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From BDR to AE: How Meischa Secured a $110K Salary Increase with Better Career

  • Writer: Better Career
    Better Career
  • 6 minutes ago
  • 3 min read

Breaking into an Account Executive (AE) role from a Business Development Representative (BDR) position can feel like hitting a wall.


Meischa, a two-time founding team member at fast-growing SaaS startups, faced this challenge head-on.


Even though she had a solid background, Meischa kept running into the same issue: companies just weren't hiring outside BDRs for AE roles.


But she didn't let that stop her.


Instead, she managed to boost her salary by a whopping $110,000 and snagged offers from big names like HubSpot!


Why Meischa Kept Getting Overlooked


Meischa had a pretty solid background as a BDR.


She was part of building two startups from scratch and was always hitting her targets. But when she tried to move up to AE roles, managers often brushed her off.


The usual line was, “We don’t hire external BDRs for AE roles.”


This kind of thinking really put a damper on her career growth, even though she had the skills and results to back it up.


This bias is something a lot of folks in tech sales run into.


Companies tend to stick to promoting from within or only hire AEs with direct experience, which makes it tough for talented BDRs like Meischa to break through.


She needed a way to change that mindset and show she was ready for the AE gig.


How Better Career Helped Meischa Break Barriers


When Meischa came to Better Career, we focused on helping her build a story that hiring managers couldn’t ignore.


Instead of relying on generic BDR responsibilities, we helped her create creative, high-trust assets that showed she could:

  • Ramp quickly and contribute without a long learning curve

  • Build a territory plan that demonstrated her strategic thinking and how she’d approach pipeline from day one

  • Understand and articulate a company’s value prop, tying her experience directly to the problems their customers face


These assets helped hiring teams picture her not as a BDR looking for a shot, but as someone who already thought, planned, and executed like an AE.


We also coached her through interview questions so she could confidently speak to readiness, not just potential.


Crafting a Unique Value Proposition


One of the biggest breakthroughs for Meischa was developing a unique value proposition.


Instead of just listing her experience, she learned to tell her story in a way that showed how she could tackle specific problems for the company.


She highlighted:

  • Her deep understanding of the sales cycle, from prospecting to closing.

  • Her proven success in building relationships and managing complex deals.

  • Her ability to hit the ground running with minimal ramp-up time.


This approach helped hiring managers see her as a ready-to-go AE, not just a BDR looking for a step up.


The Results

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Thanks to her coach’s guidance and her hard work, Meischa scored interviews with several top companies.


She got offers from two of them, including HubSpot, and ended up landing a role as an Emerging Enterprise AE.


The salary jump? A whopping $110,000 more than what she was making before!


This whole experience shows that with the right prep and messaging, it’s totally possible to overcome those common hiring objections and make a big leap in your career.


Practical Tips for BDRs Wanting to Become AEs


If you’re looking to make the same leap, here’s what worked for Meischa:


  • Create strategic assets that demonstrate AE-level thinking (territory plan, value-prop breakdown, ramp roadmap)

  • Translate your BDR wins into clear business impact

  • Practice responses to the most common hiring objections

  • Build a value prop that shows you understand the role and the customer, not just the tasks

  • Get support if you hit the same roadblocks repeatedly


What This Means for You


If you’re a BDR aiming for an AE role, your biggest obstacle usually isn’t your experience.


It's how clearly you connect your experience to the role you want.


When you present yourself like someone who’s ready to perform on day one, hiring managers pay attention.


If you want support making that leap into AE or SE roles, we specialize in helping job seekers do exactly that.


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