In this interview, Rahul Wadhwa talks with Rahul, a recent CS graduate who secured a Business Development Representative (BDR) role at Scratch Automation after completing the School of SDR cohort. Rahul recounts his early career, describing how financial constraints and limited experience prevented him from joining the cohort earlier. He explains the skill gaps he discovered—particularly the lack of a structured outbound sales process and effective cold‑calling techniques—and how the cohort’s mentorship, mock calls, and live classes filled those gaps. When his initial startup shifted focus away from outbound sales, Rahul decided to re‑enter the cohort to sharpen his sales abilities. He emphasizes the importance of hunger, ownership, and proving oneself, offering candid advice to prospective students about the need for self‑drive and active participation. Rahul also walks through the multi‑stage interview process at Scratch Automation, detailing HR screening, outbound manager conversations, mock cold calls, live email‑writing, and objection‑handling exercises, highlighting how the cohort’s training prepared him to navigate objections, stay resilient, and detach from outcomes. The conversation concludes with Rahul expressing willingness to support future programs.
Chapters
Hi Rahul, how you doing, man?
All good. Hope you're doing well, Rahul.
Amazing, man. Thank you. Rahul, could you, could you tell us who you are? Where do you work?
So I'm Rahul. I've recently joined as a BDR at Scratch Automation. Before this, I was working in a founding role at another SaaS startup on the similar lines, but sort of a small company, if you will. Right now, managed to land a role at Scratch with the help of School of SDR as well.
Awesome, man. Congratulations. You and I first spoke in December of last year.
Yep.
You did not enroll then. Take me, take me to that moment. What stopped you?
Well, honestly, I didn't have any money. That's the first thing. I am actually a fresh graduate. That is another aspect to consider. So I was interning for, again, not a large organization at that time as well. I just wanted to enter the SaaS market and that was my first sort of, it wasn't even proper SaaS, it was just MVPs that they would build out for companies. But again, it's software. So I just wanted to sell to the US or UK market. And at that time, uh, through people I got connected, I got to know about you and I was, you know, following your content as well. And then it just showed book 20 minutes with me. I didn't know about the cohort and anything. I just thought it was sort of advising what I just wanted to have a chat. And you actually called, I think, because we had some differences in the meeting or something. And you were like, hey, are you joining? And that's when we had the first conversation. And then I got to know you run a cohort. And again, the pricing did come up and obviously I didn't want to, I mean, again, I could have got it, but I sort of tried to be educated or that kind of thing. So I thought, hey, why not get some experience, save up some money and it could be a good place for me, even in terms of the number in which I can earn. I saw potential over there as well. So I was honestly thinking of something on the lines of, you know, December this year. That was my plan initially to sort of join because I'd have experience and I can go for the right switch. But, uh, you know, very weirdly enough, we did connect because of my organization's situation as well.
Yeah. So, so you did, you did, you did land a role in a company and you did work for 2 or 3 months. Uh, tell me, what did you feel, uh, since you came with some 2 or 3 months of experience and then you then you came to the course, you must have seen like the way we taught, whatever we taught. Where do you feel that you, you felt, where did you feel that, oh, you know what, I did not know this, or I had a, I had a major gap?
I think in terms of the entire processes and what's out there in the market, I've fairly done a good amount of research on my own, which sort of was an advantage to me because I was able to pick up on a lot of things that matter. I think the major difference when it comes is me getting a direction as a fresher, if you will. Cause I was doing 0 to 1 roles and you sort of gave me a reality check as well. And like, hey dude, this is not where your skill sets are going to be used at. You should really get your hands dirty. And I was sort of on the wrong place. And again, getting that guidance in terms of where I should aim at was the primary thing that I did get. And when it comes to cold calls, right? I mean, I sort of speak well, but again, in terms of structure or what do I speak, I never was really that great at it. Now I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it because of especially working with the likes of Amer. I think that was really a game changer for me because you get to book one-on-ones and you get to do mocks, you get to learn situations and even a lot of new tools in the industry, how you should approach a lot of these interviews as well, even in the interview course that was there. And even the live class was just interacting, gives me a lot of new information every single day. Right. And especially it's coming from people who've been doing it over like a decade like you. So that really did help me. And I would say having a structure is what I've, you know, particularly attained from the course. That's one thing. And again, cold calling is the major success for me.
What probably led you to, let's say, think of Cohort again, because you were already in the game, you're already working.
Well, a situation did come up for me where I had to focus on things that would not be an outbound. That was the primary reason as to because they were putting outbound on hold and Well, how do I say this? Again, it's a startup. They want to figure out stuff. They have inbounds coming, wanted help with procurement, which is totally fine. But I sort of wanted to do outbound and sales. That's what I've been trying to do. And I thought it doesn't really make a lot of sense for me to stay another 3, 4 months and, you know, commit to a company, perhaps get into that. Maybe I wasn't that patient enough, but I was able to, again, with the conversation that I did have with you, you know, regarding the switch and everything, I did manage to save up some good amount because I managed to land a full-time role. So again, it was pretty much saved up and it was about time that I did join. But again, after the conversation with you as well, I thought, you know, the comp could be a lot better. The role, the place in which I was at was not right for me, particularly given my experience and what I like to do or where my skill sets would perhaps fit in. So that would be the reason as to why, you know, I was able to look into this. So the primary reason was not. Focusing on outbound and again, got to know what is sort of out there in the market. And again, at the end, I was still graduating at that time and I still have the room to make a switch. So that was—
you were always operating at a level which I believe other students were not able to catch up. What do you think you were doing differently?
