Two-Track Lead Pipeline
Built for Leo
A 15-step pipeline with two independent tracks -- funded founders via Crunchbase and channel partners via Sales Navigator -- converging into verified, tiered campaigns across UK and USA.
Sending Infrastructure: Ready to Launch
Dedicated sending domains purchased and configured with SPF/DKIM/DMARC for both Track A and Track B campaigns. Warmup completed across all domains with 95%+ deliverability scores. Campaigns can begin immediately.
Ideal Customer Profiles
Phellos operates a two-track model because Leo's service has two distinct entry points: founders who need due diligence help directly, and financial professionals who refer their portfolio companies. Each track has its own sourcing strategy.
Track A: Funded Startup Founders (Priority 1)
Who: Startup founders/CEOs who have recently raised funding (Series A, B, or Seed)
Industries: Software, Financial Services, AI, IT, Health Care
Size: 5-500 employees
Geography: United Kingdom + United States
Founded: 2019-2024
Trigger: Recently funded = they need financial due diligence help NOW
Track B: Channel Partners (Priority 2)
Who: VCs, PE professionals, investment managers, and capital markets professionals
Titles: Partner, General Partner, Managing Partner, Principal, Managing Director, Investment Director, Head of Portfolio, Portfolio Director
Geography: United Kingdom + United States
Why: One VC partner with 50 portfolio companies is worth 50 individual leads. They REFER startups to Leo.
Why Two Tracks?
Track A uses Crunchbase first because funding is the qualifying signal. If a company just raised, they need due diligence help. Crunchbase has verified funding data that no other source provides. We find companies first, then discover founders via Prospeo.
Track B uses Sales Navigator first because industry + title is the qualifying signal. We need to find people with specific job titles (Partner, Managing Director) in specific industries (VC, PE, Investment Management). LinkedIn is the only source for this.
Lead Segments
Track A sources funded founders from Crunchbase. Track B splits channel partners into 4 industry-specific segments on Sales Navigator, each with carefully crafted sub-searches to maximize coverage.
Track A: Funded Founders
ICP 5: Funded Startup Founders
Recently funded startups (Series A, B, Seed) across Software, Financial Services, AI, IT, and Health Care. 5-500 employees, founded 2019-2024, UK + USA. Sourced from Crunchbase with verified funding data, then founders discovered via Prospeo. Also parallel Sales Nav search to catch founders Crunchbase might miss.
Track B: 4 Channel Partner Segments
ICP 1: VC & Private Equity
Partners, GPs, Managing Directors, and Principals at VC and PE firms. 4 sub-searches across UK + USA, split by geography and seniority. ~8,000 raw leads, ~500 unique after dedup.
ICP 2: Investment Management
Investment directors and portfolio managers at investment management firms. 4 sub-searches. ~6,500 raw leads, ~400 unique after dedup.
ICP 3: Capital Markets
Managing directors and principals in capital markets. 4 sub-searches. ~8,000 raw leads, ~350 unique after dedup.
ICP 4: Investment Banking
Managing directors and senior bankers. 2 sub-searches. ~3,500 raw leads, ~200 unique after dedup.
Track B totals
14 sub-searches across 4 ICPs. ~26,000 raw leads from Sales Navigator, ~1,500 unique after dedup. Each sub-search stays under the 2,500 Sales Nav result cap by splitting on geography, seniority, and posted-on-LinkedIn filters.
The Pipeline We Built
Every lead passes through a multi-stage pipeline -- sourced from the right platform for their track, qualified, deduplicated, enriched through a 3-layer email waterfall, verified, scored by AI, deep-researched by autonomous agents, and deployed into tiered campaigns.
Two-Track Architecture
We run two independent sourcing tracks that merge at the enrichment phase. Each track uses the platform best suited for its qualifying signal.
