Hiring an SDR
Keep outbound running from your own inbox, and choose cover your new SDR can take over on day one. The seat is empty for the search and then half-empty for the ramp. The cover that pays is the one whose threads and replies stay with you when the SDR starts.
See what the gap costs with your numbers: open SDR seat cost calculator. Choosing what covers the gap? Compare a hire, an agency and an AI SDR.
What matters is how fast it starts, whose inbox it sends from, and what your new SDR is left with.
| Option | Starts | Sends from | Your new SDR inherits | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The founder or sales leader sends it | Now | Your own inbox | Whatever you had time to write | It stops the week you are busy, which is most weeks while you are interviewing. |
| A contractor or freelance SDR | Once you find one | Usually your domain | Their notes, if they leave any | Another hire to source and manage, for a role that ends when your SDR starts. |
| An outsourced SDR agency | After onboarding | Often domains the agency sets up | A report. The threads and replies usually stay with the agency. | Retainers commonly come with a minimum term that outlasts the hire. |
| An AI SDR | Days | Depends on the tool: your inbox, or new domains it buys | Running campaigns and every reply, if the tool sends from your inbox | Many sell annual contracts. Read every email until you trust it. |
| Wait for the hire | Never | Nothing is sent | A blank list | The new SDR spends the first month building what could already be running. |
Whatever you choose, judge it by the handover. A new SDR who inherits live conversations spends the first weeks answering people, not building a list and a sequence from nothing.
The 30-day handover plan walks through it week by week.
Monty is an AI SDR for this gap. You connect your Gmail or Outlook mailbox and upload your list. Monty writes each email for the person getting it, sends the follow-ups and answers the replies, all from your inbox. Nothing goes out until you approve it, unless you choose to let it send on its own. When your SDR starts, they take over the campaigns that are already running.
It is email only, you bring the list, and one person signs in. If you need phone or LinkedIn outreach, or someone to find your leads, it is not the right fit. It is billed monthly with no contract, so it ends when the gap does. If you are deciding whether to send from your own mailbox, here is when it is safe and when it is not.
Start with your listSHRM's 2026 benchmark puts the median time-to-fill for nonexecutive roles at 39 calendar days (it does not break out SDRs), and the Bridge Group's 2025 report puts average SDR ramp at 3.0 months. Counting the ramp at half output, that is close to three months of lost meetings before notice periods.
Only if nothing can send it well. Stopping means the new SDR starts from a blank list, and the pipeline that would have come in during the search and the ramp does not exist.
Running campaigns, every reply so far in the inbox they will work from, which messages got answers, the list with who has been contacted, and the opt-outs already recorded.
It can be, at low volume, from a mailbox with real history and SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up. The risk grows with volume, so keep daily numbers small, and build a brand-new mailbox up slowly rather than starting it at full speed.
When you need phone or LinkedIn outreach, when you have no list of who to contact, or when nobody will read the first emails before they go.
Before you book
The price
$1,399 a month. No setup fee.
Prices shown in USD. Billed in the same currency at checkout.
If it does not work
Cancel inside 30 days and your payment comes back in full. No usage deduction, no form to fill in.
How you leave
Monthly, and you cancel from inside the product. No contract, no notice period, no minimum term — the tools this replaces mostly ask for a quarter or a year up front.