The GTM Engineer Podcast

In today's episode, we sit and talk to Alex from Launchyfi about the emerging role of go-to-market engineers and how they're reshaping B2B sales for startups.

We dive deep into Alex's journey from failed first startup to Chief Revenue Officer at age 20, and how those experiences led him to build Launchyfi, first as a fractional GTM engineering agency, now evolving into an AI-powered platform. Alex explains why the sales tech stack exploded from 100 tools in 2020 to 16,000 today, creating the need for GTM engineers who can select and orchestrate the right tools for each company's unique situation. He shares a compelling case study of taking a client from 1-2 demos per month per SDR to one demo per day by completely rebuilding their stack three times. We discuss why AI SDRs aren't enough, the vision for AI GTM engineers that could democratize access to $180K+ expertise, and Alex's controversial take on why existing sales tools adding AI features is like putting a better engine in a horse carriage.

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:24) What Launchyfi Does and Business Model 
(01:42) The Rise of Go-To-Market Engineering 
(03:17) Why Traditional Agencies Don't Scale 
(04:33) The Future: AI GTM Engineers vs AI SDRs 
(05:10) Target Customer Segments and ICP 
(06:21) Client Success Story: From 1-2 to 30+ Demos Monthly 
(08:10) Systems Thinking: Building Self-Running Engines 
(09:54) Alex's Entrepreneurial Journey 
(10:19) First Startup: Nightclub Management Platform 
(11:25) Lessons from Co-Founder Misalignment 
(11:56) Joining Serenity GPT as SDR to CRO 
(13:19) Birth of Launchyfi Agency 
(14:21) Why Proven Experience Beats Age 
(15:01) The Future Roadmap and Clay Killer Ambitions 
(16:39) Where to Find Alex and Launchyfi

🔗 CONNECT WITH ALEX 

👥 LinkedIn
💻 Website 

🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn
📧 Email - [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :)

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes.

In this episode of the Outbound Wizards podcast, I sit down with Niklas Huetzen, founder of Automindz Solutions, an AI and automation agency specialized in the recruitment space. 

Nik shares his journey from running a failed e-commerce business during COVID to building recruitment systems for a Dubai-based agency that grew from 14 to 100 people. We explore his unique approach to recruitment outbound, where he monitors companies around the clock, aggregating hiring signals like multiple job postings, employee movements, and skill gaps into a centralized Airtable database. This data infrastructure enables highly contextualized AI messaging that goes far beyond basic personalization. Nik explains why recruitment is different from typical B2B sales, you're filling two pipelines (candidates and clients), and your product can say no. We discuss his multi-channel strategy combining email, LinkedIn connection requests, cold calling, and InMail, along with his lead scoring system that prioritizes which prospects get which channel based on hiring signal strength. Nik also shares candid lessons about focus and niche selection, explaining why his agency initially struggled by targeting too many industries before committing fully to recruitment. Looking ahead, he reveals his vision for agentic AI, building personal AI assistants for every recruiter that can autonomously build daily prospect lists and take actions based on structured data.

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards
(00:36) What Automindz Does: AI & Automation for Recruitment
(02:16) Why Recruitment? The Client & Candidate Pipeline Challenge
(04:15) The Airtable System: Aggregating Hiring Signals
(06:20) Beyond Job Scraping: Context-Driven Personalization
(08:15) Multi-Channel Strategy: Email, LinkedIn, Cold Calling, InMail
(10:20) Lead Scoring: Prioritizing High-Signal Prospects
(11:35) InMail Strategy: Building Candidate Networks Over Time
(13:24) Industry Evolution: From Transactional CV Sending to Value Advisory
(15:51) Nik's Journey: Failed E-Commerce to Recruitment to Clay
(17:05) The Niche Selection Mistake: Why They Initially Avoided Recruitment
(18:13) The Biggest Learning: Stick to One Thing, Compound Your Knowledge
(19:54) Future Vision: Agentic AI Assistants for Every Recruiter
(22:44) Where to Find Nik and Automindz Solutions

🔗 CONNECT WITH NIK

👥 LinkedIn
💻 Website
🎥 YouTube

🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn
📧 Email - [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
 If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :)

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH
 You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes.

In today's episode, I talk to Lohit from Growth Engine X about building highly personalized outbound campaigns using Clay and scaling lead generation for B2B SaaS companies.

