365 Days of Stories – Day 54: I couldn’t even get someone to talk to me. That was the real pain.

When I started ElevateIdea two years back, we explored multiple business ideas.

Some were products. Some were services.

All of them died for the same reason:

I couldn’t reach the customer.

Not to pitch. Not to sell.

Just to ask:

👉 “Do you even need something like this?”

And I didn’t know how to even begin that conversation.

I come from a tech background.

I wasn’t a natural at outreach.

I didn’t know where to find people, what to write, or how to get a response.

So I started experimenting.

First, I discovered LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Finally, I could filter by stage, title, geography — and identify my ICP: early-stage startup founders.

That felt like a breakthrough.

I sent connection requests with personalized messages.

People accepted.

But after that?

Silence.

No replies. No conversations.

I started reacting to posts, nudging again, trying to stay visible.

But personalizing every first message was burning me out.

Hours of effort — with nothing to show for it.

Then a founder friend said:

“You need to call people.”

He introduced me to Lusha, where I could find phone numbers and emails.

I tried calling.

Most people hung up.

Some stayed on just because I said I was the founder.

It felt awful.

I told my friend, “This isn’t working.”

He said:

“If you want to be a cricketer, you’ve got to face 1000 balls.”

It made sense. But I still didn’t know where to play.

Then came Apollo — and finally, some rhythm.

I built a basic but repeatable outreach flow — the one I still use:

Send cold email to my ICP

→ Not personalized. Just direct and credibility-focused

Follow-up email after 2 days

→ Just 2 lines

LinkedIn connection request after 3 more days

→ Again, direct. No fluff

Personalized message only if they respond

If someone takes the effort to reply, even a “Hi” — I do my research and respond personally.

Because if they made time for me, I owe them that much.

Slowly, it started working.

📬 Email open rate: 62.2%

🔗 Click rate: 6.9%

📥 Reply / Connection acceptance: 18.8%

🤝 Interested in intro call: 4.3%

All meetings are 45-minute Google Meet intros.

I ask for consent to record and share the link —

That small gesture helps me stay in their mind.

And the best part?

People now ask me how I do outbound.

Founders. Marketers. Even early sales teams.

I still don’t think I’ve “figured it out.”

But I’ve gone from stuck and silent

→ to structured conversations with intent.

A mentor told me recently:

“If a founder can’t sell, they can’t build a real business.”

I feel that now. Deeply.

Sales isn’t about tricks.

It’s about learning how to earn someone’s time, when they owe you nothing.

Still learning. Still growing.

But I wanted to share this journey — raw and real.

If you're figuring it out too, happy to swap notes.

#FounderJourney #OutboundSales #StartupStruggles #ZeroToOne #DemandGen #RealTalk