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Complete GTM Playbook

Airo — Cold Email Strategy to First 100 Users

AI Brand Visibility Tracker entering a $1B+ market with $155M+ in competitor funding. This playbook covers market sizing, competitive intelligence on 10 rivals, and a complete cold email GTM system to acquire the first 100 paying customers for ~$527 total.

$1.0B+
TAM (2026)
10
Competitors Analyzed
$5.27
Target CAC per User
8 Weeks
To 100 Users
01
TAM / SAM / SOM
Market sizing from three converging lenses

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

GEO Market (Direct)
$1.0-1.5B
2026, growing to $7.3B by 2031 at 34% CAGR
SEO Software Subset
$850M-1.7B
1-2% of $85B SEO market shifting to AI tracking
Brand Monitoring Wedge
$690M-1.0B
10-15% of $6.9B reputation management market
$7.3B

Projected GEO market size by 2031 — growing at 34-50% CAGR, one of the fastest SaaS categories.

Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM): $94M - $150M

SegmentUniverseAdoptionCustomersARPUSAM
Marketing / SEO agencies450,00010%45,000$948/yr$42.7M
E-commerce / D2C brands500K-800K5%25K-40K$948/yr$23.7-37.9M
SEO tool users (cross-sell)500K-700K8%40K-56K$348/yr$13.9-19.5M
SaaS companies50K-72K15%7.5K-10.8K$948/yr$7.1-10.2M
Enterprise brands5,00010%500$5,000/yr$2.5M
PR / Comms agencies30K-50K8%2.4K-4K$948/yr$2.3-3.8M

Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)

YearCustomersARR (Conservative)ARR (Base)ARR (Optimistic)
Year 1500-1,000$300K$420K$600K
Year 22,000-5,000$1.08M$2.1M$3.5M
Year 35,000-15,000$3.5M$8M$13.5M
Peec AI validated the market: $650K ARR in 4 months, $4M+ in 10 months. With $29M in funding, they prove buyers exist and are willing to pay. Airo targets the same market at 4-10x lower price.
02
Market Signals — Why Now
The data proving AI visibility tracking is urgent
48%
of Google searches trigger AI Overviews (Mar 2026)
900M
ChatGPT weekly active users
14.2%
AI search conversion rate (vs Google's 2.8% — 5x higher)
44%
of consumers prefer AI over traditional search (McKinsey)

Additional Signals

  • Perplexity: 45M monthly active users, 780M queries/month, targeting $656M ARR by 2026
  • AI Overviews reduce organic CTR by up to 61% — brands that don't track AI visibility are losing traffic they can't even see
  • 27% of consumers now use AI for approximately half their searches
  • 15 billion+ AI-generated queries per month across all platforms globally
  • 500K+ businesses already pay for SEO tools (SEMrush 117K, Ahrefs 50K+) — natural adjacent buyers
Half of Google searches now have an AI answer. 900M people use ChatGPT weekly. 44% prefer AI for discovery. Yet almost no brand tracks what AI says about them. That's the gap.
03
Competitive Landscape
10 competitors analyzed — funding, revenue, pricing, weaknesses
Profound — $155M raised, $1B valuation, Category King ▼
$155M
Total Funding
$6.8M+
ARR
700+
Customers
~120
Team Size
$499/mo
Starting Price

Founders: Dylan Babbs (ex-Uber) + James Cadwallader. Met at South Park Commons, SF.

Investors: Sequoia, Lightspeed, Kleiner Perkins. $1B valuation at Series C (Feb 2026).

Customers: 10% of Fortune 500 — Target, Walmart, Ramp, MongoDB, U.S. Bank, Figma.

Product: "Read/Write" model — monitoring + AI-optimized content generation. 10+ platforms including ChatGPT Shopping. SOC 2, SSO, RBAC.

Growth: Enterprise sales, Fortune-level press (covered twice), coined "Answer Engine Optimization."

Weaknesses: $499/mo minimum (inaccessible to 95% of market), enterprise sales cycle, no self-serve, no free tool.

