The Best Outbound Sales Stack for Founders
The proven 4-tool stack for outbound. Total cost: under $300/mo vs $4,500/mo for one SDR
Why This Stack?
This is the exact stack I recommend to every founder starting outbound. It's the minimum viable stack that actually works - no bloat, no unnecessary complexity. You get contact finding, multichannel outreach, email infrastructure, and a CRM to track it all.
The Core 4 Tools
Reply.io
Outreach
IntermediateMultichannel engagement platform handling email and LinkedIn steps in one flow. The engine for sending.
Best For
Channels
Mailforge.ai
Email structure
BeginnerInfrastructure for cold email. Warms up inboxes and auto-rotates domains to maintain deliverability. $29/mo
Best For
Pipedrive
CRM
BeginnerVisual, deal-focused CRM. Built by salespeople, for salespeople. Extremely intuitive.
Best For
Apollo.io
Contacts
BeginnerA powerhouse for B2B contact data. The best bang-for-buck database for broad targeting.
Best For
Why These Specific Tools?
🔍 Apollo - Contact Finding Database
Apollo gives you access to 200M+ contacts with their proprietary database. It's straightforward contact finding - search by title, company size, industry, and export your list. When you're just starting outbound, Apollo's simplicity and database size make it the right choice for contact discovery.
📧 Reply.io - Multichannel Outreach Engine
Reply handles email sequences, LinkedIn automation, and phone calls in one unified workflow. The reason you need Reply is multichannel outreach - you don't want to limit yourself to just emails. Most founders start with email, but having LinkedIn and calls ready means you can expand your reach without switching tools.
📬 Mailforge - Email Infrastructure
At $29/mo, Mailforge handles domain warmup, inbox rotation, and deliverability. It's okay - gets the job done for email infrastructure without you needing to understand SPF/DKIM records or manage multiple inboxes manually.
📊 Pipedrive - Simple CRM for Founders
Pipedrive is the CRM I recommend as your initial system. It's very easy to upgrade in the future when you scale, and you don't overspend initially on features you don't need yet. Plus, it has all the integrations you'll need with Reply.io and your other tools.
Exact Cost Breakdown
What You Can Skip (For Now)
- ❌Clay, Lusha, ZoomInfo: Apollo's database is sufficient when you're starting. Save the advanced enrichment tools for when you've validated your ICP.
- ❌Instantly, Lemlist, Smartlead: Reply.io does everything these tools do, plus LinkedIn and calls in one platform.
- ❌Salesforce, HubSpot: Pipedrive is simpler and more affordable. Upgrade to HubSpot when you add marketing, or Salesforce when you hit enterprise scale.
Ready to Build Your Stack?
Get the complete implementation playbook with exact setup steps, campaign templates, and messaging frameworks.