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It is 9 pm. Your CRO just handed you next year's number
And the question you are about to Google is the same one every SDR leader Googles: how many SDRs do I actually need?
Here is the honest answer, backed by our Q2 2026 benchmark, run in partnership with SV Academy.
In May, we published the benchmark itself. This issue is the playbook for using it.
The quick answer
Outbound-heavy teams: plan around 2 SDRs per AE
Inbound-strong teams: closer to 1 SDR per AE
Manager span: 1 manager per 6 to 8 SDRs
Ramp: cohort median is 3 months ramping, fully productive from month 4
Capacity loss: discount 20 to 30% for ramp, attrition and performance spread
But here is the thing. The ratio is a sanity check, not a starting point. It follows AE capacity to work the opportunities you deliver, not SDR activity levels. If you start with the ratio, you are planning backwards.
The math that actually gets headcount approved
Work top-down in six steps. Every assumption gets named, so Finance cannot pick the model apart.
Step 1: Start with the revenue target
Take the new ARR number handed down from your CRO. That is the anchor.
Step 2: Convert to pipeline
Apply your pipeline coverage multiple. A 25% win rate with a 6 month cycle implies roughly 4x coverage.
Step 3: Isolate the SDR share
Multiply by the percentage of pipeline your SDR team is expected to source. Then divide by average ACV to get annual opportunities needed.
Step 4: Discount rep capacity honestly
Take your median monthly opps per ramped rep and annualise it. Then discount:
Ramp: new hires produce roughly 25%, 50%, 75%, then 100% across months 1 to 4. A January hire delivers about 75% of a ramped rep's annual output.
Attrition: use your trailing 12 month rate. 20 to 25% is typical.
Performance band: plan for roughly 70% of reps at or near quota, 20% under, 10% over. Never plan to 100%.
In practice, a 20-30% total capacity loss is defensible. If you are modelling under 15%, you are either running an outlier team or fooling yourself.
Step 5: Solve for headcount
Opportunities needed, divided by effective rep capacity. Round up, never down. One extra rep costs far less than missed pipeline.
Step 6: Sanity-check with ratios
Now apply the SDR-to-AE ratio. If your headcount answer means 1 SDR feeding 5 AEs on an outbound motion, something upstream is wrong. Then layer manager span at 1 per 6 to 8 SDRs. Do not cheat this one. Coaching capacity is the multiplier that makes the whole model work.
A worked example
A $30M new ARR target at 4x coverage means $120M in pipeline. At 45% SDR-sourced, that is $54M. Divide by a $45K ACV and you need 1,200 opportunities. A ramped rep producing 7 opps per month gives 84 per year, or 63 after a 25% capacity discount. That solves to 20 SDRs and 3 managers.
The shape of the math is the point. The headcount number is the output of the conversation, not its starting point.
Then run it bottom-up
Top-down gets you the ask. Bottom-up gets you the defence. Pull trailing 6 to 12 months per rep: AE-accepted opps, stage progression within 14 to 30 days, sourced pipeline dollars, and ramp status. Sort by tenure and segment. Plan against your medians, not your best rep.
And model strategic and SMB separately. Strategic is rep-by-rep and account-by-account. SMB is throughput. Treating them the same is where most plans fall apart.
What you told us last week
Last week we asked about no-shows and how July is treating you. The results:
No-show rates this month:
50% of you are sitting at 10 to 20%
20% are over 30% (send help indeed)
10% are under 10% and holding strong
10% are at 21 to 30%
And 10% admitted they are not tracking it at all
How July compares to a normal month:
67% said slightly worse
22% said actually better
11% said about the same
Nobody said way worse
Worth connecting the dots: if a fifth of teams are losing over 30% of booked meetings to no-shows, that is another capacity discount most models never account for. Something to keep in mind when you run Step 4.
Where these numbers come from
All benchmarks are drawn from our SDR Capacity Planning Benchmark, a Q2 2026 survey of 51 SDR leaders published with SV Academy. The capacity framework is adapted from Blake Robinson's SDR Capacity Planning Guide, used with permission.
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