HowTheyGotUsersHowTheyGotUsers

Make It Personal, Not Personalized

Make It Personal, Not Personalized is a cold outreach tactic for getting your first users: A messaging standard where you lead with a sharp reason you can help this exact person, instead of token flattery or a segment-level mail-merge that everyone has learned to ignore.

It's a strong fit for teams of almost any kind, and works especially well for any. As a cold outreach play, plan for medium effort and expect results to build gradually over time, all grounded in 4 linked primary sources.

Cold outreachMedium effortSlow

Why does cold outreach work for this?

Most buyers don't care whether AI helped draft your note, but they reward copy that is genuinely relevant to them, and a real reason to talk beats surface-level customization every time.

The exact steps (4)

The full step-by-step this founder ran, what they posted, where, and in what order, plus the watch-outs, is part of the library.

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Sources

Works for
Any / universal

Frequently asked

How is the "Make It Personal, Not Personalized" tactic verified?
It is drawn from 4 primary sources — real founder write-ups and interviews, not generic advice. They are linked in the Sources section above so you can read the original accounts yourself.
How much effort is it and how fast are results?
It is medium effort, and results tend to be slow.
Where can I see the exact step-by-step?
The full step-by-step a founder ran, documented via AI and The Future of Sales, Marketing & CS with HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan and James Milsom Interview: Cold Email Best Practices, is in the paid library.

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