PumpGTM retweeted
very companies tho but majorly to businesses and SaaS who recently got acquired or got their big funding, whose email and socials are easy to get through linkedin or instagram and
The key is to speak to them as people.
They're people, not bots with a script.
They don't care what you do or how you do it. They want to know what it does for them. The rest doesn't matter.
A template isn't found, it's built on principles (and then you can use it as many times as you want, once it clicks).
Here's something you can follow:
-- Are you giving value to the prospect in the cold email? For instance, "I noticed [company] doesn't use [thing they don't use] - this could result in [pitfall/pain point].[...]To be honest, you could solve this in just a few seconds, totally cost-free, with this tool [your tool/freelance service].Benefit 1, 2, 3This is much better than "I believe we should hop on a call because...xyz" NO! They don't want to hop on a call at all. They want to hop on a call once they've checked your landing page, got something wrong and want some help because they WANT to solve that issue.
-- Do you explain what you do on your landing page easily?People don't want "help revitalizing learnings" or "help organizing their vision" --> they want results. [tool] "gets more clients" is FAR more effective.
Can they see your product? GIFs, images, screenshots? Once they see those, they know what it looks like and are more willing to take the next step.
Are there any reviews on the page? Everyone is wary - even if you had 1 happy beta tester or someone who used your freelance service, put their review/testimonial on your page. It helps nobody wants to be the first.
Email should be:
{{firstName}}, {{personalized line}} --> you need this otherwise good luck.
{{one-sentence case study}} --> My name is Mrinal Pramanick and I recently helped [[some legit business owner name with just one social]] [solve pain point] in less than 4-5 minutes through getting a free trial. [explain solution]
{{CTA}} --> Call-To-Action. Why ask for a demo? Just send them a free bonus with the free trial. Or send them a video on how they can [solve pain point] in 3 minutes through a free trial.
THE KEY IS TO REDUCE FRICTION. The more you do this, the less the prospect feels they're being "cold emailed" and actually helped.
If you want to achieve this, change the email up a little bit - make the decision that makes most sense to you, but aligns with the principles.
Hope this helped.
PumpGTM retweeted
best cold outreach i’ve ever done: showing up at founders’ doors with arsicault croissants (yes, the place with the insane line)
and @llama_index merch + $$$ in credits ofc
with yc and a16z speedrun demo days coming up for last batch, i made custom boxes for founders
it turns out showing up at someone’s office with a box of pastries is a very fast way to make friends
this was my second week on the job and honestly one of my favorite activations as a marketing person bc you actually get to meet people!
if you’re a yc / a16z SR startup and didn’t get one, tell me where you are. i know the way to arsicault :D
PumpGTM retweeted
My lifehack for cold outreach on X (~20% conversion):
1. Post content on X related to a specific pain
2. Check your new followers list 1–2x per week
3. Pick the ones with relevant keywords in their bios
4. Send a personalized message
Why this works:
• Relevant content → relevant follows
• A follow = real interest
• A follow = your DM lands in the main messages tab; the recipient doesn’t have to dig through “new messages” to see it
This turns 100% cold outreach into something warmer, since it’s not the first touch with the recipient.
Many people in this channel were invited by me personally – so it works ;)
Steal this
PumpGTM retweeted
This is what a cold email built from 10M+ sends of data looks like:
(every part labelled)
PumpGTM retweeted
having no luck
didnt get any reply after sending 100+ cold dm in last few days and mails, i generally send mails in morning 9am-11am
what do you think am i doing wrong?
my format->
Hi, Punya this side
{About company} I thought I’d reach out and see if there might be an opportunity to join the team as an intern!
