Are we moving forward?
Outreach activity and current conversation status across 164 contacts at 163 companies.
Outreach over time
Recorded follow-up dates: 7 this week vs 11 the week before.
Weeks run Monday to Sunday; the current week ends October 4. Earlyasset has no first-contact date and is excluded from activity totals.
Which messaging worked?
163 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 27 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 22 (18%). 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 49 messages (10%), the best of the closing styles.
Did not work
- Generic messages with no personal hook. 60% of all outreach (98 messages) produced 4 replies and no conversations.
- Very short messages. Under 55 words: 1 reply from 31, and it was a decline. Messages of 55 words or more replied at 8%.
- Follow-ups after a generic first message. 26 people saw a follow-up and still did not reply. 12 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 59 people since Sep 14. So far 3 replies, all no or bad timing, with 52 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, and none of those replies came in the past week, so these are early signals, not proven rates. 30 messages sent Sep 23–30 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. Shares are of 164 contacts.
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 40 Followed-up contacts, 18 have follow-up dates 26 days old (Sep 8), 5 are 18 days old (Sep 16), 8 are 12 days old (Sep 22), 1 is 11 days old (Sep 23) and 7 are 4 days old (Sep 30). Clear Solar Corporation has no date. These are not due dates.
- Earlyasset: no status and no first-contact date.
- Callie Care: two contacts at the same company (Igor Gurovich, Aug 27 and Yury Palevich, Sep 30).
- The 7 follow-ups sent Sep 30 and Clear Solar Corporation are not yet marked seen or not seen.
- 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-2026-10-04.csv. Industry grouping is based on recorded labels, not a new audit.
Contact directory
164 contacts at 163 companies | Alphabetical | Dates shown as recorded