincts
• Less wasted effort

What feels repetitive to most
becomes precision to them.

That’s the advantage.

Not because the role is bigger.
But because mastery in this role compounds longer than almost any other.

Being a lifelong BDR isn’t a lack of ambition.
It’s choosing the longest compounding edge in revenue.

P.S. Who's a lifelong BDR? I want to hear from you!

#BDR #Outbound #Sales #GTM

My belief is that people who really know me would describe me as a Driven Entrepreneurial spirit, who wants to make a positive impact to others people lives with new ideas (sometimes too many) and lots of energy. 

I have tried many things, but finally feel that I am in the right place at the right time here at Elastic in the New Barcelona Hub. Where I can work in an international entrepreneurial environment, with the right tools & help from the team to keep me on track with growing the impact of our amazing Elastic Search AI DataPlatform.

My focus is to grow our most Strategic Enterprise Customer Segments by representing Elastic and find creative ways to communicate the impact we drive at our customers to the best of my ability. 

I will always explore entrepreneurial projects but I feel most comfortable doing them as a side mostly voluntary basis as a way of giving back. I do that by, helping SDRs accelerate their career in tech sales with 1-1 coaching, Outbound sales advice to startups & contributing to communities in all shapes & forms that drive positive impacts in peoples lives. 

If you have any idea of a way I can help, do not hesitate to reach out to me on DM, I try to respond as fast as I can!

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Roy Itzhaki

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