Alright, let’s talk AI.

This week I’m hitting three big ones. First, why being a LinkedIn snob isn’t protecting your inbox, it’s just posturing. Second, how Salesloft, the company built on SDRs, went scorched earth on its own customer base by saying the role won’t exist after 2026. And third, a deep dive into where AI SDRs are actually working today… hot, warm, and cold plays…plus the tools worth paying attention to if you’re serious about outbound.

Let’s get into it.

No, But Seriously…

Stop being a LinkedIn snob.

You know the move: You click “connect,” and instead of a handshake you get “Enter my email to prove you know me.”

That’s not protecting your inbox. That’s ego. That’s saying, “I’m too important for strangers, now dance for me.”

If you’re on LinkedIn but make people guess your email to connect, why even be here? This platform is for meeting new people, not hiding behind velvet ropes. If a simple connection request feels too dangerous, just log off.

The people worth connecting with don’t need email walls. They earn attention by being valuable, not by being hard to reach.

So stop acting like you’re Mark Zuckerberg at the Met Gala. Drop the email wall.

Let people in. Or admit you’re not here to connect, you’re here to posture.

The Drop

I thought this was a joke. Some Reddit thread, a few random LinkedIn posts.

But then I saw it with my own eyes: the CRO of Salesloft on a podcast saying the quiet part out loud.

1. SDR pipeline is trash compared to AEs

“AE generated pipeline is three to four times more effective than BDR pipeline.”

Translation: SDR meetings aren’t just weaker, they’re junk. The CRO of Salesloft literally said AEs prospecting on their own do 3–4x better than the very teams his product was built to serve.

2. The role was a fad, not a profession

“BDR was a role that didn’t exist pre-2012… I’m not sure it’s going to exist post-2026.”

Translation: He’s calling SDRs a 10-year mistake. Not a career path. Not a pillar of sales. A blip. A fad. Disposable.

3. SDRs don’t help customers, they help spreadsheets

“That kind of top-of-the-funnel BDR function… is not serving the customer. It’s serving… the P&L.”

Translation: SDRs are quota hacks, pipeline inflation tactics, a way to make the spreadsheet look better.

4. The economics are broken

“It’s just become very expensive to drive a pipeline like that… CAC goes up 25–30% every year.”

Translation: SDR outbound is burning cash. CAC has exploded. Meetings are too expensive. The model doesn’t work anymore.

5. Even Salesloft killed its own SDRs

“We don’t have BDRs anymore. We don’t have that function in the organization.”

Translation: Instead, they stood up some lipstick-on-a-pig “Office of Pipeline Management.” Corporate speak for: we axed the team this product was supposed to empower, then slapped a new label on it.

And then, get this…he admits that ~40% of their users are still BDRs. Honestly, listening to him stumble, it sounded closer to 60%.

So let’s be clear: Salesloft just told nearly half their customers, “your work is garbage, your role is a fad, and your future is dead.”

That’s like:

Pick your analogy. It’s insane.

That isn’t thought leadership. That’s corporate arson.

Can they do this? Hah. They can….and they did.

But here’s the kicker: he’s probably right.
The old SDR model is cooked.

The difference? He can’t say that without alienating half his customer base.
I can…because I run a company where you can actually hire AI SDRs to replace them.

Inbound SDRs
Humans have no business here anymore, especially humans using Salesloft. Im sorry, it’s true. Website leads, demo requests, contact forms… a Cloud Employee can qualify and convert in seconds while your rep is still sipping their latte. Faster. Cheaper. Better. Period.

Outbound SDRs
This is now a signal-based selling game and humans can’t keep up. Cloud Employees can monitor top signals on top accounts and actually act on them. Humans? They miss them. AI doesn’t. Account visits, intent pings, buying signals. a Cloud Employee is watching 24/7, engaging instantly, moving the deal forward while your SDR is still “circling back.” The catch? The signal matters. Garbage in, garbage out.

AE Prospecting
Let’s be real: most AEs won’t prospect on their own. They’ll dodge it at all costs. But give them a Cloud Employee as a wingman, surfacing the right accounts, telling them who to reach, even drafting the outreach and suddenly they do it. Not because they want to. Because the AI made it stupidly easy.

So yes, I’m giving Salesloft hell because they basically just spit in the face of half their customers.

But also yes, SDRs are changing. Fast.