Track A: Crunchbase + Prospeo (Funded Founders)
Why Crunchbase first: Funding is the qualifying signal. If they just raised, they need financial due diligence. Crunchbase has verified funding amounts, round types, and dates that no other source provides. We find funded companies, then discover founders via Prospeo Search Person API.
Flow: Crunchbase → Prospeo Search Person → Expandi → Apollo → MillionVerifier → Tier → Research → Campaign
Track B: Sales Nav + HeyReach (Channel Partners)
Why Sales Nav first: Industry + title is the qualifying signal. We need people with specific roles (Partner, Managing Director) in specific industries (VC, PE, Investment Management). LinkedIn is the only source for this combination of filters.
Flow: Sales Nav → HeyReach → Dedup → Expandi → Apollo → Prospeo → MillionVerifier → Tier → Research → Campaign
Source: Two Independent Tracks
Track A sources funded companies from Crunchbase. Track B builds 14 sub-searches across 4 industries in LinkedIn Sales Navigator, scraped via HeyReach.
What we did: Set up targeted searches in Crunchbase Pro with Leo's ICP filters -- Software, Financial Services, AI, IT, and Health Care industries. 5-500 employees, Series A/B/Seed funding, founded 2019-2024, for-profit, active, private companies in UK + USA. Funded in the past 2 years. Scraped results using Instant Data Scraper to avoid burning Crunchbase export credits.
Why Crunchbase first for Track A
Funding is the qualifying signal for Leo's service. Companies that just raised need financial due diligence. Crunchbase has verified funding amounts, round types, investor names, and dates -- data that LinkedIn and Apollo simply don't have. We start with the funding signal, then find the people.
| Filter | Value |
|---|---|
| Industries | Software, Financial Services, AI, IT, Health Care |
| Geography | United Kingdom + United States |
| Employees | 5-500 |
| Founded | 2019-2024 |
| Funding Type | Series A, Series B, Seed |
| Last Funded | Past 2 years |
| Company Type | For Profit, Active, Private |
Result: Funded companies matching Leo's ICP with revenue, funding, headcount, and investor data attached.
What we did: Crunchbase gives companies, not people. We used the Prospeo Search Person API to find CEOs, Founders, and Co-Founders at each funded company by domain. Prospeo searches 200M+ professional profiles and returns LinkedIn URLs.
Result: Founders/CEOs discovered with personal LinkedIn URLs, ready for enrichment.
What we did: Built 14 highly targeted searches in LinkedIn Sales Navigator across 4 channel partner industries. Each sub-search uses tight ICP filters -- industry, geography, title inclusion/exclusion, seniority level, and splits to stay under the 2,500 result cap.
| Filter | Value |
|---|---|
| Title Include | Partner, General Partner, Managing Partner, Principal, Managing Director, Investment Director, Head of Portfolio, Portfolio Director |
| Title Exclude | Advisor, Board Member, Consultant, Fractional, Intern, Associate, Analyst, Operating Partner, Limited Partner, Venture Partner |
| Industries | 4 segments (VC & PE, Investment Mgmt, Capital Markets, Investment Banking) |
| Geography | United Kingdom + United States |
Result: 14 search URLs saved. ~26,000 raw results total across all sub-searches.
What we did: Imported each Sales Navigator search URL into HeyReach to extract lead data (name, title, company, LinkedIn URL) as downloadable CSVs.
Result: 14 raw CSVs containing ~26,000 leads total (heavy overlap expected between sub-searches).
Qualify: Dedup, Filter, Merge Tracks
Track A filters to verified founders at funded companies. Track B deduplicates 26,000 raw leads down to ~1,500 unique channel partners. Both tracks are cleaned and prepared for enrichment.
What we did: Track A: Verified funding data matches Crunchbase criteria, filtered to founder/CEO titles only. Track B: Merged all 14 raw CSVs, deduplicated by LinkedIn URL, removed excluded titles (Advisor, Board Member, Consultant, Fractional, Intern, Associate, Analyst, Operating Partner, Limited Partner, Venture Partner).
