2025 Outbound Recap: Snowflake, Ramp & 8 More Playbooks
$4B to $1B to $100M ARR. Your most-read newsletters.
👋 Hey chef, Elric here! Welcome to this week’s free edition of Outbound Kitchen. Each week I dive into reader questions about creating outbound systems for sustainable growth. Thinking about going paid? Here’s what you’ll unlock right away:
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This is my last newsletter of the year.
We shipped a lot of content in 2025, so I pulled the resources you engaged with most, the ones you shared, replied to, and told me were useful.
If you missed any of these, use the holiday break to catch up. Take notes. Prep for 2026.
Happy reading!
Your 2025 Outbound Reading List (Top 10 + What’s Coming)
Top 10 newsletters
#10 - How Gorgias scaled to 80m+ ARR without cold calls
No SDRs until $60M+ ARR. They scaled with automated cold email, ads, and customer referrals. Proof that you can build serious revenue without a traditional SDR team.
Read it here:
#9 - How Pigment Scaled to $100M ARR with Outbound
What stood out: they hired engineers and built custom outbound tools. In a market full of legacy competitors, they invested in the stack to be different. This is enterprise prospecting done right.
Read it here:
#8 - How HockeyStack went from 0 to $74m in pipeline in just 8 months
The most recent “launch outbound from scratch” breakdown I’ve written. If you’re building outbound in 2025/2026, this is your playbook, it shows exactly how fast you can move with the right approach.
Read it here:
#7 - How Owner.com Scaled Outbound to $40M+ ARR
Everyone on LinkedIn says you can’t run outbound below 50K ACV. Owner.com proves them wrong. This shows how they built a productive SDR team with deals under 10K ACV and still got ROI.
Read it here:
#6 - 6 AI prompts To Help You Launch Outbound in 2025 (10x Faster)
For early-stage teams. These prompts help you define your ICP, identify segments to target, and figure out what to say - all before you’ve sent a single email.
Read it here:
#5 - Fix that before you scale outbound
My favorite topic this year. Most companies try to scale outbound before fixing what’s broken. This is about investing in systems, data, and AI before adding headcount. It’s where I spend most of my time with clients.
Read it here:
#4 - How to build outbound from scratch in 2025 (Full Guide)
The complete playbook: ICP definition, personas, messaging, tool selection by stage, hiring, and when to scale. If you’re launching outbound, start here.
Read it here:
#3 - How Snowflake Scaled Outbound to $4B ARR
My favorite breakdown. Snowflake runs ABM and enterprise prospecting as one team: SDRs, Sales, and Marketing operating together, not in silos. No other company I’ve studied has this level of alignment.
Read it here:
#2 - 6 AI Prompts for Researching Accounts & Cold Outreaching (10x Faster)
For teams where outbound is already working. These prompts help you research accounts faster and write better messages. Works with Claude, GPT, or Clay.
Read it here:
#1 - How Ramp Scaled to $1B ARR With Outbound
Ramp operates differently. Speed is embedded in everything, company culture, GTM, outbound execution. They were early on AI, they experiment constantly, and they move faster than anyone else I’ve studied.
Read it here:
Top 3 podcast episodes
We didn’t ship many episodes this year (more on that below), but these three got the most listens:
#3 - How build a strong outbound culture with Prospecting Days (Guide). With Ralph Barsi, VP of Sales at Kahua
Ralph has systems for everything. This episode breaks down how to run prospecting days that actually build outbound culture - not just activity spikes. I also wrote a companion guide if you want the full framework.
Listen here:
P.S. I’ve written: this guide on how to run one prospecting if you want to go deeper. Read it here.
#2 - 0 → 2,300 Meetings: Building an Outbound Sales Machine with Matt Roberts (Head of Sales Development at Mosaic (acquired by HiBob)
Matt built outbound from zero at Mosaic, scaled to 10 BDRs, and booked 2,300 meetings before the HiBob acquisition. This is the full story of how long it actually takes to build an outbound engine.
Listen here:
#1 - I tested GPT-5 and Opus 4.1 for account research
This was an experiment, not an interview. I tested the latest AI models for outbound research and recorded the results. The download numbers surprised me - turns out you want to see which models actually work for outbound. I’ll do more of these in 2026.
Listen here:
What's coming in 2026
The show is back. Three formats:
Live fixing outbound – I workshop and fix broken outbound systems
Live building from scratch – I build outbound workflows in real-time
Live show & tell – Outbound operators present their workflows
Less conversation, more showing. First episodes drop soon on LinkedIn.
My focus for 2026: productivity. How to invest in systems, automation, AI, and data to reduce manual work and increase output per rep.
Productivity is the focus, but the bigger goal: building the complete resource for outbound leaders.
Coming in January based on your questions:
TAM vs SAM vs ICP (updated version)
Dashboards and reporting for exec/board meetings
How I use Clay as my outbound orchestration laye
If there’s something specific you want me to cover, reply to this email. I’m listening.
See you next year!
Elric
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