Welcome to Outbound Wizards. Issue 18.
Been a long week.
Getting back to coding hasn’t exactly been a delight.
Of course, AI takes care of 90% of the work for you, but what you are left with are the most high-leverage decisions you can make.
The amount of anxiety per unit time goes up, while the feeling of deep work goes down, because that is actually done by AI.
I'm sure I'll get used to it, but just something I found interesting as an ex-programmer.
On the SalesRobot side of things, things are going surprisingly well.
Our month-over-month traffic is up 19.5%, but ChatGPT referral traffic is up 2,000%!
We started posting about our journey on Reddit, and some of it has started to go viral.
Check it out here: |
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(This one did over 200k views, all organic) |
In fact, we were so successful we even got a temporary ban from r/saas (which I take as a badge of honour. If you've not been banned by Reddit, you're not doing enough marketing).
Anyway, back to LinkedIn automation news!
In this issue: |
Milestones: Key metrics on our path to 10,000 users (currently at 5411, flat!)
LinkedIn Message Roast: We find the worst performing LinkedIn Messages from real SalesRobot users and show you how we'd save the campaign (after making fun of them of course lol)
Outbound Wizard of the Week: I talk to Nayab from StackOptimise on finding message-market fit. She’s the kind of person who launches 13 campaigns in a single day across different angles and CTAs, plus builds fully automated lead pipelines where prospects upload from Apollo and automatically qualify, enrich, and flow into personalized email sequences.
We explore her journey from getting laid off twice as an HR consultant in 2023 to becoming a Clay coach through "commando training" to GTM engineer, explaining why HR and sales people were hardest hit in tech layoffs and why no-code automation was the only logical pivot. Nayab shares her thoughts on Clay eating its own ecosystem by launching email sequencing and AI lead lists, and why the only GTM engineers who will survive are the ones who stay adaptive when platforms do platform things.
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Milestones |
MRR: $77,150 (flat!) |
Where we stand: |
[GOOD NEWS] Sales demos done (from 11 May 2026 - 25 May 2026): 25 (demo numbers continue to be low)
[GOOD NEWS] Free Trials Started (from 11 May 2026 - 25 May 2026): 231 (averaging ~15 signups per day, up, because outbound is working well)
[GOOD NEWS] New subscription revenue: $1500 in new + upgrade revenue from 11 users
[BAD NEWS] Downgraded subscription revenue: $1600 in downgrades and churn since I sent the last newsletter
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LinkedIn Message Roast |
Now, let’s dive into the LinkedIn message that a Swedish SalesRobot user sent to 131 people on LinkedIn and got a whopping 0% response rate |
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The Message Copy (some parts [REDACTED] to hide the identity of the user): |
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Step 1: Send Connection Request |
Timing: Initial outreach |
Message: [Standard connection request - no custom message shown] |
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Step 2: First Message (Connection Acknowledgment) |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 1] |
Message: |
Kul att dela nätverk 🚀 |
Hälsningar [REDACTED] |
Translation: |
Great to share networks 🚀 |
Regards [REDACTED] |
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Step 3: Follow-up Message (Personal Introduction) |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 2] |
Message: |
Tycker om att lära känna mitt nätverk så kan bara presentera mig lite kort 🤗 |
Jag brinner för hållbara relationer och tycker om att bygga bolag, jag tror starkt att man presterar bätter när man känner sig trygg och har genuina personer runt sig. |
Nuförtiden bor jag i [REDACTED] med min familj och driver konceptet [REDACTED] |
Önskar dig allt väl [firstName] och all framgång! 🚀 |
Translation: |
I like to get to know my network so I'll just introduce myself briefly 🤗 |
I'm passionate about sustainable relationships and enjoy building companies, I strongly believe that you perform better when you feel secure and have genuine people around you. |
Nowadays I live in [REDACTED] with my family and run the concept [REDACTED] |
Wishing you all the best [firstName] and all success! 🚀 |
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The conclusion here is a bit unique.
Since no connection request was accepted, I think all that they needed to do was experiment with a non-blank connection request.
Even though they reached out to 131 people, nobody really saw their great messages!
So this is not a roast, just a small suggestion. I think they did well with their copy! |
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GTM Engineer of the Week: Nayab Osaf of StackOptimise (Now she runs her own agency) |
1. What kind of clients do you work with? |
Nayab is a GTM Engineer at StackOptimise, an outbound agency leveraging Clay, automation, sales triggers, and AI personalization to build "continuous sales platforms" for clients.
Sweet Spot: SaaS companies and marketing/recruitment agencies already leveraging AI. "We want people who already know the importance of AI. We don't have to tell them 'AI is the next way to go.' They're sold when we say 'we're going to make you a continuous sales platform with Clay and AI.'"
