Dream Job Lost After Bad Reference

I can't remember being so mad..or hurt, about a job. I was referred to my dream position as a Senior SDR at a start up that will no doubt be a unicorn. I've dreamed of working under this leader for qu

I can't remember being so mad..or hurt, about a job. I was referred to my dream position as a Senior SDR at a start up that will no doubt be a unicorn. I've dreamed of working under this leader for quite sometime and I was so excited. I went through 3 interviews and a written assignment and was verbally told I had an offer coming contingent upon a reference check. They specifically wanted my direct manager from my last position. My heart sunk. I got let go for performance by a manager that never liked me (for reasons I can't fathom). He acted nice enough most of the time but there was an underlying vibe of disdain and ick vibes. Anyways, I gave them 2 other references but also gave them his after asking him if he would provide a reference. He happily agreed. Long story short, I didn't get the job based solely on his reference. I don't know what was said but the manager who referred me told me an offer was on the table but the CEO yanked it after talking to that one manager. The other person they called first (my manager from 2 jobs ago) told me the CEO said I was the only person to ever score all 4's on my written assignment and all three interviews and that he couldn't wait to bring me on. As a side note, I was the founding SDR at the company that gave the crappy review, built everything from the ground up with zero help from management which I was told I'd be on my own during the interviews which was fine i have built out SDR depts before (they all have blue collared backgrounds and tech was brand new to all the higher ups). They hired another Sr.SDR the week after me so it was up to us. 4 months in, I was booking over quota (quota is 10, I booked 12, 14, 17) but we had an issue with prospects showing up which I was trying to tackle. They hired the SDR Manager who gave the bad reference 4 months in, I got let go in month 6. We both knew citing "performance" as the reason for termination was BS and here's how I know: 1- New manager stated he hated inheriting teams and wanted to choose his people 2- Performance was NEVER mentioned to me, not one time. In fact, 7 of my meetings were closed won deals by time of termination. I also had a 36% booking rate according to Nooks between August 29th- Time of termination (Mid January). I started mid June. 3- I was not offered a PIP. The other SDR who struggled to book meetings had been on 3 different ones before she was terminated 2 weeks before me 4- I was given a generous severance Why was I REALLY fired? He didn't like me and hated that I posted on LinkedIn. Period. When I was terminated on the 11th of January, I had 7 meetings booked. He knew I would beat a PIP. He was a control freak and he didn't like that he couldn't control me. So anyways, now I'm soooo broken by this whole experience. The tech sales industry is so toxic right now (not all, but at least half). I was being paid more than I ever had at the new job, worked under my dream leader, was going to be promoted to manager fairly quickly...I am devastated 💔 I wrote the CEO but he's young and I'm sure could care less what I have to say. Such BS.