The future isn’t “no SDRs.” The future is AI SDRs (Cloud Employees) either doing the work themselves, or supporting AEs to finally do it right.

Salesloft said the quiet part out loud.

And…either they’re idiots who torched their own base, or they’re making one of the biggest pivots SaaS has ever seen.

Either way, the message is clear: the old SDR model is dead.

The Shortcut

Okay, so Salesloft just went scorched earth on SDRs. Fine. But let’s get real.
Right now, today, where does AI actually deliver in sales development?

Here’s the truth:

▸ Hot is a no-brainer. If you’ve got hot leads, stop wasting humans on them. Website leads, demo requests, contact forms, event sign-ups — AI should own that response every time. Faster. Cheaper. Better. Period.

▸ Warm is where it gets interesting. Think intent signals: repeat site visits, landing page hits, high-value behaviors. Most teams ignore those pings in Slack. An AI agent won’t. It can engage instantly, qualify, and move the lead forward. But the signal matters. Garbage in, garbage out.

▸ Cold, classic outbound. Let’s be honest: AI isn’t winning here yet. Cold calls by bots flop. Spray-and-pray emails flop. If your data is trash, you’re toast. Humans still matter here, but the game is shifting fast.

Now layer in channel:

▸ Agentic Voice works best with SMBs — restaurants, local shops, smaller businesses who still pick up the phone. Not enterprise. The CMO of Salesforce is not taking a cold call from your bot.

▸ Agentic Email is rare but powerful. Don’t blast millions. Too costly. Use it to handle responses at scale, to qualify and convert where it matters. Pair it with your volume tools.

▸ Agentic Chat is underrated. Everyone remembers the garbage workflow bots, so adoption is slow. But when done right, agentic chat works across every segment.

Oh and one more thing…

▸ High-Volume SDR Functions: Replace or Fill the Gaps
This is where AI shines in a full-on replacement mindset. Think inbound triage, mass lead handling, and relentless signal monitoring. AI agents can cover the repetitive grind humans drop the ball on qualify inbound, chase every form fill, watch every account visit, follow up on every “hand-raiser.” Humans can’t keep up. AI can.

▸ Low-Volume SDR Functions: Augment and Arm
In targeted plays, AI doesn’t replace, it arms. Think of an AI lead researcher: monitoring accounts, surfacing buying signals, drafting insights, and handing reps personalized ammo. The SDR doesn’t start from scratch. They start with an AI wingman feeding them the exact context they need to strike.

Tools I’d actually use

DiscoLike finds the list.
Modern lead database. Cleaner data, less trash. If your reps are still pulling lists from 2019, they’re already dead.

Ocean.io goes deep.
Company-level intel with actual depth, not just headcount fluff. Perfect for targeting big fish.

Clay is the glue.
Not just enrichment, it’s the duct tape of outbound. Connect APIs, enrich at scale, and automate workflows like you’ve got a RevOps army in your pocket.

Perplexity makes you dangerous.
Forget Googling. This is research on steroids. Competitive intel, account insights, and market context in seconds.

Findymail keeps you out of spam hell.
Email finding + validation so your reps aren’t bouncing like idiots.

BetterContact gets you the cell.
Forget the desk line graveyard. This one actually gives you mobile numbers that pick up.

Instantly.ai actually hits send.
Sequencers are everywhere. Instantly is the one built for serious outbound volume without getting your domain torched.

HeyReach.io owns LinkedIn.
Turn LinkedIn into an outbound channel without looking like a spam bot.

Loom still cuts through.
Video prospecting 101. Nothing new, still works. If your SDRs can’t hit record, you’ve already lost.

Claude sharpens the copy.
AI that doesn’t write garbage. Polishes your outreach so it doesn’t sound like ChatGPT circa 2022.

Warmly shows who’s knocking.
De-anonymizes website visitors so you know which accounts are at the door before they fill out a form.

Signals is the edge.
It doesn’t just hand you intent, it acts on it. Signals is the AI SDR, it watches accounts, finds buying signals, and then does the outreach itself. The emails, the calls, the follow-ups. It does the work humans drop. While your rep is still thinking about when to “circle back,” Signals already made contact.

Superhuman kills inbox drag.
Fastest email client on earth. Makes Gmail feel like dial-up.

Kondo cleans up your LinkedIn DMs.
Think Superhuman, but for LinkedIn. Inbox zero for the world’s messiest sales channel.