Leadership trainingEvents

How Scaling Up got 165 founder and CXO leads across three events

Scaling Up runs leadership programmes for founders of growing companies. We filled the top of the funnel for an in-person workshop in Delhi, an online webinar and a paid working session, then built the lead flow behind them.

165founder and CXO leads across 3 events
72positive replies to email and LinkedIn
90leads from LinkedIn ads
6,883founders emailed for the May workshop
What they sell
Leadership programmes for founders and senior teams of growing companies: workshops, webinars, a founder cohort, offsites and annual coaching.
Market
Scaleups in India
Timeframe
February to October 2026
Channels
Cold email, LinkedIn outreach, LinkedIn ads, Calendar invites, WhatsApp
Who we reached
Founders, CEOs, MDs and CXOs at companies with 100 to 1,000 people and ₹50 to 500 crore revenue
Tools in this build
ApolloApolloSales NavigatorSales NavigatorNaukriNaukriCrunchbaseCrunchbaseLinkedInLinkedInHappierleadsHappierleadsClayClayMillionVerifierMillionVerifierClaudeClaudeSmartleadSmartleadSendrSendrLinkedIn AdsLinkedIn AdsGoogle WorkspaceGoogle WorkspaceGoogle SheetsGoogle SheetsWhatsAppWhatsApp
The starting point

Where they started

What was in the way before the first campaign went out.

The goal

Fill each session with the right founders and leaders, and give every interested person a clear next step.

01

Seats filled through the network

Every session depended on the founder's network, referrals and one-off invites.

02

A fixed date

A workshop happens on a set day. Empty seats are revenue you don't get back.

03

Busy, sceptical buyers

Founders need to see why a session is worth an afternoon before they say yes.

04

No view of the funnel

Nobody could see which channel brought which person, or who had registered.

The ideal customer

Who we went after

Agreed with the team before the first campaign. Every list, message and ad was built for these people and nobody else.

NotionIdeal customer profile: Scaling Up
Who we reachedFoundersCEOs and MDsCXOsHR heads for offsites
Company size100 to 1,000 people₹50 to 500 crore revenue
WhereDelhi NCR firstThen all of India
The workflow

The system we built

From finding the accounts to handing over the reply. Each card is one step, with the tools that ran it.

Outbound engine for Scaling Up4 stages, 14 steps
01Find the founders
ApolloSales NavigatorThe whole marketFounders and CXOs at 101 to 2,000 people~30K
NaukriCrunchbaseGrowing-pain signalsCOO or VP Sales hires, 10+ roles in 30 days, funding~4K with signals
LinkedInFounder postsScaling, delegation, alignment
HappierleadsSite visitorsNamed and followed up
02Enrich and score
ClayEnrich26+ data providers
MillionVerifierVerifyBefore every send
ClaudeRoute to an eventWorkshop, webinar, cohort or offsite
03Invite them
SmartleadCold emailPersonal invites from the team42 leads
SendrLinkedInLinkedInFrom the founder's and team's profiles33 leads
LinkedIn AdsLinkedIn adsLead gen, conversation and event ads90 leads
Google WorkspaceCalendar invitesStraight to the calendar
04Follow up
Google SheetsOne CRM and sheetEvery lead, source and stage165 leads
WhatsAppWhatsApp and emailDay 1, 2, 4 and 7
A call from the teamFor the best-fit leads
A step we ranWhat that step producedHover a tool icon to see its name
Signals and lists

How we cut the market down

Thirty thousand founders became four thousand with a reason to care right now.

ClayMarket sizing before the first send
~30,000Founders and CXOs in the market
~10,000Matching the ICP
~4,000With a live signal
The copy

What we sent

The actual copy, from the campaigns. Merge fields are shown as grey tags; a custom opener was written for each person.

SmartleadEmail
SmartleadEmails from the campaigns
Day 0From Scaling Up's team
SubjectA personal invite, First name

Hi First name, at Company's stage, most founders think growth is limited by market or capital, but it's almost always an internal constraint they haven't surfaced yet.

When this starts showing up, growth often begins to feel more complex than it should.

I'm running a 4-hour Scaling Up workshop in Delhi on May 7 with a small group of founders in this phase. Would it make sense to have you there?

Day 3From Scaling Up's team
SubjectRe: A personal invite, First nameSame thread

This isn't another workshop. It's a room of founders and CXOs working through the same question: how do we scale without everything depending on us?

Just reply "Join" and I'll share the details.

SeptemberFrom Scaling Up's team
SubjectIs this happening at Company?

I've been speaking with a few founders lately and one thing keeps coming up. Revenue is moving, but decisions still keep coming back to the founder.

I'm running a 4-hour working session on 24 Sept around People, Strategy, Execution and Cash.

Should I send you the details?

