The GTM Engineer Podcast

In today's episode, I chat with Zach, GTM engineer at Instruqt (cloud sandboxes for developer learning), about shifting from quantity to quality with small TAM targeting hard-to-reach developers—doing as little as possible making offer as best as possible (less is more depends on market/business model). 

We explore his branded materials campaign for conference promotional items targeting CMOs with subject line "do you want more LinkedIn ads?" offering discount to save money and buy more ads—getting 20% response rate (5% closed) because CMOs prove job security through MQLs and more budget means looking more successful. Zach shares his journey at Labster during pandemic selling ed tech video games for homework, building scraping bot amassing 20K teacher emails from public domain, sending 35K emails from main server without realizing ("ask forgiveness not permission"), getting RevOps leader call four hours later ("you sent 35K emails to California"—Home Alone 2 Kevin's father moment), and realizing this could work. He predicts ISPs/ESPs tightening restrictions (spam definition from 1/50K to 1/1K making bar ever-decreasing), collective consciousness against sales tactics (Wolf of Wall Street cold calling to now not picking up unknown numbers—cold email reaching tipping point), and successful companies giving tempting offers putting money where mouth is. Zach's advice: immerse in culture (Reddit r/coldEmail daily, YouTube influencers), spend money you don't have on solutions to learn (sailing book principle: read 10%, watch 30-40%, do yourself 50%), get started with coffee and be ready for mistakes. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:30) What Instruqt Does: Cloud Sandboxes for Developer Learning 
(01:00) Day-to-Day: Shifting from Quantity to Quality (Small TAM) 
(03:21) Creative Campaign: "Do You Want More LinkedIn Ads?" (20% Response Rate) 
(06:57) Asking Deeper Why About Person's Drivers (CMO Metrics/Job Security) 
(08:42) Journey: Labster During Pandemic (Ed Tech Video Games for Homework) 
(10:19) Building Scraping Bot (20K Teacher Emails from Public Domain) 
(12:15) Sending 35K Emails from Main Server (RevOps Leader Call) 
(14:02) Future Prediction: ISPs/ESPs Tightening Restrictions (1/50K to 1/1K) 
(16:16) Collective Consciousness Against Sales Tactics (Wolf of Wall Street to Now) 
(19:15) Advice: Immerse in Culture, Spend Money to Learn, Do Yourself 50% 
(22:05) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH ZACH

👥 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 Harshil Bhimani, founder at Clay Consultancy, about helping B2B sales-led teams do outbound and implement GTM systems (mostly $20M+ ARR mid-corporations either scaling outbound knowing what message works with which audience, or testing outbound to find which segment/offer works—the fun part requiring lots of messaging testing). 

We explore his creative campaigns including sending handwritten personalized notes to prospects' homes, using Gamma beta API (paying since early days) to automate demo slide creation post-discovery call, and building personalized SEO dashboards with Bold (similar to Lovable) and Supabase backend—didn't implement it because way too expensive to run but fun project, and his philosophy that best campaigns don't use AI for messaging at all (AI shines at research/clicking stuff not writing, helps salespeople talk with people more). Harshil shares his journey from hard-tech hardware entrepreneurship building wearables for powerlifters (failed due to technical issues), doing Amazon FBA and various businesses, cold emailing for chief of staff role where interviewer said "you have good prospecting skills, go into sales" (didn't even know what prospecting was), discovering Clay in Feb 2024 putting prospecting skills on steroids. He predicts not thinking years or months ahead (just focus on this week's problems), not trying new tools unless current tech stack can't solve problem (even if 2x-3x better, need 10x difference to switch), email getting harder over time like all marketing channels, cold calling having best ROI with people getting tons of meetings, and bar being pretty low to write nice cold email (friends get irrelevant pitches on X/LinkedIn constantly). Harshil's advice: learn basics first if zero sales/RevOps background—figure out which GTM engineering path (wide field), learn fundamentals like what salespeople do daily and how they write messaging, then learn tools—he did opposite learning Clay first then realizing "I don't know what enrichment is, just clicking buttons" so learn fundamentals before tools. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:32) What Clay Consultancy Does: Outbound for $20M+ ARR Teams 
(01:55) Creative Campaigns: Handwritten Notes, Gamma API, SEO Dashboards 
(03:49) AI Shines at Research Not Messaging (Best Campaigns Don't Use AI) 
(05:20) Journey: Hardware Wearables to Amazon FBA to Discovering Clay 
(06:00) Chief of Staff Interview: "You Have Good Prospecting Skills" 
(06:56) Future Prediction: Focus This Week, Not Months/Years 
(07:42) Cold Calling Best ROI, Bar Low for Nice Cold Email 
(09:08) Advice: Learn Fundamentals Before Tools (Wide GTM Engineering Path) 
(10:22) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH HARSHIL

