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Aug 3, 2020 · 21m · top-founders

SalesRoads: SaaS Companies Hire Him To Build SDR Team

David Krieger · 12m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m spoken Eric Yuan · 4s spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Nathan Latka interviews David Krieger, founder of SalesRoads, exploring how he bootstrapped a specialized remote SDR agency to approximately $3 million in ARR by capping his client roster, hiring experienced outbound hunters, and servicing high-ACV SaaS companies.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 37.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.1 Guest teaching 2.6 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.6
05100:0010:0020:000:16–2:22 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Latka Subscription Pitch and Archival Founder Highlights Nathan opens the interview by pressing David on his historical revenue figures from Inc. 5000. When David tries to dodge current numbers, Nathan pushes back by reminding him that public submission requires disclosure.2:22–5:30 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 SalesRoads Value Proposition and SaaS Retainer Model Nathan breaks down SalesRoads' retainer model and computes per-SDR pricing tiers. David clarifies their minimum engagement thresholds and typical customer stage.5:31–8:16 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Origins at Wharton, Remote Beginnings, and Boutique Focus David explains founding the company out of Wharton and deliberately keeping a boutique model capped around 20 clients to protect retention and onboarding margins.8:17–10:29 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Team Organization, Senior SDR Recruiting, and Remote Culture David details his staffing strategy of hiring experienced career SDRs rather than fresh college graduates. Nathan posits why experienced reps prefer the remote agency structure.10:31–14:19 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 HostGator Website Hosting and Platform Promotion Following an ad break, David describes daily call volumes of 150 dials per rep and how SalesRoads manages cold call rejection and team morale.14:20–17:59 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Conversion Economics, Unit Metrics, and Minimum ACV Requirements Nathan drills into unit economics, calculating required conversion rates against SDR retainers, and presses David on the minimum ACV needed for outbound prospecting to make financial sense.18:00–20:38 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Bootstrapping History and Estimated ARR Valuation Nathan reverse-engineers David's ARR to approximately $2.8M to $3M from customer count and retainer size, then challenges him on whether outsourced sales hurts a SaaS company's valuation during fundraising.0:16–2:22 · Guest teaching 1/10 Latka Subscription Pitch and Archival Founder Highlights Nathan opens the interview by pressing David on his historical revenue figures from Inc. 5000. When David tries to dodge current numbers, Nathan pushes back by reminding him that public submission requires disclosure.2:22–5:30 · Guest teaching 2/10 SalesRoads Value Proposition and SaaS Retainer Model Nathan breaks down SalesRoads' retainer model and computes per-SDR pricing tiers. David clarifies their minimum engagement thresholds and typical customer stage.5:31–8:16 · Guest teaching 3/10 Origins at Wharton, Remote Beginnings, and Boutique Focus David explains founding the company out of Wharton and deliberately keeping a boutique model capped around 20 clients to protect retention and onboarding margins.8:17–10:29 · Guest teaching 2/10 Team Organization, Senior SDR Recruiting, and Remote Culture David details his staffing strategy of hiring experienced career SDRs rather than fresh college graduates. Nathan posits why experienced reps prefer the remote agency structure.10:31–14:19 · Guest teaching 3/10 HostGator Website Hosting and Platform Promotion Following an ad break, David describes daily call volumes of 150 dials per rep and how SalesRoads manages cold call rejection and team morale.14:20–17:59 · Guest teaching 4/10 Conversion Economics, Unit Metrics, and Minimum ACV Requirements Nathan drills into unit economics, calculating required conversion rates against SDR retainers, and presses David on the minimum ACV needed for outbound prospecting to make financial sense.18:00–20:38 · Guest teaching 3/10 Bootstrapping History and Estimated ARR Valuation Nathan reverse-engineers David's ARR to approximately $2.8M to $3M from customer count and retainer size, then challenges him on whether outsourced sales hurts a SaaS company's valuation during fundraising.0:16–2:22 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Latka Subscription Pitch and Archival Founder Highlights Nathan opens the interview by pressing David