Profound ignores everything below enterprise. The entire SMB/agency market is open for Airo.
Peec AI — $29M raised, $4M+ ARR in 10 months, Rocketship ▼
$29M
Total Funding
$4M+
ARR
1,300+
Customers
56
Team Size
EUR 89/mo
Starting Price

Founders: Marius Meiners (CEO, ex-PwC + pro LoL player), Tobias Siwonia (CTO), Daniel Drabo (CRO). Met in Antler Berlin W24.

Investors: Singular ($21M Series A), 20VC, Antler. $100M+ valuation.

Customers: Chanel, TUI, ElevenLabs, n8n, Attio, Wix, HubSpot, DEPT. Adding 300+ customers/month.

Product: 9 platforms. Daily tracking, share of voice, citations, sentiment, regional filtering. Monitoring only — no action recommendations.

Growth: Content marketing, podcast circuit, founder-led LinkedIn, agency partnerships. Minimal paid ads.

Weaknesses:

  • Monitoring only — no action recommendations at all
  • Add-on pricing — Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek cost EUR 20-30 each extra
  • No SOC 2, no ROI tracking, only 2 months historical data
  • No free tool, 7-day trial only
Peec shows the X-ray. Airo shows the X-ray AND prescribes the treatment. Plus Airo is 3x cheaper with no per-platform add-ons.
Scrunch AI — $19-26M raised, Enterprise Fortress (Dell, Lenovo) ▼
$19-26M
Total Funding
500+
Customers
60+
Team Size
$250/mo
Starting Price

Founders: Chris Andrew (ex-CPO Hearsay/Yext) + Robert MacCloy (ex-CTO Hearsay). Salt Lake City.

Investors: Mayfield ($4M Seed), Decibel ($15M Series A). Angels: TJ Parker (PillPack), Clara Shih (Meta AI).

Unique feature: AXP (Agent Experience Platform) — CDN-edge HTML optimization for AI crawlers (98% file size reduction). Still in waitlist/early rollout.

Weaknesses: $250/mo Core only tracks 4 of 9 platforms. Claude, Gemini, Meta AI gated behind Enterprise. No action recommendations. Complex setup.

Airo tracks 6 platforms at $29/mo vs Scrunch's 4 platforms at $250/mo. That's 8.6x the value per dollar.
Otterly.ai — $0 raised, $770K revenue, 20K users, Bootstrap Champion ▼
$0
Funding
$770K
ARR
20,000+
Users
7
Team Size
$29/mo
Starting Price

Founders: Thomas Peham (ex-VP Marketing Storyblok), Josef Trauner (ex-CEO Usersnap, exited), Klaus Schremser (ex-Usersnap). All have prior exits.

Recognition: Gartner Cool Vendor 2025, G2 High Performer, OMR 5.0/5, Product Hunt #2.

Distribution: Semrush App Center integration — access to 117K+ paying SEMrush customers.

Weaknesses: Prompt-based pricing scales painfully (users "ration prompts"). Gemini + Google AI Mode are paid add-ons. Data refresh lag (hours to days). No action recommendations. Name confusion with Otter.ai.

Airo includes all 6 platforms at $29/mo (no add-ons). Airo has GEO action recommendations. Airo has a free rank checker. Otterly has none of these.
Smaller Players — RankScale, RadarKit, Knowatoa, AthenaHQ ▼
PlayerPriceFundingPlatformsNotable
RankScaleEUR 20/mo$04Solo founder, credit-based, cheapest
RadarKit$29/mo$06Live browser sessions, Web Summit 2026
Knowatoa$59/mo$07Meta AI tracking, Ruby on Rails
AthenaHQ$295/moUnknown—Revenue attribution via Shopify/GA4
Enterprise Incumbents — BrightEdge ($30K/yr), seoClarity ($2.5K+/mo) ▼

BrightEdge: Legacy enterprise SEO ($30K-127K/yr). Added AI Catalyst + AI Hyper Cube (Mar 2026). AI is a bolt-on, 3-4 platforms. Massive customer base but AI isn't their focus.

seoClarity: Enterprise SEO ($2,500-7K/mo with ArcAI add-on). 4 AI platforms. Unique hallucination detection. Enterprise-only.

