audience & revenue growth tips for B2B startups and creators

My mission is to build predictable pipelines for B2B startups. I share what I learn along the way. 

Read more if you are ready to build your pipeline 👇

💡 I am super relevant if you are:

→ Indie Hacker
→ Freelancer
→ Early Startup Founder
→ B2B Sales Person
→ Creator (any profession)

✍️ I write about:

→ B2B sales
→ Go to market strategies
→ Signal-based prospecting

Little more about me:

Cryptocurrency Investor. SaaS Enthusiast. Agriculture Business Owner. 

Lived in 3 countries.

I'm a T-shaped growth person who has experience in sales, content marketing, and growth.

Drop me a LinkedIn message if you need any help.

We will keep it simple.

Twitter: @sehaokudan

https://calendly.com/sehaokudan/30min

Seha Okudan

Helping B2B founders turn LinkedIn into deals | GTM Strategist

5 worst discovery questions:

5 difficult scenarios for salespeople:
(Even for the top ones.)

5 difficult scenarios for salespeople:

Stop trying to fake urgency in B2B. 
(it doesn't work)

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁:

→ Knowing pain
→ Understanding the impact of pain

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝟮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀:

1️⃣ Not every problem is worth solving

Trying to create an urgency won't work if they don't have something that is worth solving.

Nobody will buy a strong painkiller for a mild headache, even if it’s the last day of a 20% discount.

If the impact of the pain is close to zero, no urgency will stick.

2️⃣ A problem can have different solutions

Even if the pain is real, buyers still have options.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻:

•⁠ ⁠Build in-house
•⁠ ⁠Pick a cheaper workaround
•⁠ ⁠Wait until the budget frees up

Both a raincoat and an umbrella protect you from rain.

If you don’t show why your path is better, faster, or safer;

Urgency dies.

𝗧𝗟;𝗗𝗥

𝗧𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆:

-⁠ ⁠Find the pain that matters most
- ⁠Show the true cost of doing nothing
- ⁠Prove why solving it now beats later
- ⁠Position your solution as the safest path

Deals move when urgency is real. 

Not when it’s forced.

How do you create urgency without sounding pushy?

5 Unexpected Things in Sales
(hope they happen to you today)

5 Unexpected things in sales:

Contact data is out of control.
(for real)

Don't get me wrong.

I don't mind people pitching me.

I do it every day, too.

BUT

Every single week, some people:

- Add me to lists I never joined.
- Drop me into random waitlists.
- Email me again after I unsubscribe.
- Promise what no one can deliver.
- Sends emails written with poor prompts.
- Message me on WhatsApp out of nowhere.

I block them. They switch mailboxes.
I say, “I’m not a fit,” they keep texting.
I say it on the phone, they keep selling.

“I want to tell you about a promo…”
 “There’s a new offer…”

I don't want to click on report Spam.
I don't want to be rude.
I get it, we all try to make a living.

But this is not outreach.
This is not marketing.

This is SPAM.

Are some people ruining the industry?

Bad contact data can kill your business.
(real examples)

Your data provider is the most important part of your tech stack.
It is non-negotiable.

If your data is bad, you lose.
Simple as that.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝟭:
Picked the best provider, tested ICP coverage.
Checked accuracy and verified test emails.
Only had HubSpot + the data provider (not ideal).

𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:
Hit targets.
Scaled the team.
Added new tools later.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝟮:
Paid for expensive tool stacks for sequencing, etc.
Then, they selected the most cost effective data provider.

𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:
High bounce rates.
Burned mailboxes.
Low call connect rates.
The team missed targets.
The company started downsizing the sales team.

𝗠𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀:
1.  Build a sample list. Verify it.
2. Check coverage across your ICP + regions.
3. Choose tools that use waterfall enrichment.

If your data provider is wrong, nothing you do will work.
You cannot afford bad data.

How do you choose your contact data provider?

12 mistakes that cost you deals:

GTM Engineer | Uber driver turned sales guy

Creative and analytical GTM Engineer with 3 years of experience in tech sales, now focused on building advanced go-to-market, workflows and automation. I am experienced in leveraging tools like Clay, Leadmagic, HubSpot, Make, and Apollo to build scalable outbound systems, streamline prospecting, and drive measurable results. I combines technical expertise with frontline sales knowledge to deliver systems that generate pipeline and revenue.

Particularly interested In AI, great founders, products, and people!

I believe talent exists everywhere and is not bound by location - which is why I champion global hiring and remote work.

Need anything? Let's connect!

Chris Mbanta

The SDR role remains the foundation of tech sales.

I started as an SDR before I became a GTM Engineer.

The role prepared me ahead for what is to come,
And I would have never thought of becoming a GTME if I wasn’t an SDR first.

Whenever I interview for GTME roles, 
And I get this question:

“You were an SDR, but can you handle the complexity of GTM Engineering?”

My answer is simple: "I've never been better prepared than now"

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬,
I was stretched to my limit in my SDR life time.

- Spending hours on manual research
- Chasing wrong numbers and emails
- Trying to personalize at scale
- Dealt with bad data.

It was chaotic, but it built muscle.

With my little experience as a GTME?
All of those challenges are a now a piece of cake and thing of the past.

If I could survive the manual, and mental messy version of outbound,
I can definitely thrive in the system-driven version.

To anyone looking to start their career
The SDR path is still one of the best
It preps you for a long, successful career...

If you think otherwise,
Let me know in the CS.

LinkedIn is such a good place.

Some people here genuinely care for you like their own.

Back in late 2024, I was growing fast with “list-style” content
You know, stacking points on top of each other for the whole post.

