Adding Flava on X, Conference Champions, AE Collabs, Next Man Up Mentality, & Introducing Ant Calabrese

This week we’re bringing in a new voice to the Pipeline Papi Press: Anthony Calabrese.

Anthony is proof that momentum is real in this game. He went from SDR to AE in just a few months, and he’s got a sharp perspective on what it takes to level up fast. On top of that, he’s been digging into stacking SDR contracts, how to think about comp, upside, and career progression in a way that actually sets you up to win long term.

Most importantly, Anthony’s just a solid dude. You’ll see his takes in here going forward, and I can promise they’ll be worth the read.

Welcome to The Pipeline Press, brought to you by Pipeline Papi, Lindy Boy, Quota Cowboy, and Rookie Rep. Every Friday, you’re getting stories, tips, job openings, and a little lifestyle drip to keep the edge sharp and the mission clear. PROMOTION, QUOTA, EARNINGS. Follow us on X if you aren’t already, we are all very active in the tech sales space if you want to continue the convo or have any questions.

Let’s get into it.

If all I did was tweet cold call tips, I’d have 300 followers and a timeline that would put you to sleep.

When I started Pipeline Papi, I made a decision early: I wasn’t going to act like some buttoned-up LinkedIn bot who just posts about “value-based selling” and writing better emails. That’s not me and it doesn’t really play. Linkedin is nothing more than an AI slop circle jerk most of the time tbh.

I love tech sales, but I also love watching golf, Tennessee football, The Burnerverse, Poker, etc. So I post about all of it. And guess what? That’s the stuff that really connects.

I’ve had sales tweets get 20 likes and lifestyle tweets hit 100k+ impressions just because they were funny, relatable, or a little unhinged. Some of my best-performing tweets are just me talking trash with the Burnerverse, or roasting a bad take from CFB Twitter. And it’s fun. That’s the point.

Here’s the real value: when you mix personality into your content, people don’t just follow you for tips. They follow you because you’re interesting. They reply, they DM, they remember you. You go from being “a sales guy” to a name that sticks. To get there, you have to be bold—don’t be afraid to show the sides of yourself outside of work.

But keep this in mind: avoid arguing politics with people on here. It’s a waste of time, drains your energy, and makes you look like an asshole. And while you should be bold and authentic, remember that opportunities can and will come through this platform. Be comfortable with the idea that anyone and everyone might see what you post.

If you're trying to grow on X, here's my advice:
Engage with accounts in other niches you actually like.
You’ll get exposure, build friendships, and stand out from the crowd of try-hard sales pages doing LinkedIn cosplay.

You can still drop value. Still teach. Still talk quota. But when you tie it together with the things you genuinely care about, it makes you more than just another account.

At the end of the day, people don’t follow tips.
They follow characters.
Be one.

Whats up peeps - it's young Lindy on his G-R-I-N-D. Heading to a conference early next week in Maryland, so I wanted to talk about being a champion at these conferences as a sales pro.

These are always going to be different depending on the industry, size of the conference, and if your company is hosting a booth or not. Obviously I don't have enough characters for all the nuances, so I will keep it as general as possible.

Step one will always be the same - get the list of attendees, find who you actually wanna talk to, then start prepping your pre-conference sequence. For me currently, that's going and finding the contacts on SalesNav, saving them to an Apollo list, then enriching that list. Then, creating a sequence which includes 1-2 emails, linkedin connect + 1 message, and 1-2 calls.

Generally I can get a hold of them by one of these methods since I have an easy-in to speak with them (“We’re both going to the same conference, would love to meet you there and learn more about XYZ”). 

At the conference, if you’re required to be at your company booth, ask your boss for windows to go network. Do not just sit around the table all day waiting for inbound - it won’t come or its just people who want a free t-shirt from your booth. Go meet people and take them back to your booth to give a free demo or walkthrough of the plat, specific to what they’ve already told you is a challenge or a priority. 

Last tip - have your digital business card ready at all times. Get people to add you on LI on the spot. You will have a lot of conversations but the rookie move is to not have contact details or a way to follow up, OR forgetting to follow up. Any decent convo with an ICP needs to be on a disco with your company in the following week or 2, you’ve already build rapport and found a way to provide value (presumably). 

