I help B2B companies generate leads.

I've generated over $20M+ in pipeline and $2M+ in revenue for clients. 

Recently helped Alex Hormozi secure 11K leads for his $100M Series book launch, which was a fun project!

How do I do it?

I use data from over 100+ sources to create smart strategies that find the right prospects. 
This helps your sales team connect with people who are already looking for your solution.

I manage the full process: 
➡️ Building targeted lead lists 
➡️ Setting up & warming up inboxes 
➡️ Writing personalized emails and DMs 
➡️ Running and managing the entire campaign

We're constantly testing to find your sweet spot: 
➡️ OFFER-MARKET-FIT 
➡️ TARGET TESTING 
➡️ MESSAGE-MARKET-FIT
➡️ PRODUCT-UNTAPPED MARKET FIT

If you're a B2B company that wants more demos and sales calls, head over to https://www.c17.ai/ 
To see how it works.

Utkarsh Singh Rana

SmartAgents just killed “outbound ops” as a job description.
But not the people behind it.

It killed the manual part 
the repetitive work that slows down creativity and deal flow.

SmartAgents live inside Smartlead as trained AI operators that:
✅ Execute campaigns across email, LinkedIn, CRM, and analytics
✅ Optimize performance in real time
✅ Follow up intelligently and flag replies
✅ Enrich leads and sync data
✅ Learn and improve based on your patterns

They automate what no one loves doing
so humans can focus on strategy, messaging, and closing.

💡 Why this matters
Most GTM teams spend 70% of their time keeping systems running.
SmartAgents turn that effort into leverage.

Build agents using simple prompts - no-code, just “commands.”
Deploy across your team instantly.
Integrate with Hubspot, Pipedrive, HeyReach, Slack, Calendly, Airtable, and more.
Layer multiple agents like a modular workforce - each owning a distinct piece of your outbound engine.

I use one that spots underperforming campaigns.
It tracks reply rates over 30 days and pings me on Slack when something dips
so I can jump in before a problem becomes a pipeline issue.

Utkarsh  Rana 🧲

Head of GTMs @C17 Lab | GTM Systems for B2B Companies

My client research used to stop at “smart enough to present.”
Now it goes so deep my clients ask:
.
.

“Wait… how did you get inside our buyer’s head like this?”

When I do research for enterprise clients, I’ve always had this nagging feeling:
“This is good… but it’s not the full picture.”

I’d pull:
Site + content
ICP docs
Sales conversations
A few internal surveys


Useful. But still two inches deep on a problem that’s ten feet psychological.
So I changed how I work.

Instead of doing another round of manual digging, I messaged my 24/7 AI worker (FlashLabs SuperAgent) and sent it:

 My client’s onboarding form
 Context about their offer & buyer
 A couple rounds of feedback

Then I asked it for one thing:
“Give me an enterprise psychographic profile of their multifamily decision-makers - fears, desires, status games, and real decision triggers.”


The updated research it returned was an 
actual
 deep dive:
Role-specific psyche maps for Regional Managers, Directors, COOs, and Asset Managers
Their unconscious fears (job risk, reputation risk, being seen as outdated)
Their unspoken desires (status, career-defining wins, peer validation, genuine peace of mind)
The exact decision triggers that move them from “this is another vendor” to “I can defend this to the board”
Messaging do’s/don’ts based on loss aversion, social proof, and FOMO


This isn’t a persona slide.
It’s a psychological operating manual for how they actually buy.

The shift for me:

 “Do some research and hope it’s enough.”
 
 “Delegate a full psychographic research & briefing workflow to an AI worker, then refine.”

Same input (onboarding form).
But now my output for the client is:
Sharper positioning
Emotionally accurate messaging
Sales narratives that line up with how their buyers really think


If your work relies on understanding B2B buyers at a deep level, this is where things are heading:

 You message an AI worker.
 It does the deep research.
You focus on strategy and creativity.

I’m using FlashIntel’s SuperAgent for this:
https://lnkd.in/gnSG-ZW4

🚨 Multichannel outreach used to be a mess.

Not because LinkedIn + Email doesn’t work…
But because running both channels at the same time was basically a full-time job.

If you’ve ever tried scaling outbound across LinkedIn + email, you know the workflow:

Too many tabs.
Too many tools.
Too many automations held together with duct tape.

And the worst part?

Leads fall through the cracks every day.

Someone doesn’t reply on LinkedIn?
They never get the email follow-up.

Someone replies in email?
Your LinkedIn flow keeps running like nothing happened.

Your outreach becomes chaotic instead of consistent.

And suddenly your day looks like this:

→ “Did they accept my request?”
→ “Did we already email them?”
→ “Did Aimfox log this?”
→ “Did Smartlead send follow-up #2?”
→ “Did Zapier break again?”

Outbound wasn’t hard.

The workflow was.

That’s why Smartlead's new integration with Aimfox is a big deal.

Because now…

🚀 LinkedIn + Email is one single sequence inside Smartlead.

Powered by SmartAgents.

No switching tools.
No messy zaps.
No manual routing.

Just one continuous multichannel flow.