on his historical revenue figures from Inc. 5000. When David tries to dodge current numbers, Nathan pushes back by reminding him that public submission requires disclosure.2:22–5:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 SalesRoads Value Proposition and SaaS Retainer Model Nathan breaks down SalesRoads' retainer model and computes per-SDR pricing tiers. David clarifies their minimum engagement thresholds and typical customer stage.5:31–8:16 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Origins at Wharton, Remote Beginnings, and Boutique Focus David explains founding the company out of Wharton and deliberately keeping a boutique model capped around 20 clients to protect retention and onboarding margins.8:17–10:29 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Team Organization, Senior SDR Recruiting, and Remote Culture David details his staffing strategy of hiring experienced career SDRs rather than fresh college graduates. Nathan posits why experienced reps prefer the remote agency structure.10:31–14:19 · Guest disagreement 0/10 HostGator Website Hosting and Platform Promotion Following an ad break, David describes daily call volumes of 150 dials per rep and how SalesRoads manages cold call rejection and team morale.14:20–17:59 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Conversion Economics, Unit Metrics, and Minimum ACV Requirements Nathan drills into unit economics, calculating required conversion rates against SDR retainers, and presses David on the minimum ACV needed for outbound prospecting to make financial sense.18:00–20:38 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Bootstrapping History and Estimated ARR Valuation Nathan reverse-engineers David's ARR to approximately $2.8M to $3M from customer count and retainer size, then challenges him on whether outsourced sales hurts a SaaS company's valuation during fundraising.0:16–2:22 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Latka Subscription Pitch and Archival Founder Highlights Nathan opens the interview by pressing David on his historical revenue figures from Inc. 5000. When David tries to dodge current numbers, Nathan pushes back by reminding him that public submission requires disclosure.2:22–5:30 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 SalesRoads Value Proposition and SaaS Retainer Model Nathan breaks down SalesRoads' retainer model and computes per-SDR pricing tiers. David clarifies their minimum engagement thresholds and typical customer stage.5:31–8:16 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Origins at Wharton, Remote Beginnings, and Boutique Focus David explains founding the company out of Wharton and deliberately keeping a boutique model capped around 20 clients to protect retention and onboarding margins.8:17–10:29 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Team Organization, Senior SDR Recruiting, and Remote Culture David details his staffing strategy of hiring experienced career SDRs rather than fresh college graduates. Nathan posits why experienced reps prefer the remote agency structure.10:31–14:19 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 HostGator Website Hosting and Platform Promotion Following an ad break, David describes daily call volumes of 150 dials per rep and how SalesRoads manages cold call rejection and team morale.14:20–17:59 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Conversion Economics, Unit Metrics, and Minimum ACV Requirements Nathan drills into unit economics, calculating required conversion rates against SDR retainers, and presses David on the minimum ACV needed for outbound prospecting to make financial sense.18:00–20:38 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Bootstrapping History and Estimated ARR Valuation Nathan reverse-engineers David's ARR to approximately $2.8M to $3M from customer count and retainer size, then challenges him on whether outsourced sales hurts a SaaS company's valuation during fundraising.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 63.7% · guest 36.3%0:00 · Nathan 63.7% · guest 36.3%3:00 · Nathan 31.5% · guest 68.5%3:00 · Nathan 31.5% · guest 68.5%6:00 · Nathan 13.7% · guest 86.3%6:00 · Nathan 13.7% · guest 86.3%9:00 · Nathan 54.1% · guest 45.9%9:00 · Nathan 54.1% · guest 45.9%12:00 · Nathan 18.3% · guest 81.7%12:00 · Nathan 18.3% · guest 81.7%15:00 · Nathan 29.9% · guest 70.1%15:00 · Nathan 29.9% · guest 70.1%18:00 · Nathan 44.4% · guest 55.6%18:00 · Nathan 44.4% · guest 55.6%21:00 · Nathan 55.3% · guest 44.7%21:00 · Nathan 55.3% · guest 44.7%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 19:24 Defending outsourced SDRs to VCs

David counters Nathan's premise that outsourced SDRs devalue a SaaS startup, arguing that VCs actually favor the early-stage operational focus.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 2:08 Pushing past revenue deflection

