Outbound prospecting

Prospecting is building a list of ICP accounts and contacts, then earning conversations. Sources: your network, LinkedIn, conference lists, product signups, job postings that signal the pain, intentional warm intros.

Outbound email and LinkedIn work when they are short, specific, and aimed at a reply — not a novel. Tyler Bosmeny's YC talk pattern: who you are, one-line what you do, why them (personalization), clear ask for time. The goal of the first message is a meeting, not a close.

Volume math matters. If you need 10 customers and reply→close rates are typical cold outbound, you may need thousands of touches. Track rates weekly or you fly blind. See the worked funnel in GTM funnel metrics: 10 customers at those rates implied 20,000 emails.

Block founder calendar for outbound like you would for coding. "I'll sell when the product is ready" is how products stay forever almost-ready.

Common early objections

Never invent roadmap promises to close. If you commit, write it down with a date.

Paul Graham's "do things that don't scale" applies: hand-onboard, sit in their Slack, write the migration script yourself. That labor discovers the scalable motion later.

Common mistakes

• Writing a novel instead of asking for a meeting.
• Waiting until the product is ready to start outbound.
• Naked discounts instead of trading term (annual prepay, multi-year, reference rights).

Check yourself

1. What is the first outbound email trying to win? A meeting, not a close.
2. You need 10 customers and cold reply rates are ~5%. What must be true? Top-of-funnel volume is huge — thousands of touches, or you need inbound / a tighter ICP / a different motion.

Key takeaways

• Prospecting builds an ICP list. Outbound earns a meeting.
• Short, personalized, one ask.
• Volume × conversion is the plan. Track rates weekly.
• Founders block time for this the way they block time to code.

Further learning

Once you have the meeting: sales discovery.