How a 12-Person Dev Agency Scaled Outbound 3× Without Hiring a $130K SDR

Executive Summary

Apex Code Labs needed a predictable stream of enterprise CTO and VP Engineering leads but couldn't justify the $110K–$160K fully loaded cost of a dedicated SDR - especially when the industry average quota attainment sits at just 47%.

By partnering with BeBaat for custom prospect research and tailored messaging, the agency scaled its outreach without adding headcount or expensive tooling subscriptions.

Client Profile & Key Metrics

• Client Type: 12-Person B2B Software Development Agency
• Target Decision Makers: Enterprise CTOs, VPs of Engineering, Heads of Infrastructure
• Target Market: Mid-market companies (50–500 employees) modernizing legacy tech stacks

The Challenge

Both founders were splitting 16 hours every week between LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Hunter.io email guessing, and writing one-off pitches in Google Docs.

Their generic template outreach was pulling a 2.8% reply rate - below the 3.4% industry average - and the pipeline dried up completely during delivery sprints.

They had explored hiring a junior SDR, but with fully loaded costs running $110K–$160K per year (salary, benefits, tooling stack, management overhead, and the 3-month ramp before a single meeting gets booked), the math didn't work for a bootstrapped 12-person shop.

The BeBaat Solution

BeBaat took over the entire top-of-funnel research workflow:

1. Strict ICP Filtering: We defined strict ICP filters focusing on mid-market companies (50–500 employees) actively hiring backend engineers and running legacy tech stacks ripe for modernization.
2. Live Buyer Signals: Tracked live buyer signals including new CTO appointments, Series B funding announcements, and job postings mentioning "technical debt".
3. Turnkey Delivery: Every two weeks, we delivered 500 fully verified prospects with custom first-line openers referencing each company's specific situation directly into their Smartlead sequences.

Zero setup, zero tooling costs on their end.

Verified Results

• 500 verified, ICP-matched leads delivered per bi-weekly batch with under 1.5% bounce rate (vs. industry average of 5–7%).
• 17% positive reply rate - 5× higher than their old 2.8% template baseline and 5× the 3.4% industry average.
• Reclaimed 64 hours of founder time per month - redirected back to client delivery and product demos.
• $185,000 in closed pipeline within 90 days, sourced entirely from BeBaat-researched prospects.

Client Testimonial

"I used to spend every Monday morning buried in LinkedIn tabs trying to find CTOs who might need a dev partner. By Wednesday I'd have maybe 30 mediocre leads and zero energy left to actually sell. Now I open my laptop on Monday and there's 250 prospects sitting in Smartlead with openers that reference their actual tech stack. Last month a CTO replied saying, 'How did you know we were migrating off Rails?' That's the kind of outreach I could never do at scale myself."

• Marcus Vance, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Apex Code Labs