How Attio got its users

Attio publishes its own qualification rule: attio.com/startups says you must be venture backed or affiliated with one of its partner funds, and it shows the accelerator and VC logos. Build the list from that rule. Open each partner fund's portfolio page, keep the companies under roughly thirty people, and put the founder or the first GTM hire in the row. No scraper and no data budget, just portfolio pages read by hand until the sheet holds a few hundred names.

done whenWrite your eligibility rule as one sentence a stranger could check without you. If every row on your list still needs a judgement call, you have a research project, not a list.

Open with their eligibility, not your product. attio.com/startups states 80% off the annual Pro plan plus credits in year one and 30% in year two for venture backed teams. Line one: you are in this fund's portfolio, so you qualify. Line two: the one thing you would set up for them. Line three: ask for a reply. Attio puts a Send me a demo button next to Talk to sales on its deal flow page, so send a two minute recorded workspace, never a calendar link.

done whenDoes your first line state a fact about them they can verify in five seconds? If it states a fact about you or your product instead, expect silence.

Name the system you are replacing in the subject line. Attio's footer links Import from Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoho, Excel and CSV. Work out which one the prospect runs from their job posts and their integrations page, then write to that one only. Offer to do the import yourself and send back a workspace holding their own companies and deals. On this audience the screenshot is the argument, and it only lands when the data inside it is theirs.

done whenCan you load a prospect's real data into your product in under an hour without asking for a password? If not, your demo stays generic and the close rests on their imagination.

Run a second list made of the funds themselves. Attio sells deal flow at attio.com/solutions/deal-flow-management-software, publishes customer stories for Union Square Ventures and Seedcamp, and keeps a VC guide in its help center. Write to the platform or operations person at small funds: deal pipeline, relationships and recruiting in one workspace. Every fund that signs hands you its portfolio, which is the list from step one, already warm.

done whenIs there a customer type in your base whose own customers are your next list? Rank them by how many warm introductions one closed account puts within reach.

Attio's Talk to Sales form asks for two things before any detail: Region and Number of users. Copy that gate. On attio.com/pricing the Free plan tops out at 3 users and Plus at 10, so anyone typing 11 or more has already told you they are a Pro workspace. Below that, answer with the free plan link and the import guide and hold the call. An hour of your time pays back at double digit annual Pro seats, or on a Salesforce migration, the one part they cannot do alone.

done whenWhat is the smallest deal where an hour of your time still beats sending a self-serve link? Put that number on your reply template and send everyone below it the link.