Is this SDR comp plan as insane as I think it is, or is this the new startup normal?

Any advice / help is hugely appreciated!!

I just received an offer for an SDR role at an early-stage startup (about a year old). I’ve met with the Head of Sales and the Founder. I really like the team and the product, but after reading through the actual employment contract, the compensation structure feels completely wild.

I want to sanity-check this with people who have been around the block before I try to negotiate or just walk away.

Here are the actual numbers and clauses from the contract:

The Base Pay:

• $55,200 AUD inclusive of superannuation

• That brings the actual base salary to about $49,500 AUD before tax. For context, the national minimum wage here is around $49,300. So I’m essentially starting on minimum wage.

The Quota & Commission Rate:

• Quarterly quota is $125,000.

• Advertised OTE is $80,000 AUD.

• The base commission rate on that $125k quota is only 0.65% (and the first $5k pays 0%). Meaning if I hit my quota exactly on that base rate, I make a whopping $780 per quarter in commission.

The "Discretionary" Multiplier:

- To actually get anywhere near that advertised $80k OTE, the contract relies on a "CRM Multiplier."

- If management decides my CRM hygiene and activity milestones are excellent, they can apply a multiplier of up to 10x (bumping the commission rate to 6.5%).

- However, the contract explicitly states this 10x multiplier is completely at "management discretion" and "may be withheld or adjusted at any time."

The Kicker (How I actually get paid):

• I am an SDR, but I am not paid on meetings booked, SAOs, or SQLs.

• The contract states a commissionable event is only triggered when "actual cash from a customer sale is received and cleared in the company's bank account." *This means I have to rely on the AE to close the deal, the client to pay the invoice on time, and the finance team to clear it before I see a cent.

Am I crazy for thinking this is a massive amount of risk to put on an entry-level SDR? I’m taking a minimum wage base, taking on the closing/collection risk of an AE without the authority to close, and relying on management to generously grant a discretionary 10x multiplier just to hit a standard $80k OTE.

Has anyone worked under a structure like this at an early-stage startup? Is it worth trying to negotiate a standard SDR comp plan (higher base + paid on SQLs), or should I view this as a massive red flag and run?