At first, it was looking good
But became boring really fast, and I was losing traction.

Giulio DMed me and asked if he could give me some nuggets on my content.

He advised me to mix things up, gave me some Ideas and perspective.
Which I implemented and everything changed.

I'm in a much better place now 
Because of good people like him on here.

My advice: meet good people and build real relationships here. 

Who’s someone on LinkedIn that’s helped you level up? 
Tag them in the CS.

If you are just starting out in GTM Engineering
Read this.

I made this rookie mistake early on,
Luckily one of my interviewers pointed me to the right direction.

𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞.

Many new GTMEs (including me at the start) treated Clay like the only data source.

Clay is powerful 
But sometimes doesn’t have all the data you need.

If you want to maximize your TAM and build high-quality outbound,
You need to know / find where the actual data lives.

Here are a few examples:

Store Leads → e-commerce brands
Apollo.io → general lead lists + large datasets
Google map using Serper → local businesses
Crunchbase → funding, investors, (unusual industries like non-profit).

Then you assemble everything and enrich in Clay.

When building campaigns approach it with this mentality 
"Where is the best source to capture most of my TAM?"

You will build better tables, and campaigns.

If you think otherwise,
Let me know in the CS.

When I left my full-time SDR job 

I had no guarantees
No monthly paycheck
No safety net.

Just dogging in and out of YouTube and Clay Cafe learning what I could. 

Hoping that the risks I was taking would someday make sense. 

I got updated. 
A small campaign I built, ran weeks ago and brought in 4 positive replies.

It's a sign and I'm back to the meeting business!!

This is only the beginning.

Here's one simple way to land a GTM Engineering job.

My mantra has always been this:
Do the job to get the job.

As an SDR I and many other SDRs 
Landed roles by prospecting hiring managers and sales leaders.

But a GTM Engineer you'll need to use systems.

In my case I used 

Clay
HeyReach.io
And Instant data scraper.

Here's a 3 step breakdown:

𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭
First I scraped Clay's partner database on their website
Using Instant Data Scraper ( it's a free Chrome extension).
And downloaded the CSV.

𝐄𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚
⟶ Uploaded the CSV into Clay
⟶ Cleaned the list
⟶ Enriched them
⟶ Organized them for outreach.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧
⟶ Opened a HeyReach account
⟶ Connected my LinkedIn
⟶ Launched campaigns to agency owners.

Note: HeyReach is free for the 14-days 
So only open an account when you’re ready to use it.

I did all of this using tools anyone can access for free.

You can copy and paste this method for yourself,
You'll reach agency owners faster.

It also adds to your experience as you're running a small LinkedIn campaign.

There are three components that make outbound actually work.

𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚
𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠
𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Most teams nail the first two.

But if your emails aren’t getting read,
Then outbound becomes an uphill battle.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲:

You can have the best data and the best message, but if your emails aren’t landing in the primary inbox, none of it matters. 

You have to monitor domains, 
Warm up mailboxes, and keep sending pattern clean.

But doing all of this manually is challenging and it’s easy to miss something.

This is why I use Maildoso 

It keeps your sending reputation high, 
Warms your mailboxes, and makes sure your emails don't trigger spam filters.

Also they launched a new feature: self-healing mailboxes.

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬:

Your mailboxes are automatically split into two groups.

Group 1 sends while Group 2 rests and recovers
Then they swap.

If you had some campaigns die because of burned mailboxes, 
This would be your recovery plan! 

Would you check them out?

If you're not eating tasty turkey today, it's your loss!

The Americans are!! 

They are feasting today
Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends.

Boring things make you the most money.

Sometimes they even compensate for fulfillment.

“I love updating Salesforce"
Says no sales rep.

And for most people in GTM, this stuff feels boring:

Cleaning data
Scraping leads
Building scalable workflow 
Building a repeatable GTM system that prints meetings

But here’s the part we don’t talk about:

These things feel boring because they’re repetitive
They don’t give you instant gratification,
And nobody pats you on the back for doing them
But when the meetings starts rolling everyone is excited.

It is the work that makes everything else possible.

✅ Clean data → better targeting
✅ Scraped leads → bigger TAM
✅ Scalable workflows → predictable pipeline
✅ Solid GTM systems → meetings every single day.

People who win lean into the boring,
Even when nobody’s watching.

It isn’t glamorous
It’s just what works.

If you think otherwise 
Let me know in the CS.

New to GTM Engineering
But you don't know what tools to learn?

Or what each system are built for
I get it, most beginners get overwhelmed by tools.

So here’s the simple breakdown of the core tools every GTME touches.

Clay 
The father of GTM Engineering
It's where all data come together
Used for: enrichments, research, data cleaning
Table building, automation, and launching campaigns.

It's the brain box of most GTM workflows.

Apollo / FullEnrich
Massive databases with great filters
Used for: build lead lists, find contacts fast
Pull company info, export into clay for deeper enrichment
Think of them as part of your raw data source.

Smartlead / Instantly.ai
Your outbound email engines
Used for: building cold email campaigns, sequencing,
Tracking performance, these tools handle the email side of outbound.

Apify
A marketplace full of scrapers.
Used for: renting scrapers, pull niche datasets,
Whatever scraper you're looking for you can find in Apify.

n8n / Zapier
Your automation powerhouse
Used for: building workflows and AI agents, transforms 
And automate anything across GTM, ops, or data, it's your glue.

These are some of the tools GTMEs use daily.

Tag who needs to see this.

taplio

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The Battle

Seha Okudan

Chris Mbanta

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Engagements

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