You're about to hire an SDR. Smart move. Before the offer goes out, run the real numbers: fully loaded cost, the 3-month ramp gap, and what that gap costs in pipeline. Most founders are surprised by the loaded column. Takes about two minutes.
1 · Your numbers
$
Just the advertised base. We add the real on-costs for you below.
$
Annual contract value or one-off — whatever a new client is worth to you.
meetings
Once ramped. Conservative default is 6.
%
Of qualified meetings that become paying clients.
2 · The number that matters: the ramp window
What the 3-month ramp costs you before this hire produces
$0
Ghost CEO covers that window
Installed in 14 days, not 3 months. Runs outbound in your voice, your sign-off on everything. When your SDR lands, they inherit a running system instead of a blank sheet.
3 · Four ways to fill the pipeline (first 12 months)
Hire an SDR
fully loaded, in-house
fully loaded, in-house
$0
first-year cash cost
- ~3 months to ramp
- ~1 in 3 leave inside year one
- You manage, train, replace
- Pipeline stops if they stop
you own the risk
Traditional agency
done-for-you retainer
done-for-you retainer
$0
first-year cost
- Live in a few weeks
- You rent it — nothing to keep
- Their playbook, not yours
- Leaves when they leave
they own the system
AI SDR tools
enterprise software
enterprise software
$0
first-year cost
- Sends at scale
- Nobody accountable for results
- You still run and fix it
- Generic voice out of the box
you run it alone
Ghost CEO
installed system
installed system
$0
first-year cost
- Live in 14 days
- Runs in your voice, your sign-off
- You keep the system
- ~10 min of your day
you own the machine
| SDR base salary | $0 |
| + Payroll tax & benefits (25%) | $0 |
| + Management, training & enablement (15%) | $0 |
| + Variable / commission (10%) | $0 |
| + Tools, data & CRM seat | $6,000 |
| Fully loaded, year one | $0 |
| ≈ per month | $0 |
How every number is worked out (no black boxes)
Loaded SDR: base + 25% payroll tax & benefits + 15% management/training/enablement time + 10% variable/commission + $6,000/yr tools, data and CRM. These are deliberately conservative — the real fully-loaded figure is often higher.
The ramp window: a new SDR takes about 3 months to reach steady output. During that time you pay the full loaded cost and the pipeline you hired them to build stays largely empty. The ramp figure combines what you spend in those 3 months with the pipeline value a working seat would have produced: (meetings/month × close rate × deal value) × 3.
Agency: a typical B2B appointment-setting retainer of about $4,000/month plus a $1,500 setup. You rent the output; nothing stays when the contract ends.
AI SDR tools: enterprise sales-AI platforms run roughly $5,000–$10,000/month (midpoint $6,000 used here) with no one accountable for booked meetings — you still operate it.
Ghost CEO: real pricing. $7,470 installed once + $1,997/month run for you end to end. Live in 14 days, and the system is yours to keep.
Proof, not projection: across the systems we run today — 8 clients live, 47.1% of cold emails opened, 5.9% replied, about ten minutes a day of founder time.
The ramp window: a new SDR takes about 3 months to reach steady output. During that time you pay the full loaded cost and the pipeline you hired them to build stays largely empty. The ramp figure combines what you spend in those 3 months with the pipeline value a working seat would have produced: (meetings/month × close rate × deal value) × 3.
Agency: a typical B2B appointment-setting retainer of about $4,000/month plus a $1,500 setup. You rent the output; nothing stays when the contract ends.
AI SDR tools: enterprise sales-AI platforms run roughly $5,000–$10,000/month (midpoint $6,000 used here) with no one accountable for booked meetings — you still operate it.
Ghost CEO: real pricing. $7,470 installed once + $1,997/month run for you end to end. Live in 14 days, and the system is yours to keep.
Proof, not projection: across the systems we run today — 8 clients live, 47.1% of cold emails opened, 5.9% replied, about ten minutes a day of founder time.
Want this pointed at your pipeline?
Fifteen minutes. I'll draw the ramp window on your actual hire and show you exactly what covering it looks like — whichever way the SDR decision goes.
Book 15 minutes