Frameworks
BDR Org Design
Teardown.
Pick your stage, ACV, and motion. Get the org chart, comp ranges, manager-to-rep ratio, tooling stack, and the next 3 hires in order. Built for the leader walking into the CRO's office tomorrow.
Motion
The verdict
Series A · Mid-Market · Sales-led
This is the stage everyone gets wrong. They hire 6 reps before they hire a manager, then wonder why ramp is broken and turnover is 70%. Manager first, headcount second. For MM specifically: this is the hardest band to run because the motion is neither high-velocity nor true ABM. Your org has to do both, and the hires below reflect that.
Team shape
4 to 10 BDRs, 1 manager, shared ops + enablement
Reporting line
First BDR manager reports to the VP Sales or Head of Sales. Marketing owns demand gen, sales owns conversion. Keep the line clean.
Manager-to-rep ratio
1 manager : 5 to 7 reps
Mid-market is where ratios quietly stretch. Hold the line at 1:7 or your coaching cadence dies first.
Account model
Named-account outbound paired with inbound qualifier coverage. 50 to 80 accounts per rep, refreshed quarterly.
Comp band
OTE range
$80K - $115K
Working US range from operator experience. Index up for NYC, SF, and Boston, and adjust for your equity package.
Split + structure
65 / 35 base/variable
Variable should be paid on qualified pipeline accepted by AE, not on raw meetings booked. Meeting-only quotas are how you build a no-show factory.
Tooling stack
- CRM (Salesforce or HubSpot)
- Sequencer (Outreach, Salesloft, or Apollo)
- Conversation intel (Gong or Chorus)
- Data provider (ZoomInfo, Apollo, or Clay)
- Lead routing (Default or Chili Piper)
Next 3 hires, in order
1. BDR manager with named-account experience
An SMB-trained manager will route by territory and burn your account list. Hire someone who has actually run a 50 to 80 account-per-rep motion.
2. Sales-development ops + account researcher (shared)
MM lives or dies on account intel. Half ops, half researcher feeding triggers, org charts, and buying-committee maps into BDR sequences.
3. Enablement lead focused on discovery + multi-thread
MM reps need to run a real discovery call and email 3 personas in a buying committee. Generic SDR enablement does not teach this.
⚑ Watch out
Mid-market at early stage is where leaders quietly compromise. They hire SMB-trained BDRs because they are cheaper, then wonder why the meetings do not convert. Pay up for the right profile or run SMB until you can.
Share these results
The link encodes your inputs. Anyone you send it to lands on this exact result.
Do this tomorrow
- Share the PNG with your CRO before the next headcount plan goes to finance.
- Pick the #1 hire above and write the job spec this week, not next quarter.
- Compare your current tooling stack line by line. Cut what is not on the list.
Next tool
Sales Ramp Simulator
Got the org shape. Now see exactly what slow ramp is costing you in pipeline or revenue.
Run the next tool →
Method. Most leaders cannot tell you what their org should look like at their stage and ACV, so they default to whatever they saw at their last company. Ratios, comp ranges, hiring orders, and tooling here come from operator experience building and advising sales orgs across SaaS, fintech, and dev tools. They are the working defaults to start from, not a published benchmark. Index for your geography, equity, and motion.