LinkedInLinkedIn
LinkedInLinkedIn messages
SUScaling Up's team profileSent from real, verified profiles
Founder's note, May

Hi Name, reaching out personally. Hosting a private 7 May session for founders and leaders ready for the next growth phase: better teams, execution and less daily firefighting. Felt this may be relevant for you.

Team note, September

Hey First name, we're bringing a small group of founders together on 24 Sept for a hands-on session around People, Strategy, Execution and Cash. Thought it'd be good to connect.

LinkedIn AdsLinkedIn ads
Scaling UpPromoted

If everything still lands on you, the next stage will break it.

WorkshopWhat got you here
won't scale you further.
Scaling Up
A 4-hour working session for foundersscalingup.in
Learn more
Scaling UpPromoted

Your team isn't slow. They're waiting for a decision only you can make.

Working sessionNot notes.
A working plan.
Scaling Up
People, Strategy, Execution and Cashscalingup.in
Learn more
Replies

What came back

Replies are copied from the inbox and trimmed. Names and companies are removed; roles and sectors are kept.

Founder, DelhiYes

“Join”

Leader, SaaS companyInterested

“The workshop sounds relevant. Would it be possible for me to join the session remotely?”

CXO, financial servicesAsked for details

“Please share more details or a deck for my review.”

Founder, D2C brandQuestion

“Somewhat unclear on what this entails, who your attendees are, the results from past sessions.”

Director, non-profitNo

“The prices are too high for us.”

Lead flow

Where every lead goes next

Interest is not a seat. Every reply and form fill now lands in one of three paths, with the same follow-up rhythm.

Path 1

Offsites

Companies with ₹500 crore+ revenue
  1. HR head and MD reached together
  2. Discovery call with the founder-coach
  3. Outreach Oct to Dec for Jan to Mar offsites
Path 2

Annual coaching

100 to 1,000 people, ₹50 to 500 crore
  1. A free leadership diagnostic as the first step
  2. A 45-minute call to review it
  3. Proposal for the year
Path 3

Founder cohort

Founders who want to implement it themselves
  1. Monthly webinars, Oct to Dec
  2. An optional paid working session
  3. Application, fit call, enrolment

The follow-up rhythm after someone says yes

Day 1A short message

WhatsApp or email, depending on what they shared.

Day 2A video

A short video from the coach about the session.

Day 4Proof

A result from a founder in a similar company.

Day 7A call

The team calls the best-fit leads.

Results

What came out of it

The result

165 founder and CXO leads across three events, with one lead flow behind all of them: 90 from LinkedIn ads, 42 from email and 33 from LinkedIn outreach.

BeforeSeats filled through the founder's network and one-off invites, with no view of where anyone came from.
After
  • 165 founder and CXO leads across 3 events
  • 72 positive replies to email and LinkedIn
  • 90 leads from LinkedIn ads
  • 6,883 founders emailed for the May workshop
Where the 165 came from165 in total
  • LinkedIn ads9055%
  • Cold email4225%
  • LinkedIn outreach3320%
Leads by event
7 May, Delhi workshop49
12 Aug, webinar27
24 Sep, working session89
Want a plan like this for your market?The signals we'd track, the campaigns we'd run and a week-by-week plan. Free, built by hand.Get my GTM plan
Timeline

How it unfolded

From the first call to where the account stands now.

  1. Jan 2026
    First call

    A 3-month pilot agreed.

  2. Feb
    Pilot set up

    7 domains and 21 mailboxes, plus a sized market from competitor audiences.

  3. Mar to Apr
    Workshop campaigns

    Two email campaigns, LinkedIn outreach and event ads for Delhi.

  4. 7 May
    Delhi workshop

    49 leads from email, ads and LinkedIn.

  5. Late May
    Scaled up

    Renewed and moved to 20 domains, 60 mailboxes and 3 LinkedIn profiles.

  6. 12 Aug
    Webinar

    27 leads, mostly from LinkedIn outreach.

  7. 24 Sep
    Paid working session

    89 leads, 70 of them from LinkedIn ads.

  8. Oct
    Five campaigns

    Webinars, the cohort, offsites and annual coaching, each with its own list and lead flow.

Problems and fixes

What didn't work, and what we changed

Every campaign hits problems. These are the ones that mattered, and the fix for each.

What went wrong

Plenty of interest, few paid seats

What we changed

A three-path lead flow so every reply gets a next step: WhatsApp, a video and a proof email before a call.

What went wrong

A broken webinar link cut the calendar-invite channel

What we changed

Tracked links for every source and a checklist before every send.

What went wrong

Past responders never re-contacted

What we changed

Every lead from May to July now sits in one sheet with its source and stage.

Takeaways

What we'd tell a team like theirs

  1. A fixed date changes the plan. Work back from the session, not forward from the list.
  2. Cut the market down hard. Thirty thousand contacts became four thousand with a reason to care.
  3. Interest is not a seat. Give every reply a next step within a day.

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