Keeping it short, some stuff I've built:
• Beacon: AI powered financial market intelligence platform combining sentiment analysis, real time market data, technical indicators, and much more to generate trading recommendations. - joinbeacon.vercel.app
• Applyflow: large scale job aggregation and automation pipeline scraping multiple platforms with filtering and ranking according to resume. - github.com/punyajain1/ApplyF…
• Detour: An Informative doom scrolling app with a crazy feed - detour-clp4.vercel.app/
Shipped and sold multiple AI and backend products, built everything from APIs and microservices to agentic systems and production deployments.
This summer, I worked as an SDE Intern at Fujitsu, where I worked on a FastAPI microservice.
Resume – drive.google.com/file/d/1qB2…
Github – github.com/punyajain1
Portfolio – punyajain.me/
Happy to chat anytime.
– Punya Jain
PumpGTM retweeted
cold outreach gets ignored for one reason:
nobody cares
"hi, we do e-signature software" is equally true on any day of any year, which is why nobody answers it.
evidence is what changes that
the example they walk through makes it obvious:
Cedar HR posts a job listing that mentions manual contract work, and their HR lead writes on LinkedIn about chasing signatures all week.
so the company has said in public what's broken and who it hurts.
and the message writes itself from there: "saw your post about chasing signatures, this automates the reminders." one line, and it lands as a reply rather than a pitch, because that's what it is.
Leadpoet does that end to end. it watches job listings, LinkedIn, X and the open web for those signals, finds the verified contact, writes the message around that specific evidence and keeps the follow-ups going on email or LinkedIn. you review everything before it goes out and take over the moment someone answers.
the follow-up is the part most people skip, and it's where deals die far more often than at the first message.
want to see who it would find for your business? comment "Poet" on their launch post for 100 free credits.
🤝 Paid partnership
PumpGTM retweeted
I've ran 1000s of cold email campaigns over the past 5 years...
At this point I've tested every single call-to-action you could possibly think of.
Here are the 12 best highest-converting CTAs of all time:
1. "I recorded a video breaking down XYZ - mind if I send it over?"
PumpGTM retweeted
One thing I've learned about Cold Email that I want to share with you guys.
Make it STUPIDLY EASY for prospects to reply.
I'm serious
I see people writing decent Cold Emails and then ending with:
"Would you be available for a 30-minute call next Tuesday to discuss how we can help?"
Brother, they don't even KNOW YOU yet 😂
You're asking for 30 minutes of someone's time before they've shown any interest.
Instead, try asking a SIMPLE question related to the problem you're solving.
Something they can answer in 5 seconds.
The goal of your first Cold Email isn't necessarily to book a meeting.
It's to START a conversation.
And sometimes getting a simple "Yes, we're struggling with that" is worth WAY more than pushing for a calendar invite nobody wants.
I don't know what do you think about that BOYZ ?
PumpGTM retweeted
You aren't getting responses from your cold emails because they were all written to SELL.
The ultimate goal for cold emailing is to win a follow-up call or even just one more message from your recipient.
If you close in the email, good - but no serious business owner will give you $5k+ worth of trust through just one cold email.
Switch to starting conversations, not closing deals, and you will start getting good responses.
PumpGTM retweeted
If you sell to local businesses, cold email could be your most cost-effective channel right now.
Your whole market is on Google Maps, and owners read their own email.
We generated over 4300 interested buyers for a custom cup manufacturer selling to coffee shops and bakeries.
How we scraped google maps in the article below:
PumpGTM retweeted
If you reach out to people and they keep ignoring you, it’s usually because they don’t see the value you bring.
In Never Eat Alone, I wrote 4 rules for this, and they still work for any cold outreach today, a DM or a cold call.