Here’s what’s insane:

✅ You can build LinkedIn + email touchpoints inside one campaign
✅ If someone doesn’t respond on LinkedIn → they automatically get routed into email follow-ups
✅ Everything stays aligned across both channels
✅ Your team runs outreach from one system, not five

This is what multichannel outreach was always supposed to feel like:

Clean.
Reliable.
Automated.
Scalable.

The real win?

No lead ever slips through the cracks.

Every prospect gets followed up.
Every touchpoint happens on time.
Every campaign runs like a machine.

Multichannel outreach isn’t “more tools.”

It’s one workflow.

And now Smartlead + Aimfox makes that real.

LinkedIn + Email without switching tools? Yes.
And it might be the easiest pipeline unlock I’ve seen in a while.

🔥 Multichannel outreach just became simple.

You can scrape 100+ signals, but only recent pain gets replies.

Most teams still miss this.

They pull role, industry, company size.
Then push the same template to everyone.
Then say "outbound is dead."

I saw the same thing in my own numbers.

Here is C17 Lab's January 2026 cold email stats for clients:

Emails sent: 425,327 (First week of Jan was complete holiday)
Leads (active + inactive): 231,448

Replied: 4,152
Reply rate: 1.79%

Positive reply: 870
Positive reply rate: 20.95%

Bounced: 4,592
Bounce rate: 1.98%

Zero opens.
Still 4,152 replies.
870 positive.

On paper that looks crazy.
In practice it is simple.

I do not chase vanity signals.
I chase fresh pain.

Here is how I think about every list now:

“The ideal prospect shows evidence of [specific behavior/change/problem] because it means they feel [pain] right now.”

Some real plays I use:

→ For outbound tools
“The ideal prospect shows evidence of SDR or BDR hiring or manual research mentions because they scale outbound and feel pipeline pressure.”

→ For product video offers
“The ideal prospect shows evidence of pricing tiers with upgrade paths because they push revenue expansion and need more upgrades.”

→ For reputation offers
“The ideal prospect shows evidence of negative Google reviews because they lose deals from bad online perception.”

I do not care if someone is “VP Sales at 200+ headcount SaaS.”
I care if something changed in the last 30–90 days that hurts today.

Here is my 10 minute research stack for each new campaign:

1️⃣ 3 minutes: Case studies

→ Go to company or customers page
→ Pull who they help, what result, in what time
→ Note language they use to describe wins and pain

2️⃣ 6 minutes: One custom signal

→ Claygent, BuiltWith, job page, review sites
→ Only signals that show change in last 30–90 days
→ One strong signal beats 10 weak firmographics

3️⃣ 1 minute: Backup basics

→ Role
→ Tenure
→ One recent LinkedIn post

If I cannot prove fresh pain with that signal, I do not add them.
I change the list or I change the offer.

The list is not “everyone with a title.”
The list is “people with a live problem my offer solves.”

That is how you get replies even when open tracking says 0.00%.

I was dead wrong about AI personalization in cold email. The real game changer is something else entirely.  

For a long time, I thought the end goal was this:  

“By 2026, AI will write a cold email that feels like I spent 10 minutes researching each prospect.”  

That email is good.  
I now see it as an A tier email.  

The real S tier is different.  

It drops a lot of fluffy personalization.  
It leads with value the prospect can touch without talking to you.  
At scale.  

That is where AI-generated lead magnets come in.  

Across campaigns, the replies with highest intent come from emails that are easy to say yes to.  

Not:  
“Can you jump on a quick call?”  

More:  
“Can I send you X that helps you today?”  

AI makes X very powerful. I see 3 main buckets:  

1) Knowledge lead magnets  
Custom reports, market maps, account intel.  
Example: scrape signals for a prospect, turn it into a short “intel report,” send it as a one-click yes in the email.  
No call ask. Pure value.  

2) Micro apps / micro SaaS  
Tiny tools that solve one clear problem.  
Score their pipeline.  
Audit their site.  
Estimate missed revenue.  
You build once with agents / code, then give it away in every email.  

3) Agentic service trials  
“Let us run a free mini-campaign for you.”  
AI handles list building, enrichment, messaging tests.  
Prospect gets real leads before they pay you.  

The shift I see:  

From “personalize the sentence”  
To “personalize the asset you deliver.”  

I keep testing this with C17 Lab and I am all-in on AI lead magnets now.  

Curious what kind of AI lead magnet you would say yes to in one click.

No alternative text description for this image

Your offer is hot.
But you’re a cold provider. That’s why nobody buys.

Read that again.

You do all the “right” things:

- You change the price
- You change the copy
- You change the funnel

Sales still flat.

You think
“I need a new offer”

I thought the same.

Fast forward a few years…
I saw a pattern.

The offer was not dead.
I was invisible.

Here is what I mean in simple words:

Offer awareness
= people know the solution you sell

Provider awareness
= people know you and trust you

Need both.

Miss one → no sale.