👥 LinkedIn
🐦 X (Twitter)

🔗 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 Harvey, head of fulfillment at C17 Labs, about getting qualified leads and booking appointments at scale for professional service teams with figured-out offers and good sales teams—working with clients like lawyers building personal brands (first sale in 3 days worth 13 leads) through simple workflows not complex 12-13 step tables seen on LinkedIn. 

We explore his philosophy that best results come from way simpler workflows than you think (two Clay tables max, just Apollo scrape with right strategy), most successful clients having Alex Hormozi offer creation sequence sorted with clear unique advantages and case studies plus sales team that can close, then getting them in front of right people with simple message without crazy personalizations like treating someone to dinner—top 50-60% of clients consistently getting 5-6 meetings daily with 95% same copy and one-two industry personalization variables, and most creative workflows being for unique qualification like AI data company extracting exact instructions from internal documentation showing how clients import data to connect with offer. Harvey shares his journey Googling "how to get rich" at 20 hating college, getting into sales closing for dating coaches (never used it, had girlfriend then and now), dropping out hopping around lead gen world, meeting Enzo becoming third GTM engineer at C17 July 2024, growing from 4 to 20 people in year and half, and going from sleeping on couch to good apartments and vacation. He predicts specialization happening—are you better at strategy, automation/tech/execution, or RevOps backend enabling sales teams—space always answering three questions (how to get best data with things getting harder/secured, figure out strategy knowing what tools to use, build best offer because good offer means tools don't matter as they're just amplifiers), and best GTM strategists getting into helping improve offers/lead magnets making booking calls easier. Harvey's advice: learn basics from YouTube/Clay bootcamps but real world teaches more—get domains, run campaigns for fake clients if needed, write copy and offers learning from that end because GTM engineer is hot role paying a lot so get those skills up. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:23) What C17 Labs Does: Getting Qualified Leads at Scale 
(02:42) Creative Campaigns: Simple Workflows Over Complex Tables 
(04:01) Most Successful: Good Offer, Right Targeting, Simple 2-Table Max 
(06:02) Most Creative: Unique Qualification for AI Data Company 
(08:02) Client Selection Like VCs: Best Offers Scale Simply 
(10:03) Journey: Googling "How to Get Rich" at 20, Closing for Dating Coaches 
(11:02) Meeting Enzo, Joining C17 (4 to 20 People in Year and Half) 
(12:12) Future Prediction: Specialization (Strategy vs Automation vs RevOps) 
(13:27) Three Questions: Best Data, Strategy, Build Best Offer 
(15:52) Advice: Learn Basics Then Get Real World Experience 
(17:14) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH HARVEY

👥 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 Elias Stråvik, founder at Cleanroom (AI-powered CRM data cleaning), about solving the unsexy problem he faced as GTM engineer—clients asking to enrich CRM but Clay lookups returning six results in a cell, realizing good data makes him 10x effective but hard to set deduplication rules across rows, so he built next-gen tool using AI just for this problem. 

