5 Things You Must Know to LAND a Job at a B2B SaaS Company

My name is Saransh Kumar. I'm currently working at Rippling as an inbound SDR. So I've joined Rippling last month, December 1st. Going pretty amazing. I mean, the kind of culture, the kind of leadership that they have, I was not expecting honestly. And the people, my colleagues, everyone is extremely helpful, even though I had some challenges in the first month, but everything has been working out amazing.

And tell us your background before Rippling, where were you working?

Previously I was working at Rally Arpers. I was actually working in the service industry. So my role basically was both of inbound and outbound role, but majority of was already focused on outbounding. So for a very long time, I wanted to shift into SaaS sales. Like for 2 years, I was already working in B2B service industry. And if you remember, I tried reaching out to you back in 2023 December, right? But I didn't join the cohort at that time because I felt that I wasn't ready exactly. Yeah, last year I felt that I was ready and I really wanted to shift towards SaaS sales for a very long time. So I make a shift, I left my job, and yeah, it happened eventually.

You have been thinking about this for the last 2 years, but what triggered you to finally make the leap of faith and decide I want to take this direction and join the cohort?

When I tried reaching out to you December 2023, I was working on a very small ticket size. I was working on hardly $1,800-$2,000. And when I was giving interviews into B2B SaaS sales, the feedback that I was getting was I need to work on like higher ticket selling roles, wherein I have understanding of working, let's say, at midsize or enterprise clients. So I can work better as a BDR or SDR in a SaaS organization. So when I was already working for, uh, like around one, more than one year, I would say, in my previous company, I thought that now this is the time for me to make a switch. I was already doing well. I was hitting quota. I was making good incentives, but when I was looking forward for my future aspects, I was not very satisfied. So then I left my job without having any offer letter in hand. It was, I knew it was very risky. It was scared. And when I was, when I entered in the job market, I knew that there were some companies who were, who will not be ready to taking me for, especially for the interviews, because I had some switches, like frequent switches in my resume. So that happened. I was getting in, like I had offer before joining School of SDR from two companies, but I was not culturally sure that whether I'll be able to commit there for the long term. So that's why I didn't join there. I joined School of SDR especially for the mentorship and the structured training, you know, that I would get from School of SDR. And eventually that really helped me out. The kind of, like, especially you, you already had experience like in B2B SaaS. The mentors like Manasi, she also switched from B2C to B2B like Chargebee. Krishna already had enough experience in B2B SaaS roles. So I think that mentorship really helped me in cracking interviews.

All right. Thank you. Any aspect of what you knew about B2B, let's say by reading or maybe watching videos, which you felt was not really true and anything which you feel you had to unlearn as a part of the cohort?

Actually, I was already doing, I'm like, I was only upskilling myself as you mentioned, like watch, reading books, watching podcasts and all. So one thing that I thought really would help me out in B2B SaaS was using complex words, sounding more smart and intelligent during the calls. But eventually when I joined the cohort, I got to know that this is exactly the opposite. Prospects actually do not care how much you know. It's about do you understand their problem and are you able to make them understand your value pain points to their current problems? So I think this is one of the learning which I had to unlearn in during the initial first week itself, first few weeks, and that really helped me out in planning my outreach.

Let's say if you were to pinpoint only one specific thing which you feel made the entire course worth it. Sure, mentorship is one, but within mentorship, is there anything which you felt without which you would not have the same kind of confidence or maybe same kind of skill set which you possess right now?

In my opinion, I would say that feedback, because the kind of feedback that I was getting from you or the mentors, I think that was really helpful. People were stopping me right then and there. Every— after every assignment, I was getting feedbacks like what I need to do. I also redo some of my assignments, which I feel that could really help me in my current roles. I think the kind of feedback that I was getting, I would say, was very helpful for a person like me or anyone who was planning to join School of SDR, because people already have enough experiences. They already are working as an SDR, so they know what has to be done, where you might fall, and what needs to be avoided.

Got it. Tell me about your interview process with Rippling.