Look at these 3 states:

Cold offer + cold provider
- They do not know the problem
- They do not know you
- No replies, no calls, no cash

Hot offer + cold provider
- Market knows the solution already
- You feel new, risky, “who are you?”
- They buy from the “safe” name instead

Hot offer + hot provider
- They know the problem
- They see you talk about it for weeks
- You feel safe, clear, proven

Then sales start to look “easy”
(from the outside)

The truth is
Most of us skip the warm-up.

We try to close people who:
- Never saw our face
- Never heard our name
- Never read one word from us

Then we blame the offer.

Here is the real work from cold to hot
(this is where people stop reading, but you should not):

1) Show up where buyers already are
LinkedIn, niche groups, events, email.
Same places again and again.

2) Say the same clear thing
Who you help
What problem you solve
What life looks like after

3) Share proof that feels real
Screenshots
Short stories
Before / after moments
Names and numbers when you can

4) Stay long enough
Week after week
Month after month
Till people think
“You again?”
Yes. You again.

You can also speed the warm-up if you:

- Join the conversations your buyers already read
- Comment with smart, simple takes
- Show your work in public
- Help without a pitch first

You stop being a stranger.

One day a DM comes:
“I feel I know you already
We should talk.”

Nothing magic.
Only awareness.

Next time you see no sales, pause:

Before you burn the offer ask:
Do people know the solution?
Do people know me as the safe choice?

Short version:
You do not need ten new offers.
You need one clear offer
plus a warm name.

Curious to hear
Where do you feel colder right now
Your offer or you as the provider?

Our client spends $100k+ on ads every month, 
But cold email brings in 2x ROI. 
Why do they keep buying ads?

Because channels change. Frameworks do not.

Their numbers right now:

→ Cold email ROI: 2x ad spend
→ Cost per meeting: 25% of their other channels
→ Pipeline from cold email: growing every single month

Cold email is not “the hero.”

The real hero is how you think about acquisition:

1️⃣ Start with the market
We map the full TAM
We ask: who should we talk to, in what order, and why now
No random lists
Only accounts that line up with the pain we solve

2️⃣ Build systems, not blasts
We set infra once, then let it run:
→ Multiple warmed inboxes
→ Clean domains and sending limits
→ Smart cadences that touch 100% of the market every 30–60 days
No spam storms
Only steady passes over the same market

3️⃣ Lead with relevance
We write copy for one person with one clear problem
Short, direct, easy to read in 10 seconds
No hard pitch on email one
We focus on “useful and interesting,” not “buy now”

4️⃣ Layer channels later
Cold email proves the offer
Then we add paid, retargeting, LinkedIn, content
Ads sit on top of a working outbound engine
That is why they keep buying ads even when email outperforms them

The exact playbook today will change in a month
The way you think about TAM, infra, and relevance will not

If you are a B2B company and want to test a cold email GTM without burning 6 months,

We can set you live in 1–3 weeks and give you a full no-cost test campaign to see the numbers yourself.

Free campaigns that actually deliver leads-no catch, no BS.

Here is what we do at C17 Lab 

We run your first outbound campaign for free.
One full campaign.
No fee.

You see real leads.
If you get no results, you do not spend money or time on us.

Simple deal.

Here is how the free test works:

• We do strategy call with you
• We study your offer and ICP
• We build the lead list
• We write all emails
• We use pre-warmed inboxes
• We run the campaign like any paid client

No hacks.
No “lite” version.
No automation tricks behind the scenes.

We do the work end to end:

• Prospecting from 100+ data sources
• Copywriting for all touch points
• Inbox setup and warmup already done on our side
• Daily checks on replies and performance

You see the full flow.
You see the leads.
You see how your offer lands in the market.

Here is the message we love to send you during the test:

“Hey, we got you a lead.
Here is what we said.
Here is what they replied.
I am connecting you now.”

If you want this every week, then we talk about a paid plan.
If not, you walk away with data, scripts, and no bill.

Who can get the free campaign?

If you fit that, we can run your no-cost test campaign.

You keep the leads.
You keep the learnings.
You only stay if it prints pipeline.

Curious if your B2B offer would hit with a test like this?
You can see how we run it at https://www.c17.ai/

Most founders ask “email or video?”
They should ask “high-ticket or low-ticket?” first.

If your offer is $10k+
You are not selling to everyone.
You are hunting whales.

For high-ticket, cold outreach prints money when done right.

You can:
→ Build a tiny list of exact buyers
→ Personalize hard
→ Start real 1:1 conversations

You do not need 100,000 views.
You need 10 right people.

If your offer is low-ticket ($20 product, $200 course, etc.)
Cold outreach turns into a grind.

You need to:
→ Hit thousands of people
→ Fight low response rates
→ Do a lot of manual work for very low deal value

For low-ticket, content + ads win.
They reach more people.
The math starts to work.

But even when outreach is the core play, you still need one thing: minimum viable organic.

Because when someone gets your cold email, they click your profile.

If they see:
→ Zero posts
→ No proof
→ No point of view

You look like spam.

If they see:
→ Simple posts with insights
→ A few client wins
→ Clear offer

You look real. You look safe.

