5M$ ARR with 6 people team - How Adam Robinson bootstrapped RB2B - Part 1 of 2
Discover how Adam Robinson, Founder/CEO of RB2B and Retention.com, bootstrapped his startup to $5M ARR with just 6 people. Part 1 of a 2-part playbook!
Last week, I saw a LinkedIn post of “Adam Robinson”.
The headline?
“I just bootstrapped RB2B to $5M ARR in 13 months with 5 people.”
I checked his other posts.
His posts weren’t just numbers.
They were raw. Transparent. Tactical.
He didn’t sound like a guru. He sounded like a founder in the trenches, thinking out loud.
He openly shared:
- Revenue growth, week by week
- His pricing screw-ups
- Slack screenshots of wins
- His viral loop LinkedIn strategy
- The exact scripts he used to close customers
- Even the time a VC founder’s girlfriend dismissed him at a party for being “just a 6-person team”
No fluff. No secrets. Just real playbooks, shipped fast and loud.
That’s when it hit me.
This guy wasn’t building a product.
He was building a movement around founder-led growth, audience-first GTM, and build-in public.
RB2B isn’t just a tool. It’s a case study on:
- Content-led distribution
- Founder-as-marketer
- PLG with a sales twist
- Making small teams dangerous
And so, I decided to write this newsletter.
Not to idolize Adam. But to break down what actually worked—so more of us can steal the blueprint.
Because in a world chasing virality and vanity metrics, RB2B quietly showed us something radical:
You can build a profitable, fast-growing SaaS… with no funding, no fluff, and no excuses.
While writing this newsletter, I realized I need to break it into 2 parts.
Part 1 - for story, strategy, positioning, and tactics
Part 2 - for Prompts to follow “Adam Robinson’s - Founder led Growth Playbook”
As a Founder, You Have to Become an Expert in VALIDATION
Validation is the secret sauce of most successful founders.
Adam Robinson knew that before he wrote any code, he had to test the idea.
Here’s what he did:
Lean Founding Stage:
Adam called 300+ marketing leaders.
- He asked, “Do you need person-level website visitor info?”
- He learned that B2B marketers craved deep, personal data—far more than just a company name.
Scrappy MVP & First Users:
Adam built a “simple and terrible v1.”
- RB2B sent “website visitor leads” to Slack → simple but powerful.
- Early users came from a waitlist and direct outreach.
- He ran demos himself and fixed problems on the fly.
- This hands-on hustle turned curious trials into true believers.
Audience-Building Before Launch:
Adam had always been sharing his work in public on LinkedIn.
- He shared lessons from Retention.com and hyped up RB2B.
- By launch day, 3,000 people were already on the waitlist.
- His message was clear: “Get person-level visitor identity for free!”
Founder-Led Hustle:
Adam wore all the hats.
- He cold-messaged potential partners and personally ran demos.
- He even helped users install the tracking script manually.
- He learned fast: “People don’t want to read docs. They need a quick call.”
- He started a “lightning-fast, two-touch” onboarding call.
- This approach not only closed early deals but gave him deep insights.
I believe validation is more than testing an idea—it’s about listening to real people and learning fast. Adam’s scrappy, human approach is pure gold.
Revenue Growth Timeline - Adam Robinson Magic in RB2B
RB2B’s journey from $0 to $5M ARR between 2021 and 2025 is a wild ride. Here’s how it went down:
March 2024 – Launch ($0 ARR):
RB2B launched on March 1, 2024.
They rolled out a “Forever Free” Slack integration as their core offer.
Adam’s pre-built LinkedIn waitlist brought over 3,000 signups in the first month.
Only 13 customers paid at first, pushing ARR to about $75K.
This early stage showed huge interest but low revenue, mostly because the pricing was off.
Mid-2024 – Hitting 7 Figures:
After a quick pricing fix and early tweaks, things exploded.
RB2B reached about $1M ARR by June–July 2024 (just 4 months after launch).
By the end of July, ARR climbed to $1.6M.
The surge was powered by the freemium model and a flood of inbound interest from Adam’s strong LinkedIn content.
Q3 2024 – Exponential Growth to $3M:
Growth took off during the summer.
ARR hit $2M by August and then soared to $3M by late September 2024.
In just 8 weeks, ARR doubled.
This phase was like a rocket launch, driven by outreach and word-of-mouth from early happy users.
