Welcome to Outbound Wizards. Issue 20.
As I write this, I realize I've given up on consistency, at least with this newsletter.
But I have good excuses. |
First of all, the twins turned one. |
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Second of all, we were onboarding a massive Australian agency that’s shifting from Skylead (they have 80 clients and it’s a $4k MRR deal for us).
All of this meant a lot of custom work in migration and onboarding.
Finally, we are working on a new SalesRobot Agentic Mode that will do the work of getting you enough replies from cold outreach with skills that you've never seen before.
So yeah, those are my excuses.
But going forward, I will try to be more consistent π
Anyway, back to LinkedIn automation news.
In this issue: |
Milestones: Key metrics on our path to 10,000 users (currently at 5582, slight growth!)
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 Rishabh Gupta, product lead at Partao and freelance GTM engineer, on building foundational GTM systems for early-stage Indian startups and then handing them off.
We explore his Fortune 500 campaign targeting CFOs that forced a pivot from email-only to multi-channel after three months of flat results, plus his GCC setup service campaign that required combining Lusha, Clay, and HubSpot lead scoring to crack hyper-segmented personas.
Rishabh shares his path from biomedical engineer to first growth hire at a company he helped scale to $11M, then accidental GTM engineer after inheriting a failing contractor setup, explaining why GTM engineering is just a subset of growth marketing and predicting fully agentic GTM within two years where a human farmer manages a field of specialized AI agents.
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Milestones |
MRR: $85,220 (up!) |
Where we stand: |
[GOOD NEWS] Sales demos done (from 15 Jun 2026 - 6 Jul 2026): 25 (demo numbers continue to be low, but average revenue per demo has gone up massively)
[GOOD NEWS] Free Trials Started (from 15 Jun 2026 - 6 Jul 2026): 316 (averaging ~15 signups per day, up)
[GOOD NEWS] New subscription revenue: $3100 in new + upgrade revenue from 55 users (significant increase)
[BAD NEWS] Downgraded subscription revenue: $900 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 a SalesRobot user sent to 623 people on LinkedIn and got a whopping 4% response rate (average is 10%)
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The Message Copy (some parts [REDACTED] to hide the identity of the user): |
LinkedIn Outreach Sequence: Executive Resume Writing Service Campaign |
Performance Overview |
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Step 1: Like Their Most Recent Post |
Timing: Initial action |
Action: Engage with prospect's latest LinkedIn post |
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Step 2: Send Connection Request |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 1] |
Message: [Standard connection request - no blank message] |
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Step 3: First Message (Credentials + WhatsApp CTA) |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 2] |
Message: |
Hi [firstName], |
Thank you for accepting the connection request. Really appreciate it. |
π¨ πΈππππ π°πππππ
ππππππ:: |
I am an MBA graduate with 15 yrs of experience as an Online BDM worked with companies like [REDACTED]. |
I help Senior Management professionals to build their Resume & LinkedIn Profile at par with international standards. |
We are a Professional Executive Resume Writer with 5000+ Executive Resumes written since 2009 with clients from across the Globe. |
Our articles were also published on various top-tier news media platforms including the [REDACTED], etc. |
And I was awarded & recognised in the "[REDACTED]" in 2019 by Silicon India Magazine. |
I look forward to a great association together. |
WhatsApp us on: [REDACTED]
WhatsApp Direct message: [REDACTED] |
Result: 3.33% response rate (8/240) |
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I know we've roasted something similar before, but this was so bad it deserved a rewrite. |
"π¨ πΈππππ π°πππππ
ππππππ::"
(The fancy font is BACK! Double colon for double pretentiousness!)
"I am an MBA graduate with 15 yrs of experience"
(Still leading with their resume in a RESUME WRITING pitch - the irony remains delicious!)
"5000+ Executive Resumes written since 2009"
(16 years and STILL sending the same terrible outreach!)
"I look forward to a great association together."
(The most awkward partnership phrase in human history - STILL!)
"WhatsApp us on: [REDACTED]
WhatsApp Direct message: [REDACTED]"
(STILL two WhatsApp options because one wasn't desperate enough!)
