PubLoft
Mat Sherman's journey to PubLoft started unconventionally. After graduating college and working briefly as a sales development rep at an event production company, he quit impulsively and stumbled into freelance writing. He began charging $20 per article, gradually raising rates to $100 as he secured more clients. Over 11 months, he built a modest writing business, but health issues forced him to shut down.
Months later, Mat revived the idea with co-founder Jeremy, implementing crucial changes: raising article prices to $500 and structuring it as a marketplace. Instead of Mat freelancing individually, PubLoft would hire writers and sell managed blog services to startups at $2,000/month. Each client got four blog posts monthly, a dedicated team of 1-2 writers, and an Account Executive. Mat focused on sales while Jeremy handled operations and customer support.
Mat's breakthrough came through cold email. He targeted 300 startups from YCList (YCombinator's directory) using Mailshake and his personal sales pitch. While only two customers came directly from that campaign, the strategy led to a connection with Jeremy Cai, who became their first major customer and introduced them to 500 Startups. Mat also kept Y Combinator founder Jason Calacanis updated via cold emails about progress, eventually getting invited to his podcast. This led to a $100K investment from Jason in 2019.
PubLoft's success formula was clear: cold email + personal sales + premium pricing on writer services. Mat grew the business from $0 to $5K MRR in 11 months solo, then to $24K MRR within seven months after raising prices and adding Jeremy. However, post-funding, everything unraveled. Mat and Jeremy shifted focus to fundraising, hiring a full-time salesperson instead of continuing the cold email playbook that had worked. They spent recklessly—$5K on LinkedIn automation, $4K/month on accelerator housing, overpaid writers at $200-400 per post. When their biggest client got acquired and dropped services, the business had no sustainable growth engine. Tension between the co-founders and cash burn meant payroll ended within months of receiving funding.
PubLoft shut down after losing the $100K investment entirely. Mat later founded Seedscout, a platform helping founders grow their professional networks and connect with investors, motivated by his realization that fundraising success depends more on network than merit.
- •Cold email to a highly targeted audience of founders combined with personal relationship-building created initial traction because founders inherently understand scrappy sales tactics and respond to authentic outreach from peers.
- •Premium pricing ($500 articles, $2K/month subscriptions) established PubLoft as a quality service rather than a commodity, which justified direct sales effort and attracted customers willing to commit long-term.
- •The founder's willingness to stay hands-on with the core growth channel (Mat doing personal sales) meant continuous feedback loops that refined messaging and customer fit without intermediaries diluting the signal.
- •The marketplace model solved a real pain point Mat experienced directly—scaling a writing business—which translated into a product that resonated with similar founders facing the same growth problem.
- 1.Identify a high-quality, narrow audience list (like YCList) and send 200-300 personalized cold emails with a specific offer, then track which conversations convert and iterate the message based on real responses.
- 2.Price your service at a premium level (3-5x what you initially think is reasonable) and let your personal sales conversations validate whether that price is defensible; adjust only based on actual market feedback, not assumptions.
- 3.As the founder, own the sales channel personally for the first 6-12 months and resist the urge to hire a salesperson until you have repeatable proof that your pitch works when delivered by someone else.
- 4.Structure your offering as a managed service or marketplace rather than hourly/per-unit billing, which naturally requires direct sales conversations and creates defensible unit economics that attract co-founder partners.
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