Q4 2024 – Plateau at ~$4M:
In the fall, growth slowed down.
ARR peaked around $4M in October–November 2024 and then flatlined.
Adam even declared RB2B “dead” on November 22, 2024 because churn was eating up new revenue.
Despite spending over $100K a month on marketing, the churn stopped further growth.
Q1 2025 – Rebound to $4.5M+:
After big changes in December (cutting marketing spend and refocusing the product), growth came back.
In January 2025, ARR jumped about 10% from $4M to $4.5M in one month.
By RB2B’s first birthday in March 2025, ARR was just shy of $5M and the company was very profitable.
The renewed growth came from fixing product-market fit issues, like reducing churn, not from more paid ads.
The team set their sights on reaching $6M and even $10M ARR soon.
I love how RB2B’s story shows that even when things seem to stall, a pivot can bring you back on track. Adam’s hustle in building an audience and adjusting the product was key.
Inflection Points
RB2B’s journey saw a few critical turning points – moments where a single decision or event materially boosted the growth trajectory:
Pre-Launch Personal Branding & Waitlist (Inflection #1):
Before RB2B had a product… Adam had a presence.
While most founders wait to ship something before talking about it, Adam flipped the playbook.
He started with storytelling. Not product. Not features. Not pricing.
Just raw, transparent, high-signal content.
Here’s what he did:
Shared company metrics in public. (Yes, revenue. Weekly.)
Posted everyday on LinkedIn.
Jumped on podcasts. Spoke at events.
Built in public. No filters. No fluff.
And it worked. Big time.
Result? A 3,000-person waitlist.
Before the product even went live. That’s unheard of in B2B SaaS. But this wasn’t luck. It was a play.
Adam calls it: Inbound-Led Outbound
Here’s how it plays out:
1. Create influencer-style content that earns attention.
2. Use tools like RB2B to capture who’s watching.
3. Convert the warm attention into pipeline.
He turned “views” into revenue.
The skeptics didn’t get it. They missed the point. This wasn’t branding fluff. This was audience-first growth.
Adam did the work himself.
- Spent 75% of his time on content.
- Posted on LinkedIn every other day.
- Jumped into comments. Replied to everyone.
- Hosted webinars. Gave keynotes. Built trust.
He didn’t outsource connection. He earned it.
As he puts it:
“The best organic creators build more trust than any other marketing channel. It’s human-to-human at scale.”
Couldn’t agree more. And if you’re bootstrapping or pre-launch — this is your cheat code.
Pricing Pivot to Usage-Based (Inflection #2)
Six weeks in, RB2B had a classic SaaS problem.
Lots of users. Barely any revenue.
The product was working. Slack alerts were firing.
But the cash was not flowing.
Here’s why:
- The pricing was lopsided.
- Basic Slack alerts = $0.
- Basic Paid plan was $495/month.
Adam introduced usage-based pricing.
Here’s what they did:
- Capped free usage. No more unlimited freebies.
- Introduced lower entry paid plans.
- Created clear upgrade moments for active users.
Impact?
Week 6 → $5.1K MRR
Week 8 → $14K
Week 10 → $28K
Week 12 → $42K
Week 16 → $80K+
Conversion rates crossed 10%. ARR hit $1M within weeks of the change.
Big takeaway:
Don’t treat pricing as “set it and forget it.”
Treat it like a product.
Test it. Break it. Rebuild it.
Let real users help shape it.
Because when pricing matches value and behavior — magic happens.
Adam Robinson embraced a Hybrid PLG + Sales Model (Inflection #3):
RB2B started out as a pure product-led play.
Sign up → Get leads in Slack → Upgrade yourself (if you figured it out).
That worked… until it didn’t.
Here’s the problem:
Most users didn’t know what to do next.
-- They got the leads.
-- But didn’t act on them.
-- Or didn’t see the full magic.
So Adam did something simple But powerful.
He added… a human. Not a 12-step sales pipeline.
Two-touch sales assist.
A real person (Adam or Ilija) would reach out right after signup.
Offer a quick 5–10 min demo.
Help them install the script.
Show real value in real-time.
This was no hard sell. It was founder-led onboarding with a side of trust.
The result? Script installs crossed 80%.
But here’s what’s smart: Adam didn’t ditch PLG. He just guided it.
Casual users = self-serve.
High-intent users = get a real human.