Those posts then become sales assets.
Your team can drop them in threads:

→ To answer objections
→ To show how you think
→ To prove you get the problem

My mental model:

Cold outreach → starts the chat
Organic content → builds trust
“Greatest hits” posts → help close

Hunt whales with a harpoon, but make sure they see your campfire burning too.

If you are a B2B company and want a cold outreach system that matches your ticket size, I am happy to walk you through how we build it at C17 Lab .

Cold email never works? 
CEOs reply more than anyone. 
Here’s why:


Most people write to the person with the job title on the website.
I write to the person who feels the pain.

Biggest surprise for many founders:
CEOs reply more than heads of HR, RevOps, IT, or middle managers.

They carry the real weight.

Every single day they think about:
payroll
cash in bank
missed targets
angry customers
legal risk
hiring gaps
pipeline

They do not care about “nice tools”.
They care about “does this fix a real problem fast”.
When I build a campaign, I do three simple things.

1️⃣ I build the list from the outcome back
I start with one clear win.

Example:
save tax
cut SaaS cost
fix billing gaps
get more meetings

Then I go into Clay.

I search for the small group with that exact problem.
Not “all SaaS companies”.
More “US SaaS with 30–300 staff, many remote, 3+ states, hiring finance”.

I use:
➡️ filters
➡️ signals
➡️ niche words
➡️ weird industries

I stop when the list feels like “these 500 people wake up with the same headache”.

2️⃣ I make the pain the first line
I do not write:
“We help companies optimize and streamline…”

I write:
“Saw you hire in 5+ states. Are you dealing with sales tax mess in any of them?”

Short.
Clear.
Easy “yes” or “no”.

For a sales tax firm, this works well.

Every CEO in that group already knows the problem.

They have a folder in their mind called “tax risk I hope does not explode”.

My email walks right into that folder.

3️⃣ I give a tiny, safe next step
I think “what can we do in 15–30 minutes that feels safe and clear”.
Example offer I use:
“Bring three contracts you think you overpay for.
We compare with our data.
You pay only if we find savings.”

No long call.
No deck.
No “discovery”.

The CEO sees:
low risk
clear start
clear end
hard dollars

Now an email from a stranger looks like a small bet, not a big project.

Cold email fails when you:

talk about your stack
tell your life story
try to sell the full platform

Cold email works when you:

pick one pain
talk to the owner of that pain
give one clear, small step

If you are a B2B company and want to test a cold email GTM without burning 6 months,

We can set you live in 1–3 weeks and give you a full no-cost test campaign to see the numbers yourself at C17 Lab

Follow Utkarsh Rana 🧲 for more content around B2B Sales, Outbound, GTMs !

building Clay-powered GTM teams —​> GTM Engineer | CSM | Ops | VP | CRO | RevOps Leaders ⚙️

I help SaaS companies and Lead Gen agencies hire the Clay-operators who actually scale revenue.

GTM Engineers.
CSMs.
Heads of Ops.
Strategy and RevOps leaders.
The people who turn chaos into systems.

Most founders do not know who they need.
RevOps, GTM Engineer, Automation Specialist, Head of Ops… the roles blend, the titles blur, and bad hires stall growth.

My work is simple:
I diagnose the bottleneck.
I map the system.
I place the operator who fixes the real problem.

I have built teams for C17, Growth Today, Instantly.ai, and other top Clay powered SaaS/agencies.

400+ GTMe interviews, Clay training and GTM Strategist experience under my belt.
I have a hands-on understanding of Clay, n8n, Instantly, Smartlead, and modern outbound systems.
I know exactly what separates a workflow builder from a revenue operator.

If you want to build an internal GTM function that performs in 30 days or less, let’s talk.

Your next hire should scale your business, not your workload. ⚡

Noëmie J.

GUESS WHAT? I’m HIRING NOW 🔥 

I’ve acquired a harpoon (cf picture...) and on a hunt for a few different profiles: 

1x Junior GTMe - +1 year exp | salary up to $50k 

1x Senior GTMe - +3 year exp | salary up to $80k 

1x Head GTMe - +5 years exp sending millions of emails (MUST HAVE GTME MGMT EXP) | salary up to $200k 

DM me for more infos or {Like|comment|share|give it some sugar dont be shy} 

🐬 🐳

Noëmie Jacquemin ✱ 

The fastest way to kill your GTMe career? Not incompetence. Greed.

I’m one of the biggest advocates for GTM Engineers.

But there is one behavior I keep seeing that is slowly damaging very promising careers:
Side projects you should not have taken.

Let me explain.

You land a solid full-time role.
Good agency. Strong exposure. Real systems. Real clients.
You’re earning $2k+ a month early in your career which already puts you ahead of a huge portion of the global workforce.

You are in a position to compound skills FAST.

Then what happens?
A freelance client shows up.
Then another.
Then “just one more.”
Suddenly you are working two jobs.

And here is where the decline starts:
• Delivery quality drops
• Deadlines slip
• Focus disappears
• Trust erodes

Eventually, the company notices.
Not because they are evil.
Because performance always tells the truth.

I have seen extremely talented GTM Engineers lose great roles over this.
Not due to lack of capability.
Due to lack of decision.

You cannot scale two careers at once.

