The 7 Levels of Tech Sales Posting, Hustlaz Ambition, Smart $ Habits, 'Give. Give. Get.' Closers Eat First & Anon Guest Post 2

Before we dive into this week’s Pipeline Papi Press, the Chipotle situation has really intrigued me:

Basically, Wall Street/Retail just torched Chipotle. They lost 16% of their value overnight ($8 billion wiped) after missing revenue by $30M. Execs blamed it on “weaker sentiment” from younger and lower-income consumers.

Sure people have less discretionary income than usual right now, but I don’t think that is the whole story.

The truth is Chipotle just sucks now.

It’s not the consumer that’s cooked (well maybe we are) it’s the f*cking brand. $18 for a half-scooped, low quality, mid-portion bowl is insane. The food is nothing like it used to be. The “Burrito The Size of a Baby” reputation it had has been dead for years.

I used to go four times a week. My family literally gave me Chipotle gift cards for Christmas. Now you couldn’t pay me to eat the 6oz of chicken and spoonful-of-rice bowl for $16.

This is a sign of what happens when companies raise prices and kill quality and then act shocked when the loyalty fades. Your stock price gets SMOKED.

I really hope they figure it out because Chipotle with the fellas after lacrosse practices growing up are some of my favorite memories.

Figure it out Chipotle Execs.

Welcome to The Pipeline Press, brought to you by Pipeline Papi, Lindy Boy, Quota Cowboy, Rookie Rep, & Ant Calabrese. 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.

From Lurker to Legend

There’s a moment every SDR (hopefully) eventually gets to.
You’re crushing quota.
You’ve got some crazy/funny cold call stories & some tips from your time in the arena.
And OF COURSE, some fire takes that the world needs to know.

But you don’t post.
Or maybe you posted once, it flopped, and you decided that growing an account just wasn’t possible for someone like you.
Instead you… continue to scroll the day away.

But if you want to build a brand that gets you hired, noticed, referred, and respected, you have to EVOLVE.

Welcome to the 7 Levels of Tech Sales Posting:

You’ve got a locked account, Like 7 followers, and you mostly watch from the sidelines.
You think the guys posting every day are annoying, but also secretly wish you had the influence they did (I’ve been at this stage for 99% of my life).
You won’t make it far unless you graduate from here.

You’ve turned on notis for some of the biggest names in the space. Think Tech Sales Guy, Fidel Cache Flow, Bowtied Cocoon, & PIPELINE PAPI
You fire off clever replies, engage in threads, and start getting followed back.
This is how you build your initial network.

You start posting 1–2x per day.
Mix of original tweets, thoughts from work, and stuff that feels a little “safe.”
Engagement is low.
But you’re finally getting some of your own content out.
Most people quit at this level. THIS IS THE SLOG THAT YOU MUST POWER THROUGH. KEEP POSTING.

You’ve stopped posting like a LinkedIn bot
You mix in lifestyle, inside jokes, sports, humor, screenshots real voice.
People start to like your account just because it’s fun.

You drop 1–2 banger threads per week. (Rookie Rep always has great threads)
Each one gets 30–100 likes and starts driving some inbound messages asking for advice, opportunities, referrals etc. Some of the larger accounts start to follow you back.
People bookmark your stuff.
You’re building perceived authority and becoming a source of SAUCEEE.

You’ve built enough goodwill to start selling.
You plug a Notion guide, a bot, a referral form, a cohort, a product, and people don’t get mad.
They convert, because you gave value for free for months.
Now the brand has legs.

Your content ecosystem prints.
You’re in private groups, Slack channels, niche corners of the Burnerverse.
You’re making money from content, getting job offers inboard, and your posts are getting screenshotted in company Slacks. (This is where FIDEL CACHE FLOW is at)
Your timeline is your leverage.

Some people stop at Level 3 and wonder why nothing’s working.

Others keep climbing.

Your choice anon.

“I won’t deny it, I’m a straight ridaaaa—you don’t wanna f*** with meeee.”

piano beat drops

Chances are you know the lyric. And the second it hits, the hustler in you snaps awake.

Music has always been the heartbeat of sales culture, and always will be. About to burn through a dial session? You need to get hyped.