Both are too expensive and too complex for anyone outside large enterprise. Not direct competition for Airo's target market.
04
Where Airo Wins
6 buyer personas where Airo is the best choice

SEO Agency Owner Adding GEO Services

$29/mo entry (vs Scrunch $250, Peec EUR 89, Profound $499). All 6 platforms included. GEO Action Center generates the client deliverable — 10 prioritized actions per brand. Free /check tool = instant prospecting weapon. No competitor offers all three: low price + actions + free tool.

SaaS Founder Checking AI Visibility

Free /check gives an answer in 30 seconds with zero signup. No competitor offers this. Profound requires a demo call. Peec requires a paid trial. Time-to-first-insight: 2 minutes (Airo) vs 30+ minutes (Peec) vs weeks (Profound).

D2C Brand Tracking Product Recommendations

Conversations page shows exactly what AI says (full responses with brand highlighting). Sentiment analysis reveals if AI speaks positively or negatively. Actions explain platform-specific strategies — e.g., "Gemini relies on Google ecosystem: improve GBP, get more Maps reviews."

Marketing Consultant Adding GEO

Free /check = lead gen tool for the consultant's own prospects. Run a check, screenshot the score, send in a cold email. Action center generates the consulting deliverable. No per-platform add-on fees simplify billing.

Budget Team Needing Full Coverage

Price per platform tracked: Airo $4.83 vs Peec $34+ vs Scrunch $62.50 vs Profound $49.90. Airo delivers 6-13x better value per platform. All platforms included at $29/mo — no add-ons, no surprises.

Anyone Who Doesn't Know If AI Visibility Matters

Every competitor requires payment or trial signup. Airo's /check lets anyone find out for free in 30 seconds. This is the single biggest top-of-funnel advantage in the entire competitive landscape.

05
Competitive Weaknesses to Exploit
5 angles for marketing and sales positioning
"Monitoring Without Action" — hits Peec, Scrunch, Otterly, RankScale, RadarKit▼

Every competitor shows a dashboard of problems. None tell you what to do about it. Like a doctor showing an X-ray and walking away.

Airo's angle: GEO Action Center generates 10 prioritized, platform-specific actions per brand using real audit data.

Marketing copy: "Other tools show you the problem. Airo shows you the fix."
"Hidden Platform Costs" — hits Peec, Scrunch, Otterly▼

Peec: Base EUR 89 + Claude EUR 20 + Gemini EUR 30 = EUR 139/mo for 5 platforms. Scrunch: $250/mo for only 4 of 9. Otterly: Gemini is $59-149 extra.

Marketing copy: "6 AI platforms. One price. No surprises."
"Enterprise Pricing for SMB Needs" — hits Profound, BrightEdge, seoClarity▼

Profound ($499/mo), BrightEdge ($30K/yr), seoClarity ($2.5K+/mo) are completely inaccessible to SMBs.

Marketing copy: "Enterprise AI visibility intelligence. Startup pricing."
"No Free Discovery" — hits Every Single Competitor▼

Every competitor requires payment or trial signup before you can see anything.

Marketing copy: "Check your brand's AI visibility in 30 seconds. Free. No signup."
"Slow Data" — hits Otterly specifically▼

Otterly users report waiting hours to days for data refreshes. Airo has real-time audit progress with live activity feed.

Marketing copy: "Real-time AI visibility tracking. Not hours. Not days. Now."
06
Cold Email Infrastructure
Domains, mailboxes, DNS — the foundation
5
Secondary domains
15
Total mailboxes (3 per domain)
375-525
Cold emails/day at scale
$108/mo
Google Workspace (15 mailboxes)

Domain Names to Buy

  1. getairo.co
  2. tryairo.io
  3. airorank.com
  4. meetairo.co
  5. airotracker.com

~$10-12/yr each on Namecheap. Set up redirect to meetairo.com on each.

