When Palico first came to us at ColdIQ, we instantly recognized a familiar challenge: a strong business model, a motivated sales team, and a growing marketplace, but all bottlenecked by the exhausting reality of manual outbound.
Palico, for context, isn’t just another fintech.
Since 2011, they’ve been the digital marketplace for LP-led secondaries – essentially where smaller and mid-sized investors buy and sell fund positions. Today, their platform connects over 2,000 accredited investors, and in 2024 alone, they’ve already listed more than $1 billion in secondary sales and 200+ fund positions.
The foundation was solid. The product was trusted. The problem was clear:
The challenge: Personalization at scale
Palico’s sales team, led by Paloma, was determined to break through crowded inboxes. They knew personalization mattered, but with fewer than 20 people on the entire team, doing it manually was eating up hours they didn’t have.
Every prospect required painstaking research. Every email was crafted one-by-one. Meanwhile, emails were going out from their main domain, which put deliverability and brand reputation at risk.
Scalability was the missing ingredient. Palico didn’t just need more volume. They needed a professional-grade outbound system that kept personalization intact without draining resources.
The process: Rebuilding outbound from the ground up
At ColdIQ, we approached Palico’s challenge in five layers. The goal wasn’t to just automate for the sake of it. It was to design outbound that felt tailored, safe, and consistent.
1. Infrastructure & Deliverability
The first step was simple but critical: protect the main domain. We set up dedicated outreach domains with proper authentication.
That way, Palico’s sender reputation stayed intact, ensuring every campaign had the best chance of landing in the inbox.
2. Data collection & Enrichment
Instead of spending hours copy-pasting names, we integrated tools like WebScraper and ScrapeStorm to gather contact data at scale. Then, using Crunchbase, we enriched leads with firmographic details (fund type, size, region), ensuring outreach went only to the right people.
3. Personalization & Targeting
With Clay, personalization stopped being a bottleneck.
Dynamic fields like industry focus, recent activity, or location made every email feel like it was written just for that prospect, without Paloma’s team burning hours on research.
4. Sequencing & Sending
Rather than one-off emails, we set up multi-step campaigns through Smartlead. Sequences included timed follow-ups, subject line variations, and A/B tested copy.
The system tracked replies, opens, and conversions in real time.
5. Reporting & Optimization
Finally, the loop was closed with weekly performance reports. We flagged which messages drove responses, suggested new angles, and optimized continuously.
Paloma put it best: “Right now, we just kind of go on autopilot, and all we receive are just the positive leads.”
The results: From week two onward
The transformation was immediate. By the second week of campaigns, Palico’s inbox looked very different:
- 6–15 positive replies every week
- Daily leads from outbound
- 3 new clients closed directly from early replies
And it wasn’t just about numbers. It was about rhythm.
Instead of spending hours prospecting, Palico’s lean team now focuses on conversations and closing. Outbound stopped being a grind and started feeling like having an extra team member who never gets tired.
Beyond the numbers: A shift in mindset
For Palico, outbound went from being a chore to being a competitive advantage. The collaboration didn’t just save time.
It professionalized their sales engine:
- Outreach domains → safer, more reliable sending
- Data scraping + enrichment → higher-quality targeting
- Clay personalization → emails that actually stand out
- Smartlead sequencing → consistent, measurable campaigns
- Reporting → constant iteration, not guesswork
Paloma summed it up: “It’s almost like expanding the sales team and having an extra resource in-house. Very time efficient for us.”
Closing thoughts
Palico’s story shows that even companies with strong momentum can stall if outbound isn’t scalable. Manual work creates friction. But with the right mix of systems and expertise, outbound transforms from a bottleneck into a growth lever.
For Palico, the ColdIQ partnership delivered:
- Professionalized outbound infrastructure
- Scalable personalization and targeting
- Consistent streams of qualified leads
- Closed clients within weeks, not months
The biggest lesson? Outbound doesn’t have to be draining. With the right setup, it feels like having another salesperson on your team, one who works around the clock, never loses focus, and keeps delivering day after day.
If you want to build a predictable outbound engine that delivers real pipeline fast, book a GTM Strategy Call with ColdIQ today. Let’s design your next growth breakthrough.
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