We dive deep into a case study where they transformed an underperforming e-commerce agency by fixing both their targeting and offer. Lohit shares how they moved from generic "spray and pray" outreach to strategic filtering based on company size (50+ employees), revenue ($1M+ annually), and technology stack (Shopify). He explains their unique "creative ideas" play where they suggest three specific ways to help prospects before asking for a meeting, and discusses adding personal touches like offering phone calls or mentioning nearby restaurants.

Lohit also opens up about his personal journey - from starting a grocery delivery startup in college during COVID, to becoming a freelancer, discovering growth hacking through LinkedIn automation, and eventually joining forces with Eric after battling tuberculosis. We explore the future of AI in outreach, including using it for CRM analysis to identify retargeting opportunities and creating hyper-personalized industry reports at scale.

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards
(00:26) What Growth Engine X Does and Business Model
(01:00) Client Base: B2B SaaS Focus
(01:45) E-commerce Agency Case Study: The Problem
(02:15) Fixing the Targeting Strategy
(03:26) Transforming the Offer: From Generic to Value-Driven
(04:51) Most Creative Clay Play: Three Ideas Approach
(06:27) Adding Personal Touches: Phone Calls and Restaurant Meetings
(06:53) Journey into Outbound: From College Startup to Growth Hacking
(08:15) Getting Introduced to Clay and Joining Growth Engine X
(09:28) The Supportive Nature of the Outbound Community
(09:53) What Lohit is Excited About: AI and Scale
(10:29) Future Use Cases: CRM Analysis and Personalized Reports
(12:14) The Lead Hierarchy: Close Lost > Inbound > Outbound
(13:09) Where to Find Lohit Online

🔗 CONNECT WITH LOHIT

👥 LinkedIn
💻 Website

🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn
📧 Email - [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
 If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :)

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH
 You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes.

In today's episode, I chat with Alan Ruchtein from The Modern Seller Program about building go-to-market strategies from the ground up.

We dive deep into his process for understanding client businesses before touching any tools, exploring how he creates buyer persona matrices that map challenges, symptoms, and KPIs for different decision-makers. Alan shares his philosophy on why fundamentals trump tactics, explaining the critical mistake of jumping straight to tools like Clay without proper foundation work. We discuss his experience scaling teams at companies like Revolut and Landbot, the evolution of his messaging frameworks, and why he believes there's no single "right way" to do sales. Alan also shares his thoughts on AI's role in the future of sales.

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:21) What the Modern Seller Program Does 
(02:07) Alan's Client Onboarding Process 
(03:30) Understanding Product-Market Fit First 
(04:30) Buyer Persona Matrix Framework 
(07:42) Messaging Strategy and Copy Development 
(08:30) Multiple Approaches to Outbound Success 
(11:55) Tools and Tech Stack Recommendations 
(12:50) The Minimum Viable Product Approach 
(14:45) Why Tools Don't Replace Strategy 
(15:17) Common Mistakes: Jumping to Execution Too Fast 
(16:18) Alan's Background and Journey 
(17:39) Near-Death Experience and Moving to Barcelona 
(19:11) Career Path: Landbot, Revolut, and Going Solo 
(21:49) Future of AI in Sales and Go-to-Market 
(23:24) Closing and How to Connect

🔗 CONNECT WITH ALAN

👥 LinkedIn

🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn
📧 Email - [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :)

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes.

In this episode, I sit down with Utkarsh Rana, Head of GTM at C17, one of the top lead generation and outbound agencies in the world. 

Utkarsh shares the agency's sophisticated approach to automated lead generation using Trigify for intent-based prospecting, generating 6,000 qualified leads per week on autopilot through webhook integrations with Clay tables that handle verification, enrichment, and multi-channel sequencing. We dive deep into the critical distinction between ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) and ICS (Ideal Customer Situation), with Utkarsh explaining why most replies come from situation-based targeting rather than demographic profiles alone. He reveals C17's strategy for reaching enterprise accounts, maintaining low contact limits (maximum 3 people per company), ensuring every email is AI-personalized, and scaling infrastructure with numerous mailboxes to avoid spam filters. We explore his philosophy on AI tools in outbound, where he argues the industry needs to focus less on adopting every new AI tool and more on fundamentals: better offers, superior targeting, and higher volume. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards
(00:26) What C17 Does: Lead Gen Agency & Clay Partner
(00:54) Alex Hormozi Campaign: 1.7M Emails in 4 Weeks
(02:51) The Trigify System: 6K Leads Per Week on Autopilot
(04:23) Expanding by Account: Finding More Contacts from Valid Companies
(05:28) Miro & WNBA Success: Enterprise Outbound Strategy
(07:03) Utkarsh's Journey: Customer Support to Clay Expert to C17
(09:22) How Clay Changed Everything: Personalization at Scale
(10:29) ICS vs ICP: Ideal Customer Situation Framework
(11:47) Future of Outbound: Less AI Tools, More Fundamentals
(13:38) Goals: Cracking Staffing, Scaling GTM, Japan Trip

🔗 CONNECT WITH UTKARSH

 👥 LinkedIn
💻 Website
🎥 YouTube

🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn
📧 Email - [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :)

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH
 You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes.