Choose your season:
👉 Want stability, mentorship, and skill acceleration? Go all-in on the full-time role.
👉 Want freedom and upside? Go freelance and own it.
But living in the middle is where careers stall and reputations get damaged.

Early career is not the time to optimize for maximum cash.
It is the time to optimize for trajectory and experience.

Bridges in the GTM world are very small.
Burn one, and the smoke is visible everywhere.

Focus compounds.
Distraction fragments.
Choose wisely.

Curious now…
Are you building one career right now, or juggling two hoping neither drops?

Noëmie Jacquemin 

building Clay-powered GTM teams —​> GTM Engineer | Growth | AI Automation | RevOps Leaders ⚙️

I’m currently hiring for 2 critical GTM roles and these are not “build a Clay table and pray” positions.

These are business-shaping hires.

1️⃣ Senior GTM Engineer - Agency | +3 years exp as a GTMe | $4-8k 

You should be comfortable with:
 • Designing outbound systems
 • Owning enrichment and automation flows
 • Connecting tools into something that actually moves revenue
 • Thinking beyond the workflow and writing killer copies

Not theory. Not certifications. Real delivery.

2️⃣ Head of GTM | Up to $200k |

Someone who can do all the above as well as managing GTMe and creating SOPs, processes and keeping performance high. 

(The kind that can send +1 million email/ month with their eyes closed...)

If you are ready for bigger ownership, bigger thinking, and bigger impact…
DM me “GTM” and let’s talk.

And if you know someone quietly brilliant who hates posting on LinkedIn, send them my way. 

The best ones are often the quieter.

I got fired on my first day in London.

No warning.
No second chance.
Just “Covid, you know…”

Two hours earlier, a barista had handed me a free slice of cake and said, “You look like you need this.”

Turns out… he was psychic.
March 2020.

I had just moved from Thailand to run a very successful pastry and gelato kitchen in South London.

Then the world shut down.
No suppliers. No shop. No job. Noemie unemployed before lunchtime.

I remember sitting in that gelateria meeting room, biting my cheeks like an 8 year old trying not to cry.

Plot twist: getting fired that morning quietly built the career I have today.
Because that’s when recruitment found me.
Or more accurately… I panic-found recruitment.

I started freelancing while still holding onto my pastry identity and doing some digital marketing on the side. Always had that creative fibre, so my first instinct was simple:

-> “Let’s just outreach to people on LinkedIn.” <-

Job boards were collapsing.
Companies were fake hiring.
Candidates were everywhere.

For a while, it felt like being trapped inside a washing machine on spin cycle.
But I stayed.

Fast forward:
+1 year recruiting GTM Engineers
~50 GTMe interviews per week
12 clients
5–6 placements per month
+2 new clients monthly

And 7 years after “falling” into recruitment, I can tell you most recruiters say the same thing:
Nobody grows up dreaming of becoming a recruiter.

But here’s where my story shifts.

Two years ago, I stopped dabbling and fully owned building an agency.

This year? Evolution.

I’m not just running a desk anymore.
I’m building a team.
Hiring employees.
Creating structure.

And more importantly, helping shape the GTM Engineer industry so both companies and talent can grow inside something sustainable.

Funny how life works.
Y
ou think you’re showing up for your dream job…
and instead you get redirected toward your actual path.

Getting fired was not the failure.
Staying small would have been.

If you’re in a season that feels like a brutal plot twist, remember:
Sometimes the door doesn’t close.
Sometimes it slams… because you were meant to build your own entrance.

Curious now:
What’s the moment that accidentally changed your career forever?

Picture of Noemie in front of laptop at her desk with flowers on the side. 

Not a single one of my clients
Agency. SaaS. YC-backed. Bootstrapped.
Not one has ever asked me:

“Do they have a Clay certification?”
“Did they finish the training?”

Let that sink in.

They ask for:
• What did they build?
• What revenue did it influence?
• Can they own a system end-to-end?
• Can they think beyond the tool?

The market does not reward certificates.
It rewards outcomes.

Clay is powerful.
Courses and trainings are useful.
Learning is essential.

But no founder has ever said to me:
“Hire them. They have the badge.”

They say:
“Hire them. They’ve done it before.”

Big difference.

Why am I sharing that?

Because I’ve spoken to way too many GTM Engineers in the making who spent thousands on courses…
…and are still job hunting.

Education is important.
But expensive doesn’t mean effective.
Free knowledge is everywhere.
Y
ou can literally go on YouTube and learn from people like 🦾Eric Nowoslawski, agency founders breaking down live builds, RevOps leaders sharing dashboards, operators showing real workflows.

Clay. n8n. Claude Code. Automation. Data orchestration.
It’s all out there.

The difference is not access.
It’s reps.
Practice beats payment.

Build projects. Break things. Fix them. Ship.
Then talk about results.

Who’s your favourite source of knowledge when it comes to GTM Engineering?
Tag them below 👇 

Let’s give credit where it’s due 🥰

Most GTM Engineer Looms feel like ransom videos.

You sent me your Loom videos to apply for a role.
But here’s the truth: nobody is watching 15 minutes of it.

