how to find any decision-maker and actually reach them

when you become an entrepreneur, you constantly need to find the right people

and over time, I’ve developed a playbook for how to do it effectively

this works in both B2B and B2C

the only difference is that in B2B, these people are your end customers, so finding them converts directly into money

in B2C, it’s more about partnerships in all kinds of forms: technical integrations, media partnerships, exchanging expertise, connections, or anything else that creates value

the first step is understanding which big players already have the audience you need, what they need, and how that can be turned into money

now let’s get to the point

how do you actually find the personal contacts of those decision-makers?

the basic principle is pretty simple:

deeply understand the world of the people you’re looking for

what does their typical day look like?

how do they spend their free time?

which conferences do they attend, which communities are they active in, and which ones are complete bullshit?

fully immerse yourself in their world and it becomes pretty obvious where to look

the easiest way to figure this out is to talk to 10 people from your ICP and do proper customer development

usually, conferences that promise tons of people you need end up being full of people exactly like you who are also trying to sell something

but through customer development, you can find a gem

for example, maybe top investment bankers get together and play a padel tournament every Saturday near Central Park

that’s exactly the kind of thing you want to find

the step-by-step plan looks something like this:

1. clearly understand who you need

not just some abstract “business founder”

what role does this person have?

what kind of company do they work at?

at what exact moment do they need your product?

all of these questions are extremely important because understanding the timing is what closes the deal

the final ICP should look something like this:

CMO in iGaming at a company with roughly 100k–200k users. they used to acquire traffic through Meta with working unit economics, but now Meta has added AI optimization, their accounts get banned too quickly, and it’s no longer profitable. we have a product that adds an extra layer and helps them acquire users at roughly the same price as before

the goal is to have a clear understanding of the pain, why they would buy right now, who makes the decision, and whether there’s actually budget for it

2. do customer development

now find the first few people who fit that profile and get meetings with them

there’s no need to sell anything yet

the goal here is to validate your assumptions and collect the information you can’t find on Google

ask how they currently solve the problem, what they’ve already tried, who they trust, where they get information, and which events or communities are actually worth their time

after a few conversations, the same names and places will start coming up again and again

those are your entry points

3. find a good entry point

let’s say there’s a padel tournament every Friday for marketers

now the question is how to get there

become a sponsor, introduce yourself as a marketer, find someone who already goes and come as their friend or teammate

it doesn’t really matter

the only important thing is that it feels natural and doesn’t raise any questions

4. build relationships

next comes the relationship-building stage

B2B deals, especially large ones, are usually a long-term game built on trust

first of all, make a good impression as a person

these are business people, so sooner or later they’ll ask what you do

that’s the perfect moment to tell them about yourself and casually mention your latest case where you did something really impressive for a company just like theirs

then let them connect the dots themselves

5. growth hacks

so this isn’t just theory, here are a few growth hacks you can apply immediately

• most people use the same username everywhere. find one public social profile, like Instagram or LinkedIn, then try the same username on a more personal platform like Telegram. the important part here is writing a good cold message

• just like with offline places, look for the places where these people gather online: chats, communities, forums, anything niche and relevant. there can be hundreds of potential leads already gathered in one place. ask about these communities during customer development

• there are tools that can find someone’s email from their name, use that to find their usernames, and then use those usernames to find the chats they’re in. from a single name, it’s potentially possible to get thousands of direct contacts for the exact people you need. it’s not exactly the most white-hat tool, so DM me and I’ll send you the link

• lower the barrier to communicating with you. it’s hard to build a relationship when the first interaction is an attempt to sell something. invite someone onto a podcast, build a community for people like them and invite them in, or find another way to provide value first. once there’s an actual relationship, turning it into a sale becomes much easier

• look for niche social networks. sometimes there’s absolute gold there. maybe a startup once tried to build a social network for a specific audience and managed to bring a lot of your target people onto it. whether the platform is still active or not, that gives you a list of contacts that can easily be turned into other outreach channels. and if it’s still active, just reach out to them directly there