In this episode, I chat with Wouter Harink from Genflows agency about building sophisticated omnichannel outbound systems that create inescapable customer journeys. 

We dive deep into his "trident approach" combining cold email, LinkedIn DMs, and cold calling with Clay-powered automation, achieving impressive results like 78% LinkedIn acceptance rates and 25% phone pickup rates. Wouter shares his philosophy on treating outbound as a complete customer lifecycle rather than individual touchpoints, explaining how his team uses webhooks and Make integrations to seamlessly connect replies across channels and ensure prospects "can't escape" once they show interest. We also cover his data-driven approach to evaluating AI versus human SDRs, the challenge of attribution across multiple lead sources, and his upcoming "Claytopia" agency launch focused on complex data enrichment and pipeline management projects.

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards
(00:35) Genflows Business Model: Outbound to Clay Agency Transition
(01:28) Client Portfolio: VC, PE, and "Boring Businesses"
(03:41) The Wow Factor: Bringing Companies into the Future
(04:20) Omnichannel Outbound: The "Trident" Approach
(06:47) Customer Lifecycle Philosophy: "When Not If" Conversion
(08:16) The Last Mile Problem in Outbound
(12:36) Complex Attribution and Multi-Channel Systems
(12:48) Agency Journey: E-commerce to Marketing to Outbound
(17:52) Learning from Client Churn and Communication Gaps
(19:06) Pricing Philosophy: Mutual Investment for Success
(21:56) AI vs Human SDRs: Data-Driven Decision Making
(24:46) Contact Information and Claytopia Launch

🔗 CONNECT WITH WOUTER
 👥 LinkedIn
💻 Email: [email protected] 

🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn
📧 Email: [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :)

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes.

In this episode, I chat with Ankit from The Kiln about his approach to GTM engineering and building sophisticated Clay workflows for clients. 

We explore three compelling case studies: a CRM re-engagement campaign that generated 40-50 positive responses, a personalized outreach strategy using intent signals, and a creative Dreamforce campaign that scraped LinkedIn posts to pre-book meetings with attendees. Ankit shares his philosophy on strategic personalization and discusses how timing-based campaigns around industry events can dramatically boost response rates. Ankit also shares his vision for the future of the space: increasingly micro-targeted, intent-based campaigns as broad outreach becomes commoditized, and AI tools making GTM engineering accessible to non-technical sales professionals through natural language interfaces.

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards
(00:35) What The Kiln Does: Custom GTM Implementation
(02:06) CRM Re-engagement: Mining Existing Leads for Quick Wins
(02:49) Strategic Personalization: First Line + Case Study Selection
(05:27) IOT Client Example and Industry Context
(05:58) Dreamforce Campaign: Event-Based Outreach Strategy
(07:43) Events as High-ROI Outreach Opportunities
(08:00) Ankit's Background: From Physics to GTM Engineering
(09:10) Naval Ravikant's Influence and LinkedIn Ghostwriting Origins
(09:51) The Future: Micro-targeting and Intent-Based Campaigns
(11:02) AI Accessibility: From Cursor to Devin for GTM

🔗 CONNECT WITH ANKIT

 👥 LinkedIn
💻 Website

🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn
📧 Email - [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smarter-outbound-better-pipeline-ft-ankit-singh/id1837922764

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes.

In today's episode, I talk to Ashraf from RevenueBust about building an intent-based outreach agency that specializes in staffing, recruiting, and marketing agencies. 

We dive deep into his philosophy of reaching out within three hours of detecting intent signals, exploring how his team tracks multiple data points like job postings, new executive hires, SEO rankings, and ad campaign performance to create hyper-targeted messaging. We discuss his multi-channel approach combining email and LinkedIn with upcoming voice AI agents, the importance of humanized copy that feels genuine rather than AI-generated, and his unique strategy of creating "value seekers" and "value givers" personas for LinkedIn outreach.