We explore his Swiss law tech campaign targeting AI-averse old partners vs AI-native new grads, scraping law firm directories, using AI vision to approximate age ("how old does this person look?") via LinkedIn graduation dates and profile photos, translating outbound to German/French based on location—getting 40% reply rate because lawyers check inbox in minutes with polite rejections vs SF founders saying "get off my list" with expletives. Elias shares his journey launching VC-backed employee wellbeing startup (vitamin not painkiller—buyers getting fired during 2021-2022 economic crash with no budget), discovering Clay after final_final_no_for_real_this_time.csv workflow realizing he could handle dozens of customers, meeting Justin (Kiln) on Twitter, joining Kiln as first GTM engineer then head (best year ever), and launching Cleanroom while working with Kiln on educational side. He predicts Clay dominating (anyone can use it but experts 10X-100X results), bifurcation with cloud code/cursor making it easier to tell AI than click buttons (shift back from low-code), hackers building code-first GTM agencies with better speed/cost vs enterprises wanting stable maintainable tools, and computing history rhyming. Elias's advice: GTM engineering has super low paid ($1K-$2K/month) or senior Anthropic/OpenAI roles with no real middle class yet, go freelancer/agency route to gain experience, step across river of cringe posting on Twitter/LinkedIn building stuff publicly—everything you want is on other side of cringe. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:34) What Cleanroom Does: AI-Powered CRM Data Cleaning 
(02:38) Swiss Law Tech Campaign (AI Vision for Age Approximation) 
(06:47) Native Language Translation (40% Reply Rate) 
(09:17) Journey: Employee Wellbeing Startup (Vitamin Not Painkiller) 
(11:27) Discovering Clay After final_final_no_for_real_this_time.csv 
(14:15) Future Prediction: Clay Dominating, Cloud Code Bifurcation 
(21:25) Advice: No Real Middle Class, Go Freelancer/Agency Route 
(27:06) Step Across River of Cringe, Build Publicly 
(29:44) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH ELIAS

👥 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 Ilayda, principal GTM systems engineer, about building custom systems beyond just launching campaigns—creating custom scrapers, internal app patches, and systems running in client's cloud for security (multinational companies prefer this), cutting noise by building systemized prospecting that's budget-efficient instead of traditional tools costing a fortune with poor ROI. 

We explore her roofing/real estate client system building a 24/7 lead matcher pulling roof repair requests from forms/scrapes qualified by AI calls, using webhook to push leads to custom matcher scraping Google Maps in 30-mile radius with Cheerio filtering residential vs commercial before enriching contacts via Apollo/SnowEye/Apify, sending AI personalized emails through Klaviyo with AI calls and SMS follow-ups via Make.com if no reply in 3 hours, plus AI layer learning from behavior/past code logs—same logic for real estate off-market leads triggering outreach to investors based on patterns. Ilayda shares her journey working with 50+ companies across SaaS/FinTech/e-commerce starting with social media automation pre-AI era, paid ads, shifting to B2B but keeping B2C perspective (mixed clients benefit from both), doing master's in innovation and marketing learning SQL, and now coding doesn't require being too technical anymore. She predicts tools changing drastically in next six months with AI getting personalized from scratch (agents, smart AI clouds), Clay adding personalization with Sculptor pulling lists automatically, and time-is-money mindset eliminating noise. Ilayda's advice: check latest trends (Cloud Code, Exa, Clay), follow four essentials—identify bottleneck, map ideal process, build automation in layers, test/iterate/optimize (nobody pulls best campaign first trial), learn n8n or Make.com, observe best-performing SDR output to clone their process, network and watch what geniuses are doing, and enjoy the creative flow because it's a fun field. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:44) What a GTM Systems Engineer Does: Custom Systems Beyond Campaigns 
(02:34) Cutting Noise with Systemized Prospecting (Budget-Efficient) 
(06:46) Creative System: Roofing/Real Estate 24/7 Lead Matcher 
(08:19) Custom Matcher Scraping Google Maps with Cheerio 
(09:09) AI Calls and SMS Follow-Ups via Make.com 
(14:32) Journey: 50+ Companies, Social Media Automation to B2B 
(16:03) Master's in Innovation and Marketing (SQL Learning) 
(17:12) Future Prediction: Tools Changing Drastically in 6 Months 
(18:13) Clay Adding Personalization with Sculptor 
(19:42) Advice: Follow Four Essentials, Learn n8n/Make.com 
(21:01) Observe Best SDR Output to Clone Process 
(23:06) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH ILAYDA

👥 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 today's episode, I chat with Anas, founder at Outbound Company, about avoiding fancy automations built for the sake of it - reverse engineering from meetings/pipeline/revenue goals instead of chasing Clay credit savings, running lookalike campaigns, resurrection campaigns, vertical plays, and RB2B with Clay as orchestration. 