This created natural segmentation. The “serious buyers” got white-glove help. The rest? Still had a no-pressure path.
What made this work?
Adam set the tone:
Jumped on calls himself.
Replied to LinkedIn comments like a madman.
Ran weekly live Q&As.
He made it personal. And people trusted him for it. Once the playbook clicked, he brought in Ilija to scale it. Same vibe. Just more reps.
Big takeaway:
→ Product-led doesn’t mean founder-absent.
→ Sometimes a quick hello is the highest-leverage growth move.
If your users are stuck — don’t automate more. Talk to them. That’s the difference between friction and flow.
The LinkedIn “Viral Loop” Content Strategy (Inflection #4):
While most B2B founders were still working in the background and trying to focus on product, marketing and sales together...
Adam was out there sharing:
- Raw numbers (real-time revenue milestones).
- Mistakes (what didn’t work and why).
- Founder pain (like getting ignored at a party because he “only” had a 6-person team).
Yes, that actually happened and it went viral.
What made it work?
- His posts weren’t just updates.
- They were “mini-movies”.
- Clear villain (old-school GTM playbooks).
- Underdog hero (bootstrapped founder doing it differently).
- Plot twist (transparent growth + profits with 6 people).
People couldn’t stop reading and sharing.
Every viral post = spike in traffic.
Every spike = fresh wave of signups.
LinkedIn became RB2B’s #1 growth channel.
He never used LinkedIn like this before.
At Retention.com, he grew through paid ads. But for RB2B?
He went all in on “earned attention” and it worked.
“He turned himself into the funnel.” Literally.
- Posted daily.
- Replied to hundreds of comments.
- Shared real revenue via Baremetrics.
- Talked like a human, not a brand.
This wasn’t marketing. It was storytelling. And people bought into the story.
Here’s the flywheel that worked:
Post something authentic.
Go viral.
Drive traffic.
Convert users.
Hit new revenue milestone.
Post that milestone.
Repeat.
Pro tip for founders:
If you want free distribution in 2025, stop thinking like a SaaS.
Start thinking like a creator.
Inbound-Led Outbound” Engine (Inflection #5):
RB2B’s site started getting traffic. Thanks to all that LinkedIn content magic.
But instead of waiting for people to sign up… Adam flipped the script.
He used RB2B to see who visited. Then he’d hit them with a friendly message.
Something like:
“Hey [Name], noticed your team checked out RB2B. Want to see how [Acme Co] is using it to capture 40+ high-intent leads a month?”
That’s not cold. That’s warm AF.
Why It Worked:
- People already knew Adam from LinkedIn. The outreach felt timely and personal.
- It didn’t come from a faceless SDR. It came from the guy they’ve been reading all week.
That’s why this approach crushed cold outbound. Trust was already there.
Here’s the flow:
Adam posts viral content → drives traffic.
RB2B tracks who visits → identifies them.
Adam (or his AI twin) sends a relevant DM/email.
Person replies → demo gets booked.
It felt like a natural next step, not a sales pitch.
Even Better?
Adam didn’t take the calls. He just booked them.
Then handed off the calls to a sales rep.
That’s leverage.
Key Results:
Higher reply rates than traditional outbound.
More mid-market and enterprise deals.
Zero reliance on a huge SDR team.
Marketing and sales blended into one flywheel.
His Moves:
Adam built the system himself.
Sent messages manually at first.
Then layered in AI + automation.
Kept the tone human. Made it feel like him.
He didn’t fake personalization. He scaled it.
Takeaway for Founders:
- Don’t wait for inbound leads to convert themselves.
- Meet them halfway.
- If you know who visited… say hello.
- If they know you… start the conversation.
RB2B didn’t grow by accident. It took bold moves from Adam:
- Built an audience before the product.
- Tweaked pricing fast when it didn’t work.
- Added a human touch to self-serve onboarding.
- Went viral on LinkedIn by being real.
- Turned site visitors into warm leads with smart outreach.
Each move pushed growth up when it could’ve stalled.
Narrative and Positioning
Adam Robinson didn’t just launch RB2B. He built a story people wanted to root for.
While most B2B tools shout features, RB2B talked about something different — person-level identity and a founder who made you care.
The Core Wedge: Person-Level ID
RB2B’s tells you exactly who visited your website.
Not just a company name. A person. With a LinkedIn profile. In real-time.
