StartupGTM.com | I help b2b founders hack traction | Profitable founder (YC)

Transforming a startup from early to repeatable sales is HARD.

If you’re a B2B founder with early sales, then you've done many things right to win your first customers.

BUT - to raise a round A, your startup will need to have a product that's ready to scale because it can be 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮.

To get repeatable sales - there are four blockers. 
 
You'll need to change each one from "not working" to "working": 
 
1️⃣ Consistently creating a 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 of conversations with customers 
 
2️⃣ Converting these conversations into a 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 of first meetings 
 
3️⃣ Converting these meetings into a 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 of trials 
 
4️⃣ Converting trials into a 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 of deals. 
 
These blockers need to be removed 𝙨𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 - i.e. one by one. 
 
💡 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗡𝗢𝗪. 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀.

—

I'm a former co-founder and CEO at ApolloShield - a profitable YC startup.

I work hands-on with B2B founders on turning their early sales into repeatable sales through a combination of disciplines:

1️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀: Understanding the market, identifying target customers, and analyzing competitors.

2️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴: Defining how the product fits into the market and crafting compelling messages to appeal to the target audience.

3️⃣ 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀: Developing strategies for selling the product, including choosing sales channels and partnerships.

4️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Creating and executing campaigns to build brand awareness and generate leads.

5️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀: Managing discovery and commercial discussions with clients and partners to get their business.

5️⃣ 𝗢𝗻𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸: Gathering customer feedback and continuously adapting the product and strategies accordingly.

6️⃣ 𝗜𝗧 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Building support systems to holistically orchestrate and manage your GTM efforts.

7️⃣ 𝗥𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝗜𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Developing a method to move forward quickly, iterate and get market feedback - doubling what works and tossing what doesn’t.

🚀 Let's connect and accelerate your startup together!

Nimo Shkedy

James Hanzimanolis

Co-Founder @ Erudite | Content Marketing Agency | GTM Leader | Startup Advisor

Co-founder @ Erudite. We're a content marketing agency with the goal of driving more inbound leads and helping startups and small SaaS build a brand through social media.

Founder

Generate 250K-1M impressions per month | Fractional Head of Content for GTM Tech

graphical user interface, text, application

2 big life updates:

1. We had a boy!
2. Erudite signed it’s biggest account in history!

Also…

We’re launching a SaaS product for ghostwriters alongside our agency (and are launching in beta soon).

Life is good

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I just got off the phone with the CEO of a popular ZoomInfo competitor.

15 seconds in and this guy hangs up.

Why? Because “content is a waste of their time.”

Gents…

There’s a reason ZoomInfo will always win.

Henry Schuck, in 90 days, has seemed to completely pivot strategies.

Especially with content.

He’s either bought the best ghostwriter money could buy.

Or he’s just a gifted writer.

Either way, it’s funny to see how small-fry CEOs think about growth vs. the GOATS in tech.

Amjad (Replit): POSTS DAILY
Henry (ZoomInfo): POSTS DAILY
Dharmesh (HubSpot): POSTS DAILY

There’s a trend here.

The best CEOs are brand builders. No exceptions.

Content is the #1 game changer in 2026.

There’s a rumor that Clay is bumping their pricing. Explorer package is going from $350/mo to $500/mo. If true… then yikes.

They are *also* changing their credit model.

It’ll soon cost credits to export rows and other minor tasks.

(Again, these are just rumors).

If true, they’ll hurt both of their customer types:


Type 1: The GTM engineer
Technical salespeople have been bringing their own API keys (from Icypeas, LeadMagic, OpenAI, DiscoLike, etc.) to minimize credit consumption in Clay.

This new system would force them into credit consumption for actions that shouldn’t warrant credit usage.


Type 2: The non-technical salesperson
Plenty of Clay users use the app solely for data waterfalling. They aren’t building complex workflows or automations.

These users don’t own API keys on other platforms. While their technical experience will be the same, they’ll be heavily overspending (already are) on credits.


I get it.

Clay is awesome. We all love Clay.

However… if these rumors end up being true, it feels like a smack in the face.


If I were learning about GTM orchestration tools for the first time, I’d go with one of the other guys:

- BitScale
- Compelling
- Floqer
- Persana AI 
- Tabula
- Airscale 
- Sync GTM
- (ZI’s new GTM studio)

There are so many to pick from.

And most are more affordable than Clay.

