Instantly.ai

Rock Ivan wasn't new to the startup game, but his early successes taught him complacency was dangerous. In 2021, he decided to launch an outbound sales agency alongside co-founder Nils and a small team. The idea was straightforward: help companies generate leads through cold outreach. By the summer, the agency was generating $10-15k MRR. To manage client campaigns, they needed cold email software. But every tool they tried—Lemlist and others—charged per email account. As the agency scaled and they needed more accounts, costs exploded. "It just got to the point we were paying like thousands a month," Rock recalls. That's when they decided to build their own.

Sumit, the developer, joined through Reddit. Rock had posted in the co-founder subreddit two years earlier looking for a technical co-founder. They'd attempted a travel startup that failed due to COVID, but stayed in touch. When Rock reached out again in July 2021, Sumit was game. Together with two other marketing-minded co-founders from the agency, they built an MVP of what would become Instantly.ai. The split was deliberate: Sumit took 50% for building the core product, while the three marketing co-founders split the remaining 50%, recognizing that execution mattered as much as code. They built it specifically to solve their own pain point—no per-account pricing, just one flat rate.

The first 20 customers weren't acquired through marketing genius—they were the agency's existing clients. Rock and the team had credibility: they'd already used Instantly internally and proven it worked. Converting them to SaaS customers was natural. By May 2021, Instantly hit $15k MRR. At that point, Rock made a hard call. The agency was now generating $30-40k MRR, solid recurring revenue. But walking through Barcelona with co-founder Nils, they had an epiphany: "Why are we doing this? We have something unique, it's growing so fast. Why are we wasting time on something that brings money but doesn't have the potential?" They decided to shut down the agency entirely and go all-in on Instantly, though the offboarding took 2-3 months so they wouldn't abandon clients.

Their growth strategy had three pillars. First, they launched on AppSumo, a decision Rock explicitly warns against for most companies but admits was crucial for their visibility. AppSumo brought 3,000 users into their Facebook group—a critical mass. They funneled AppSumo users into "Cold Email Masterclass," their branded community (named for Facebook SEO, not company recognition). That group now has 6,000 members and drives consistent engagement.

Second, they used their own tool. Rock and the team sent thousands of emails daily to prospects, testing subject lines and copy angles. The winning formula was brutally simple: "Hey [name], we built a tool that helped us get 100k MRR in a few months. Do you wanna see if we can do the same for you? Mind if I send more info?" That's it. Short, scannable, targeted by audience (different angles for SaaS founders vs. recruiters). Rock stressed that subject lines don't matter—it's copy and targeting.

Third, content became their acceleration lever. By October (nine months after launch), content marketing had become "huge, huge," with Twitter presence, YouTube videos, documentation, and the Facebook group doing the real work. They were sending hundreds of thousands of emails daily with Instantly and converting a steady stream.

AppSumo had a dark side: it brought low-quality customers. Lifetime deals attracted deal-hunters, not long-term users. Rock learned to exclude those from his 2,900 customer count—all of them are paying monthly subscribers. With monthly churn at 10%, they've been laser-focused on retention. When users try to cancel, they get a Typeform survey asking why and if anything would bring them back. Most say pricing. Now, they proactively reach out before churn happens, offering one-on-one calls or webinars when they notice inactivity.

Nine months after pivoting, Instantly was doing $200k MRR ($2.4M ARR) with 2,900 customers at ~$70 average per month. The team had grown to 15 people—four core, six-seven on support (a priority), and two full-time developers (recently doubled from one). Investors were knocking, offering non-dilutive funding worth millions, but Rock refused. "We're not paying anything for acquisition," he said. "It's so cheap." Using his own tool eliminated paid advertising costs, and the bootstrap approach kept them hungry and focused.

At 33, single, and getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night, Rock had learned the hard way not to get complacent. His advice to his 20-year-old self: keep pushing, even when things go well.