We explore his RB2B campaign for a $25M CRM company getting 50K monthly visitors, segmenting in Clay into ICP vs non-ICP with department-specific instantly campaigns - discovering most traffic was bot traffic (harsh realization, refund), and his book-writing campaign for course creators going from 0.9% to 7% reply rate (53 meetings Q1) by scraping Favicon database, using Claygent to write two personalized book ideas selling dream outcome ("be thought leader in fitness"), attacking emotion without pitching calls, and sending 20K personalized emails applying Alex Hormozi principles. Anas shares his journey entering cold email October 2023 through Apollo's spam-the-TAM approach, discovering Clay thinking it was fluff, realizing it was "spreadsheets on steroids" eliminating CSV exports, attending Clay's Bangalore event, and seeing bright future with recent CDC raise. He predicts bright future but could be roller coaster - stay focused on client goals, keep stacking skills, don't marry Clay because GTM engineer concept stays (you build systems, Clay is just a tool). Anas's advice: learn marketing principles first (benefits not features), read Alex Hormozi and copywriting books before touching Clay - don't learn Clay first then try impressing clients with complex enrichments (good for LinkedIn, impresses no one in real world). 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:29) What Outbound Company Does: Booking Meetings for B2B 
(01:37) The Process: Reverse Engineering from End Goal 
(02:56) Creative Campaign: RB2B Traffic Segmentation (Bot Traffic Discovery) 
(05:15) Book-Writing Campaign: 0.9% to 7% Reply Rate (53 Meetings) 
(07:37) Selling Dream Outcome (Alex Hormozi Principles) 
(08:56) Journey: October 2023, Apollo to Clay Discovery 
(10:14) Clay as "Spreadsheets on Steroids" 
(10:38) Advice: Learn Marketing Principles Before Tools 
(12:44) Future Prediction: Bright But Could Be Roller Coaster 
(13:17) GTM Engineer Concept vs Clay Tool 
(14:02) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH ANAS

👥 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 Nicolas Schell, co-founder at Scalantec (Berlin GTM automation agency), about building go-to-market systems for B2B companies with PMF - mapping TAM, enriching CRM data, monitoring signals, building FIT and engagement scoring, and automating sales enablement with meeting prep reports. 

We explore his creative OMR conference campaign where co-founder Moritz spoke to 5,000 people showing a QR code on green cassettes with AI-generated songs, collecting LinkedIn profiles to build Clay tables researching everything about each person and creating custom landing pages in old Windows design (nostalgic 2011-2012 feel) - getting 3,000 scans and email addresses. Nicolas shares his journey from McKinsey consultant not seeing value created ("if I'm working these hours, I want to do it for myself"), working full-cycle sales doing 150 cold calls daily trying to be funny (difficult), testing 50+ tools, discovering Clay's magic of native integrations and Claygent accessibility, and becoming Clay community lead for Berlin organizing quarterly events with 100+ people. He predicts cold outreach won't die (people say "outbound is dead" for years but as long as email exists we'll find ways), LinkedIn outreach becoming more relevant with higher reply rates through conversational content, fulfillment becoming easier commodity with MCP/Sculptor, and GTM engineers focusing on architecture/systems/logic over low-level coding - hiring for social skills and listening ability to translate business needs into workflows. Nicolas's advice: get hands dirty and break things, join an agency to see different problems, think about strategy before building (don't automate for automation's sake), and be a sparring partner who thinks like the client. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:29) What Scalantec Does: GTM Systems for B2B with PMF 
(04:09) Creative Campaign: OMR Conference Green Cassettes QR Code 
(07:43) Journey: McKinsey to Full-Cycle Sales (150 Cold Calls Daily) 
(10:11) Testing 50+ Tools, Discovering Clay 
(11:27) Clay Community Lead Berlin (100+ People Events) 
(14:27) Future Prediction: Cold Outreach Won't Die 
(18:13) Fulfillment Becoming Easier Commodity 
(21:12) Advice: Get Hands Dirty, Join Agency, Think Before Building 
(24:18) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH NICOLAS

👥 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 Marijn, founder at LeadGem (Clay certified agency in Amsterdam), about working with recruitment, manufacturing, and SaaS clients—starting with ICP matrixes to avoid execution disconnect, then running monthly A-B testing experiments with a growth hacking mindset. 

