Business Development Representative (BDR) Intern

Paragon; California (MO); On-site; USD 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Paragon is seeking a Founding BDR Intern to help establish a robust outbound sales strategy. You will work closely with founders, engaging in diverse activities from cold calling to build lead lists and testing innovative AI workflows.

This internship offers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in B2B sales and contribute significantly to shaping Paragon's early sales motion. You should be energetic, persistent, and ready to tackle the challenges of creating a pipeline from scratch.

Qualifications

• Experience with cold calling in manufacturing or distribution.
• High energy and persistence in outreach efforts.
• Comfortable with cold emailing and person-to-person interactions.

Responsibilities

• Build and test sales pipelines.
• Conduct outbound campaigns via email and phone.
• Attend events for in-person networking.
• Utilize AI tools for lead generation and workflow enhancement.

Skills

Cold calling

Sales pipeline development

AI tools usage

Persistence

Creative outreach

Tools

CRM software

Job description

Founding BDR Intern

As a Founding BDR Intern at Paragon, you will help build the outbound engine from the ground up.

This is not a “send 80 templated emails and update Salesforce” internship. You will work directly with the founders to find real companies, real buyers, real pain, and real ways to start conversations. One day you may be researching a distributor’s branches and customer base. The next day you may be cold calling prospects, attending a trade show, building a lead list, writing outbound sequences, testing a new AI workflow, or figuring out how to get in front of the right person when no obvious path exists.

You should be high agency, comfortable with ambiguity, and willing to do the unglamorous work required to create pipeline from zero.

What You’ll Do

• Build and test sales pipelines until you find what works.
• Understand our customers: what they care about, what would actually improve their lives, and how we should speak to that
• Write and run outbound campaigns primarily across email and phone.
• Cold call prospects, navigate gatekeepers, and help get to the right decision-makers.
• Attend industry events and conferences to create conversations in person.
• Use AI tools to move faster: build lead lists, write scripts, personalize outreach, summarize research, clean data, and improve your own workflows.
• Set up lightweight systems for prospecting, follow-up, enrichment, CRM hygiene, reporting, and campaign tracking.
• Work directly with the founders to test messaging, identify painful wedges, and learn which markets respond.
• Turn successful sales motions into repeatable playbooks.

You Might Be a Fit If

• You have experience cold calling into manufacturing or distribution.
• You are high energy, persistent, and hard to discourage. You will be told no 15 times before breakfast and keep going.
• You are comfortable cold calling, cold emailing, walking up to people at conferences, and finding creative ways to reach buyers.
• You are curious enough to learn an unfamiliar industry and sharp enough to ask good questions.
• You use AI tools naturally and are excited to automate parts of your own job.
• You want exposure to B2B sales, outbound, customer development, founder‑led sales, and early‑stage startup building.
• You care more about getting results than having a perfectly defined internship.

Why Join

You will work directly with the founders and help build Paragon’s early sales motion. You will help create real pipeline, test messaging in the market, talk directly to customers, and turn what works into repeatable sales playbooks. This is a chance to learn fast, take real ownership, and help bring AI into a massive, overlooked part of the economy.