How GrowthSpree Helped CogniSaaS Build a Validated US GTM Through Conversations With ICPs
An early-stage startup, an unvalidated buyer, and a product not yet ready for demos. By letting reply data nominate the ICP, pivoting hard to HRMS, and running 30+ qualified discovery calls, GrowthSpree proved exactly who CogniSaaS should sell to in the US — and that the market would convert.
Key Takeaways
CogniSaaS, an early-stage onboarding SaaS startup, hired GrowthSpree to validate its US buyer assumptions before scaling. Across three months of email and LinkedIn outreach, the data nominated a clear ICP — HRMS companies with Customer Success leaders — and proved the market would convert, even with a product that wasn't yet demo-ready.
- 33% of HRMS discovery calls converted to demos — the headline proof the pivot worked.
- 576 prospects reached across email (244) and LinkedIn (332) in three months.
- 30+ qualified discovery calls booked with a single email seat and a single LinkedIn seat.
- 66.8% email open rate from Lemwarm domain warm-up and Lemlist inbox placement.
- HRMS + Customer Success = the ICP: 8 of 9 demos came from Customer Success titles.
- LinkedIn out-converted email ~2.5× on a demo-rate basis (2.10% vs 0.82%).
The Mission
CogniSaaS is an early-stage SaaS platform that takes the chaos out of customer onboarding for B2B SaaS companies running multiple product modules and dependencies. With its sights set on the United States, the company needed to know one thing before it invested in growth: who, exactly, was the buyer?
The Challenge
CogniSaaS had a strong hypothesis but no proof. It assumed a set of target buyers and a North American positioning, but the product wasn't yet demo-ready and the team had only the leanest of resources — a single email account and a single LinkedIn account. GrowthSpree was brought in to run qualified discovery calls, validate those buyer assumptions, and refine the entire North American outbound motion before a dollar was spent scaling the wrong thing.
Key Challenges Identified
Our Strategy
We treated go-to-market as an experiment to be run, not a plan to be assumed. The objective: validate CogniSaaS's buyer, inform the North American value proposition, and stand up an account-based motion on top of the insights. Channels: personalized cold email and LinkedIn. Primary KPI: qualified discovery calls. The guiding principle — let the data nominate the ICP, then concentrate everything on it.
The GrowthSpree Approach
Rather than force a single thesis, GrowthSpree launched industry-agnostic outreach across the SaaS market with one job: find the segment that pulls hardest. We engineered deliverability first — warming the domain with Lemwarm so messages reached primary inboxes — then ran precise, A/B-tested email via Lemlist and LinkedIn outreach via Dripify, with bespoke personalization for every prospect.
Within two months the signal was unmistakable: HRMS companies responded far above everyone else. We reallocated 70% of effort to HRMS, sharpened the messaging around integration and dependency pain, and — because the product wasn't demo-ready — built the entire motion around discovery calls. GrowthSpree authored the call frameworks and discovery questions, then iterated content after every conversation to keep conversion climbing.
How GrowthSpree Saved the Day
Engineered Deliverability
Lemwarm warmed the fresh domain and Lemlist secured primary-inbox placement — the foundation that turned cold sends into a 66.8% open rate and made every other number possible.
Data-Led ICP Discovery
Industry-agnostic outreach across email and LinkedIn let the market vote. HRMS companies pulled hardest, so we pivoted 70% of effort there — and let response data, not a guess, define the buyer.
Discovery-Call Engine
With no demo to show, conversations were the asset. GrowthSpree built call frameworks and questions, iterating after every call to convert 33% of HRMS discovery calls into demos.
The Validation Journey: From Wide Net to Sharp ICP
Cast wide to find the signal, concentrate where it pulls, then turn conversations into a repeatable conversion motion.
Discover which SaaS verticals actually respond — using one email seat and one LinkedIn seat to reach Customer Success professionals across the broad SaaS landscape.
Warmed the sending domain with Lemwarm, then launched personalized cold email via Lemlist and LinkedIn outreach via Dripify. Outreach was deliberately industry-agnostic, with copy A/B tested and engagement tracked closely so the data — not an assumption — could pick the winner.
Star insight: HRMS companies showed the highest response rates by a wide margin. Instead of forcing a thesis, we let reply data nominate the ICP — the cheapest, fastest way to find product-market pull.
Double down on HRMS — the segment with the strongest pull — and build discovery-call momentum even though the product wasn't ready to demo.
Reallocated 70% of outreach to HRMS companies and rebuilt the messaging around the integration and dependency challenges those teams live with daily, positioning CogniSaaS's onboarding relevance directly against that pain. The ask shifted from a product pitch to a low-friction discovery conversation.
Star insight: When the product isn't demo-ready, discovery calls are the asset. They validate the buyer and the pain, surface the tools prospects use today, and build a warm pipeline for the moment the product ships.
Run a steady cadence of qualified discovery calls in the HRMS niche and convert them into demo calls.
GrowthSpree authored the call frameworks, formulated the discovery questions, and iterated the content after every conversation. Roughly 33–35 discovery calls ran over three months, converting at a remarkable 33% to demo calls within HRMS — building both client confidence and a durable pipeline of right-fit accounts.
Star insight: 8 of 9 demos came from a single job title — Customer Success. The ICP was never just a company type; it was a company type plus a buyer. Pinning both is what makes outbound predictable.
The Results
Conversion (HRMS)
(Email + LinkedIn)
Booked
Over three months, GrowthSpree reached 576 prospects across email and LinkedIn, booked 30+ qualified discovery calls, and converted 33% of HRMS discovery calls into demos — all while the product was still pre-demo. The lasting prize: a validated US ICP — HRMS companies with Customer Success leaders — that now anchors CogniSaaS's go-to-market.
Performance Breakdown
How 576 prospects compounded into a validated ICP and a 33% demo conversion — channel by channel.
| Stage | Count |
|---|---|
| Prospects reached | 576 |
| Engaged (opens + accepts) | 228 |
| Discovery calls | 32 |
| Demo calls | 9 |
| Channel | Reached / sent | Engaged | Discovery calls | Demos | Demo rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn (Dripify) | 332 requests | 65 accepted (19.58%) | 19 | 7 | 2.10% |
| Email (Lemlist) | 244 reached | 163 opened (66.80%) | 13 | 2 | 0.82% |
| Industry | Share of demos |
|---|---|
| HRMS | 50% |
| Finance | 16.7% |
| Operations Management | 16.7% |
| Security & Compliance | 16.7% |
What Made It Work
Four repeatable plays behind a validated US go-to-market.
Let the data pick your ICP
An industry-agnostic launch let the market vote with its replies. HRMS pulled hardest, so 70% of effort followed the signal — far cheaper and faster than defending an unproven assumption.
Discovery calls validate before you scale
With no demo to show, conversations became the asset. They confirmed the buyer and the pain and built a warm pipeline — proving you don't need a finished product to prove a market.
Deliverability is the real unlock
Warming the domain with Lemwarm and placing in primary inboxes with Lemlist produced a 66.8% open rate. Without that foundation, none of the downstream numbers happen.
The right title beats the right company
8 of 9 demos came from Customer Success leaders. The ICP wasn't a company type alone — it was a company type plus a buyer. Pinning both is what makes outbound predictable.
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