Stage 1: tool setup
Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Desktop, repo creation, commit/push workflow, and error notes.
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100Hires · three-stage project
A research assignment that grew into a practical cold-outreach playbook.
I started by learning the tools, then researched ten practitioners across the B2B SaaS outbound pipeline. In the final stage, I had to stop summarising other people and decide what I actually agreed with, rejected, and would use.
Repo proof
All three stages are visible in the public GitHub repository.
You can follow the project from tool setup, through source research, to the final playbook and the choices behind it.
16Markdown files in the current public repository.
10Practitioners selected across distinct outbound pipeline stages.
9LinkedIn post files saved and manually checked against originals.
3YouTube transcripts collected and organized for source review.
Current public repository checked on GitHub. It includes the README, final playbook, saved LinkedIn posts, source notes, and YouTube transcripts.
Stage 2: research project
Ten practitioners mapped across the B2B SaaS cold-outreach pipeline, with sources saved and checked.
Stage 3: build a point of view
A practical playbook with three expert disagreements, two rejected ideas, two original observations, and an honest weaknesses section.
Manual verification
LinkedIn posts were checked against originals because automated extraction can drop or change words.
AI use disclosure
Claude helped fetch/draft, but source choices, exclusions, and final notes were reviewed by Amrutha.
What changed in Stage 3The assignment moved beyond collecting good sources. I had to compare conflicting advice, choose a side, explain what did not fit a small team, and add ideas from my own outreach experience.
Pipeline map
The expert set was selected to avoid repetition.
Each source owns a distinct layer of the same outbound process.
Account selection
Mark Colgan: account selection, channels, AI-assisted research, data quality.
Qualified list
Jan Brochwicz: ICP matrix, segmentation, disqualifiers, persona mapping.
Signal context
Anthony Natoli: turning a funding, hiring, or launch signal into a real reason to reach out.
Cold email
Jason Bay and Josh Braun: outbound frameworks, neutral questions, useful follow-up.
Phone + social
Kevin Hopp and Laura Erdem: permission-based cold calls and LinkedIn/social selling tied to pipeline.
Quality + deliverability
Petr Kaliuzhny, Nick Abraham, and Jen Allen-Knuth: sequence QA, inbox placement, and discovery/qualification.
Stage 3
The final step was about having an opinion, not adding more links.
The playbook shows where the experts disagree, where I land, and where their advice stops being useful for a small B2B SaaS team.
Choose a side.
I compared three genuine disagreements and explained which approach I would use for a small team.
Reject what does not fit.
Agency-scale infrastructure and a discovery framework forced into a cold opener both got left out.
Add something of my own.
I used a real campaign to argue that target choice often does more work than teams give it credit for.
Turn it into a routine.
The second original idea became a five-touch stack that a small team could actually repeat.
Say what is missing.
The playbook is clear about its limits: it goes deep on list building, not the entire outbound system.
Keep the trail visible.
The sources, saved posts, transcripts, edits, and final reasoning all remain open for review on GitHub.
Why this project matters
The final playbook is more useful than the research folder on its own.
It shows that I can collect evidence, notice where advice conflicts, make a decision, and turn the result into something a small team could use.
Three stagesTool setup, practitioner research, then an opinionated playbook.
Clear trade-offsThree disagreements and two explicit rejections.
Original thinkingTwo ideas drawn from real outreach work.
Open workThe sources and full playbook are public on GitHub.