Result: Track B: ~26,000 raw leads deduplicated to ~1,500 unique channel partners. Track A: Funded founders verified and cleaned.
Enrich: 3-Layer Email Waterfall
Both tracks merge here. We run every lead through a 3-layer email discovery waterfall -- starting with the cheapest tool and escalating only for leads where previous layers failed.
Email Discovery Waterfall
Step 1: Expandi (Personal Emails)
Finds personal Gmail/Outlook addresses from LinkedIn profiles. Founders read personal inbox more than corporate -- 2-3x higher reply rates. Hit rate: 40-50%. Free, included in plan.
Step 2: Apollo (Primary Backfill)
Runs on all Expandi misses. Apollo has 5,000 credits/month so it runs first on the backfill. Expected hit rate: 54-70% of remaining leads.
Step 3: Prospeo Enrich (Fallback)
Runs on Apollo misses only. 2,000 credits/month. Prospeo only charges on successful matches, making it safe for the long tail. Final catch for remaining leads.
Why waterfall order matters
Expandi (included in plan, free) catches 40-50% first. Then Apollo (most credits, 5K/mo). Then Prospeo Enrich (only charges on match). Reverse this order and you spend significantly more for the same coverage.
Verify: Protect Domain Reputation
Every email address is verified through MillionVerifier before it touches a campaign. Only OK-status emails make it through. No bounces, no domain risk.
What we did: Merged all enriched leads from both tracks, deduplicated by email, and ran every address through MillionVerifier. Only kept "OK" status -- rejected catch-all (spam traps hide here), risky, unknown, invalid, and disposable addresses.
Why OK-only (never catch-all)
Catch-all domains accept any email -- including spam traps. A single spam trap hit can crater deliverability for all sending domains. OK-status only is non-negotiable.
Expected pass rate: 70-85% show "OK" status.
Tier: AI-Powered Lead Scoring
Every lead is scored using a multi-signal AI system and assigned T1 (dossier), T2 (segment), or T3 (volume). Higher tiers get exponentially more investment in research and personalization.
Scoring Signals
Track A (Crunchbase) has funding data so can score higher. Track B (Sales Nav) uses industry + title + geography. Both tracks produce T1 leads.
| Signal | Points | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Funded (Series A/B/Seed confirmed) | +40 | Funding = they need due diligence now |
| Financial services industry fit | +30 | Leo's core expertise and client base |
| Founder/CEO title | +25 | Decision-maker who can engage Leo directly |
| 5-500 employees (sweet spot) | +25 | Big enough to need help, small enough to not have in-house |
| UK + USA market | +20 | Leo's operating geography |
| Raised in past 2 years | +20 | Recent raise = active due diligence need |
| Software / AI / Health Care industry | +15 | High-growth sectors with frequent raises |
| Has company website | +5 | Legitimacy signal + enables website research |
Research: 3-Layer AI Intelligence
T1 leads get deep-researched through 3 layers of AI intelligence -- website scraping, founder/partner research, and autonomous agent dossiers. This is where generic outreach becomes hyper-personalized.
Layer 1: FireCrawl
Website Intelligence
Scrapes each T1 company's website. Maps the site, extracts hiring signals, funding announcements, portfolio pages, and product launch data.
Layer 2: Exa
Person Intelligence
AI-powered neural search for press mentions, conference talks, LinkedIn posts, podcast appearances, and investment announcements. Finds things Google misses.
Layer 3: Sherlock
Autonomous AI Agent
OpenClaw agent running Opus on dedicated Mac Mini hardware. Gets all prior research as context, then independently investigates -- following threads, reading transcripts, discovering deal stories.
7+ Tools & AI Agents
This is not manual work. We deployed a full technology stack plus custom AI agents to build, enrich, research, and personalize at scale.
