Founding BDR, AI Packaging SaaS

Lavendo partners with startups and high‑growth companies to help them hire top‑tier sales, go‑to‑market, and technical talent. This role is with one of our clients; we’ll share full details about the company and interview process as we get to know you and confirm mutual fit.About the CompanyOur client is an early-stage AI software startup based in San Francisco, building a category-defining AI-powered platform for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and packaging supply chain. They have paying customers, real revenue, and are preparing for their first institutional funding round. The team is small, technical, and operator-led.The MissionReplace the spreadsheets, emails, and PDFs that hold the packaging industry together with one AI-powered source of truth for packaging specs and artwork. Help brands ship products faster and suppliers respond faster — across procurement, design, and manufacturing.The OpportunityThis is a founding sales hire — the Founding BDR for the company. You will be the first dedicated outbound seller, working directly with the founder. Your job is to fill the top of the funnel — book qualified meetings with brand, packaging, and supply chain decision-makers so the founder can run discovery and close. The competitive window is open right now: well-funded incumbents exist, but no one has won the mid-market yet. You can.What You'll DoRun high-volume outbound across phone, email, and LinkedIn into a curated list of CPG brands, packaging companies, and adjacent manufacturersBook qualified discovery meetings for the founder (target: minimum 2 meetings/week after a 2-week onboarding ramp)Own the CRM (HubSpot): clean pipeline, sequence cadences, log every call, keep data tightResearch target accounts and identify the right buyer — Creative Director, Packaging Engineer, Formulator, Procurement, Supply Chain, or Account Executive — depending on companyIterate weekly on messaging with the founder: what objections came up, what hooks worked, what stories resonateWhen given pre-built target lists, work them ruthlessly. When given a blank ICP, source your own.Bring market signal back to the founder: what buyers care about, what they push back on, what features they ask aboutWhat You Bring — Must-Haves1–3+ years of B2B SaaS outbound sales experience (SDR / BDR / Founding BDR)Demonstrated track record of cold-outbound success — you can talk in numbers about dials/day, meetings/week, conversion ratesExcellent spoken English, confident on a cold call, comfortable with US business buyers (East Coast and Central time zones)Experience selling into non-tech, traditional industries — manufacturing, packaging, supply chain, construction, CPG, or similar "blue-collar" buyersYou can pitch an early-stage product without flinching — you know how to handle "you're too early" and "come back when you have more customers"Fluency in modern outbound tools: HubSpot (or Salesforce), Apollo / ZoomInfo, LinkedIn Sales Nav, a sequencer (Outreach / Salesloft / Lemlist)Willing and able to work US business hours that overlap with the East Coast (roughly 6am–2pm PT / 9am–5pm ET)Nice-to-HavesPrior founding sales hire at a YC or seed-stage startupSold into Procurement, Packaging, or Creative/Brand decision-makers specificallyClosed your own deals (not just SDR meeting-booking)Experience running outbound from a founder's LinkedIn accountFamiliarity with CPG, beauty, or packaging supply chain terminologyKey Success DriversHungry. You want to be a founding hire and grow with the company, not just clock a steady SDR check.Resourceful. You hit a wall, you find a way around — you don't wait to be told what to do.Direct. You communicate in specifics, not abstractions. You bring problems and proposed solutions.Honest. Founders here have been burned by salespeople who oversold themselves. References will be called.Persistent on the phone. Buyers in this industry are hard to get on calls. You don't take "not a priority" as a final answer — you reframe.Ownership-minded. You treat the pipeline as your pipeline.Coachable. You can take direct feedback without getting defensive and turn it into better calls and messaging.Why JoinFounding-team seat at a revenue-generating, pre-fundraise AI SaaS startup in San FranciscoDirect mentorship from a founder who is hands-on with sales and will personally onboard youFounder closes deals — you'll watch and learn the full motion, not just book and hand offClear path: BDR → Account Executive after the upcoming fundraiseMeaningful early equity for the right person who performs and stays through the roundBuild the playbook from scratch — your messaging, your sequences, your winsStrong technical co-founder — when a prospect asks for a feature, you can credibly say "we'll build it"Open roadmap, real customer voice — what you hear on calls actually shapes the productRemote, flexible — work from anywhere with strong US East Coast time-zone overlapContractor engagement via Deel — clean, compliant, simple monthly paymentsCompensationBase $1,500–$3,000 USD/month, depending on experience, skills, and location, benchmarked against your local market and aligned with your backgroundStrong performance-based upside: clear path to a higher comp and equity after the fundraise, with specifics agreed at the final stageEmployment Type: contract (1099)Interview ProcessRecruiter screen (30 min)Founder interview (45–60 min): product walkthrough, mock cold-call / outreach work sample, mutual fitReference + background check, offerAt Lavendo, we partner with clients who care about building high‑performing, inclusive teams, and we hold ourselves to the same standard. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, disability, genetic information, veteran or military status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.Originally posted on Himalayas

