Cybersecurity · Funded Startup

Published May 2026

How a cybersecurity startup built outbound in a market that ignores cold outreach.

A funded cybersecurity startup with a patented product went from no GTM motion to a pipeline of hundreds of qualified opportunities and enterprise giants like Volvo, Rockefeller, Mimecast, Siemens and Bosch in active conversation.

$750K+

Pipeline generated

20+

Hours saved per week

~70%

Positive reply rate

"We had a great product and no real way to get it in front of CISOs at scale. Viralnetix built and runs an engine that fixed that. Six months in, we're in active dialogue with companies we wouldn't have touched on our own."

CEO of cybersecurity startup · name withheld under NDA

Enterprises in active conversation

Volvo

Rockefeller

Mimecast

Siemens

Bosch

The challenge

A great product, fresh funding, and no way through to CISOs at scale.

The startup had just raised seed funding. The product was solid, patented, built for the kind of cyber risk CISOs lose sleep over. The product wasn't the question. Reaching the buyers was.

When we came in, outbound was manual and one-by-one. Decent meetings here and there, but nothing that scaled. ICP was a rough idea, not a mapped market. And the buyer was the hardest persona in B2B, CISOs get hammered with cold outreach all day and ignore almost everything that lands in their inbox. Cold scraping a list of CISOs and blasting them was never going to work.

The brief: build an engine that reaches CISOs' inbox in qualified companies at scale.

The approach

We run both engines. Cold and Warm.
One goal: pipeline.

Two motions running in parallel, against the same pipeline target. The Cold Engine handles net-new ICP outreach across two markets, the Direct Product track (companies running OT environments, manufacturing, healthcare, operational industries with critical security needs) and the Partner track (cybersecurity service providers, MSPs and MSSPs who can resell or integrate the product). Different copy, different angle, same end.

The Warm Engine runs alongside, catching CISOs already paying attention to the topic. When a security leader engages with cybersecurity content, posts about a recent breach, or shows any signal worth acting on, we route them in. The conversation opens off the exact post or signal they've just engaged with. Warm leads, qualified before any message goes out.

That's how the startup went from no outbound motion at all to two engines running, both operated by our team. They spend the 20+ hours a week they used to spend on manual outreach on closing and bettering the product. We keep the pipeline going, that's how the partnership works.

"Honestly, when Viralnetix said 'let's build you a Warm Engine,' I was skeptical. I didn't realize what it meant in practice. They were capturing anyone showing real signal in cybersecurity, qualifying them, and reaching out."

CEO of cybersecurity startup

Name withheld under NDA

The system

The GTM Engine

Two engines in one. Cold for net-new, Warm for signal-driven. Both feed two tracks, both end in qualified conversations.

The Cold Engine

Net-new ICP outreach at scale

The ICP mapped from scratch, then worked through structured cold outreach to buyers who've never heard of the product.

ICP mapped, tested, sharpened, structured in Clay

Email infrastructure built for advanced-security buyers

Tiered cold cycles run by our operators

Different copy per track, Direct vs Partner

The Warm Engine

Signal-driven, already-warm conversations

Catch the moment a buyer signals real intent. A hiring spree for cybersecurity roles, a new CISO stepping into post, public engagement on cyber content. The Warm Engine sees the signal and fires.

Hiring signals tracked, cyber roles opening + new CISOs in seat

Public engagement on cyber content flagged as intent

Pushed to Clay for ICP + role qualification

Personalization built off the specific signal that fired

Direct product track

CISOs and security leads at companies running OT environments, manufacturing, healthcare and operational industries where downtime is existential.

Partner track

Cybersecurity service providers, MSPs and MSSPs, who resell or integrate the product into the security stack they sell to their own customer base.

Both engines feed two tracks running in parallel. Different ICP on top, same end goal: a qualified conversation.

Result

Qualified conversations routed to the founder's team

CISOs, security buyers and partner contacts handed off with context. Everything else recycled into the next cycle.

Get a tailored action plan based on what's working in today's outbound landscape.

The results

$750K+ in pipeline, enterprise giants in active conversation, ~70% positive reply rate.

The engine didn't replace the founder's team. We built and run the GTM motion they didn't have. Six months in, $750K+ in pipeline, enterprise security buyers in active conversation across Europe and global, and a parallel Partner track converting MSPs and MSSPs alongside.

→
$750K+ in qualified pipeline generated over the first six months, with active conversations at the CISO level across Europe and global enterprise.
→
Enterprise giants in active conversation, the kind of names you don't get to from a cold list, period.
→
~70% positive reply rate from the Warm Engine. Above the cold-outbound average by an order of magnitude, because every message lands on someone who's already paying attention to the topic.
→
Countless partnership conversations opened in parallel through the Partner track, MSPs and MSSPs evaluating the product as a security layer they can resell into their own customer base.
→
ICP mapped, tested, sharpened, turned from a rough idea into a structured TAM with two clean tracks, OT-environment direct + cybersecurity-partner.
→
Engine run end-to-end by the Viralnetix team, so the founders stay focused on building the product and owning the conversations we route to them.

What changed

Before Viralnetix

After

Outbound system

Manual, one-by-one, no structure

Cold + Warm engines, multi-channel

Targeting

Cold-scraped CISO lists

Engagement signals + Clay ICP qualification

Sender persona

Sales rep, generic messaging

Industry-aligned sender, signal-driven messaging

ICP & tracks

Rough idea, single motion

Two tracks: Direct product (OT) + Partner (MSPs / MSSPs)

Who runs outbound

Founders, in person

Viralnetix team, as GTM partners

"The partnership is the part I love. Viralnetix doesn't feel like a vendor, they feel like our GTM team."

CEO of cybersecurity startup

Name withheld under NDA

The playbook

This isn't a cybersecurity playbook. It's the playbook for selling to anyone notoriously hard to reach.

A Cold + Warm engine combo isn't unique to cybersecurity. It's the move for any B2B company selling to buyers who get hammered with cold outreach all day and ignore almost everything. CISOs, CFOs, CIOs, CMOs at enterprise, anyone behind a wall of gatekeepers. Run the Cold Engine to map the market, run the Warm Engine on top to catch the ones already paying attention to the topic, qualify both against ICP, and route the right ones into a real dialogue.

If you're early-stage post-seed, a scaling B2B tech company, an agency, or any business selling into a defined market, this works for you. Cold email gets harder every quarter, and scraping cold lists won't get you the results anymore. We've built a playbook that lands in the right inbox no matter how hard your audience is to reach. Let us run the engine, and spend your time on another side of the business.

Book a GTM Strategy Call and get a tailored action plan based on what's working in today's outbound landscape.