Guides
These guides cover three jobs: finding a buying signal, working out who to contact, and writing the first email. Start with the buying signals guide, then read the rest in any order. Each one is short enough to read before the 7am digest lands.
Short, practical guides to buying signals, ICPs and writing the email only you can write. We do the boring research. You do the human bit, and these cover the human bit.
Find the signal
What are buying signals? A founder's guide
What buying signals are, the main types, and how a founder can act on them.
Read itHow to find buying signals (without a second job)
Which public signals to watch, where to look, and how to turn one into a why-now line.
Read itSignal-based vs list-based prospecting: which wins?
What each approach is good and bad at, side by side, for a founder with limited hours.
Read it
Funding rounds
How to find companies that just raised funding
Where funding rounds show up, how to check them against your ICP, and what to write.
Read itBest time to reach out after a funding round
When to write after a raise, what a raise does and doesn't prove, and a four-stage sequence.
Read itFunding round outreach: skip the "congrats"
A short template for writing to a company that just raised, without leading with congratulations.
Read itWho to contact at a company that just raised
How company size and what you sell decide who to email, plus opt-out basics.
Read it
Write the message
How to define your ICP in 15 minutes (template)
A one-page ICP template for B2B founders, with a worked example and common mistakes.
Read itHow to write a "why now" line that gets replies
A formula, examples by signal, and the mistakes that sink cold emails.
Read itHow to write a first cold email that isn't AI slop
The tells of a robotic email, a five-part structure under 90 words, and rules that keep it human.
Read it
Related reading
How Outrun works
How overnight buying signals become a digest of leads at 7am.
Read itSignals and sources
The buying signals Outrun tracks and where each comes from.
Read itWhat is a buying signal? A plain definition
A short definition, one worked example, and what a buying signal is not.
Read itFounder-led sales: a 20-minute weekday routine
A weekday routine for founders, starting with the 7am digest.
Read itBuying signals vs static lead lists: which to use
Static lead lists tell you who exists. Buying signals tell you why now.
Read itBlog
Every post, newest first.
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