The cold outbound machine
An open-source collection of 29 Claude Code skills distilled from 1,000+ real B2B campaigns, organized into five sequential tracks. This is the high-level shape: how strategy, infrastructure, list building, copy, and iteration fit into one machine - and why the order matters more than any single tactic.
The system at a glance
tl;drCold outbound fails far more often on sequence than on tactics. The system encodes a hard order: define the target, earn the inbox, source and score a list, write variations, then measure and iterate. Each track is a set of skills; the value is that they run in the right order, with a quality gate before every expensive step.
The five tracks
exploreEach track owns one phase of the campaign and a handful of skills. Pick one to see what it is responsible for, its core move, and the skills inside it.
Strategy
Decide who you target and why they would be glad to hear from you, before a single email exists.
Turn a vague audience into a sharp ICP plus a reason to reply.
- ICP onboarding
- ICP prompt builder
- Campaign strategy
- Experiment design
- Lead magnet brainstorm
The end-to-end workflow
interactiveThe tracks run as one pipeline. Each stage hands a finished artifact to the next - and a failure upstream starves everything downstream. Watch it cycle, or pin a stage to read it.
ICP
outputs a sharp ICPA conversational intake fixes the ideal customer and the lead magnet they would actually want.
Any one tactic - a better subject line, a richer data source - moves the number a little. Getting the sequence right moves it a lot: a great list sent from un-warmed inboxes still lands in spam, and perfect copy to the wrong ICP still gets ignored.
Where to start
interactiveThe same 29 skills, three entry points. Pick the situation that fits and the system routes you to a different first four moves.
Start at the orchestrator and let it route you to infrastructure or list building based on what you already have.
/cold-email-kickoff
One guided session: ICP, lead magnet, strategy, plan.
Infrastructure or list building
Branch on readiness - inboxes first if you have none.
/positive-reply-scoring
Day 21: measure reply quality, not just opens.
/cold-email-weekly-rhythm
A Mon / Wed / Fri cadence keeps the system alive.
What it costs to run
interactiveCold outbound has a real, modest cost floor: domains, inboxes, a sender platform, and per-campaign data. Drag the list size to see how the three cost shapes - one-time, monthly, and per-campaign - scale.
- Domains 20 x $12 one-time$240 once
- Inboxes + sender 40 inboxes + platform / mo$99 /mo
- Leads + validation 2,000 leads / campaign$25 /run
What carries across
takeawaysFour principles that fall out of the sequence, independent of any tool.
Infrastructure before volume
Deliverability is validated before a single campaign sends. A cold inbox does not get faster by sending more - it gets blacklisted.
Measure reply quality
The north-star metric is positive replies over total sent, not opens. Opens lie; a reply is the only signal that the message landed.
Change one variable
Iteration is structured single-variable experiments, not a rewrite each week. You cannot learn from a test that moved five things at once.
A rhythm, not a sprint
A weekly operating cadence beats volume scaling. The system compounds because it runs every week, not because any one week was huge.
The system is explicit about the line: no consumer email, honor unsubscribes instantly, include a real physical address. The goal is a timely, relevant message to a business buyer - not volume for its own sake.