The situation
The founding team had strong inbound traction from a Product Hunt launch, but the spike was fading. They needed a predictable, repeatable pipeline channel before their next fundraise.
They had:
- No outbound infrastructure - one Google Workspace domain used for everything.
- A rough ICP based on early customers, but no validated segments.
- Zero experience running cold email at scale.
"We knew outbound was the next lever, but we had no idea where to start - or how not to get blacklisted trying."
What we built
Infrastructure layer
We designed a domain and mailbox topology purpose-built for their stage:
- 4 dedicated outbound domains with proper DNS authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
- 12 mailboxes spread across domains, each with conservative daily caps.
- Gradual warmup over 3 weeks before any cold sends.
- Tracking and reply routing wired back to their CRM (HubSpot).
Lead generation
We worked with the team to sharpen their ICP into three testable segments:
- Mid-market marketing teams (50–200 employees) in SaaS
- Agency owners managing 10+ client accounts
- Heads of Growth at Series A–B startups
For each segment we built enriched lead lists using a combination of Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and manual verification. Every list was deduplicated against their existing contacts and verified for deliverability.
Campaign execution
We launched 6 campaign sequences across the three segments - each with:
- 4-step sequences (initial + 3 follow-ups) spread over 14 days
- Personalized opening lines referencing company-specific signals
- Clear, low-friction CTAs ("Worth a 15-min call?")
All campaigns ran through our managed infrastructure with daily monitoring of bounce rates, reply sentiment, and domain health.
The results
Within 8 weeks of the first send, the campaigns had generated:
- 47 qualified meetings booked directly into the founder's calendar
- 3.2% overall reply rate (positive replies only - excluding out-of-office and "not interested")
- Zero domain reputation issues - all 4 domains maintained healthy sender scores throughout
- A repeatable playbook the team could scale with additional segments
Pipeline impact
Of the 47 meetings, 12 converted to active sales opportunities with a combined pipeline value of $340K - against a total infrastructure and service cost of under $8K for the quarter.
Key takeaways
- Start with infra, not copy. The biggest risk for early-stage outbound isn't bad messaging - it's destroying your sending reputation before you learn what works.
- Segment before you scale. Running 3 focused campaigns beats blasting one giant list. Each segment taught the team something different about their market.
- Conservative caps compound. Keeping daily sends low per mailbox felt slow at first, but it meant zero deliverability incidents across the full 90 days.