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:32) RevenueBust's Intent-Based Outreach Philosophy 
(01:22) Targeting Marketing and Staffing Agencies 
(02:09) Multiple Intent Signals and Data Sources 
(03:33) Tools: Clay, Trigify, and One-Stop Solutions 
(04:52) Prioritization and Lead Scoring Strategy 
(05:14) Canada Staffing Agency Success Story 
(06:49) ICP Definition Beyond Basic Demographics 
(07:16) Finance Team Hiring Intent Example 
(08:30) Marketing Agency SEO and Ad Targeting 
(10:48) Digital Footprint Analysis and Pain Mapping 
(12:18) LinkedIn vs Email Channel Strategy 
(14:06) Lead Scoring Components and Methodology 
(16:22) Voice Notes and Hyper-Personalization 
(17:48) Contact Information and Closing

🔗 CONNECT WITH ASHRAF 

👥 LinkedIn
💻 Website

🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn
📧 Email - [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-3-rs-of-outbound-ft-ashraf-pathan/id1837922764

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes.

In today's episode, I chat with Drew from Korus GTM about building sustainable outbound systems that prioritize long-term consistency over quick wins. 

We dive deep into his scientific approach to testing message-market fit and message resonance, exploring how his team builds comprehensive infrastructure to prevent common pitfalls like burned domains and inbox deliverability issues. We discuss his transformation from sales leader at Webflow to GTM engineer, the critical mistakes he made with over-engineering hypotheses and targeting too narrowly, and his philosophy on balancing technical Clay mastery with customer success strategy. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards
(00:35) What Korus GTM Does: End-to-End Lead Generation and Testing
(01:48) Long-term Client Relationships vs Quick Results
(03:46) Tech Stack: Clay, N8n, and Infrastructure Redundancy
(06:50) Clay as Potter's Clay: Tools Need Skilled Craftsmen
(07:28) Case Study: 90-Hour Manual Process to Clay Automation
(08:43) Pharma Pipeline Research: Stage 2-3 Drug Identification
(10:00) Avoiding Over-Engineering and Cool Factor Traps
(11:22) Beyond Email: ABM and Ad Targeting Applications
(13:06) The Future is Here But Not Evenly Distributed
(13:32) Drew's Journey: From Sales Leader to GTM Engineer
(15:57) Over-Engineering Hypotheses and Narrow Targeting Mistakes
(17:45) Email Infrastructure and Jesse Ouellette's Influence
(18:12) The Matrix Moment: Understanding Technical Infrastructure
(19:33) Clay's Unicorn Status and Creative Use Cases 
(22:42) Future Focus: Merging Customer Success with Clay Power
(24:58) Contact Information and Closing

🔗 CONNECT WITH DREW

👥 LinkedIn
💻 Website 

🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn
📧 Email - [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/turn-outbound-into-a-predictable-pipeline-machine/id1837922764

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes on my email.

In today's episode, I sit down with Kellen Casebeer, founder of The Deal Lab, and talk about his unique approach to message-market fit testing and GTM strategy. 

We dive deep into his unconventional journey from sales rep to fractional VP of sales to agency founder, exploring how he discovered the power of segmentation and messaging before having a product to sell.  We discuss the evolution from basic templates to sophisticated Clay workflows, the value of testing beyond just meeting generation, and why he believes most sales teams are missing massive opportunities for optimization regardless of whether they're hitting their goals. 

Enjoy 🙂

 (00:00) Introduction to Outbound Alchemists
 (00:29) What The Deal Lab Does: Message-Market Fit Testing
 (03:05) The Birth of Message-Market Fit Testing Concept
 (04:32) Kellen's Journey from Sales to Agency Founder
 (05:21) Early Days with Smartlead and Clay Discovery
 (06:55) Why Segmentation and Testing Beat Volume
 (09:01) Client Types and Strategic Applications
 (13:15) Testing Value Beyond Early-Stage Companies
 (14:30) Outbound as Market Research and Insight Engine
 (15:20) Learning Market Language vs Company Speak
 (22:08) Building Credibility Through Client Work
 (25:13) Contact Information and Closing 

🔗 CONNECT WITH KELLEN

👥 LinkedIn
💻 Website
 

🔗 CONNECT WITH Saurav

🎥 YouTube Channel

🐦 X (Twitter)

📸 Instagram

💻 Website

👥 LinkedIn

📧 Email - [email protected]

🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outbound-isnt-broken-your-messaging-is-ft-kellen-casebeer/id1837922764

👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH You can also reach out with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learned from the episodes on my email.