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2. What is the most creative campaign you have run? |
13 Campaigns in One Day: "I wanted to impress my boss. Launched 13 campaigns in one day with different angles, different CTAs, different offers—just to find message-market fit. We did. In one month we found what CTA works, what doesn't. Now all we have to do is ramp up those clients with leads. That's the ideal situation." |
"That first month without message-market fit, writing all these copies, all these strategies—most stressful time for any GTME actually doing the work. But it's so fruitful. Gives clients confidence: 'From this email and this offer, we're getting this many leads. We're set for the next months of the contract.'" |
The Automated Lead Pipeline: Client came in wanting to upload leads from Apollo or any scraped website → auto-qualify by persona (SaaS, B2B, B2C) → enrich with job titles, all nitty-gritty details → automatically throw to email sequencer with personalized sequences already written. |
"I was like: 'Yeah, that's possible.' She was like: 'Really?' I told her it's just conditional formulas in Clay. She's been using the same template ever since and says 'thank God you did this for me.'” |
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3. How did you get into this space? |
2019-2023: HR and recruitment consultant for startups, building teams from ground up. Got laid off twice in 2023. "I built their team from scratch then got laid off. Something is wrong in the market."
The Realization: "The two people getting hit most: HR people, sales people, customer service people. If headcount goes down, you don't need any of them—just top performers. High time to go into something tech."
The Pivot: "Didn't know how to code. Always liked the terms 'automation' and 'no-code.' Started going through Upwork, pitched myself everywhere—LinkedIn, Upwork, everything. Reached out to one of the best Clay bootcamps out there."
The Commando Training: "They (Clay Bootcamp) gave me tests because of course I didn't know shit about Clay—Clay wasn't a big thing a year ago. I called it commando training. They made me a Clay coach. Imagine the vetting, tests, and training for that."
The Final Step: "I was teaching all these cool people but wanted to do actual
projects, get into the ground and do this. Started applying to GTM engineering roles. Got hired at StackOptimise. That's my story—nothing big, nothing fancy."
The Copywriting Self-Education: "Completely new to copywriting, not gonna lie. I just went through their Instagram and whatever they taught about copywriting. That's where I learned all the creative side."
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4. Where do you see this whole space going? |
Clay Eating Its Own Ecosystem: Just saw Sculpt's new feature—"ChatGPT for your lead list": literally type "B2B SaaS founders, first time founders, United States" and get a lead list. "Clay also launched their own email. SmartLead, Instantly—they're all like 'okay, now what do we do?'" |
The Adaptability Imperative: "Anybody who has hired you as GTM engineer just knows you're adaptive and can do shit—hit the ground running. Anybody who's adaptive and keeps up with all of this will nail it. Anybody who says 'I know Clay and I don't know Make or any other automation tool'—that's going to be a problem for them." |
The Platform Reality: "Amazon basics comes to mind—Amazon saw diapers selling, so they made Amazon Basics diapers. Platforms are gonna do platform things. The people who are going to survive are going to survive anyway." |
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5. What advice would he have for somebody starting as a GTM Engineer today? |
Test before you scale: "Launch 10+ angles with different CTAs and offers to find message-market fit first. A lot of agencies are not doing this. StackOptimise scares new hires saying 'you have to build 10+ angles.' You get scared, but it's so fruitful. You know exactly what's working before ramping up spend."
Use all three channels: "Cold email for volume and testing at scale. LinkedIn is slow but gets meetings booked—be conversational, nurture first, pitch later. Cold calling always works—especially if someone hasn't replied after your email sequence, just call them. It's not one or the other—mix and match all three."
Email for statistical significance: "Since you're reaching 20-30K+ people per month, your message-market fit testing becomes statistically significant. You know with certainty this message converts versus message number two. Testing velocity is the real edge of cold email."
LinkedIn is expensive, email is scalable: "LinkedIn has restrictions and is slower. Cold email—you can go crazy, test crazy, do crazy volume. LinkedIn for nurturing, email for scale, calling for closing the gap."
Jump in the deep end: "StackOptimise's approach: 'Here are the resources. Now go jump in the water and figure it out.' Sometimes you need people who push you in the deep end. That's how you learn to swim fast."
Adapt or fall behind: "This space moves fast—Clay launched email sequencing, competing with Smartlead and Instantly overnight. If you're not adaptive, it's going to be a problem. Being adaptive is the whole job."
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Connect with Nayab: |
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That’s it for Issue #18 of Outbound Wizards
If you found this helpful, share it with a friend. Got feedback? Shoot me a reply—I read every one of them. |
Thanks for following along. |
Saurav G.
Founder, SalesRobot 2.0
Follow me on LinkedIn |