DNS Records (All 4, Every Domain)

RecordPurposeValue
MXMail ExchangeGoogle Workspace mail servers
SPFSender Policy Frameworkv=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
DKIMDomainKeysGenerate in Google Admin Console
DMARCPolicy layerv=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@domain
Never send cold email from your primary domain (meetairo.com). Always use secondaries. A burned domain takes 3-6 months to recover.

Mailbox Setup per Domain

getairo.co → karan@, hello@, team@ tryairo.io → karan@, support@, founders@ airorank.com → karan@, hi@, outreach@ meetairo.co → karan@, growth@, team@ airotracker.com → karan@, hello@, founders@
07
Tool Stack
Sending, prospecting, warmup — $143-192/mo total

Email Sending (Recommended: Instantly.ai — $30/mo)

ToolPriceAccountsWarmupBest For
Instantly.ai$30/moUnlimitedBuilt-in (200K+ network)Best all-in-one value
Smartlead$39/moUnlimitedBuilt-inAgency features, API
Saleshandy$25/moUnlimitedVia TrulyInboxLowest budget
Lemlist$39/mo1 accountLemwarmImage/video personalization

Prospecting (Recommended: Apollo.io — Free to start)

ToolPriceDatabaseVerificationBest For
Apollo.ioFree / $49/mo275M+ contactsBuilt-in (97%)All-in-one, generous free tier
Clay.com$185/mo75+ providersVia providersDeep enrichment, AI research
Instantly B2B$42/mo450M+ accessibleBuilt-inTight Instantly integration
Ocean.io$79/mo200M+ contactsIncludedAI lookalike targeting

Total Monthly Cost

ItemCost/mo
5 domains (amortized)~$5
15 Google Workspace mailboxes~$108
Instantly Growth$30
Apollo.io (free → $49 later)$0-49
Total$143-192/mo
$5.27

Cost per user at 100 users (~$527 total over 3 months). Compare to SaaS paid ads where CAC is typically $50-200+. Cold email is 10-40x cheaper.

08
Target ICPs
5 buyer personas ranked by priority
#ICPUrgencyBudgetVolumePriority
1SEO Agency OwnersCritical$$$80K+#1
2SaaS Founders / CMOsHigh$$$$150K+#2
3D2C / E-Commerce BrandsMedium-High$$-$$$200K+#3
4PR / Comms AgenciesMedium$$$30K+#4
5Local Business ChainsMedium$$100K+#5
ICP #1: SEO Agency Owners — Why They Care▼

Pain: "Google AI Overviews are eating our clients' clicks — we have no tool to track this."

Titles: Founder, CEO, Managing Director, Head of SEO, SEO Director

Company size: 5-50 employees | Industry: Marketing & Advertising

Apollo filters: Job titles containing SEO/Marketing/Founder, Industry: Marketing & Advertising, Employees: 5-50, Keywords: "SEO", "digital marketing agency"

Why Airo: New revenue stream. GEO services using Action Center as deliverable. Free /check for client prospecting.

ICP #2: SaaS Founders / CMOs (Series A-B)▼

Pain: "We spend $50K/mo on SEO but have no idea what ChatGPT says about us."

Titles: Founder, CEO, CMO, VP Growth, Head of Marketing

Company size: 20-200 employees | Funding: Seed - Series B

Apollo filters: Industry: Computer Software/SaaS, Employees: 20-200, Funding: Seed/A/B

ICP #3: D2C / E-Commerce Brand Founders▼

Pain: "I have no idea if AI assistants recommend my brand or my competitor's."

Titles: Founder, CEO, CMO, Head of Marketing, Growth Lead

Company size: 10-200 employees | Tech: Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce

ICP #4: PR / Communications Agency Owners▼

Pain: "Our clients ask if AI mentions them and we have no answer."

Opportunity: AI visibility = new reputation management service line.