We explore his highest-impact campaigns focusing on CRM job change monitoring (reaching people in newly relevant positions) and event-based outreach for manufacturing clients selling to Coca-Cola and Unilever—because high-value plastic packaging deals don't happen from cold emails but from relationships and brand reputation built face-to-face. Mariijn shares his journey working for Dutch growth marketing agencies feeling the work was too broad (creating website pages, LinkedIn ads, Google optimization), discovering Webflow then Clay two years ago with light bulb moments, realizing his strongest positioning is growth marketing background over technical expertise, hiring a Clay expert within months, and focusing on creativity and strategy because vibe coding makes technical skills less differentiating. He predicts Clay positioning as the front end with more tools leveraging it (easier legal approval), more integrations like Hayreach with SmartLead/Instantly, less spam through better targeting (irrelevant messaging is the problem), and ABM approach placing larger financial bets on high-potential leads instead of shotgun spray. Marijn's advice: fundamentals before technical expertise, don't just watch videos and copy—learn by doing, think cross-functional beyond outbound (customer support, marketing, Gong scripts for product dashboarding), and niche down to speak the same language. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:29) What LeadGem Does: Three Core Industries 
(01:52) The Process: ICP Matrixes, Monthly A-B Testing 
(03:39) Highest-Impact Campaign: CRM Job Change Monitoring 
(04:43) Event-Based Outreach for Manufacturing (High-Value Deals Need Face-to-Face) 
(07:18) Journey: Growth Marketing Agencies to Webflow to Clay 
(08:49) Positioning: Growth Marketing Background Over Technical Expertise 
(10:30) Future Prediction: Clay as Front End, More Integrations 
(12:35) ABM Making a Comeback (Larger Bets on High-Potential Leads) 
(13:27) Advice: Fundamentals Before Technical Expertise 
(14:40) Think Cross-Functional Beyond Outbound 
(17:14) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH MARIJN

👥 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 Deepak Joshi, a freelance GTM engineer, about helping B2B agencies and companies get pipeline through email/LinkedIn outreach and building automations that make manual steps scalable - emphasizing that infrastructure is buyable today but understanding what to send and who to target requires experimentation across industries (IT needs professional emails, marketing needs sassy short ones) and countries (US, Europe, India all different), running enough experiments monthly to generate 4-5 leads minimum or the campaign has no point. 

