← Benchling
Benchling role-play cheat sheet
For the mock cold call at the end of most SDR interviews.
What they sell, in one line
Cloud software where biotech scientists store experiment data, run lab work, and use AI on their research.
Who you'd be calling
Heads of R&D, IT/informatics leaders, and lab ops leads at biotech and pharma companies.
Your opener
“Hi [Name], this is [Your Name] from Benchling. I know I'm calling out of the blue. Do you have 30 seconds to tell you why I called, and then you can decide if it's worth your time?”
Problems you solve for them
- Experiment data stuck in spreadsheets, paper notebooks and disconnected tools
- Hard for scientists and teams to share and reuse results
- Slow, messy path from lab data to decisions and AI-ready datasets
Discovery questions to ask
- How do your scientists record and share experiment data today?
- What happens when someone needs to find results from a past project?
- How ready is your data to be used for AI or analytics?
Objections they'll throw at you
“I'm busy right now.”
→ Totally get it, I'll be quick. Would it be better if I called back tomorrow or Thursday for five minutes?
“We're not interested.”
→ Fair enough, I'm not sure it's a fit yet either. Out of curiosity, how do your teams keep experiment data organized today?
“We already use something for that.”
→ Good to hear you have a system. Where does it work well, and where do your scientists still end up in spreadsheets or emailing files around?
“Just send me an email.”
→ Happy to. So I send you something useful, what's the biggest headache with your lab data right now?
Competitors worth knowing
Dotmatics, Genedata, IDBS
Interview tips for this company
- Learn a few basic terms (R&D, ELN, lab data) so you sound comfortable talking to scientists.
- Be ready to explain why you want to sell to scientists, a niche and technical audience, and show curiosity about biotech.
Written from public information about Benchling to help you practice. Ask an insider what their role play looked like; it's the best prep there is.