Start with ICP #1 and #2. They have the most acute pain, respond well to cold email, and have budget. Expand to #3 and #4 in weeks 5-6.
09
Email Sequences
3-email sequences per ICP with spintax
Technical rules (non-negotiable): Plain text only. Under 150 words. No links in Email 1. No images. No spam keywords. Spintax on all copy. Bounce rate < 2%.

Sequence A: SEO Agency Owners

Sequence B: SaaS Founders

Sequence C: D2C / E-Commerce Brands (3 emails)▼

Email 1 (Day 1) — Subject: {what AI recommends instead of|AI's take on} {company}

Hook: "I asked Claude 'best {product_category}' and it recommended {3-4 brands} — {company} wasn't one of them." CTA: Free check offer.

Email 2 (Day 3): D2C brands spending $10-50K/mo on ads but invisible in AI. Case study: 15% to 52% visibility in 60 days.

Email 3 (Day 14): Breakup + free tool link (meetairo.com/check).

Reply Handling Templates (4 scenarios)▼

Positive Reply → Trial

Send Loom demo + free check link + offer to set up call.

"What's the price?"

Starter $29/mo, Pro $79/mo. 7-day free trial, no credit card. Send trial link.

"We already track SEO"

"Traditional SEO tracks Google rankings. But ChatGPT answers come from training data, not Google. Airo tracks the AI layer specifically — different signals, complementary to your SEO stack."

"Not the right time"

Acknowledge gracefully. Point to free /check tool. Offer to follow up in a few months.

10
Warmup & Ramp Schedule
Week-by-week from zero to 500 emails/day
Week 1 — SETUP▼
  • Buy 5 domains, set up Google Workspace (3 mailboxes each)
  • Configure DNS: MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC on all 5
  • Set up redirects to meetairo.com
  • Connect all 15 mailboxes to Instantly, enable warmup
  • Set up custom tracking domain
  • Build ICP #1 and #2 lead lists in Apollo (500-1000 each)
Week 2 — WARMUP ONLY▼
  • All 15 mailboxes warming up (10-20 emails/day each)
  • Monitor deliverability dashboard
  • Write and finalize all email sequences (4 ICPs x 3 emails)
  • Add spintax variations
  • Verify and clean lead lists (bounce must be <2%)
  • Set up campaigns in Instantly (don't activate yet)
Week 3 — SOFT LAUNCH (50-75/day)▼
  • Activate Campaign 1: ICP #1 (SEO Agencies) — 50 prospects, 3 mailboxes
  • Monitor: open rate, reply rate, bounce rate
  • A/B test 2 subject line variants
  • Respond to every reply within 2 hours (Unibox)
Week 4 — SCALE UP (100-150/day)▼
  • Increase to 6 mailboxes sending
  • Activate Campaign 2: ICP #2 (SaaS Founders) — 100 prospects
  • ICP #1 running at 50-75/day
  • Check: open >40%, reply >3%, bounce <2%
Weeks 5-6 — FULL THROTTLE (300-400/day)▼
  • All 15 mailboxes sending
  • Activate Campaign 3: ICP #3 (D2C Brands) — 200 prospects
  • First conversions should start appearing
  • Capture case studies from early adopters immediately
  • A/B test body copy and CTAs
Weeks 7-8 — OPTIMIZE & CONVERT (400-500/day)▼
  • Activate Campaign 4: ICP #4 (PR Agencies)
  • All 4 ICPs running simultaneously
  • Use reply data to refine sequences
  • Add social proof to Email 2 from first customers
  • Target: 15-25 trial signups/week
11
Metrics & Conversion Math
Target metrics and path-to-100-users math

Weekly Tracking Targets

MetricTargetRed FlagAction if Below
Open rate>40%<25%Change subject lines
Reply rate>3%<1%Rewrite body copy / CTA
Bounce rate<2%>4%Clean list, re-verify
Positive reply rate>1.5%<0.5%Improve value prop
Trial conversion>25%<10%Improve reply-to-trial flow
Warmup health>40% reply<20%Check DNS, domain rep

Path to 100 Users

Emails sent/day
400-500
Opened (45%)
180-225
Replied (4%)
16-20
Started trial (30%)
5-6
Converted (45%)
2-3/day
6-8 weeks

Realistic estimate to hit 100 paying users (accounting for the 4-week ramp-up period before full-throttle sending).