Nathan refuses David's vague revenue response, citing the mandatory disclosures of Inc. 5000 to extract his $2.4M figure.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 15:11 Explaining outbound unit economics

David educates the audience on why appointment volume varies wildly by buyer persona and how founders must calculate CAC against LTV before hiring SDRs.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 18:10 Backing into David's ARR

Nathan performs rapid mental math combining SDR count, monthly fees, and client totals to estimate David's ARR at roughly $3 million, prompting David to compliment his math.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Latka Subscription Pitch and Archival Founder Highlights 5125 Nathan opens the interview by pressing David on his historical revenue figures from Inc. 5000. When David tries to dodge current numbers, Nathan pushes back by reminding him that public submission requires disclosure.
SalesRoads Value Proposition and SaaS Retainer Model 5212 Nathan breaks down SalesRoads' retainer model and computes per-SDR pricing tiers. David clarifies their minimum engagement thresholds and typical customer stage.
Origins at Wharton, Remote Beginnings, and Boutique Focus 4311 David explains founding the company out of Wharton and deliberately keeping a boutique model capped around 20 clients to protect retention and onboarding margins.
Team Organization, Senior SDR Recruiting, and Remote Culture 4201 David details his staffing strategy of hiring experienced career SDRs rather than fresh college graduates. Nathan posits why experienced reps prefer the remote agency structure.
HostGator Website Hosting and Platform Promotion 4301 Following an ad break, David describes daily call volumes of 150 dials per rep and how SalesRoads manages cold call rejection and team morale.
Conversion Economics, Unit Metrics, and Minimum ACV Requirements 7413 Nathan drills into unit economics, calculating required conversion rates against SDR retainers, and presses David on the minimum ACV needed for outbound prospecting to make financial sense.
Bootstrapping History and Estimated ARR Valuation 7325 Nathan reverse-engineers David's ARR to approximately $2.8M to $3M from customer count and retainer size, then challenges him on whether outsourced sales hurts a SaaS company's valuation during fundraising.

Statements from this episode (8)

Assertion Open · timeframe Aug 2020
SalesRoads reported $2.4M in 2015 revenue to the Inc. 5000
“So that was 2.4 million.”
David Krieger Aug 3, 2020 ▶ 2:13
Disclosure
SalesRoads charges a minimum agency retainer of $10,000 per month
“So our minimum is about 10 K a month.”
David Krieger Aug 3, 2020 ▶ 5:16
Disclosure
SalesRoads caps its client roster at 20 to preserve retention
“We have about 20 clients right now, but what we, what we've found, and listen, this is kind of a little antithetical probably to a lot of the people that are listening to you, but we, you know, we help our clients scale, but what we found is that to really do …”
David Krieger Aug 3, 2020 ▶ 7:09
Disclosure
SalesRoads hires experienced career prospectors rather than recent college graduates
“We actually hire people that are later stage in their career, love prospecting, if you can believe that, they love cold calling, they love going out and hunting for things, and they've done it successfully throughout their career”
David Krieger Aug 3, 2020 ▶ 8:20
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SalesRoads SDRs average 150 cold calls per day
“Oh, so per day on average, like a 150.”
David Krieger Aug 3, 2020 ▶ 12:36
Insight
In-house SDR teams of recent college grads struggle with high rejection
“So part of the problem that a lot of our clients have before they start working with us is they they'll try to build it internally. They'll build an SDR team. They'll hire people out of college. And a lot of times people don't realize how hard it is. It's toug…”
David Krieger Aug 3, 2020 ▶ 13:07
Disclosure
Outbound SDR economics require a minimum SaaS product ACV of $10,000
“So we look for a minimum of 10,000 dollars.”
David Krieger Aug 3, 2020 ▶ 17:09
Disclosure
SalesRoads was bootstrapped aside from $5,000 in Wharton pitch prize money
“So I got I think it was 3005 thousand dollars from the Wharton business plane competition. The rest was all bootstrapped.”
David Krieger Aug 3, 2020 ▶ 18:03
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