And it pushes that into Slack, for free. No sales call. No setup wait.
And Adam’s didn’t put this on a pricing page.
It was everywhere—his LinkedIn bio literally read:
“Person-Level Website Visitor Identity | Push LinkedIn Profiles to Slack in Real-Time”
That line told you:
- Who it’s for (B2B sales teams),
- Why it matters (real-time identity),
- How it fits your workflow (Slack).
The Freemium Hook That Worked
RB2B gave away real-time Slack alerts for free.
This flipped the script.
Most ABM tools make you book a call.
RB2B made it a "why wouldn’t you try this?" decision.
Result?
- Users experienced the value instantly.
- That’s how you build product addiction.
Founder Story = Brand Story
Adam didn’t just talk about RB2B. He lived the story.
Like the time a VC-backed founder’s girlfriend dismissed his tiny 6-person team.
Instead of being offended, he turned it into a viral LinkedIn post.
Punchline? - "$2M ARR per employee. I’ll take that any day."
People didn’t just like the product.
They respected the guy behind it.
Problem → Solution Framing
Here’s how Adam nailed messaging:
Problem: You know a company visited your site. But who, exactly? No clue.
Insight: A website visit is the best intent signal—but it’s wasted if you don’t know who it was.
Solution: RB2B turns anonymous traffic into LinkedIn profiles.
He made buyers feel like they were missing out if they weren’t using person-level data.
And once you see it, you will definitely keep using it.
“Inbound-Led Outbound” = New Category
Adam didn’t just describe RB2B. He built a movement around it.
He coined terms like:
- “Inbound-Led Outbound”
- “Maximizing Humanity in GTM”
And said stuff like:
“People respond to humans they know and trust. Not sequences from strangers.”
That hit a nerve in a world full of cold emails and zero-reply campaigns. He wasn’t selling a tool.
He was selling a new way to sell.
Picking fights with Bigger Players
Adam constantly drew lines in the sand:
- Clearbit gives you a company name. RB2B gives you a person.
- Others hide metrics. RB2B shows revenue live on Baremetrics.
- VC-funded? Bloated. Bootstrapped? Efficient and honest.
He even pointed out how Retention.com hit $12M ARR with 6 people, while others burned funding with no product-market fit.
This wasn’t bragging. It was differentiation.
Why This Positioning Worked
RB2B’s narrative stood out because:
- It was clear. (Person-level ID.)
- It was real. (From the founder’s mouth.)
- It was different. (Not just another ABM clone.)
- It was everywhere. (LinkedIn, podcasts, landing pages.)
And most of all—
It didn’t feel like marketing.
It felt like a smart, scrappy founder telling you what worked.
Growth Strategies
Founder-Led Content & Personal Brand (LinkedIn):
A cornerstone of RB2B’s growth was Adam Robinson’s prolific presence on LinkedIn.
He positioned himself as a transparent, insightful founder “building in public” – and because RB2B’s target customers were other B2B founders and marketers, his personal content doubled as marketing.
About 75% of those engaging with his posts were in his ICP (ideal customer profile).
Roughly 20% of his LinkedIn posts included a direct CTA – inviting readers to join a waitlist or hop on a discovery call. This strategy effectively primed the pump for launch: by the time it went live, thousands already knew what it was and felt “involved” in the journey.
Post-launch, Robinson continued posting weekly about milestones (both wins and roadblocks). For example, he openly discussed RB2B’s churn problems and how they were being addressed,
The key replicable insight: a strong founder brand can drive massive inbound interest – Robinson generated a 3,000-person waitlist and continuous signups by “marketing” himself as much as the product. As one observer noted, “You personally seem like the most significant growth lever for your companies.”.
Viral Freemium Offer (“Absurd” Free Value):
RB2B’s product strategy itself was a growth engine. Robinson intentionally crafted an offering so compelling that people “HAVE to talk about it”
During beta, they even allowed unlimited contacts via the Slack feed for free, which drove huge signups (though it had to be reined in later). The lasting model became freemium: free Slack alerts for up to 200 leads/month (no credit card needed), then paid plans to unlock emails, CRM integrations, and higher volumes. This was essentially a product-led growth (PLG) funnel – the free tier was fully functional and delivered instant ROI to the user.
In Robinson’s words, they aimed to “nail down distribution before monetization”, similar to how Mailchimp did.