12
Strategic Recommendations
7 moves to win in this market

1. Own the "Action" Positioning

Every competitor is a dashboard. Airo is a dashboard + action plan. Every piece of marketing should reinforce: "Other tools show you the problem. Airo tells you how to fix it."

2. Lead with the Free Tool

meetairo.com/check is a moat no funded competitor has built. Use it as:

  • Top-of-funnel for cold email ("I checked your brand — here's your score")
  • Content marketing CTA ("Check your score free")
  • Agency prospecting tool
  • Viral sharing mechanism

3. Attack Peec's Add-On Pricing

Peec is the closest competitor. Full coverage costs EUR 139-169/mo vs Airo's $29/mo. 4-5x price difference for the same platforms. Make this comparison explicit in all marketing.

4. Don't Compete with Profound/Scrunch on Enterprise

They have $155M/$26M, SOC 2, SSO, and F500 logos. Own the SMB/agency/founder segment they deliberately ignore.

5. Build the Agency Channel

One agency deal = 10-50 brand accounts. Build an agency partner program with the free /check tool as the differentiator — no competitor gives agencies a free prospecting tool.

6. Ship Shareable Score Cards (Priority)

A generated image ("Your Brand: 23/100 AI Visibility Score") shareable on LinkedIn/X creates organic distribution. No competitor has this.

7. Create Comparison Landing Pages

Build SEO pages: "Airo vs Peec AI", "Airo vs Scrunch", "Airo vs Otterly". Every competitor does this to each other — Airo should too. These capture buyers in comparison mode.

13
Launch Checklist
Everything needed to go live — check off as you complete

Day 1 — Infrastructure

Days 2-3 — Prospecting

Days 3-7 — Campaign Setup

Day 14 — Launch

Ongoing

14
Apollo.io — Lead List Build Plan
Using Apollo free plan as the prospecting engine for all 4 ICPs
10,000

Email reveals per month on corporate domains — free plan. More than enough for 400-500 emails/day across all ICPs.

The Setup: Apollo = Research Engine, Instantly = Sending Engine

Apollo's free plan gives you access to the full 210M+ contact database with 65+ filters, but only 10 export credits/month and 2 sequences. This means Apollo is your prospecting and research layer — the actual sending happens through Instantly.io with 15 warmed mailboxes.

CapabilityApollo FreeWhat You Get
Email creditsUnlimited (10K/mo corp)Reveal emails for every prospect
Mobile credits5/monthPhone numbers for top 5 prospects
Export credits10/monthUse Chrome Extension workaround instead
AI Composer5,000 creditsGenerate personalized email variations
Sequences2LinkedIn warm-up steps only — email via Instantly
Workflows2Auto-alert on new ICP matches
Intent topics1Set to "Search Engine Optimization"
Lead scores2Score agencies + SaaS founders separately
Saved searchesUnlimitedOne per ICP with email alerts
Chrome ExtensionFull accessReveal emails directly from LinkedIn — no export credits

Day 1 Account Setup

Set your 1 free intent topic to "Search Engine Optimization" — this catches both SEO agencies researching tools AND SaaS companies investing in SEO. Surfaces warm accounts across both top ICPs.
15
Apollo Persona Filters — Exact Search Configs
Copy these filters directly into Apollo for each ICP

ICP #1 — SEO Agency Owners (Weeks 1-8)

SEO Agency Owner — Apollo Filter Set ▼
FilterValue
Job TitlesFounder, CEO, Managing Director, Owner, Head of SEO, SEO Director, Co-Founder
DepartmentMarketing, Executive
SeniorityFounder, C-Suite, Director, VP
IndustryMarketing & Advertising, Internet, Information Technology & Services
Company Size5-50 employees
Keywords (company)"SEO", "digital marketing", "search engine", "content marketing", "organic search"
LocationUnited States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia
Email StatusVerified only
Always filter Email Status: Verified only. "Guessed" and "Unknown" will spike your bounce rate above the 2% red line and burn your sending domains.