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This is what they should have done instead:
Step 1 - Connection Request (No blank request, no post liking): |
Hi [firstName], |
I noticed you've been at [companyName] for [years]+ years as [title] - impressive track record in [industry]. |
I specialize in executive personal branding on LinkedIn and would value connecting. |
Best, |
[FULL NAME] |
Executive Branding Specialist |
Step 2 - Message (After acceptance, 24+ hours later): |
Thanks for connecting, [firstName]! |
Quick observation - your experience at [companyName] is impressive, but your LinkedIn profile might be underselling you. |
I looked at 5 other [jobTitle]s in [industry] and noticed they're getting 3-4x more profile views by structuring their profiles differently. |
We recently helped [similarPerson] ([similarTitle] at [similarCompany]) restructure their LinkedIn presence. Within 60 days: |
- Profile views increased 340% |
- Inbound recruiter messages tripled |
- Landed 2 interview calls from Fortune 500 companies without applying |
Would you find a free 5-minute profile audit useful? I'll record a quick Loom showing 3 specific changes you could make today. |
No strings attached - just thought you'd want to see how you compare. |
Best, |
[FULL NAME] |
Executive Profile Strategist |
[COMPANY NAME] |
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GTM Engineer of the Week: Rishabh Gupta, a Freelance GTM Engineer (ex-Growth Marketing) |
1. What kind of clients do you work with? |
Rishabh is a product lead at Partao and freelance GTM engineer working across D2C, direct-to-consumer brands, and B2B SaaS. He targets early-stage founders (pre-seed, seed, series A) rather than established companies. |
"I don't look for founders doing a couple million ARR. I look for startup founders just starting out. My role is foundational: build integrations, workflows, set up the entire GTM engineering process, then go away. It's a foundational role rather than coming on top and optimizing." |
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2. What is the most creative campaign you have run? |
Fortune 500 Multi-Channel Pivot:
Built an email-only GTM motion using Clay workflows pushing to HubSpot and email marketing tools. Targeting CFOs and senior executives at Fortune 500 companies. "The entire play of only emails doesn't work. Over three months I realized you have to include cold calls, SMS, WhatsApp. Multi-channel, not just email."
GCC Setup Service for HR Tech:
Client was selling GCC (Global Capability Center) setup services, helping Fortune 2000 companies build 0-200 employee operations in India. Key challenge: narrowing the target customer persona using Clay alone wasn't enough. Had to combine Lusha and other tools, bring data into HubSpot, run lead scoring, then build the outbound motion from scored leads.
In his words: "For very segmented target customers, you have to bring in multiple tools to get real data. Lead scoring first, then outbound."
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3. How did you get into this space? |
Education: Biomedical engineer. Then worked as software developer for a year, founders associate, then technical product management for 8 years across e-commerce and fintech.
First growth hire for a San Francisco company. "A lucky coincidence that I met the founder. When I left, they were doing $11 million per year." That credibility opened doors.
Entering GTM by Accident: Browsing forums, posted he was available for part-time work. A senior personality who established Jio Networks within India reached out. "Very impressive personality, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." After joining, he drifted across different areas of the startup.
"GTM was something they were struggling with. A contractor was helping build the GTM motion, but that really sucked. I took ownership. Dove into Clay workflows, integrations, the entire GTM motion. That helped me understand what it means to scale a company from zero to at least $100K."
The Overlap: "GTM engineering is a subset of growth marketing. Growth marketing is a mix of product, inbound, ads. GTM engineering focuses more on outbound. I don't know why people make it out to be something completely different."
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4. Where do you see this whole space going? |
Fully Agentic GTM:
"I'm not sure about five years because even Sam Altman can't predict that. For the next one to two years, GTM is going to become fully agentic. For every small task, you'll have small agents. But the entire workflow has to be set up by a person who knows GTM."
The Farmer Analogy:
"A person sits there managing multiple small agents doing their tasks. You're a farmer and these are different plants. You're farming around different outputs."
Multi-Agent Coordination:
"Every agent is good at its own job, but has to learn to interface with other agents. Almost like a team of AI employees or AI freelancers."
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5. What advice would he have for somebody starting as a GTM Engineer today? |
You don't need a CS degree, but some technical bent helps:
"I'm a biomedical engineer who worked as a software developer for a year. You need enough technical understanding to look at APIs, how Clay integrations work, JSONs, prompting. In India, you first become an engineer, then become something else."
Multi-channel from day one:
"Email used to work five years ago. Same email today, no matter how well you do personalization or research, doesn't cut it. Include cold calls, SMS, WhatsApp. Be multi-channel."
Lead scoring before outbound:
"For segmented target customers, Clay alone isn't enough. Bring in multiple tools (Lusha, etc.), combine data in HubSpot, run lead scoring, then build your outbound motion from scored leads."
GTM engineering is growth marketing, scoped to outbound:
"A lot of people struggle because they say 'I don't have a technical background.' GTM engineering is a subset of growth marketing. If you've done growth marketing, you're already partway there."
Build foundations, then leave:
"My role is foundational. Build up integrations, workflows, set up the entire GTM process, then go away. That's more valuable than optimizing someone else's existing process."
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Connect with Rishabh: |
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Listen to the episode: |
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That’s it for Issue #20 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 LI |
