Show notes
Subscribe to the Outbound Kitchen newsletter-Florin Tatulea is GTM Engineer in Residence at ZoomInfo, where he builds the AI agents and workflows behind modern outbound. He was Loopio's first sales hire, on the team that grew revenue 65x in six years, and he built the outbound engine at Common Room, where he 4x'd the SDR team, grew monthly outbound pipeline 20x, and sourced seven figures in outbound revenue. He writes Prospecting from the Trenches, and he treats outbound as a system to design, not a headcount number to fill.We discuss:The top-down headcount math that quietly over-hires outbound teamsTAM vs SAM, and why the real number was 6,000 accounts, not 30,000Why you don't need an SDR before $1M ARR or product-market fitHiring two SDRs at once to separate the person from the processThe four things Florin looks for in a first SDR, and how he vets curiosityBuilding the team like a sports team, with complementary skill setsWhat AI and GTM engineering actually change about the team you buildWhy Anthropic, OpenAI, and Clay are still hiring SDRsReferenced:Prospecting from the Trenches (Florin's newsletter): salesflo.substack.comFlorin Tatulea on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/florintatulea/ZoomInfo: zoominfo.comHyperbound (AI roleplay, Florin is an advisor)When you're readyWant to work with me? Send me a DM -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/elriclegloire/Connect with me[Connect on LinkedIn] -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/elriclegloire/[Subscribe on YouTube] -> https://www.youtube.com/@ElricLegloireOutbound[Connect on X] -> https://x.com/elriclegloireChapters:(00:00) Intro: who is Florin Tatulea(01:29) The episode outline(02:21) Where the scaling math breaks(04:55) TAM vs SAM: 30,000 accounts or 6,000?(09:23) What CROs and CMOs get wrong next(13:06) Why you don't need an SDR before $1M ARR(16:25) Hire two SDRs, not one(19:17) What to look for in your first SDRs(22:00) How to actually vet for curiosity(24:53) The prospecting homework task(28:14) Build the team like a sports team(32:55) A better way to interview for passion(35:43) Vetting coachability on a live cold call(38:46) What changed in 2026: AI and GTM engineering(42:18) Why the best AI companies still hire SDRs(46:13) The best AI use cases for SDR teams(51:45) Automating the deal handoff(53:08) Q&A: trade-show lists with Claude Code(54:44) Where to find Florin