Not me.
Not the founder.
Not the hiring manager.

Unless Guy Ritchie directed it. 
(Waiting patiently for a new season of "THE GTM ENGINEER") 

I’ve received 200+ Looms over the years.
I can tell in the first 10 seconds whether you’re moving forward or not.

Here’s the recipe.

-> First:
Know what you’re going to say before you hit record.
If you press record and “see where it goes”… it goes nowhere.

-> Second:
3 minutes. Not 15.
The sweet spot is 2 to 4 minutes.
If it’s over 5 minutes, you’re losing signal.

-> Third:
Structure beats showing off tools.

Start with:
1️⃣ Who you are
 → What you’re doing now
 → What you’re looking for
Keep it tight.

Then move to:
2️⃣ One or two projects.
 Not ten.
 Not your entire career.
Pick projects aligned with the role.

And tell it like a story:
• What was the pain?
• What did you build?
• What changed?
• What were the numbers?

Metrics > technical buzzwords.
Nobody cares how many Clay tables you built.
They care what moved.

-> Fourth:
Personalize it.
Say the company name.
Say the person’s name if you know it.

If you send the same Loom to 20 companies, it shows.

-> Fifth:
Smile.

You’d be shocked how many Looms feel like a hostage video.

You’re not presenting to a court.
You’re introducing yourself.

And finally:
Personality matters.
Technically, many of you can build the same workflows.

What differentiates you is:
 • clarity
 • communication
 • confidence
 • individuality

The best Looms don’t feel like demos.
They feel like conversations.

If you’re sending Looms right now:

Are you telling a story…
or screen-sharing a spreadsheet?

PS: Sorry to put it in your face but HAVE YOU SEEN HOW MY LILIES HAVE BLOSSOMED??!

Picture this -> I'm on an interview speaking to a GTMe and I'm thinking he'd be great for Bjion Henry... simultaneously WhatsApping him. 

Booked an interview from an interview (INCEPTIONNNN)

No BAMFAM. Just BAIFAI. (Sounds thai)

Hired the next day. 

Voilà 🪄

Why "The Clay Headhunter"? 
few months ago i'm speaking with a gtm engineer.
the guy has an email that sounds like "@hiregtm.com".
as a joke i tell him "did you buy all the gtm recruitment related domains".

silence. 
he did. 

little did he know that a couple weeks back, i was wrestling with godaddy to find a name for my business because they were all taken 😂 

and that's how: The Clay Headhunter was born. 

PS: share, like, comment, print, send via pigeon to your... sorry. i stop it there. HAPPY THURSDAY!

Approaching 30 made me realise something terrifying: you can climb very high and still be on the wrong mountain.

I’m two months away from turning 30.
Something shifted this year.

Call it a pre-30 crisis… oopsy.

I won’t make 8-figures with an AI wrapped service. 
I won’t make the “30 under 30” lists.
I’m not buying a Ferrari. (I prefer a Lamborghini anyway.)

But here is what became very real for me this year:
-> I never graduated from university, yet for the first time I fully own my experience. The imposter voice got noticeably quieter.
->  Instead of chasing new skills every year, I’m doubling down on the ones I already have. Refinement beats constant reinvention. Chaos < Red wine.
-> Next month I’m starting public speaking lessons. I broke the fear of talking on podcasts, but comfort is earned through repetition, not wishful thinking.
-> I’m investing seriously in writing. My business comes from my content, so I want to master it. Classes, amateur publications on Medium, and slowly moving from short form to longer pieces while working on a novel slash memoir.

See, I have a goal.
And turning 30 is making it feel less abstract and far more possible.
My dream is to sell my agency within three years and focus on family and creative work.

When I went from very sick to very healthy (almost two years in remission woop woop), I learned something that quietly rewired how I see ambition:

You don’t have to pick.

You can be healthy and successful.
You can build an impressive career and still be present for your family.
You can run a 6-figure solo business without working 50 hours a week.
You can be creative without squeezing yourself into a corporate mould.

For a long time, I thought success required sacrifice everywhere.

Now I think it requires alignment.

So this is the real question I’m sitting with lately:
What are you investing in today that your future self will thank you for?

Not the impressive version.
The real one 👀

Indiana Jones lied to me. 
Headhunting is way more intense.

I wasn’t always a recruiter.
I studied art history.
I was supposed to become an archaeologist.

In my head?
I was travelling the world, uncovering lost relics, living my best Indiana Jones life... or being Sydney Fox from Relic Hunter.

Three months in, reality hit. 
(yup very naive... or a very rich inner world) 
Turns out it’s less adventure, more archives.

But the obsession stayed.
The thrill of finding something rare.

Something difficult.
Something most people overlook.
I just translated it.

Today, I hunt in a different terrain.
The GTM market.
High demand.
Limited clarity.
Very niche skill sets.

The best operators are there.
They’re just buried under noise.

And right now, I’m looking for two rare finds:
1️⃣ Growth Engineer – London-based only - SaaS
 
Someone who understands GTM data at scale.
Someone who can explain to the board why deals aren’t closing.
Someone who sees patterns between marketing, sales behaviour, and revenue gaps.

