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Cold Outreach (Email / DM / Field)

Go directly to the specific people who need what you've built, with a short, relevant reason to talk now. Unglamorous — and still how most B2B products win their first customers.

Cost
Free
Time to results
Days
Difficulty
Hard
Best for
B2B
0/6

Proof first

5 companies already did this.

Cold outreach includes email, DMs, calls and showing up in person. The principle is the same: specific people, a specific reason.

Deep dives

Two case studies, start to finish.

Stripe — the Collison installation

Stripe · 2010

Set up on the spot · "Collison installation"

What they built: setting Stripe up on the prospect's laptop

What they didMost founders asked, "Will you try our beta?" and promised to send a link. When anyone agreed to try Stripe, the Collison brothers said "Right then, give me your laptop" and set it up on the spot.

Why it workedInterest dies in the gap between "yes" and actually signing up. Doing the setup on the spot removed that gap. Behind the scenes, Stripe even delivered its "instant" merchant accounts by signing users up for traditional ones by hand.

Copy thisWhen someone says "I'll try it", do the setup with them right now — share your screen; don't send a link.

Microsoft — sell it, then build it

Microsoft · 1975

Cold contact · First contract

What they built: a phone call to MITS and a demo in Albuquerque

What they didAfter seeing the Altair 8800 in Popular Electronics, Bill Gates and Paul Allen contacted its maker, MITS, offering a BASIC interpreter. MITS agreed to a demo — and they wrote the software in the weeks before it, on an Altair emulator, because they had neither the machine nor the program.

Why it workedReaching out first proved there was a buyer before they spent weeks building. The demo worked, and MITS signed a licensing deal in July 1975 — the company's first product. (They could deliver, and did. Don't promise what you can't build.)

Copy thisContact the buyer who most needs it with a specific offer. If they say "show me", you have a deadline and a customer.

The guide

6 steps, each anchored to a real example.

Tick each step off as you go. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Step 1 · ~2 hours

Write down exactly who, and find 50 names

Describe your ideal customer in one line, with a trigger: "seed-stage SaaS founders who just hired their first salesperson". Then list 50 named people — not 5,000 scraped emails.

LinkedInApolloClay

How Pinterest did this step

Illustration

Ben Silbermann noticed early Pinterest users were into design, so he went to a design bloggers' conference to recruit more of exactly them.

Source [1] ↓

Step 2 · ~5 min / person

Find a reason to reach out now

A trigger makes it relevant: they just raised, hired, launched, or posted about the problem. No trigger, no message.

LinkedInGoogle NewsCompany blogs

How Microsoft did this step

Illustration

Gates and Allen's trigger was the Altair 8800 appearing in Popular Electronics — a new machine that would need software.

Source [3] ↓

Step 3 · ~10 min / person

Write four sentences, not four paragraphs

Line 1: why them, why now. Line 2: the problem, in their words. Line 3: proof — a result or a similar customer. Line 4: one small ask.

Gmaillemlist

How Lemlist did this step

SUBJECT LINE

Illustration

lemlist's whole pitch was personalised cold outreach at scale — messages that read like one person writing to another.

Source [2] ↓

Step 4 · ~—

Make saying yes effortless

Ask for 15 minutes, not a purchase — and when they agree, do the work for them: set it up, import their data, run the first report together.

ZoomScreen share

How Stripe did this step

"Right then, give me your laptop."

Exact quote — see source

Stripe's founders didn't send a link to people who agreed to try it — they set it up there and then.

Source [1] ↓

Step 5 · ~5 min each

Follow up three times, adding something each time

Most replies come after a follow-up. Each one should add value — a relevant example, an idea for their business, a 60-second video — and stop after three.

lemlistGmail scheduled send

How Lemlist did this step

#CHANGELOG

Illustration

lemlist built its product around personalised sequences, because the follow-ups are the part most people skip.

Source [2] ↓

Step 6 · ~Days

Show up in person when it matters

For local or high-value customers, go to them. A visit gets attention no inbox can — and you'll learn more in an hour than in ten calls.

CalendarComfortable shoes

How Airbnb did this step

Illustration

Airbnb's founders went door to door in New York, recruiting new hosts and helping existing ones improve their listings.

Source [1] ↓

Before you start

Pros & cons.

Works in your favour

  • Works from day one — no audience needed
  • You choose exactly who hears about you
  • Fast feedback on positioning
  • Every conversation is research
  • Predictable once it works

Go in with eyes open

  • Rejection is constant — most people won't reply
  • Spammy outreach burns your domain and reputation
  • Doesn't scale without care and good data
  • Must follow anti-spam and privacy laws (e.g. CAN-SPAM, GDPR)

Make it yours

Three ways to run it.

The Stripe model

Set it up on the spot

Turn every "yes" into an immediate setup. Best for developer tools and anything with setup friction.

The lemlist model

Personal email at scale

Small, well-researched lists with real personalisation. Best for B2B SaaS.

The Airbnb model

Field visits

Go to customers in person. Best for local businesses and marketplaces.

Copy and paste

Templates & resources.

Four-line cold email

short, specific, one ask

Subject: {specific trigger} → {outcome}?

Hi {name} — saw {trigger: you just hired/launched/posted…}.

Most {role}s I talk to at that stage struggle with {problem in their words}.

We helped {similar company} {result with a number}.

Worth a 15-minute look next week?

Follow-up sequence

add value every time

Day 3: "One idea for {company}: {specific suggestion}. No need to reply."
Day 7: "Here's how {similar company} did it: {link / 60-sec video}."
Day 14: "Closing the loop — should I stop, or is {problem} worth a chat later this quarter?"

LinkedIn connection note

no pitch in the first message

Hi {name} — your post on {topic} was spot on, especially {detail}. I'm working on {problem} for {role}s and would value following your thinking. — {you}

From the showcase

Be the first founder featured here.

The famous examples above are proof it works. The next founder reading this wants proof it works for someone like them — that could be you.

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Discussion

Tried this? Tell us how it went.

Share a result, ask a question, or say what you'd do differently. The next founder to try this will thank you.

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Receipts

Sources & references.

Last reviewed

  1. 1.
    Do Things That Don't Scale (Stripe, Airbnb, Pinterest) (opens in a new tab)

    Paul Graham, 2013

  2. 2.
    Turning $1,000 into $28M ARR at lemlist (opens in a new tab)

    Kyle Poyar, Growth Unhinged

  3. 3.
    Altair BASIC: the MITS demo and 1975 contract (opens in a new tab)

    Wikipedia

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