Sourcing & Lead Discovery
Sales Nav provides industry + title filters for channel partners. HeyReach scrapes the results. Crunchbase verifies funding for Track A. Prospeo discovers founders at funded companies. Data Scraper extracts Crunchbase results without burning export credits.
Email Enrichment & Verification
3-layer waterfall: Expandi finds personal emails from LinkedIn (40-50% hit, free). Apollo backfills (54-70% of remaining). Prospeo catches the rest (only charges on match). MillionVerifier rejects anything that isn't OK-status.
AI-Powered Research & Automation
FireCrawl scrapes company websites for hiring/growth/funding signals. Exa neural-searches for press, podcasts, and investment activity. Sherlock independently investigates each T1 lead. Claude Code orchestrates the entire pipeline.
Outreach & Campaign Deployment
Instantly runs tiered email campaigns. HeyReach runs LinkedIn connection campaigns for T1 multi-channel and no-email leads.
3-Layer Waterfall Details
The waterfall runs in order of cost-efficiency. Each layer only processes leads that the previous layer missed.
Layer 1: Expandi
40-50% hit rate on personal emails
Free -- included in existing plan
Personal Gmail/Outlook addresses from LinkedIn profiles
Layer 2: Apollo
54-70% hit rate on Expandi misses
5,000 credits/month
Primary backfill -- largest credit pool
Layer 3: Prospeo Enrich
Fallback for Apollo misses
2,000 credits/month
Only charges on successful match -- safe for long tail
2 Outreach Approaches
Each track gets a different approach tailored to the relationship type -- direct service for funded founders, referral partnership for channel partners.
Track A: Podcast Invite (Funded Founders)
Non-threatening entry. Invite founders to share their funding story on a podcast for startup leaders. Surface due diligence pain during recording, transition to consultation off-air.
Highest trust, natural discovery of pain.
Track B: Referral Partnership (Channel Partners)
Position Leo as a resource for their portfolio companies. VCs and investment managers regularly encounter companies going through due diligence -- Leo is the expert they can recommend.
One partner = many referrals over time.
Tiered Email Templates
Templates across both tracks and all tiers, plus segment-specific variants for funded founders and each channel partner industry.
Track A: Funded Founder Templates
Subject: {{first_name}}, your funding journey would make a great episode
Hi {{first_name}},
I host a podcast where I interview founders navigating the financial complexities of scaling a funded company. {{recent_milestone}} caught my eye -- not many companies handle that transition smoothly.
It's a 30-minute conversation about the financial realities of growth -- due diligence, board reporting, the stuff nobody talks about publicly.
Would you be open to a quick recording? I can work around your schedule.
Subject: Quick podcast invite for recently funded founders
I interview startup founders about the financial side of scaling -- the due diligence, the board prep, the reporting that gets complicated fast after a raise. Would love to hear your perspective. 30-minute conversation, nothing formal.
Track B: Channel Partner Templates
Subject: Resource for {{company_name}} portfolio companies going through due diligence
Hi {{first_name}},
I help startups get through financial due diligence -- the process that trips up most founders after a raise. Clean financials, proper reporting, board-ready numbers.
Do any of your portfolio companies need help getting their financial house in order? I work with companies at the {{funding_stage}} stage specifically.
Subject: Due diligence support for your portfolio companies
Quick question -- do any of the companies you work with struggle with financial due diligence? Most startups after a raise need help getting their reporting, compliance, and financial operations up to standard. I specialize in exactly that.
Follow-Up Sequence (All Tiers)
Hi {{first_name}}, circling back on this. If the timing is off, no worries. But if you or your portfolio companies are dealing with financial due diligence challenges, even a quick conversation could save months of headaches.
{{first_name}}, last note on this. I know your inbox is busy. If this isn't relevant right now, feel free to ignore and I will not follow up again.
Campaign Architecture
Tiered campaigns across both tracks -- each with custom sequences, timing, and messaging tailored to the recipient's track and tier.