Here they are 🧵
PumpGTM retweeted
unpopular opinion: a fake compliment in a cold email is worse than none. "loved your recent post" fools nobody. one plain line on why you're writing wins every time
PumpGTM retweeted
Holy f*ck just got a 10/10 cold email in a very LONG time👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
Why I say learn storytelling if you wanna write S tier cold emails
Great marketers are STORYTELLERS live example right here 👇🏻🫡
PumpGTM retweeted
david ogilvy called originality "the most dangerous word in the lexicon of advertising"...
that's why our subject lines are BORING on purpose.
our go-to is just the prospect's first name,
and on linkedin those messages have hit 50%+ reply rates.
so i broke down exactly how we write our whole cold message copy:
- the subject line
- the first line
- the proof
- the ask
- the follow-ups
- writing it at scale
- testing your copy
full breakdown in the article:
PumpGTM retweeted
My cold email process is:
1. find a market with money
2. identify a painful problem
3. create an irresistible offer
4. define the ICP
5. identify buying signals
6. source companies matching those signals
7. find the decision makers
8. enrich contact data
9. verify emails
10. segment by pain point and buying signal
11. write a short email connecting the signal to the offer
12. remove the fluff
13. remove the buzzwords
14. remove anything that sounds like a sales pitch
15. read it from the prospect's POV
16. remove even more
17. launch
18. analyze positive replies
19. double down on what works
The best cold emails only need the right offer, the right prospect, and a compelling reason to reach out.
Good cold email is engineered, not written.
PumpGTM retweeted
I get A LOT of cold emails from startup founders looking to raise money. Most are terrible. Let's look at an example and see what are some common mistakes to avoid.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Example:
Hi Matan,
Good day. After reviewing your profile, I believe you are uniquely positioned to understand and potentially support a transformative opportunity I’m working on. I’ve developed an AI-powered application that directly competes with legacy Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Think of it as the evolution of what happened between Blockbuster and Netflix. The current ATS market is stagnating, leaving industries and businesses struggling with outdated systems. I’ve identified a critical gap in the HR space, and my application is designed to fill it, offering a solution that not only improves the hiring process but also has the potential to capture a significant market share. I have a working demo ready, and I am currently seeking an angel investor, strategic partner, or potential acquirer for the project. Given your background and experience, I would greatly appreciate any guidance or insight you might have, or the opportunity to discuss potential collaboration.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
What's the issue:
- the person never reviewed my profile because I never invested or been involved in the HR tech space
- no clear problem statement, "stagnating" and "struggling with outdated systems" is fluff that doesn't mean anything
- the founder says he found a "critical gap" but doesn't mention what
- the demo is ready and he is already considering an acquirer... a BIG red flag
- there is no clear ask, "potential collaboration" is not an ask
- there no info about him or his background
- no deck attached or linked
Reading carefully, there isn't ANY useful info in the message. After reading, I couldn't tell if its a scam or a real business.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
A good cold email will have 5 things:
- who you are
- problem you're solving & solution
- traction or evidence that the market cares (e.g., revenues)
- the ask
- a link to more info if I want to review
Should be no more than 3-5 sentences and under 100 words.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Share your cold intro in the comments or DM me and Ill give you a grade and help you improve it.
PumpGTM retweeted
I scaled from 0 to $1M ARR in 10.5 months using a stupidly simple LinkedIn outbound playbook. It’s simple enough that you could do it today:
Step 1: Build a targeted lead list
Go into LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Add ~50 companies you want to work with.
Then filter for the people who can make the buying decision.
For us, that meant director-level marketing leaders and above.
A list of ~2,000 people became 200 likely good-fit leads.
Step 2: Ask if you could send a Loom lead magnet
My message was:
“Hey, I took a look at your ad account. Do you mind if I send you a 60-second Loom walking through what I think we would improve in your funnel?”
The important part: No Loom until they say yes.
Step 3: Make the Loom
Keep it <2 minutes. Then use it to book calls.
Don’t hesitate to send cold messages because you think it will annoy people.
You only need to do a lot of volume.
Most people will say no or won't respond. That's normal.
We send tons of DMs. We ask people for intros. We make a lot of asks.
I used to worry about annoying people too.
But whether that fear is true or not, it doesn't serve me because if it makes me do less outreach, I'll book fewer calls.