ICP #2 — SaaS Founders/CMOs (Weeks 3-8)

SaaS Founder/CMO — Apollo Filter Set ▼
FilterValue
Job TitlesFounder, CEO, CMO, VP Growth, VP Marketing, Head of Marketing, Co-Founder
DepartmentExecutive, Marketing
SeniorityFounder, C-Suite, VP
IndustryComputer Software, SaaS, Internet
Company Size20-200 employees
FundingSeries A, Series B
Keywords (company)"SaaS", "software", "platform", "B2B", "cloud"
LocationUnited States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia
Email StatusVerified only

Why Funding filter matters: Series A/B signals real budget ($5-50M raised), dedicated marketing teams, and SEO investment. Pre-seed companies rarely buy tools at $29/mo for a problem they don't yet know exists.

ICP #3 — D2C/E-Commerce Brands (Weeks 5-8)

D2C Brand Founder — Apollo Filter Set ▼
FilterValue
Job TitlesFounder, CEO, CMO, Growth Lead, Head of Marketing, DTC Manager
IndustryConsumer Goods, E-Commerce, Retail
Company Size10-200 employees
TechnologiesShopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Klaviyo
Keywords (company)"direct to consumer", "D2C", "ecommerce", "online store", "DTC"
LocationUnited States, United Kingdom
Email StatusVerified only

Technographics filter is the secret: Filtering by Shopify/Klaviyo usage confirms these are real DTC operators, not just companies with "ecommerce" in their description.

ICP #4 — PR/Communications Agencies (Weeks 7-8)

PR Agency Owner — Apollo Filter Set ▼
FilterValue
Job TitlesFounder, CEO, Managing Director, VP Communications, Head of Digital PR
IndustryPublic Relations, Marketing & Advertising, Communications
Company Size5-100 employees
Keywords (company)"PR", "public relations", "reputation", "communications agency", "brand reputation"
LocationUnited States, United Kingdom, Canada
Email StatusVerified only

The angle for PR agencies: AI visibility is the new reputation management. "What does ChatGPT say about your client?" is a question their clients will start asking — and they have no answer without Airo.

Lead Scoring Setup

Lead Score 1: "Hot Agency"

Weight heavily: intent signals (SEO topic), company size 10-30 (sweet spot), verified email, LinkedIn activity. Platinum/Gold contacts → Sequence A first.

Lead Score 2: "Hot SaaS"

Weight heavily: Series A/B funding, 50-200 employees, CMO/VP title, verified email. Platinum/Gold contacts → Sequence B first.

16
Contact Extraction — Free Plan Workarounds
4 methods to get contacts out of Apollo without burning export credits
Method 1 — Chrome Extension (Primary)

Browse LinkedIn search results → Extension overlays email/phone on each profile → Copy to Google Sheet → Import to Instantly. No export credits consumed.

Method 2 — Apollo UI Copy

Run saved search in Apollo → Click into each contact → Copy email, name, company, title → Paste to Instantly CSV template. Tedious but free and unlimited.

Method 3 — Apollo API

POST /people/match with name + domain → returns email. Script a list of company domains + founder names → batch verified emails. Limited calls on free.

Method 4 — Upgrade to Basic ($49/mo)

1,000 export credits/mo, 3 mailboxes, unlimited sequences, 6 intent topics. Fits within the $143-192/mo GTM budget. Upgrade at Week 3 when sending starts.

List Quality Filters (Non-Negotiable)

Apply these on every search to maintain <2% bounce rate:

FilterSettingWhy
Email StatusVerified onlyGuessed/Unknown = bounces = burned domains
Last Job ChangeWithin 12 monthsStale records = wrong company = bounces
Exclude ListsPreviously contactedNever double-contact someone
Company StatusActiveDefunct companies = dead emails
After extracting from Apollo, always run through Instantly's built-in email verification before adding to any campaign. Apollo "verified" means verified at time of crawl — emails go stale. Double-verify is the only way to stay under 2% bounce.

