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My first week at Heron, I was on a plane to Dallas for a conference.
I barely knew what to say to MCAs yet. But I got to shadow Jakob, one of our experienced sellers, listen to how he talked about the product, and actually meet customers face-to-face. By conference end, I understood what we were selling way better than any onboarding deck could have taught me.
That's kind of how things work here.
What the Job Actually Looks Like
There’s no playbook. No quota of “50 calls a day” or “100 emails logged in Salesforce.” Most days, the job is simpler—and harder—than that: figure out how to move one real person one step closer to saying yes.
Sometimes that’s a thoughtful email. Sometimes it’s creative outreach. And sometimes it means getting on a plane.
In December, I flew down to Florida and spent days driving around, stopping in to visit prospects. One of our AEs happened to be there at the same time—and after that first trip, he went back two more times in the next ten days to close a deal. That’s what momentum looks like when you get out from behind the screen.
One stop on that trip was Miami, where I walked into the office of one of our biggest prospects completely unannounced, gifts in hand—Celsius and donuts. Just to watch how they actually worked—and to see firsthand how much time they were losing to manual document processing. That's when the product stops being abstract — you’re no longer talking about “AI” in theory. You’re watching the exact problem Heron exists to solve, in real time.
And one of my favorite parts of visiting customers is getting to see the other side of that moment—when it actually clicks. A few weeks later, while visiting our team in London, I sat in on a live onboarding with a recent UK customer. Ten of their team members in a room with ours, walking through the platform together. You could feel the shift as it landed: how much time they were about to get back, how different their day-to-day was about to look.
You’ll Know Everyone’s Name
It’s baked into the culture: the same thought we put into understanding customers is reflected in how the team operates. When I joined, Heron had just raised a $16M Series A and was about 25 people. At that size, a few things become true pretty quickly:
You talk to everyone. When I need to understand a feature better, I’m not filing a support ticket—I’m messaging the person who built it or turning to the engineer sitting next to me. Everyone’s accessible because everyone has to be. The company is early enough that cross-functional conversations aren’t optional; they’re how things actually get done.
And what stood out just as much was the conviction. Everyone here is genuinely smart, but more importantly, they believe in what we’re building. Seeing a team of that size raise a $16M Series A made one thing clear to me early on: the surface has barely been scratched. If this much has been accomplished with 25 people, the growth ahead feels inevitable—and a little bit crazy.
And more importantly, the people at Heron are genuinely nice. On my second day in the office, we ended up playing Tradle, and one of our co-founders just hung out and played with us. Nothing forced—just people who genuinely enjoy working together.
What I'd Tell Someone Considering Being A SDR @ Heron
Get comfortable being uncomfortable. The first cold call, the first unannounced visit, the first room full of decision-makers—none of it feels natural at first. You just do it anyway.
Know your customer. Watch past demos. Read the customer docs. Set up time with people across the company and ask questions. Everything you need is there if you go looking for it.
Be willing and eager to try new things. The freedom here is real, but so is the expectation that you'll use it.
TLDR;
I get to work with extremely smart individuals, travel to visit prospects and customers, and sell a product that actually does what we say it does. The company is growing. The team is unstoppable. The work is fun.
If you want structure and predictability, this probably isn't the right fit. If you want to figure things out and have room to run, it might be. And we're hiring → https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/herondata