Lavendo partners with startups and high‑growth companies to help them hire top‑tier sales, go‑to‑market, and technical talent. This role is with one of our clients; we’ll share full details about the company and interview process as we get to know you and confirm mutual fit.About the CompanyOur client is an early-stage AI software startup based in San Francisco, building a category-defining AI-powered platform for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and packaging supply chain. They have paying customers, real revenue, and are preparing for their first institutional funding round. The team is small, technical, and operator-led.The MissionReplace the spreadsheets, emails, and PDFs that hold the packaging industry together with one AI-powered source of truth for packaging specs and artwork. Help brands ship products faster and suppliers respond faster — across procurement, design, and manufacturing.The OpportunityThis is a founding sales hire — the Founding BDR for the company. You will be the first dedicated outbound seller, working directly with the founder. Your job is to fill the top of the funnel — book qualified meetings with brand, packaging, and supply chain decision-makers so the founder can run discovery and close. The competitive window is open right now: well-funded incumbents exist, but no one has won the mid-market yet. You can.What You'll DoRun high-volume outbound across phone, email, and LinkedIn into a curated list of CPG brands, packaging companies, and adjacent manufacturersBook qualified discovery meetings for the founder (target: minimum 2 meetings/week after a 2-week onboarding ramp)Own the CRM (HubSpot): clean pipeline, sequence cadences, log every call, keep data tightResearch target accounts and identify the right buyer — Creative Director, Packaging Engineer, Formulator, Procurement, Supply Chain, or Account Executive — depending on companyIterate weekly on messaging with the founder: what objections came up, what hooks worked, what stories resonateWhen given pre-built target lists, work them ruthlessly. When given a blank ICP, source your own.Bring market signal back to the founder: what buyers care about, what they push back on, what features they ask aboutWhat You Bring — Must-Haves1–3+ years of B2B SaaS outbound sales experience (SDR / BDR / Founding BDR)Demonstrated track record of cold-outbound success — you can talk in numbers about dials/day, meetings/week, conversion ratesExcellent spoken English, confident on a cold call, comfortable with US business buyers (East Coast and Central time zones)Experience selling into non-tech, traditional industries — manufacturing, packaging, supply chain, construction, CPG, or similar "blue-collar" buyersYou can pitch an early-stage product without flinching — you know how to handle "you're too early" and "come back when you have more customers"Fluency in modern outbound tools: HubSpot (or Salesforce), Apollo / ZoomInfo, LinkedIn Sales Nav, a sequencer (Outreach / Salesloft / Lemlist)Willing and able to work US business hours that overlap with the East Coast (roughly 6am–2pm PT / 9am–5pm ET)Nice-to-HavesPrior founding sales hire at a YC or seed-stage startupSold into Procurement, Packaging, or Creative/Brand decision-makers specificallyClosed your own deals (not just SDR meeting-booking)Experience running outbound from a founder's LinkedIn accountFamiliarity with CPG, beauty, or packaging supply chain terminologyKey Success DriversHungry. You want to be a founding hire and grow with the company, not just clock a steady SDR check.Resourceful. You hit a wall, you find a way around — you don't wait to be told what to do.Direct. You communicate in specifics, not abstractions. You bring problems and proposed solutions.Honest. Founders here have been burned by salespeople who oversold themselves. References will be called.Persistent on the phone. Buyers in this industry are hard to get on calls. You don't take "not a priority" as a final answer — you reframe.Ownership-minded. You treat the pipeline as your pipeline.Coachable. You can take direct feedback without getting defensive and turn it into better calls and messaging.Why JoinFounding-team seat at a revenue-generating, pre-fundraise AI SaaS startup in San FranciscoDirect mentorship from a founder who is hands-on with sales and will personally onboard youFounder closes deals — you'll watch and learn the full motion, not just book and hand offClear path: BDR → Account Executive after the upcoming fundraiseMeaningful early equity for the right person who performs and stays through the roundBuild the playbook from scratch — your messaging, your sequences, your winsStrong technical co-founder — when a prospect asks for a feature, you can credibly say "we'll build it"Open roadmap, real customer voice — what you hear on calls actually shapes the productRemote, flexible — work from anywhere with strong US East Coast time-zone overlapContractor engagement via Deel — clean, compliant, simple monthly paymentsCompensationBase $1,500–$3,000 USD/month, depending on experience, skills, and location, benchmarked against your local market and aligned with your backgroundStrong performance-based upside: clear path to a higher comp and equity after the fundraise, with specifics agreed at the final stageEmployment Type: contract (1099)Interview ProcessRecruiter screen (30 min)Founder interview (45–60 min): product walkthrough, mock cold-call / outreach work sample, mutual fitReference + background check, offerAt Lavendo, we partner with clients who care about building high‑performing, inclusive teams, and we hold ourselves to the same standard. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, disability, genetic information, veteran or military status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.Originally posted on Himalayas