Founding Hires

In the first episode of Founding Hires, Andrew (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjameswilkins/) and Chris (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-wilkins-120323150/) sit down with Sophia Poersch, one of the founding SDRs at Series A startup, Runlayer. During the conversation, Sophia talks about her path from Penn to JP Morgan, the exact moment she knew it was time to leave JP, why ex college athletes make such great hires, and what her days look like now that she's at a startup.

0:00 - Intro: From Penn Athlete to JP Morgan
6:30 - Landing JP Morgan & Wanting to Be Wanted
11:36 - The Wake-Up Call: Everyone's 10-Year Goal Was JP Morgan
16:15 - Why a Startup, Why SDR & Why Everything Is Sales
21:43 - "You're Waiting for Your Life to Start"
25:57 - Choosing a Startup: Going Small, the Nice Guy vs. the Cool Guy
33:37 - Life as a Founding SDR at RunLayer
39:17 - Why Athletes Win in Sales (and Being the First Girl at RunLayer)
44:41 - Banking First or Straight to a Startup? A Job vs. a Lifestyle
53:50 - The Butterfly Effect question

TopSDRs (https://topsdrs.com/) is an NYC-based recruiting firm exclusively focused on placing SDRs at series A/B startups in NYC. They have helped shape the founding teams at companies like Profound, Avoca, Outtake, Forus, Basis, ThreadAI, Runlayer, Monk, Warp, and many others. The company was founded by brothers, and ex-Ivy League rowers, Andrew and Chris Wilkins, and their network tilts heavily towards ex-athletes from top schools with 1-3 years of work experience.