Are we moving forward?
Outreach activity and current conversation status across 150 companies.
Outreach over time
Recorded follow-up dates: 11 last week vs 5 the week before.
Weeks run Monday to Sunday; last full week ended September 27. Earlyasset has no first-contact date and is excluded from activity totals.
Which messaging worked?
149 first messages grouped by how they open and how they close. A reply counts when the prospect answered at all: in conversation, declined, or bad timing.
Worked
- Leading with funding news. Both live conversations (Wayco, EarSmartAI) opened by congratulating the founder on a recent pre-seed raise. 2 of 26 funding-led messages became conversations, with no declines.
- Product-specific openers get read and answered. Messages that named something concrete about the product had the highest reply rate: 4 of 18 (22%). Every reply was a no or not yet, so the opener works but the offer did not land with those companies.
- Ending with “Would love to connect.” 5 replies from 48 messages (10%), the best of the closing styles.
Did not work
- Generic messages with no personal hook. 62% of all outreach (93 messages) produced 4 replies and no conversations.
- Very short messages. Under 55 words: 1 reply from 33, and it was a decline. Messages of 55 words or more replied at 8%.
- Follow-ups after a generic first message. 25 people saw a follow-up and still did not reply. 11 of them had received a message with no personal hook.
- Too early to judge: the soft close. “Not sure if you need an extra set of hands… happy to chat” went to 46 people since Sep 14. So far 3 replies, all no or bad timing, with 40 still waiting.
Results by opening hook
Results by closing ask
Side by side
“I came across Wayco and saw that you recently raised your pre-seed round and are growing the team. We help early-stage companies with financial planning and day-to-day operations… Is this something that could be useful for Wayco as you grow?”
“Reaching out from CP Forward. We help early-stage teams take some of the finance and back-end work off their plate, from budgeting and cash flow to reporting and planning. Would love to connect and see if there’s an area where we could provide some extra support.”
Suggested next test: open with a specific recent event (a raise, launch, or hire), keep it between 55 and 85 words, and close with a direct ask to connect.
Only 11 prospects have replied so far, so these are early signals, not proven rates. 40 messages sent Sep 17–23 have had less than two weeks to get a response.
Coverage and conversation progress
Sector groups follow the source industry labels. Each company belongs to one sector.
Who are we reaching?
Where conversations stand
A second message sent after the first contact went unanswered.
The prospect saw the follow-up and did not reply.
The prospect said no.
The prospect said it is too early for them.
Of 29 Followed-up contacts, 18 have follow-up dates 20 days old (Sep 8), 2 are 12 days old (Sep 16) and 8 are 6 days old (Sep 22). Clear Solar Corporation has no date. These are not due dates.
- Earlyasset: no status and no first-contact date.
- Visionaire Products, Shofo and Pollinate: Attempted status but marked seen, no response.
- Raijin: Attempted status with a follow-up date (Sep 23).
- Signals: Declined but still marked seen, no response.
Growth measures first-outreach activity, not replies, clients, or revenue. Current status shares are not conversion rates.
Source: hubspot-crm-exports-all-contacts-2026-09-28.csv. Industry grouping is based on recorded labels, not a new audit.
Contact directory
150 companies | Alphabetical | Dates shown as recorded