Anyways, I’m out of characters but this is an easy to follow framework. Go crush it, fellow sales Chadwick :)

Happy Friday ya’ll! Our man Pipeline Guy made a great post this week on SDR’s collaborating with AE’s that I really wanted to expand on, because it’s pivotal. 
When you are an SDR, you may be either 

A. Paired with certain AE’s to cover their territory

or 

B. On a “round-robin” type booking schedule, however usually there is always a base territory that you are assigned to. This is more rare than option A

You hitting quota heavily relies on your relationship with your AE’s. In the case you are assigned to certain AE’s, you need to make every effort to let them know you want to work hard for them, and learn from them.

You aren’t going to be best buds with every AE, so be able to play some corpo politics. BUT, never, ever give an AE a reason to not like and respect you. This could be you smack-talking to other AE’s (they all talk as they should, you are lower on totem pole), or booking horrible meetings for them that are a time suck they have to answer for in pipeline reviews.

Not only should you be learning from them on how to be a better SDR (and eventually AE), you should be highlighting your wins as THEIR wins. Example of a slack you send to team: “Had a great session with Matt earlier this week on {product specific}, and he really helped me improve on x,y,z which led me to booking a meeting with _____. Shoutout to Matt for all of the mentoring!”

Furthermore, you should be adding value to your AE’s other than booking meetings. If they need you to call on a prospect who is ghosting them because they are too busy, you do it. Then you ask how else you can help them.

The AE-SDR relationship is what you nake of it. It is your job to put in the effort to not only collaborate with them, but to learn from them and highlight their mentorship. Not only will you be helping them, they will return the favor by helping you.

Personal anecdote - My favorite AE from a past role gave me a huge referral for my new startup role that turned the tide for me during the interview process. These relationships you cultivate will stay intact, but you have to build their trust in you first.

Have a great weekend boys and girls!

-QC

Being an SDR will test you every single day.

You’ll make 100+ calls and nobody picks up.

You’ll send countless emails and only get auto-replies.

You’ll build lists, sequences, cadences and feel like it’s all going nowhere.

This is where most people break. They confuse rejection with failure.

Here’s the truth: rejection is just a signal that you’re still in the game.

The mindset that separates average SDRs from the ones who succeed?

“The Next One”

The next call could book the meeting.

The next account could be a goldmine.

The next quarter could be the one you CRUSH QUOTA.

The grind feels endless when you obsess over every “no.” But when you focus on '“The Next One” you stop overanalyzing, stop sulking, and just keep swinging.

That’s how momentum builds. That’s how pipeline gets created. That’s how careers get made. It sounds simple, but most people can’t do it consistently. If you can, you’ll separate yourself fast.

Keep swinging. The next one is out there.

– Rook ♜
X: @rooktorep
Email: [email protected]
(p.s. I reply to all messages)

Two and a half years ago, I was working in a warehouse making about $40,000 a year. I didn’t have a sales background, no formal training, and no clear path into tech. What I did have was the feeling that I wanted more, more growth, more opportunity, and more out of myself.

I applied to just two sales roles in Raleigh, North Carolina. To my surprise, I got offers from both. I accepted one with a $45,000 base salary, knowing almost nothing about sales beyond the fact that I was ready to outwork anyone in the room.

That first role changed everything. In my first six months, I booked over 340 meetings. By the end of that stretch, I was promoted to Account Executive, about as fast as you can move up. A year later, I was promoted again, this time to Senior Account Executive. Since then, I’ve closed more than 115 deals and generated over $650,000 in annual recurring revenue for my company.

Looking back, what got me here wasn’t a perfect resume or prior experience. It was social skills, persistence, and the willingness to pick up the phone again and again. Sales is about numbers, but it’s also about mindset. Coming from a warehouse job, I didn’t know the “right” way to do things, so I learned fast, adapted, and kept betting on myself.

If there’s one takeaway from my story, it’s this: you don’t need the perfect background to break into tech. You need drive, resilience, and the willingness to learn by doing. The rest takes care of itself.

Currently hiring for:

Reach out to him here on X if you fit that description.

P.S. The Pipeline Papi SDR Bot is live. Your SDR copilot for custom cold call scripts, objection handlers, discovery questions and more, for EVERY Prospect. Built to make booking meets 10x easier.