London-based. Non-negotiable.
Salary up to £110k.

2️⃣ VP of GTM – Europe or US - SaaS 

This role is about orchestration.
Bringing departments together.
Scaling an ecosystem of GTM products toward $10M ARR.
Funded. Ambitious.
Needs someone who can align strategy with execution.
Salary up to $120k.

Archaeology taught me one thing:
The rarest artifacts aren’t found by accident.
They’re found by people who know exactly what they’re looking for.

If one of these roles feels like it was written for you…
DM me.

Let’s see if you’re the next discovery.

PS: OBVIOUSLY NOT AI 💅

I might be the worst recruiter ever.
Zero work-life boundaries.

Some GTM Engineers in my network became real friends… 
Some clients? Years of friendship. Mentorship. Belly laughs. The kind where you forget how the relationship even started.

So tell me…
Where exactly are we supposed to draw the line between work and life when you are your work?

I tried separating it once.
Felt like asking the ocean to stay in a glass.
Yes, I’m chasing a little clout with this one. (cf. SCREENSHOT)

Here’s the thing.

I have big goals:
• Buy a home in London and another in Thailand
• Have many babies
• Sell my business
• Become a successful writer

But lately, I’ve been thinking more about the mini goals.

Because if the big ones build a life… the small ones give it texture.

Mini goals like:
-> Watching my friends scale their companies to multi-millions… maybe billions. I know at least one who will.
-> Seeing the people around me fulfilled, not just successful.
->  Becoming the honorary auntie to the next generation of GTM Engineers.

I love to see you grow. Like one of my friend would say: "If you shine, I shine". 

Success used to look very individual to me.
Now it looks strangely collective.
Like a table getting bigger every year.

So tell me, I’m curious:
What’s a mini goal you secretly care about… but don’t talk about enough?

PS: And yes, comments like this in my DM makes me want to be a better supportive professional!

PPS: If you're looking for your next GTM Engineering role, DM ME NOW 🔥 

PPPS: Hiring for a GTM Engineer or RevOps role but your job description reads like abstract art?

DM me.

I sprinkle a very scientific, highly classified fairy dust on JDs that suddenly makes everything click… and helps you hire the right operator in under 2 weeks. 🧚‍♀️✨

🚨 Building a Fractional RevOps / Growth Bench 🚨

The contractor list worked.

 It brought real projects to real operators.

So we’re doing it again, but sharper.

This time, it’s for:
Fractional RevOps + Fractional Growth leaders
(Yes, both. No, we’re not mixing the roles.)

There is demand for:
 → Revenue architecture brains
 → CRM + attribution cleaners
 → Growth orchestrators
 → Builders who can fix what’s broken
 → Leaders who can align departments

And right now, hiring fractionals is slower than it should be because founders don’t know where to look.

So here’s what we’re doing:
If you’re a serious Fractional RevOps / Growth operator…

DM me the word:
"fractional"
I’ll send you a form.

We’re not doing DMs with random info anymore.

The form will require:
 • Case study
 • References
 • Scope clarity (Leader vs Builder)
 • Rate
 • Availability

No half-filled applications.
No vague positioning.

There is work for both:
 → Strategic leaders
 → Technical builders

But clarity matters.

The goal?
Speed up hiring.
Reduce noise.
Get serious operators into serious mandates faster.

If you’re a founder who might need fractional firepower in the next 3–6 months…

Stay close.

And if you’re an operator ready to step into high-leverage work:
DM "fractional".

Let’s build this properly 🥰

Struggling to hire a GTM Engineer? Getting flooded with profiles but none feel right?

Here’s a technique I use after hundreds of GTM hires:
🟢 Create a structure before you create the job post.

Most founders skip this step… and end up interviewing for weeks.

For Lead Gen Agencies, use this structure:
 → Contractor first (take delivery pressure off)
 → Then a full-time GTM Engineer
 → At 3 builders, hire an Account / Delivery Manager
 → Then build internal infrastructure

For SaaS, use this structure:
 → Identify the bottleneck (strategy vs execution)
 → If it’s leadership, hire RevOps / Growth
 → If it’s systems, hire a GTM Engineer
 → Only then scale the team

For both, get brutally clear on:
 → Revenue goals
 → Tech stack
 → Ownership
 → What success looks like in 6 months

Structure helps you:
✔ Hire faster
✔ Attract the right seniority
✔ Avoid the very expensive “wrong hire → restart” loop

If you find yourself saying “the talent just isn’t out there”…
Try building the role properly first.

It helps.

The fastest way to waste a $150k salary? Hire a GTM Engineer when you need a strategist 💀 

I spoke with a B2B SaaS founder this week who told me:
"We’re struggling to find a GTM Engineer."

After 20 minutes, it became obvious.

They didn’t need a GTM Engineer.
They needed a Growth Lead.
Or a Head of Revenue Operations.

Here is the real problem:
We are confusing new titles with new needs.

Innovation is moving so fast that job titles are multiplying overnight.
What you can build today wasn’t possible 60 days ago.

AI workflows. Data orchestration. Autonomous enrichment.