Additionally, the Slack notifications often went to public sales/marketing channels inside companies, which meant RB2B’s value was on display internally, spreading usage (and helping upsell when teams wanted more than 200 leads). This strategy of leading with a “give 10x value before asking for $1” created a huge top-of-funnel (over 14k signups in 6 months) that a tiny sales team could then convert.
It’s a playbook other SaaS founders can emulate: find a highly viral feature and offer a version of it free to gain mindshare fast.
Inbound-Led Outbound (Intelligent Cold Email):
While inbound signups were flowing from content and the free product, RB2B supplemented them with a clever outbound operation – one that started with inbound intent.
The team (led by Growth Manager Taylor Haren) developed an “Inbound-Led Outbound” playbook, essentially triggering personalized outreach to prospects who had already engaged.
For example, if a target prospect visited the RB2B website, they’d receive an automated yet personalized cold email within hours. How?
RB2B’s own tool would identify the visitor and find their contact info,
then a workflow in a tool called Clay would enrich the data and filter for ideal fit (role, company size, etc.).
Next, an AI copywriter would draft a custom email referencing the prospect’s context,
and finally the lead would be queued in an email sequence via Smartlead
All of this happening in seconds without human intervention.
The result was astounding: “for every 9 emails we send, we get 1 user to sign up”. That’s a ~10.4% conversion rate from cold email, which Robinson rightly called “insane”.
By comparison, this was 26× better than typical cold campaigns.
One best practice the team followed was to reach out very quickly after the prospect’s visit (within a few hours) and to strike a helpful tone (often starting by connecting on LinkedIn, then following up with an email offering assistance or resources).
Over 8 months, RB2B sent nearly 1 million outbound emails, not only to site visitors but also to curated prospect lists in their ICP. This scaled effort generated an estimated 42% of all new ARR – roughly $1.3M of RB2B’s revenue came via cold outreach replies and signups. In other words, almost half of the business was driven by proactive outbound, executed in a very automated, data-driven way.
The takeaway: even in a PLG model, don’t overlook outbound – RB2B showed that blending inbound signals with smart outbound can dramatically amplify growth.
Sales-Assisted Onboarding & Community Building:
Even with a self-serve product, RB2B didn’t rely on “build it and they will come (and stay)” – they put serious effort into onboarding and community to activate and retain users.
On the onboarding front, they made the initial setup dead simple (a copy-paste script for the website) and achieved an 81% install rate among signups, which is far above the ~30–40% typical for trial products. This was boosted by automated follow-ups: if a user signed up but didn’t install the tracking script, the team nudged them via emails and even noticed common pitfalls.
For higher-value prospects, RB2B employed a concierge onboarding approach. Much like Robinson’s previous startup (Retention.com) did thousands of 5-minute onboarding calls to drive activation, RB2B offered one-on-one help to new users who showed potential.
Their head of sales, Ilija, would personally reach out to larger companies signing up, to “answer questions and help with tactical onboarding” during the trial. This ensured that key accounts saw success early and were more likely to convert to paid.
In parallel, Robinson fostered a community vibe around the product. He frequently solicited feedback on LinkedIn – for instance, when only 13 of the first 3,000 signups converted, he openly asked for suggestions, then reported back that user comments “helped a ton with our first six weeks pricing dilemma”. Such engagement made early customers feel like co-builders. The team also launched RB2B Academy, a resource hub with quick video guides, playbooks, and even live sessions for users.
They hosted webinars on advanced tactics (e.g. using RB2B data in outreach, integrating with tools like Reply.io) and shared behind-the-scenes looks at their own marketing – including “a fully transparent look inside the RB2B LinkedIn ad account”.
By educating users and creating a learning community, they increased product adoption and forged stronger relationships. This strategy of high-touch onboarding (even in a low-touch product) plus community content helped maximize the value users got from RB2B, counteracting the inherent churn risk of a plug-and-play tool.
Continuous Product Iteration (to Reduce Churn & Expand Use Cases):
RB2B moved too fast. Every product change had one goal: grow or keep customers.
They asked two questions before building anything:
Will this help us keep more users?
Will this unlock a new customer segment?
Early on, RB2B users had to manually export leads or use tools like Clay.
Time-wasting. Not built for scale.
So the team rebuilt their HubSpot integration to:
- Push leads into CRM automatically
- Tag the right sales rep
- Track what pages users visited
This fix made RB2B more useful for larger sales teams.