But are you a Zoomer queuing up drugged-out, heroin-laced rap about smoking a pound and popping five Percs? Or are you blasting Jeezy, picturing flipping bricks into millions and a mink coat?

I’m not glamorizing the streets. The principles, though? Pure gold for any trade:

That braggadocious energy translates perfectly to your friendly neighborhood SaaS rep.

Try listening to today’s lollipop rap: ripping dab pens, barricading the bedroom, too Xan’d out to talk to humans (whatever happened to Lil Xan, anyway?) and tell me you feel ready to book five enterprise meetings.

Now cue up Payroll Giovanni, the undisputed GOAT of hustle rap. One spin and you’re itching to stack demos, daydreaming of that fat commission check.

What you feed your ears shapes your mindset.

So go count some legal stacks, you Chad salesman. Stick to the pipeline, not the pound. 💰📞

What’s up lads, it’s Friday and end of the month 🤞 so we are covering good money habits you should be following (as a youngin)

Clearly we make base and commissions in our roles, and it’s really important to set your financial future up right and focus on living on your base.

In tech sales, I really think it’s possible to live on your base and still save a good portion of it, while having commissions as a cherry on top to invest extra/save. Definitely is dependent on where you live (I’m in TX so no state tax), but even still I entirely think it’s doable.

So, when you get your biweekly paycheck, I’d split it into three buckets: rent, bills, and investing. Within your “bills”, I would advise putting a pre-determined portion to Fun Money. Some make the mistake where they have lavish/fun money in it’s own bucket in front of investing, and to me I really think it’s easy to get out of control with the fun spending.

If you can tell by now, I prioritize investing my money. As of right now, I consistently aim to invest 35 to 40 percent of my monthly base pay. Before, I would count on my commissions to pay for monthly expenses I incurred, and it really took away from me saving or investing it (learn from my ignorance).

I write this as someone who wasn’t prioritizing my financial future with those decisions, and am now trying to play catch up. It’s not the worst situation, but I look back and don’t see the money I spent on mostly stupid crap as a wise decision. It is now my main priority.

It’s important to have fun and make memories, and usually that requires some form of money. But try to keep it in check, and when your investments/savings start really growing you will thank yourself.

BONUS: Any remaining fun money not spent in a month, put it in a “Trip” bucket for yourself!

Have a stellar weekend, and invest that check!

-QC

First off, Happy Halloween everyone 👻. I always enjoy this time of year as the holiday season kicks off. While we have pride in our work & should because that means we care, do take advantage of the time you have with your families and friends. That is ultimately more important than anything we will ever do in our careers.

With that said, I wanted to share a messaging framework that has been absolutely killing it for me. I call it the Give. Give. Get. framework.

You can’t expect to get 30 minutes on someone’s calendar without providing them value first.

So stop asking for things before you’ve earned them.

Here’s what I mean:

Instead of asking for 30 minutes of someone’s time right out of the gate, start by giving something of value. Then do it again. Only after that - ask for what you want.

What can you “give” to provide value?

It’s not hate, but I’ve watched a lot of people start offers or agencies and then spend months trying to land their first client.

That’s the difference between people who build momentum and people who sit in neutral: knowing how to close.

Closing Is a LIFE Skill

Being able to close isn’t just a “sales thing.”
It makes you better at everything:
• You interview better.
• You communicate clearer.
• You handle relationships smarter.
• You know how to move people and situations forward.

Most people never learn that skill. They think being good with people means being nice, agreeable, soft.
But real closers know how to create win-wins, how to help someone make a decision that benefits both sides.

Why It Translates Everywhere

Sales teaches you something most people never realize: you can have almost anything you want if you just ask for it the right way.

You stop waiting for permission.
You stop assuming you have to follow the rules everyone else does.
You start to see leverage everywhere, better deals, better opportunities, better results, simply because you’re proactive.

Closing reprograms your brain to value revenue-generating activity over busywork.
That shift alone separates people who get promoted, start businesses, and make money from people who just “stay employed.”

The SDR Base

That’s why I always say everyone should have to start in an SDR role.
It teaches you how the money is made.