We explore his creative campaign for a sales engagement platform targeting SMBs, setting 10 meetings daily purely through email by scraping every directory (Clutch, Good Firms, 7-8 more), finding emails from websites using Clearbit instead of Apollo (website emails get 300 sends per positive response vs Apollo's 1,200-1,300 because SMBs monitor their website inbox daily), keeping copy simple without heavy personalization ("I can see you help these guys, you probably need X leads monthly, we can do Y for you—interesting?"), and scaling to 80,000 emails daily (50K+ businesses from Apollo, clutch, Facebook pages, deduping down to 400-500K max) by only sending one email per prospect and re-engaging after two months. Deepak shares his journey from consulting to joining Bangalore founder-office roles doing everything except development (growth, marketing, sales, product) for 1.5 years, deciding to go solo, turning his job into a client, taking on 2-3 more friends from BITS Pilani doing startups, building case studies reaching out to agency clients via Instantly, working with 10-12 clients monthly who commit for a year, and recently entering SaaS (easier than agencies because better offers and specific targeting around problem-based ICP vs everyone having ICP problems). He predicts the future stays the same as the past six months—Gmail/Outlook increasing barriers while new solutions emerge, aged domains with transactional volume bypassing restrictions (you can send pictures if domain has history), and vertical-specific AI trained on playbooks for selling SEO/PPC agencies potentially getting better than humans (like Canva vs Figma—Clay is Figma for experts, room for Canva with specific templates). Deepak's advice: create 20-25 YouTube videos showing you're serious, learn Instantly/Clay/APIs, list 1,000 cold email agencies and reach out with your YouTube link (won't land in spam), land internships working free if needed, enter an agency for six months working on 20+ clients—you'll become an expert, nothing more to it. 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:31) What a Freelance GTM Engineer Does 
(01:31) Understanding What to Send and Who to Target (Experimentation) 
(03:52) Creative Campaign: Sales Engagement Platform for SMBs 
(05:18) Scraping Directories, Website Emails vs Apollo (300 vs 1,200 Sends) 
(06:21) Simple Copy Without Heavy Personalization for SMBs 
(08:10) Strategy: Scrape Apollo at 5X, Take Prospects Without Emails 
(08:50) Getting to 80,000 Emails Daily via Multiple Directories 
(10:26) Journey: Consulting to Bangalore Founder-Office Roles 
(11:12) Turning Job Into Client, Taking BITS Pilani Friends 
(12:36) SaaS Easier Than Agencies (Better Offers, Problem-Based ICP) 
(13:25) Future Prediction: Same as Past Six Months 
(14:24) Aged Domains with Transactional Volume Bypass Restrictions 
(15:07) Vertical-Specific AI Trained on Playbooks (Canva vs Figma Analogy) 
(17:05) Advice: Create 20-25 YouTube Videos, Reach 1,000 Agencies 
(18:15) Land Internships (Free if Needed), Work 20+ Clients in Six Months 
(19:00) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH DEEPAK
 
👥 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 today's episode, I chat with Alex, founder at Authbound, about pivoting from cold outreach agency to go-to-market advisory focused on giving founders clarity over data, attribution, revenue, and client acquisition costs across all channels - using campaign trackers that allow C-level, sales, marketing, and product teams to understand what happened in every campaign and decide whether to push gas or pause. 

We explore his creative approach to list building that traditionally required hiring SDRs for manual research, now automated through Clay by deeply understanding org charts (not just job titles) and mapping each node's KPIs and directions, using conditional formulas for accounts and persons, and building AI projects that become agents with full context on offer, targeting, person, company, region, and demographics - writing cold emails that feel relevant and written only for you (not mass-generated). Alex shares his journey from B2B SDR selling perfumes to retail and hotel chains, moving to tech selling dev services, discovering GPT and starting to experiment, becoming a freelancer on Upwork as fractional SDR for companies outside Bucharest, taking more projects than he could handle, and hiring other freelancers to form the agency Authbound. He predicts two scenarios: businesses that don't adopt technology fast or think outside traditional channels will die, while those with right technology, operators, and AI thinking outside the box will win (whoever owns the data wins), and the biggest bottleneck will be hiring operators - juniors coming out of school face a challenging market because automation replaced tasks they used to do, forcing them to either start their own journey or accept demanding jobs with little pay. Alex's advice: you don't start as GTM engineer, you become one by being curious - you need background in sales, marketing, or revenue ops to understand the bigger picture before learning technology (transition takes weeks with experience, years without). 

Enjoy 🙂

(00:00) Introduction to Outbound Wizards 
(00:30) What Authbound Does: GTM Advisory Over Lead Gen 
(02:17) Campaign Trackers for Cross-Team Clarity 
(04:37) Creative Campaign: Automating List Building That Required SDRs 
(06:55) Creativeness in Logic, Not Just Enrichments 
(07:29) Mapping Org Charts (Not Just Job Titles) 
(08:15) Building AI Projects That Become Agents with Full Context 
(09:30) Journey: B2B SDR Selling Perfumes to Hotels 
(10:00) Discovering GPT, Freelancing on Upwork 
(10:44) Taking Too Many Projects, Hiring Freelancers 
(11:10) Future Prediction: Adopt Technology or Die 
(12:19) Whoever Owns the Data Wins 
(12:49) Biggest Bottleneck: Hiring Operators (Not Juniors) 
(13:34) Advice: You Become GTM Engineer by Being Curious (Need Background First) 
(15:00) Closing and Contact Information

🔗 CONNECT WITH ALEX

👥 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.