When I ran SDR teams, I had ONE rule:

Cold call for 8 hours straight.

I'll also say this: this was 3+ years ago. The idea of "social selling" seemed ridiculous to me. I didn't want reps sending 1-off emails.

Just pick up the phone and dial.
(Anything else was a waste of time).

And guess what?

Calling worked great. My reps had a routine and we were generating mass amounts of pipeline. Everything was running smooth.

Things have changed since then.

The best reps BARELY pick up the phone anymore.

What are they doing instead?
1. Creating content on LinkedIn
2. Talking to leads in the comment section
3. Sending DMs
4. Booking demos

Reps like Kade Hinkle + 🐜 mike haimowitz 🐜 🐜 are great examples of this.

The easiest way to fill your pipeline on LinkedIn is with Kondo: Superhuman for LinkedIn DMs.

Sure, picking up the phone and calling will always work.

But we're not in the past anymore.

If you can figure out how to generate pipeline from LinkedIn, nothing else really makes sense anymore.

No outbound team should use Salesloft or Outreach.

I'll die on this hill.

They worked great in 2020.
Not in 2026.

My biggest pet peeve in legacy GTM tech is that they've stopped evolving. Once they hit $50M ARR (or whatever the magic number is), they refuse to adapt.

Anyone who's stuck on SL/OR is now using multiple tools in combination (usually a dialer, email sender, integration tech, and more).

So your $125/mo SEP license increases to $750+/mo.

Any for what?

To have a stitched together, Frankenstein tool set that barely works. I can't stomach it.

Here are 12 alternatives worth checking out:
1. Reply
2. Mixmax AI
3. Regie.ai
4. Perlon AI
5. FlashLabs
6. lemlist
7. Outplay
8. SmartReach.io
9. Simpl
10. Klenty
11. Salesforge.ai 🔥
12. Snov.io

Unfortunately, this was true (and kinda worse than I thought). There's more to the story. Clay's new pricing: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly 👇

THE GOOD:
- Credit costs are dropping 50%-90% (yippee)
- Consumption is more transparent
- No markup on LLM usage

THE BAD:
- HTTP API integrations only available for growth plan or custom ($495+)
- Support is only available for growth plan or custom ($495+)
- Credit top-ups cost a 30% premium

THE UGLY:
- This has become almost unusable for agencies. Clay is getting tired of users who have found loopholes to minimize credit consumption and are moving upstream.

TLDR
Clay is officially making the pivot from agency focused to enterprise focused.

As someone who cares about GTM orchestration, it's hard for me to get behind this when every alternative is caring for their smaller users.

BitScale dropped their pricing and changed their model. I'm spending $99/mo to run all of my workflows with no hiccups.

(BitScale isn't the only one doing this).

But if that's the case - if these alternatives exist - then why would I choose Clay?

Gen Z is too soft to work in tech.

No, I'm not "micro-managing" you.
I simply want a weekly report.

No, I'm not encouraging "hustle culture."
I just want you to do your job.

No, $60K is not a "low-paying salary."
You're 20 with no experience.

Entire generation is cooked tbh

My good friend (VP of Growth @ a series B hypergrowth startup) just got canned from his $400K/yr role. And he's blaming the firing on a household-name data vendor.

(Before I continue... no, it's not ZoomInfo, Apollo, or Cognism. But you're welcome to take guesses).

Here's what happened:

Their team sells to local companies.

Ones where finding a phone number or email is difficult.

The data vendor they signed with only has 9% of their TAM in their database.
(Meaning they were MISSING 91%!?)

I've said this once and I'll say it 100x more...

When you're building a master lead list, you need maximum coverage. I'm talking 95%+. And the only realistic way to do that is by using 10-30 data providers.

No, you don't need to buy each one.

Easiest way to do this?
Get FullEnrich (or another waterfall provider).

FullEnrich aggregates almost 20 different vendors to find data. Meaning that your leads are most likely sitting in their database.

This is what we've been doing at Erudite since day one. Since our target is niche, we have an account list of ~750 T1 & T2 accounts. Much less than the average agency.

The process:
1. Build an account list (20-30 dream accounts)
2. Expand your list with a lookalike tool (300-3000 extra accounts)
3. Find 3-5 decision makers from each account (Sales nav, FullEnrich database)
4. Find 2-3 influencers from each account (Sales nav, FullEnrich database)
5. Start LinkedIn + Email + Calling campaigns (base each campaign's messaging on persona)

If my friend would've done this, he'd still have his job.

