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Share Your Cold Outreach Is Too Direct ft. Sam Martin
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Your Cold Outreach Is Too Direct ft. Sam Martin
In today's episode, I chat with Sam, founder at Culture Shock, a language learning platform that uses news content and AI to prepare users for proficiency exams like CEFR, ACTFL, and IELTS—selling primarily to schools, government, and families.
We explore his seed round fundraising campaign on SalesRobot targeting angel investors, startup investors, and SaaS seed investors globally, which hit nearly 40% reply rate—well above the platform average of 10-20%. The key pivot: instead of asking "are you interested in investing?" which got quick flat-out nos, Sam switched to "do you know anyone who has invested in the education space?"—creating a buying atmosphere with enough space for people to say no without pressure, while simultaneously surfacing the investors who replied "actually, I'm the person you should talk to." He also shares his best-ever campaign: reaching out to university professors asking if they knew students interested in a summer internship—not selling anything, but asking professors to do what they already love (help their students), which produced hundreds of candidates and seeded organic word of mouth. Sam's two things he's most excited about trying next: running multiple accounts simultaneously to test different verticals at 5x the volume, and refining how to use SalesRobot's AI agent for simpler, more contained conversations where the context can be fully baked in.
Enjoy 🙂
(00:00) Introduction to SalesRobot Customer of the Week
(00:22) What Culture Shock Does: AI-Powered Language Learning for Proficiency Exams
(01:15) The Seed Round Campaign: Targeting Angel Investors Globally on LinkedIn
(02:47) The Pivot That Hit 40% Reply Rate: Ask for a Referral, Not a Meeting
(03:36) Creating a Buying Atmosphere: Give Them Space to Say No
(05:07) The Professor Campaign: Asking People to Do What They Already Love
(07:46) Mistakes Made Early: Being Too Direct Puts Too Much Pressure on the Buyer
(08:59) What's Next: Multiple Accounts for Volume and Vertical Testing
(09:29) Using SalesRobot's AI Agent: Where It Works and Where Context Gets Complicated
🔗 CONNECT WITH SAM
🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV
🎥 YouTube Channel
🐦 X (Twitter)
💻 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.
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By Saurav GuptaIn today's episode, I chat with Sam, founder at Culture Shock, a language learning platform that uses news content and AI to prepare users for proficiency exams like CEFR, ACTFL, and IELTS—selling primarily to schools, government, and families.
We explore his seed round fundraising campaign on SalesRobot targeting angel investors, startup investors, and SaaS seed investors globally, which hit nearly 40% reply rate—well above the platform average of 10-20%. The key pivot: instead of asking "are you interested in investing?" which got quick flat-out nos, Sam switched to "do you know anyone who has invested in the education space?"—creating a buying atmosphere with enough space for people to say no without pressure, while simultaneously surfacing the investors who replied "actually, I'm the person you should talk to." He also shares his best-ever campaign: reaching out to university professors asking if they knew students interested in a summer internship—not selling anything, but asking professors to do what they already love (help their students), which produced hundreds of candidates and seeded organic word of mouth. Sam's two things he's most excited about trying next: running multiple accounts simultaneously to test different verticals at 5x the volume, and refining how to use SalesRobot's AI agent for simpler, more contained conversations where the context can be fully baked in.
Enjoy 🙂
(00:00) Introduction to SalesRobot Customer of the Week
(00:22) What Culture Shock Does: AI-Powered Language Learning for Proficiency Exams
(01:15) The Seed Round Campaign: Targeting Angel Investors Globally on LinkedIn
(02:47) The Pivot That Hit 40% Reply Rate: Ask for a Referral, Not a Meeting
(03:36) Creating a Buying Atmosphere: Give Them Space to Say No
(05:07) The Professor Campaign: Asking People to Do What They Already Love
(07:46) Mistakes Made Early: Being Too Direct Puts Too Much Pressure on the Buyer
(08:59) What's Next: Multiple Accounts for Volume and Vertical Testing
(09:29) Using SalesRobot's AI Agent: Where It Works and Where Context Gets Complicated
🔗 CONNECT WITH SAM
🔗 CONNECT WITH SAURAV
🎥 YouTube Channel
🐦 X (Twitter)
💻 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.