Of course new roles will emerge.

But here is the mistake founders make:
👉 They erase entire functions because a shiny title shows up.

In SaaS especially, a “GTM Engineer” is often just RevOps… rebranded.
Not always. But often.

The distinction most companies miss

Hire a Head of RevOps / Growth leader when you need:
-> Someone to align sales, marketing, finance
-> A cross-functional operator
-> Long-term revenue architecture
-> Forecasting and predictability
-> Strategic orchestration
This is an executive brain.

Hire a GTM Engineer when you need:
-> A modern GTM stack built
-> Automations designed
-> Data flowing across systems
-> AI layered into workflows
-> Technical strategy executed
This is a builder brain.

Here is the irony.
Some companies obsess over Clay workflows…
…and still barely use their CRM.

Others run on “outdated” stacks…
…and print cash.

Tools don’t make you modern.
Clarity does.

We are living in a GTM bubble where founders feel late… even when they are not.

Many profitable companies are simply entering their next operational era.
Not broken. Just evolving.

The question is not:
"Do we need a GTM Engineer?"

The real question is:
👉 Where is our revenue bottleneck?
Strategy problem? Hire leadership.
Execution problem? Hire a builder.

Get this wrong, and you don’t just miss a hire.
You slow the entire company down.

Founders, before opening that GTM Engineer role, ask yourself:
Are we lacking infrastructure…
or lacking direction?

=> Because those are two very different hires.

What are you seeing in the market right now?
Title confusion… or role clarity?

Have we officially entered the AI brain era yet?
Because I think mine has clocked out.

It’s been a few months now that I’ve been using Atlas - the Recruitment Platform, the recruitment platform with the AI notetaker baked in.

Every interview?
Summarised. Logged. Structured.
Without me having to do sh*t.

FYI this is not an ad. This is a Big Friday Realisation.

I used to remember everything.
Names. Faces. Career history. Salary. Dog’s name. 
Probably their coffee order too.

Now?

I’m on a client call trying to recall a candidate and my brain goes:
✨ nothing ✨
Just premium, high-definition blankness.

And the worst part?
The harder you try to remember… the further it runs away.

So now I’m wondering:
Have I outsourced my memory to AI?

Because no CRM search bar is built for:
 "that insanely good candidate I spoke to… sometime… in the past… before today."
Although weirdly, I CAN remember the profile picture.
If only I could run visual search from my own brain.

Back to reality, Felipe S. and Kevin 🐈 N. had to witness my cognitive decline live on a call. 
(Also, they’re hiring a CSM with outbound experience. You might want to talk to them.)

PS: If anyone builds a neural Ctrl+F… call me.

Most SaaS companies are sabotaging their own revenue team.

Having spoken with early stage to Series C founders every single week for the past few months, I keep seeing the same pattern.

The ones who scale don’t rush into permanent hires.

They stage it.

-> Step 1:
They hire an agency to launch outbound.
Test messaging.
Test ICP.
Build early system logic.

-> Step 2:
Sometimes they bring in a RevOps agency.
Or combine both.
Clean data.
Basic reporting.
Initial structure.

Step 3:
They hire a fractional GTM or RevOps leader.
Not to click buttons.
To think.
To align strategy.
To decide what should exist long term.

-> Step 4:
Only then do they hire a full-time RevOps leader.
And 1 to 2 GTM Engineers to architect and scale the engine.

Notice the order.
Test → Structure → Strategy → Ownership → Scale.

Not:
Panic → Hire → Chaos → Replace → Repeat.

The founders who get this right understand one thing:

You don’t hire builders before you know what you’re building.

Curious… where are you in that sequence right now?

PS: If you're at "Step 3" and "Step 4"... let's have a chat! I headhunt only RevOps and GTMe roles across agencies and SaaS 🔥

I'm hiring a VP GTM.

Target: $+10M net new ARR by building an AI-native revenue stack blending systems, AI agents and human operators.

Not a funnel manager.
Not a Head of Marketing with a new title.
Not someone to “run campaigns.”

A real revenue architect.

Remote.
Full-time.
20 FTE across CS, Sales and Growth.
Series A, scaling toward B and C.
 
The mission?
Replace legacy sales tooling.
Build the system of record and execution layer for modern outbound.
Turn product into a compounding revenue machine.

This role owns:
• Positioning
• Messaging
• Demand generation
• Pipeline architecture
• Conversion and expansion
• Monetization strategy
• Multi-product GTM orchestration
• Category narrative

You will work directly with the CEO.

You define:
• Who we sell to
• Why we win
• How we scale
• What we launch next
• How the ecosystem compounds

What you build:
-> An AI-native revenue engine across PLG, outbound, founder-led sales, partnerships and community
-> Multi-product packaging, bundling and cross-sell logic
-> A category narrative that shapes how buyers think about AI GTM
-> A demand engine where content, product, outbound and brand feed each other

Ideal profile?
You have built or scaled a serious motion before.
0 to $50M+ type energy.
You think in systems, loops, leverage and distribution advantages.
You see GTM as infrastructure, not activity.

If you want to architect a category, not just operate inside one, message me.

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