PS
Can you guess who the vendor was?

I currently have 54 domains (282 inboxes total) running for my email campaigns. This month, 40 of them burned out dropping from 5% ➝ 0% reply rates. Last month, the same thing happened. And the month before.

Here's what happened:

My 54 domains are split up between 3 different vendors:
1. Maildoso
2. Instantly's in-app ones
3. (One that prides itself on being cheap... I won't name them)

When I pulled the list and matched each dead domain to the vendor, it was clear. Every domain that stopped sending, or fell to 0% replies, came from the same cheap provider.

That means the issue was not my offer, copy, or targeting.

It was the inbox setup and the infrastructure behind it.

Something most people don't realize:
Inbox providers have to build behind-the-scene systems for domains. AKA an infrastructure.

And if your infra isn't setup properly, you'll burn through your domains 3X-10X faster.

I met Nikita for the first time 2 months ago and he broke down exactly why and how they do things differently. Turns out they've thought this out. A lot.

Other inbox providers don't care and are treating domain reselling as a cash-grab.

Pretty disappointing imo.

As long as I'm not abusing my inboxes (50+ emails/day per inbox), I land in the primary.

Met a founder running a sales tool that’s essentially Instantly, Nooks, Aligned, and ZoomInfo wrapped into one tool.

He thinks his company is doomed.

Because he can’t find users, he keeps saying “I don’t have product market fit.”

But he does.

I’d argue that most startup founders have PMF. Their distribution is so garbage, though… so there’s no way to test.

Managed to get him 200+ sign ups in span of three weeks.

A license cost $250 and only 32% of those sign ups churned. Thats a a 68% stick rate.

He still doesn’t believe he has PMF and I don’t know how to change his mind.

Here’s how you know you have PMF:

1. Churn is under 50%
2. There are competitors
3. Your solution solves a specific problem
4. It’s growing through word-of-mouth

If you can meet all four pieces of criteria, and you still aren’t gaining traction, then it is your responsibility as a founder to force your solution into the market one way or another.

No exceptions.

11.3 million impressions on X in 90 days. 100% organic.

(Here’s how you can do the same)

Before I start… there’s something you should know.

Yes. Your prospects use X. Half the business won at Erudite comes from X.

It’s different than LinkedIn. You don’t get penalized for posting more. Reposts actually drive engagement. It’s a machine.

Here we go.

1. Find 10-15 people in your niche to befriend
2. 15-30 thoughtful comments per day
3. Quote reposts are key for growth
4. Use lead magnets like crazy
5. Only post about 2-3 topics
6. Share opposing views
7. Post 3x per day (min)

And if you want to see my step-by-step process, comment “X GROWTH” and I’ll send you my playbook.

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Co-Founder

Advisor

Vice President of Growth

Director of Business Development

Sales & Marketing

Erudite

If you've used all-in-one tools for cold email, they often offer "pre-warmed inboxes" at a premium. Hate to break it to you... but those are a scam.

In 2025, Google + Microsoft became even more strict around cold email.

'Pre-warmed inboxes' will last 30, maybe 45 days top.

Here's what you need to know and do instead:

The problem with peer-to-peer warming systems is simple. When 50,000 Instantly users send templated emails to each other, Google sees the pattern. Same subject lines, send times, and network of domains.

Their spam detection flags this within weeks.

I analyzed deliverability data across 200+ outbound campaigns. Accounts warmed through peer-to-peer networks showed a 67% drop in inbox placement after day 40. The warming looked artificial because it was artificial.

Warmy takes a different approach.

And it's why we use them for all of our warming.

Instead of routing emails through a closed network, it generates unique conversation threads using AI.

• Different topics
• Varied reply patterns
• Realistic timing gaps between messages

The technical difference matters.

Google's algorithms track behavioral signals, not just volume. When your inbox shows diverse, contextual exchanges rather than identical templates bouncing between known cold email domains, the trust score holds.

Data from Warmy users shows 89% inbox placement rates sustained past 90 days. That is a 3x improvement over peer-to-peer alternatives.

The takeaway: warming quality beats warming quantity. Invest in systems that mimic real human behavior, not ones that create detectable patterns at scale.

If you want to check it out, here's the link: https://lnkd.in/gj8d26u4

taplio

The Battle

Nimo Shkedy

James Hanzimanolis

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James Hanzimanolis

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Likes

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