Budget Decision: Free vs Basic

ScenarioCostCapacityWhen
Stay Free$0/mo~200-300 contacts/week via Chrome ExtensionWeeks 1-2 (warmup period)
Upgrade to Basic$49/mo1,000 exports + 6 intent topics + unlimited sequencesWeek 3 (when sending begins)
GTM budget math$143-192 totalInstantly ($30) + Workspace ($45) + Apollo Basic ($49) = $124Fits budget with room to spare
17
Week-by-Week Apollo Action Plan
Exactly what to do in Apollo each week, mapped to the GTM ramp schedule
WeekApollo ActionContactsSend Volume
1Create account, Chrome Extension, 2 personas, 2 saved searches, intent topic, lead scores—0 (warmup)
2Browse LinkedIn with Chrome Extension → reveal 350+ SEO agency contacts → build "Airo - SEO Agencies" list350+0 (warmup)
3Extract ICP #1 contacts → Instantly. Start ICP #2 search. Consider upgrading to Basic.500+50-75/day
4Build "Airo - SaaS Founders" list (700+ contacts). Scale to 6 mailboxes. Launch ICP #2 campaign.1,200+100-150/day
5Add ICP #3 search (D2C with Shopify/Klaviyo filter). Use intent data to prioritize warm accounts.2,000+300-400/day
6Continue D2C list build. Refine scoring based on reply data from Weeks 3-4. Remove non-performers.2,500+300-400/day
7Add ICP #4 search (PR agencies). All 4 ICPs now running in parallel.3,000+400-500/day
8Refresh all lists. Exclude replied/bounced. Use saved search alerts for fresh leads. Capture case studies.3,500+400-500/day

The Complete Flow: Apollo → Instantly → Conversion

Apollo (Prospect)
Search → Filter → Reveal → List
Chrome Extension
LinkedIn → Email reveal → Google Sheet
Instantly (Send)
Import CSV → Sequences A/B/C → 15 mailboxes
Unibox (Reply)
Manage replies → Loom demo → Calendar
meetairo.com/check
Free score → Trial signup
Paid Customer
2-3/day → 100 in 8 weeks

Apollo Sequences vs Instantly Sequences

Use Apollo Sequences For
  • LinkedIn connection requests
  • LinkedIn messages after connecting
  • Manual research tasks
  • Call reminders (if upgrading later)

2 free sequences — perfect for LinkedIn warm-up steps

Use Instantly Sequences For
  • All 3-email cold sequences (A/B/C/D)
  • Spintax and mailbox rotation
  • Warmup management
  • Reply tracking and Unibox

15 mailboxes, unlimited sequences, built-in warmup

Volume Targets by ICP

ICPContacts Needed (8 weeks)Primary Apollo FilterExpected Reply Rate
#1 SEO Agencies2,000-2,500Marketing industry, 5-50 emp, SEO keywords4-6% (highest — direct pain)
#2 SaaS Founders1,500-2,000Software industry, Series A/B, 20-200 emp3-4%
#3 D2C Brands1,000-1,500Consumer goods, Shopify tech, 10-200 emp2-3%
#4 PR Agencies500-1,000PR industry, 5-100 emp2-3%
5,000-7,000

Total contacts needed across all 4 ICPs over 8 weeks. Apollo free gives 10K email reveals/month — more than enough for the entire ramp.

Pro tip: Use Apollo's 5,000 free AI Composer credits to generate personalized first lines for your Sequence A emails. Feed the company name and description — it produces spintax-ready openers that mention the prospect's specific niche (e.g., "noticed [company] focuses on technical SEO for SaaS" vs generic "I noticed your agency").
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Airo AI Rank Tracker

meetairo.com | GTM Strategy compiled April 2026

Market data: Grand View Research, Valuates, Latka, TechCrunch, Fortune, Crunchbase, G2.

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