Founder Led Outbound

Founder-Led AI SDR

Outcome: Produce a daily approval-ready batch of founder-voice LinkedIn touches from either an existing HubSpot/contact list or a newly discovered ICP list, without requiring HubSpot to start.

First-run onboarding gate

Before running this skill for the first time in a workspace, load ../../references/onboarding.md and complete the onboarding questions. Do not proceed until you know: LinkedIn account type (free/basic = no connection notes; recommend 10 connection requests/day and never exceed the FirstTouch max of 20/day; Sales Navigator/Premium = connection notes available; recommend 20 connection requests/day and never exceed the FirstTouch max of 30/day), HubSpot access (MCP, service key/private app token, HubSpot list only, or none), and which play the user wants to run. For founders, recommend the social engagement flow first when a monitored profile or engager list exists. If no engager source is available right now, this play is the immediate fallback and can run by building a new ICP list with FirstTouch Discover Contacts without HubSpot.

When to use

• "I'm the founder, help me do my own outbound"
• "Run AI SDR, but make it sound like me"
• Founder-led growth / founder-mode GTM
• Strategic accounts where the founder's voice matters
• Booking meetings from the founder's network, post engagement, or a newly discovered ICP list

When NOT to use

• High-volume SDR outbound where the founder will not personally approve the queue
• Outreach from a sender who is not authorized to use the founder's LinkedIn seat
• Generic blasts with weak personalization or no real signal

What makes founder AI SDR different

Founder-led AI SDR is the same motion as AI SDR, but with a founder lens:

• Lower volume, higher taste bar - every row must feel worthy of the founder's name.
• Founder voice - brief, direct, specific, and free of SDR-speak.
• Real signal first - post engagement, company change, role context, mutual connection, or a clear ICP reason.
• Daily approval queue - the agent drafts; the founder approves; FirstTouch executes.
• No HubSpot required to start - if there is no HubSpot list, use FirstTouch Discover Contacts from the founder's ICP.

Daily volume rules for founder AI SDR

Keep the cap lower if the account is new, warned, or acceptance/reply rates drop. The no-note default is conservative: cold connection notes often reduce acceptance or feel automated under a founder's name. Warm-signal plays can use notes when Sales Nav/Premium is available and the note is explicitly approved.

Default outreach plan

For every approved prospect, first check LinkedIn connection status:

Message rules:

• First message and follow-up are each 2 sentences max.
• Reference one real signal that might point to the prospect needing the user's solution.
• Use a lightweight ask CTA. Do not ask for a meeting in the connection request, first message, or first follow-up.
• Do not use em dashes in drafted outreach copy.
• Do not fabricate personalization. Use only HubSpot, FirstTouch, enrichment, or user-provided data.

Step-by-step

0. Capture founder voice and define the founder ICP

Ask for 2-3 sample founder posts/messages or concise tone rules: phrases to use, phrases to avoid, level of formality, common founder POV, and topics the founder will not touch. Use this voice profile for every draft; if it is missing, draft one conservative sample and ask for calibration before building volume.

0b. Confirm or define the founder ICP

If HubSpot is unavailable or no saved ICP exists, ask the founder for a concise ICP before using Discover Contacts: industries, company size, geography, target titles/seniority, exclusions, and 1-3 must-have signals. Save that ICP summary in the output so future daily runs reuse it instead of guessing.

1. Choose the source path

Path A - HubSpot list exists:

• Open the HubSpot contact or company list the user provides.
• If it is a company list, select the founder-relevant personas at each company using the ICP and the user's target titles.
• Capture company/contact fields, owner if available, lifecycle/deal context, prior activity, and LinkedIn URL if present.