At my last org, even the Director of RevOps started as an SDR. Everyone, fresh grads, senior hires, didn’t matter.
We all learned the grind, the phone time, the rejection. It created a culture where people respected the revenue.

And when you’ve been on the phones, when you’ve had to actually ask for something and face rejection 50 times a day you build thick skin and communication instincts that’ll serve you forever.

Careerist vs. Closer

A “careerist” hides behind a title.
A “closer” learns the skills that make the title irrelevant.

If you can sell, if you can persuade, communicate, and ask confidently, you’ll always have leverage.
You’ll always have options.
And you’ll always eat.

Currently Hiring For

SDRs:

NYC - new grad top 150 school 60 base 90 ote uncapped and commission
NYC - 1 YOE strong preference in fintech - 110 base 130 k ote uncapped

SF - new grad top 50 school 80 base 100 ote
SF - new grad top 25 school or athlete or somewhere in the middle 80 base 135 ote

Main Companies: Office Hours, Meow, Solidroad, Simple AI, Vapi

AEs:

Sf/nyc - comm-midmarket-enterprise aes min 2 yoe as a direct seller at snowflake / figma / vercel type companies (technical product sales)

100-200 base 200-400 ote depending on segment being worked and Yoe.

Main companies: dust.tt, factory.ai, decagon, sequence, unify

Reach out to him HERE on X if you fit any of these descriptions

There’s an old memory on a back shelf in your brain that I want to talk about. Someone’s telling a story - a grandfather, or a grandmother, or an uncle. Maybe a favorite teacher. You’re young. Looking up. Your imagination is running wild with the words coming out of their mouth. There’s a movie being produced in your heart while they speak.

I thought about my version of this memory tonight while watching Gallipoli with some men from my church for the first time. (We’re trying to implement a dinner/bourbon/war movie night monthly.) There’s a scene where an old man is telling a tall tale to a group of children, they’re hanging onto every word with stars in their eyes. Honestly, it’s a filler scene in the movie. Gallipoli’s really about Mel Gibson and his buddy fighting for God and Australian country against the Turks. It’l put that meeting you’re worried about tomorrow into new perspective. I highly recommend it. I digress…

I vividly remember childhood walks with my grandfather, stories of the 50’s, growing up in the midwest. Hot summers, nickel gas, fresh watermelon cooled by an irrigation ditch, Americana at its finest. I can see his hometown in my head. I can feel the aqueducted river water splashing on my legs and soaking my rolled up Wranglers. These are memories that I have painted in my psyche and can access and live in at any time. His memories, copied and pasted into my brain. Reality, compressed into neurons, hand delivered by someone I love, cemented into my soul. Magic.

Where does our magic come from now? Admittedly, much of the inspiration I feel flies off of the screen I hold in my hand for much of the day. Hell, I’m looking at a screen now. I watched that movie earlier on a screen. Pixels, flying into our eyes, carrying some sort of magic - videos of soldiers returning home, a text from an old friend, an inspirational Tweet, the first 1:24am picture from the cooler-than-most girl you’ve been riffing with on Hinge, 8 laugh reacts in the gm, the list goes on. As I half-watched Gallipoli, I realized that most of the magic I feel now is filtered through or a bi-product of the highway of data I hurl myself into on a daily basis. When was the last time I’d really listened to a damn good story directly from someone’s lips? When had I purposefully internalized a precious memory in real time from a friend, even a stranger?

Gallipoli finished abruptly and silenced the room. We all sat in pensive silence, processing the final scenes of the movie. I broke the silence “Maybe we do Forrest Gump next time.” A few people laugh, the tension eases. Everyone slowly starts getting up to leave. Mr. Waring, an older, quieter gentleman, stops us: “Do y’all have time for a war story about my father?” I felt that old magic, stirring again and lifting the corners of my mouth as I sat back down.

As I lay down tonight, I’m sure after my prayers my mind will drift somewhere. Sometimes, I’m on the plains of Oklahoma in 1952 with a cold slice of watermelon, watching a sunset. Tonight, I might be on the Charleston Harbor in 1921, scanning the water for German U-Boats with Captain Waring Senior. Tomorrow, I’ll be looking for someone with a new story to tell.

Take care

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