Okay. The interview process actually went very well. So what I did was I cold reached out to one of their SDRs at Rippling, and he helped me with a referral. So there were total 3 rounds, first round with an in HR. She did some basic quality checks, what kind of experience I had. She also asked me a question about how would I plan my outreach, like how would I prioritize my accounts, right? Then second one I had with a sales manager, Muhammad Hussain. We actually had a long call. We planned for 30-40 minutes, but eventually it landed for around 1 hour 15 minutes-ish. We had a really good conversation. He helped me understand what exactly the expectations would be once I joined. We also had a mock call session, which he really liked. So I think the kind of confidence which I got practicing my mock calls, right? And one thing I would want, I wanted to highlight here is, so there was one of the session where, you know, one of the mentors, Mansi, mentioned that it's helpful for you to be overprepared during the interviews rather than being underprepared. So if you remember during our mock call sessions, I was only picking Rippling during our cold email assignment that you gave us. I was picking Rippling as a company because I wanted to understand their company so well because I was in love with their product. I read some really good reviews. I was speaking to their current SDR, so I really wanted to get into that company. So I put my 200% into that. I prepared an outreach strategy with a mix of cold call samples, reach cadences, LinkedIn sequences as well. That, you know, that kind of preparation really helped me to understand what exactly the recruiter wants. So the entire conversation was not based on whether the person will be able to do the job or not, but it was more of like When can we start exactly?

Your manager recently mentioned in a LinkedIn post that you were ready on day 2. Why do you think that happened? Is it because the 200% preparation you had done, or did you do anything in the first 48 hours?

I think the preparation which I did definitely helped me out. It was also a shock for me when I got to know on the first day itself that I have to go live on the second day. But my manager reassured me that he'll help me in any way possible. So I think that kind of support also helped me. To reach my target during the first month. Apart from that, what I exactly did in 48 hours was I asked direct question. I didn't assume anything. I asked him that what exactly would be your expectations during this entire 30 days? I sat with the reps. I shadowed their mock calls. I shadowed their calls exactly. And I also made sure that I have that learning mindset because I was learning on the go. So I was asking for feedbacks. I was applying those feedbacks at the same time. And eventually it worked out.

I know Manasi is your friend and you have seen her journey before you dived into this whole journey for yourself.

Yeah.

Let's say there is a, there is an ex-Saransh, there is somebody who is 6 months behind where Saransh is today, you know, trying to get into companies like Rippling or let's say any B2B company for that matter. What would you tell them that, you know, they need to do, whether they're considering School of SDR, whether they are not, doesn't really matter.

I think if they are planning to switch or planning to get into B2B SaaS sales, it's very important for you to understand the fundamentals because there are very, very few companies who actually invest a lot in their SDR trainings. So it's very important for you to be prepared even before landing a job. You might land a very good job, but whether you'll be able to justify your salary or you'll be able to perform or not, that really matters, depends on how much preparation you are doing. So I think it's very important for a person to have that kind of knowledge, understand from recruiter's perspective, they are evaluating hundreds of people every day, right? So I remember a time wherein you also showed us your dashboard, your inbox, wherein you have a lot of emails which you are not even reading, right? Just be, just so looking at the subject lines or the initial few letters, a few words from the email. So I think that, that mindset has really shaped my the way I plan my outreach now. So it's very important for a person to understand from their perspective. As I mentioned, being overprepared would definitely help and try to gather your information as much as possible.

A lot of SDRs aspiring. Is there, is there any shift in the mindset you feel after the cohort is over?

I think there was a shift. It definitely happened because earlier I was just understanding from an SDR perspective. I was focusing on how to give right answers to the interviews. But after the cohort, I was actually understanding that what is needed to be a top 1% BDR. Definitely mentorship works. You really, you need some good mentors to correct you when you are doing wrong and take you from 90% to that 100%, right? But at then, I think you definitely need a person who is there for you, who's helping you throughout and who's helping you to crack those interviews well.

Let's say anybody who's watching this and one is considering School of SDR, give them two reasons why they should consider and give them two reasons why they should not.

So one thing I would say, if a person is considering School of SDR, what they should be aware of is that you'll have to unlearn a lot. If you are coming from a baggage that this is what I have been doing, I've been getting results, I don't think so you should, you know, join School of SDR because you'll be tested left, right, and center every day. Your mindset will change once you join. And I'm 100% sure you'll be able to achieve your target better, or I would say you'll be doing better at your job after joining School of Hestia because the kind of people, the mentors, the guidance that you get is very different from what you get in the market. Second thing I would say is the kind of structured training that we get because we have 4 weeks of entire training, right? So one, one week is properly focused on challenging your mindset, what you had, what you used to think earlier, and now what you need to think. As I mentioned earlier, I had a mentality that if I use complex words, I would sound more intelligent, but eventually that doesn't happen. You shared a list of words which we should avoid during an outreach. So I think that mindset will really help you to be better and perform better at your job. What exactly is needed to crack companies like Rippling is the amount of hard work that you can do, the amount of effort you can put. Some people put half the effort and expect 100% results, so that will not happen. Until unless you have that understanding, you have that knowledge of what exactly is required by the recruiter, and then you just need to make the recruiter's job easy, right? So provide them as much information about yourself, your learnings, your skill set, so they feel more confident in choosing you or other people.