Path B - no HubSpot access or no list:

• Use the saved founder ICP from Step 0b, or ask for it if missing: target industries, company size, geography, titles/seniority, exclusions, and must-have signals.
• Use FirstTouch Discover Contacts (discover_contacts - run get_guide with topic=contact_discovery first) to build a small prospect list from that ICP.
• Before larger imports, quote the cost: check per-action pricing with get_feature_costs and current balance with get_credits_usage, preview a small sample, and get approval - discovery/enrichment consumes FirstTouch credits. New workspaces start with 100 credits, which is plenty for the first discoveries; this check is about transparency, not scarcity.
• Save the discovered contacts into a FirstTouch audience (create_audience or create_audience_from_profiles) for future daily runs.

2. Enrich and prioritize

For each contact/company, enrich missing fields before drafting:

• LinkedIn URL and current title
• company domain, size, industry, location
• relevant company/person signal when available
• mutual connection or social context when available

Before drafting, run Gate 0 suppression/DNC and Gate 1 duplicate/recent-contact checks from ../../references/safety-governance.md. Exclude anyone who is suppressed, opted out, already in an active sequence, recently contacted, outside ICP, missing a usable LinkedIn profile, owned by someone else without routing approval, or not appropriate for the founder to contact personally.

Rank by ICP fit, signal strength, seniority, strategic account value, and whether the founder has a warm path.

3. Draft in founder voice

Load firsttouch-messaging, then override tone for the founder:

• first person from the founder, never "our team noticed"
• brief and direct
• signal-led with one concrete reason for reaching out
• soft CTA only, no early meeting ask
• no em dashes in drafted outreach copy

If the draft sounds like an SDR wrote it, rewrite before showing it.

4. Present the daily approval queue

Do not send automatically. Output an approval table:

Every row should be marked awaiting founder approval.

5. After approval, queue in FirstTouch

After founder approval:

• before queueing per-contact dynamic actions, run get_guide with topic=dynamic_actions, then call add_dynamic_action in the supported order
• add approved contacts to the right FirstTouch flow/campaign, or queue dynamic actions
• remember: publishing a flow activates it but does not enroll awaiting contacts; explicitly enroll approved contacts/items, then confirm they moved from awaiting to in-progress
• enforce duplicate checks, account-safety limits, and approval status from ../../references/safety-governance.md
• log execution and outcomes back to HubSpot when HubSpot is connected
• if HubSpot is not connected, keep the execution record in FirstTouch and clearly state that CRM owner routing/logging is unavailable
• keep rejected contacts out of the next daily batch unless the founder asks to revisit them

6. Recommend daily automation

Recommend a recurring daily motion only after the founder approves the first batch quality. This is an agent-harness schedule/reminder, not a FirstTouch autonomous-send feature:

"Run the FirstTouch founder AI SDR play for today. Use my saved ICP/list, enrich fresh contacts, prepare up to my daily cap, and show me the approval table. Do not send anything until I approve."

Output

• source summary: HubSpot list or newly discovered ICP list
• enriched account/contact table
• daily founder AI SDR batch capped at 10 free/basic or 20 Sales Navigator/Premium connection-request rows
• customized founder-voice first message and 2-day follow-up for each prospect
• approval table ready for founder review
• optional daily automation/agent setup prompt

Examples

Prospect: Priya Shah, VP GTM at a Series B fintech. Signal: Raised $40M and is hiring 5 GTM roles. Draft first message: "Priya, congrats on the Series B. When teams add GTM headcount that quickly, LinkedIn activity usually gets hard to track back to pipeline, worth comparing notes on how others are handling it?" 2-day follow-up: "Quick follow-up, the reason I asked is that attribution usually breaks right when hiring ramps. Happy to send the short teardown we use with founders if useful."

Pitfalls

• Treating founder AI SDR like a bulk SDR sequence.
• Letting weak personalization go out under the founder's name.
• Requiring HubSpot when the founder has no CRM list; define the ICP and use Discover Contacts instead.
• Asking for meetings too early.
• Skipping founder approval.

Reference

• Onboarding: ../../references/onboarding.md
• Messaging: ../../references/messaging-framework.md
• Safety and approval gates: ../../references/safety-governance.md