What we did: Built tiered campaigns across both tracks. Track A (funded founders) uses podcast invite approach. Track B (channel partners) uses referral partnership approach. Each tier gets different messaging intensity.
Why separate campaigns per track?
A funded founder and a VC partner need completely different messaging. The founder needs to hear about solving their due diligence pain. The VC needs to hear about being a resource for their portfolio. Mixing them in one campaign kills personalization.
What we did: Synchronized email + LinkedIn sequences for T1 leads across both tracks.
Day 1-2
LinkedIn profile view + connection request (no pitch)
Day 3
Email 1 drops (personalized from dossier research)
Day 5-7
LinkedIn message after connection accepted
Day 8-14
Email follow-ups continue + LinkedIn engagement
Spam-Safe Email Rules
Domain Health
- Domains verified before any campaign launches
- SPF, DKIM, DMARC configured on every domain
- Warmup period completed before sending
Sending Limits
- Max 30-40 emails/domain/day during ramp
- 3-5 minute random delays between sends
- Weekend sends disabled (Mon-Fri only)
Content Rules
- No links in first email (text-only)
- No images, no HTML formatting
- Subject lines under 50 characters
- No spam trigger words (free, guarantee, act now)
List Hygiene
- All emails verified through MillionVerifier
- Only OK-status emails enter campaigns
- Bounce rate monitored -- auto-pause at 3%+
Credit & Cost Audit
Every tool, every credit, every dollar -- fully accounted for.
| Tool | Usage | Est. Cost | What You Get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crunchbase Pro | Funded company searches | Existing plan | Verified funding data for Track A |
| Prospeo API | Founder discovery + enrichment | 2K credits/mo | Founder emails + LinkedIn URLs |
| HeyReach | 14 Sales Nav scrapes + LinkedIn campaigns | Existing plan | ~26K raw leads scraped + LinkedIn sequences |
| Expandi | Email extraction (all leads) | Existing plan | Personal emails (40-50% hit rate) |
| Apollo | Email backfill | 5K credits/mo | 54-70% hit rate on Expandi misses |
| MillionVerifier | All email verification | ~$29-49 | Only verified emails enter campaigns |
| FireCrawl | T1 website scraping | Existing plan | Company website intelligence |
| Sherlock (AI) | T1 dossiers | Existing plan | Deep research briefs per T1 lead |
| Instantly | Email campaigns | Existing plan | Tiered email sequences + analytics |
Complete Execution Checklist
Every step of the pipeline with tools, inputs, and outputs.
| # | Action | Tool | Track |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1A | Source funded companies | Crunchbase + DataScraper | A |
| 1B | Find founders at funded companies | Prospeo Search Person | A |
| 2A | Build 14 Sales Nav sub-searches | Sales Navigator | B |
| 2B | Scrape each sub-search | HeyReach | B |
| 3 | Dedup, filter bad titles, verify funding | Claude Code | Both |
| 4 | Find personal emails (Layer 1) | Expandi | Both |
| 5 | Fill gaps (Layer 2) | Apollo | Both |
| 6 | Fill gaps (Layer 3) | Prospeo Enrich | Both |
| 7 | No-email leads to LinkedIn | HeyReach | Both |
| 8 | Verify all emails | MillionVerifier | Both |
| 9 | Tier leads T1/T2/T3 | Claude AI Scoring | Both |
| 10-12 | Deep research (T1 only) | FireCrawl + Exa + Sherlock | Both |
| 13 | Build email campaigns | Instantly | Both |
| 14 | LinkedIn overlay (T1) | HeyReach + LinkedIn | Both |
| 15 | Launch + monitor | Instantly + HeyReach | Both |
Ready to Launch
Two-track pipeline built. Funded founders sourced from Crunchbase with verified funding data. Channel partners identified across 4 industries with 14 sub-searches. AI research layers ready. All that's left is pressing send.
Questions? Reply to this report or message us directly.
Dopamine Digital -- Leo (Phellos Consultancy)