How ElevenLabs Scaled Outbound From 5% to 46% With Human SDRs

Episode Summary

Jonathan Chemouny leads GTM at ElevenLabs, where he scaled outbound from 5% to 46% of pipeline in one year with a small distributed SDR team. He previously built and led SDR teams at Intercom and Lattice. His team operates with no job titles, no standups, and no activity metrics — running on async Slack communication and trust-based autonomy.

This episode covers the full operating system: why an AI-native company at $330M+ ARR decided to invest in human SDRs, how they hire from finance and VC instead of sales, the async management model that replaces standups and pipeline reviews, and where AI fits into the SDR team — replacing management overhead, not the reps.

What We Discuss

Why an AI Company Needed Human SDRs

When Jonathan joined ElevenLabs, the company was 95% inbound. Two SDRs in Europe were doing a good job, but capacity constraints meant almost no outbound was happening. The business case for building outbound was straightforward: relying entirely on inbound means you do not control deal size, territory, or ICP. Jonathan was hired to build the team and shift the motion.

The irony is the hook — ElevenLabs builds voice AI, yet they are investing in human SDRs rather than automating outbound. The reason: the highest-value outbound activities require human judgment. AI replaces the management layer, not the rep.

Defining Outbound at a PLG Company

Outbound at ElevenLabs is not a single motion. It includes:

• Pure cold outbound — prospects who have never interacted with ElevenLabs
• PLG-assisted outbound — SDRs contacting decision makers above users already on the free product
• Signal-based outbound — reaching out based on content engagement or product usage signals

The distinction matters for pipeline math. When a company reports “46% outbound,” the breakdown between cold and PLG-assisted changes the entire playbook.

Hiring From Finance and VC Over Career SDRs

Jonathan’s most counterintuitive take: career SDRs with rigid playbook expectations underperform at ElevenLabs. His best hires come from finance, VC, and product backgrounds.

The 4-round interview process screens for:

1. AI fluency — can the candidate learn and use AI tools quickly?
2. Adaptability — do they default to “ask for forgiveness, not permission”?
3. Pressure tolerance — can they operate without a manager checking in daily?

The entrepreneurial mindset is the filter. In a company with no job titles, every team member — including Jonathan, GMs, and even the CEO — carries a quota and prospects.

The 20x Base-to-Quota Ratio

As Carles Reina shared on the 20VC podcast, AE quota ratios at ElevenLabs follow a 20x base-to-quota model. This creates massive pipeline demand and changes what the SDR team needs to look like. A small SDR team feeding AEs with 20x quotas only works if each SDR generates disproportionate pipeline — which is why the team is designed for extreme productivity, not volume.

The Operating System: No Standups, No Titles, Async Slack

The management model strips out traditional rituals:

• No standups — replaced by async Slack updates Jonathan calls “Slack militaire”
• No pipeline reviews — AI agents handle reporting and tracking
• No job titles — everyone is “GTM,” which helps SDRs prospect without the stigma of the SDR label
• No activity metrics — output matters, not input tracking

Jonathan had to unlearn what worked at Lattice and Intercom. Monday standups, weekly pipeline reviews, team meetings — all gone. The one constraint: a consistent tech stack across the team.

SDRs Doing Fieldwork, Demos, and Events

ElevenLabs SDRs operate more like AEs than traditional SDRs:

• Running personalized demos for prospects, not just booking meetings
• Flying to meet prospects in person — the “Uber model” of picking a city and stacking 10 meetings back-to-back
• Attending events solo — one rep skipped President’s Club for CCW Berlin and came back with 60+ SQOs

In a fully remote company, the SDR is often the only human face a prospect ever sees. That changes the weight of the role entirely.

AI Agents for Management, Not Replacement

ElevenLabs uses AI inside the SDR operation, but not in the way most people assume:

• AI inbound agent — handles multilingual qualification with 78% of decisions requiring no human intervention
• Claude-connected agents — generate weekly notes and handle management tasks
• AI for admin — replaces the reporting and tracking that managers traditionally spend hours on

The thesis: AI replaces the SDR manager’s old playbook (standups, Gong reviews, activity tracking) so the SDR can do higher-value human work.

Channel Strategy: WhatsApp and LinkedIn in Europe

The channel mix at ElevenLabs breaks from the US-centric playbook:

• LinkedIn is the top-performing outbound channel
• WhatsApp outperforms email in European markets
• Cold calling remains part of the mix
• AI-generated personalized videos supplement outreach

Local SDRs are trusted to adapt to local business culture — what works in France does not necessarily work in Germany. Territory design recruits locally and gives regional autonomy.

Timestamps

• 0:00 - Why an AI company hires human SDRs
• 1:30 - Building outbound from 95% inbound
• 4:00 - Hiring from finance and VC over career SDRs
• 7:45 - The hiring process and AI fluency test
• 15:25 - Making the SDR role worth staying in
• 19:50 - The 20x base-to-quota ratio
• 28:00 - Killing standups and going fully async
• 34:30 - SDRs doing fieldwork, demos, and events
• 42:10 - AI agents for inbound and management
• 46:25 - WhatsApp and channel strategy in Europe

Referenced

• Carles Reina on the 20VC Podcast — 20x base-to-quota model
• Jonathan Chemouny on LinkedIn
• ElevenLabs