How Growth Division’s Direct Outreach Team Helps Startups Build Pipeline and Book Consistent Meetings

What We Mean by Direct Outreach

Direct outreach simply means reaching out to prospective clients through personalised LinkedIn and email messaging, supported by smart automation and data enrichment.

It’s structured, insight-led prospecting designed to turn connections into commercial conversations. 

Our campaigns are built around relevance first. We help clients define who they should be talking to (and why), then create the systems, copy, and cadences that get those people to engage.

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Meet the Direct Outreach Team

Our dedicated DO team lives and breathes outbound. Led by Alex Dawson, who’s run outreach for dozens of startups across SaaS, FinTech, HealthTech, and Web3, the team brings deep experience in both strategy and execution.

Alongside agency-side delivery, Alex has first-hand founder experience, having built his own company from bootstrap to £500k ARR over five years, which means the team understands the realities of early-stage growth from the inside out, not just in theory.

Supporting him are:

• Jae Hendricks-Small, Direct Outreach Manager
• Nicholas van Ryneveld, Account Manager
• Alicia Naidoo, Direct Outreach Expert

Together, they help founders and marketing teams build the structure, tools, and messaging that turn outbound into a high-performing growth channel.

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Our Process

Every DO campaign starts with clarity: on audience, messaging, and workflow. The process runs in three phases:

1. Set Up

We start with an ICP builder to define the ideal target audience and messaging strategy. The team drafts campaign copy, builds prospect lists, and optimises LinkedIn profiles before connecting everything to the outreach tools.

2. Launch and Testing

In the first month, it’s all about testing and iteration.

We A/B test:

• Connection and message types
• Lead sources
• Channel performance (LinkedIn vs. Email)

The goal is to quickly learn which audiences engage, which messages resonate, and how to improve reply rates.

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3. Scale and Convert

Once the data starts coming in, we optimise the flow. The campaign moves from testing to full-scale execution, focusing on education, relationship-building, and conversion through demos or calls.

The full cycle covers building awareness (Month 1), value and problem education (Month 2), and conversion (Month 3). This structured approach ensures leads are warmed, qualified, and ready to talk.

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The Tech Stack Behind It

Our outreach system runs on a tried-and-tested martech stack that allows us to move fast while staying compliant and scalable:

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator for prospecting and targeting
• CRM integration for pipeline management
• Email and LinkedIn automation tools for multichannel sequencing
• MarTech analytics stack for A/B testing and optimisation

On top of this, we layer in AI selectively to remove manual drag and improve decision-making. Not to replace human judgement.

AI supports the process by helping with:

• Initial research and account context gathering
• Drafting and iterating message variations for testing
• Identifying patterns in replies, objections, and engagement
• Prioritising leads and follow-ups based on intent signals

Automation and AI help us scale the system, but every campaign is still grounded in a clear ICP definition and human-led personalisation. The goal is to make outbound more efficient and consistent, while keeping conversations relevant, thoughtful, and genuinely human.

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Common Mistakes Startups Make with Direct Outreach

After running hundreds of campaigns, our team sees the same patterns again and again:

1. No clear ICP. Without a refined target profile, outreach becomes guesswork.
2. Generic messaging. Founders often default to “sales pitch” mode when they should lead with curiosity and context.
3. Poor sequencing. Too many messages too soon, or long gaps that kill momentum.
4. No follow-up process. Outreach doesn’t stop when someone replies; that’s when it really starts.
5. Trying to do everything manually. The right tech stack automates admin and keeps focus where it matters: meaningful conversations.
6. Relying on direct outreach alone: Outbound works best when it’s supported by other signals. Without brand, content, or social proof in the background, even good outreach feels cold.

Our process is designed to eliminate these friction points and give founders their time back while building a repeatable, scalable lead engine.

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Case Study: How One Agency Built a Consistent Pipeline

A marketing agency working with tech founders used our Direct Outreach system to expand across Europe. Using Crunchbase data, we identified recently funded startups and launched a mixed LinkedIn and email campaign using co-founder profiles.

In 18 months, the team generated:

• 18,912 connections sent
• 6,450 new connections
• 276 meetings booked
• 55 sales-qualified leads

With an average cost per meeting booked at £163, the campaign proved how a systematic approach to outreach can deliver measurable ROI, without relying on paid ads or cold calls.

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Why Direct Outreach Still Works

Direct outreach cuts through the noise. When you combine data-driven targeting with the human touch, you get a channel that consistently converts.

At Growth Division, we’ve refined this process across sectors and stages, from early-stage founders testing their first message to scaleups building full outbound engines.

If you’re looking to build a pipeline, test new markets, or strengthen your sales motion, our Direct Outreach team can help you do it faster and smarter. Reach out for a discovery call so I can understand your requirements and brief our team.