LeadMeNot · B2B2C · digital wellness and blocking app
Cold email organizations with your personal story and keep asking for 15 minutes
Asbury's 200-license deal and most university deals came from cold outreach
Workedoutbound-sales
What they did
Founder writes cold emails himself, genuine and personal: 'Hey, Jason Mathew, founder of LeadMeNot, created this because of my own struggles. Can we talk?' Follows up persistently asking for just 15 minutes, gets on a video call with slides ready, and keeps it a genuine conversation. Tracks everything in HubSpot and keeps expanding the pipeline (150-200+ deals). In month two of testing Sales.co, an AI cold email service, unsure yet if it beats doing it himself.
What happened
Asbury came in cold with no contacts at the institution; most of the 5-6 universities started cold.
- Stage
- institutional prospecting
- Effort
- 150-200+ deals in pipeline over ~5-6 months
“But like just being really genuine, like, "Hey, Jason Mathew, founder of LeadMeNot, created this because of my own struggles. Can we talk?"”
“following up and being like, "Hey, can we just talk 15 minutes?" and getting on a call, getting on a video call, and just having slides ready”
“I didn't know anyone who worked at the institution, and then some of these were warm, but most of them were just cold.”
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More from this episode
- LeadMeNot: Sell bulk app licenses to universities and churches to give their people5-6 universities and first churches signed in ~6 months; 5-7% of $108K ARR
- LeadMeNot: Pitch Christian universities and churches first, and lead openly with your faithEarly institutional wins are mostly faith-based universities; host calls it the easiest yes
- LeadMeNot: Pitch churches on 'digital wholeness' for their congregation, not porn blockingStill being tested; no numbers yet
- LeadMeNot: Give each organization a code members type in at the paywall for full access150 of 200 licenses redeemed on the spot at a campus talk; ~1 month of dev
- LeadMeNot: Charge organizations through a web payment link and pay 3%, not the app store cutOnly a 3% fee on institutional revenue
- LeadMeNot: Promise buyers a usage dashboard, show a mockup, then quickly build a demoSale closed before the dashboard existed; demo ready by the next meeting
- LeadMeNot: Ask your network, investors and every prospect to introduce you to other buyersOne ministry call produced three intros on the spot
- LeadMeNot: Offer a free 1-2 month pilot to a small group, with success goals agreed upfront3-5 of a 10-man church group found it helpful; elders want it church-wide
- LeadMeNot: Sign organizations for 12 months, and lock the price if they commit for 3 yearsNo renewal data yet; first contracts just signed or sent
- LeadMeNot: Charge early organizations little, to collect logos and stories rather than maximize revenueInstitutions are only 5-7% of ARR so far; partner logos now on the website
- LeadMeNot: Send partner schools ready-made campus marketing materials so students sign up
- LeadMeNot: Bid on a state agency's public request for gambling-blocking softwareAward still pending (decision by October 1)
- LeadMeNot: Quietly pitch the app to your own church while it is Android-onlyFailed: only two members used Android; waited for iOS and multi-device first
- LeadMeNot: Put up a hard paywall: monthly with no trial, free trial only on annualSome users paid $100 just to get past it; founder was surprised
- If fewer than 5% of installs start a trial, switch to a hard paywallHost's first move for such clients; niche hard-paywall apps reach 10-20% install-to-paid
- LeadMeNot: Grow an Android-only app with Google ads, then add Apple ads and MetaHost says Google alone hit revenue milestones; no figures; Meta not yet profitable