Nothing as such. I feel like you should just be hungry out there. There was an opportunity for me to win over here. Just 15 people at that point in time. Competing with. So the sample size is not that large, and what we were asked to do was not unrealistic per se as well. Again, I did put in a lot of hours, and I sort of wanted to, you know, prove myself as well that, hey, there's a chance for win. I mean, what else am I supposed to do, right? Other than to interview.
Why did you feel that you had to prove yourself?
Well, I come from a CS background, and I mean, we've had this conversation as well that I sort of had to pivot. And again, there were a lot of questions that were arise, but I've sort of loved doing sales from the beginning and a lot of people had the perception that monetarily it's not going to benefit you as much as something like a tech job. And, but I sort of had this thing like, hey, I can do well in my field as well. And I always believed in myself. It's not so about that, but you need some parameters to hit those things as well, right? So I guess that would be the ideal scenario, just being the best at what I do, not limited to this. That's. That's how I want to be and how I see myself being at any place.
Somebody who's watching this video is probably your December version.
Got it.
Right? What would you tell them?
Well, with School of SDR, I'm not just going to say things for the sake of promoting it, right? If you don't have the hunger or if you're expecting to be spoon-fed, this is not the place for you. Unfortunately, I feel like whoever is going to join the cohort are most likely going to be adults or even freshers at that end. So you should take up a lot of ownership. You have a path that's going to be laid out. You're going to get guidance on how you can do things better, but it's in your hands on how you're going to do a lot of these things. And if you do have the hunger and if you're willing to put in the effort, you're going to get educated. And if you're able to prove it in the cohort as well, 100%, you're going to get, you know, a lot of opportunities opened up. That's where Rahul Wadhwa also comes into play. You just have to do your work. That's about it, right? And in terms of getting guidance, you would assume you know some things, but when you sort of hear things from people who've been doing it for years, that's really going to be a game changer. Especially a lot of people I've seen are sort of hesitant on cold calling the practice in blue or practicing with your mentors. All of this is going to completely change you. Me personally, that was my biggest difference. Even talking with Amir the other day, and he's like, day and night difference in terms of how I was cold calling on day 1 versus week 4. So I guess that's the place. If you feel like you have what it takes and, you know, you're sort of not getting opportunities opened up, or perhaps you're already working, or if you want to learn what is new and how you can make your approaches better, I feel this is the right place. But if it's like, you know, hey, just got a job and it's just going to be given out to me, my profile is going to be sent, I feel like that's unrealistic and that's not really going to happen.
Thank you. Thank you for being candid about it. Walk me through your interview process. Like how, how was that?
Interview process was pretty straightforward. First, you had an initial call from the HR, just talking about what I've done so far and, you know, even some performances in the cohort as well. Generally, why sales? And it was like a 30-minute call that I had with her. And then it was another meeting with the outbound manager, just trying to get to know me, very conversational. We had a mock cold call in that as well, but again, One thing I did, and I've been doing for all interview processes, is building out outbound plans like upfront. So that day one itself, I was able to just show what I've built out for them in terms of the sequences and cadences. And we even did the mock, like a random mock. It was a random situation, nothing to do with the company itself. This is them testing if you can hold on to conversations, where you're coming from, or if you'd be a fit at the company. The next is the primary round where I had a live email writing and coding. Cold calling. There were 3 people from the organization who showed up for this, an outbound manager, the head of outbound, and a senior BDR. So did mocks with all of them, wrote follow-ups for all of them as well. It was live, but again, with the help of AI, the email part was relatively easier. I just had to put in some context and, you know, mix, match, match. Cold calling, there were a lot of challenges that were thrown around, but again, with the basic practice that I've been doing in the cohort, right, that really helped me in handling a lot of objections that I wouldn't been able to do earlier on. It's not that you'd be prepared for all of the objections that come to way, but there are certain things that's very common and you would learn to navigate your way through all of these things. And it sort of becomes a pattern for you to deal with any objections that thrown at you. But what they're primarily looking at is they're not expecting you to be really good at it because you don't know the product that well, right? You've not started working. They're seeing on how you're going to bounce back after getting these rejections, how you navigate well. And even with 3 calls, they're just seeing if I'm, you know, being down after the first one being hard or if I'm able to handle it well, but I just smile and go through all of that again. And I've sort of learned to detach myself a lot from outcomes as well. So that helps me a lot in not being nervous.
This is great, man. Thank you so much for sharing your feedback. I think this has been super helpful. Congratulations once again. And hopefully we have some other program for you in the future. Sure.
I mean, I'm down to Let's join or help you guys in any ways possible.
