What Top SDRs Are Getting Paid in NYC

So far in 2025 we have placed 10 SDRs across 7 different companies all backed by tier-1 investors like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), General Catalyst, Avenir, Lightspeed and more.

Based on the offers I’ve seen made/accepted here is my take on how much you have to pay to get an experienced SDR (or ex-finance/consulting candidate) to make a move to your series A/B startup:

For experienced SDRs, based in NYC, who have over 1 year of work under their belts, $80,000 base with ~$110-$120 OTE (on target earnings) seems to be the magic number

Many people will read that number and say “80k for an SDR?! NO WAY!” and that’s a totally fair reaction.

The thing to remember is that there are different profiles/tiers of SDRs out there. The reps we place at TopSDRs tend to be 1-2 years out of college and they have either worked as an SDR at a larger org or were in banking/consulting and want to make a move. Moreover, they aren’t desperate for a job. They are probably killing it in their existing role and are just opportunistically looking for a move.

You can definitely pay less (plenty of orgs in NYC are paying $55-$65k base to SDRs) BUT typically in that range you’ll be hiring more junior talent (less than one year out of school), which just means you’ll need to have a strong training program in place.

Ultimately, experienced high performers are absolutely willing to take a pay cut (I’ve seen it many times), but it needs to be within reason. In NYC you aren’t going to get someone who was on track to make $140k+ suddenly accept $55k base. It’s just TOO much of a lifestyle change. So, $80k base is probably the right number if you want to get a really high quality, experienced rep to make a lateral move to your company.

Follow along for more posts related to the SDR role. Whether you are an SDR, future SDR, CEO, or investor we have you covered on all things related to being/hiring an SDR in NYC!

-Andrew and Chris