It helped solve a big churn issue: too many leads, no way to manage them.
Sales reps saw leads but didn’t know how to follow up.
So… they did nothing.
Adam admitted:
“I thought people would know what to do. I was wrong.”
So they added AI-guided actions, like:
- “Send this LinkedIn message to John from X company”
- “Here’s a ready-to-go email and why it works”
Now reps had a next step.
Action = ROI = retention.
Early on, they ditched flat pricing.
Switched to usage-based plans.
Then they added tiers like:
- $119/month (for small teams)
- $1,000/month (for big players)
This move balanced adoption and revenue.
LinkedIn brought in lots of tiny startups.
Many churned.
So RB2B added features (like Salesforce + HubSpot integrations)
to attract slightly bigger teams.
Smart move.
They didn’t chase everyone.
They tuned the product to match the right users.
RB2B stuck to identifying U.S. visitors only. No GDPR headaches. Simpler messaging. Faster execution.
What Didn’t Work
Even with the strong growth, RB2B hit several pitfalls and had to abandon certain approaches. Here are the major growth ideas or assumptions that didn’t work out, and why:
Overly Generous Initial Pricing:
RB2B’s first pricing model?
- Free Slack integration with unlimited leads
- One paid tier: $495/month for everything else
It sounded generous. Too generous.
Users milked the free Slack feed —> Routed data to other tools —> Never upgraded.
Adam later said:
“We should have done credit-based pricing from the start.”
Result?
Tons of usage.
Almost no revenue.
Freemium worked for growth… but not for business.
RB2B set a smart limit:
- Free = 200 contacts/month
- Want more? Upgrade.
This one tweak turned freeloaders into paying customers. A simple throttle made all the difference.
Assuming Users Knew How to Leverage the Data:
Early RB2B made one big assumption:
Users would know what to do with all that juicy visitor data.
They didn’t.
What Happened?
Users got a firehose of leads.
Then... froze.
Especially SMBs who had zero outbound experience.
Robinson admitted:
“I was surprised when ‘what now’ came back as churn reason #1.”
The idea was:
👉 Product-led = self-serve = magic.
Reality check:
Customers needed playbooks.
They needed templates.
They needed help.
Without guidance, they churned.
Relying on Third-Party Tools for Core Functionality:
RB2B made an early bet:
Let users handle lead filtering + enrichment through Clay.
It sounded smart. Clay is powerful. But it backfired.
What Went Wrong?
Users had to adopt another tool just to use RB2B properly.
That added complexity, friction, and confusion.
Many users just… gave up.
Adam later admitted:
“I thought Clay would work for everyone. I didn’t realize most folks don’t want extra steps.”
The team listened and moved fast:
Built native lead filtering into RB2B.
Shipped HubSpot routing to streamline workflows.
Removed the Clay dependency for most use cases.
Positioning the Product as “Leads for Booking Demos”:
Early on, RB2B positioned itself like this:
“We give you leads. You book demos. Everyone wins.”
Sounds simple, right? It wasn’t.
Why It Didn't Work
They treated every site visitor as a sales-ready lead.
Success was measured by booked demos.
But real-world B2B behavior is more nuanced:
Some visitors were already in pipeline.
Some were just browsing.
Some weren’t even decision-makers.
Adam nailed it later:
“A visitor isn’t a lead. It’s a signal.”
RB2B had to change the story:
- From “book demos now” →
- To “get signals that help sales over time.”
The messaging evolved:
- Emphasizing alerts, intent, and touchpoints.
- Educating users to see it as part of the funnel, not a magic lead machine.
Ignoring Filtering/Segmentation at First:
In the early days, RB2B handed users a firehose of data. Every visitor. Every click. All dumped into Slack.
No filters. No prioritization. Just noise.
The Problem
Clients saw everything — from decision-makers to random students.
High-intent leads were buried under irrelevant traffic.
Growth-stage users got frustrated. One even said:
“Filtering and routing leads is impossible without Clay.”
Robinson admits:
“Not investing in this earlier was a big mistake.”
Eventually, they fixed it:
Built robust filters using CRM data.
Checked if the visitor was in a target account list.
Helped users focus only on qualified leads.
The result? → Retention improved. Customers stayed longer. Sales teams became happier.
Paid Ads with Poor ROI:
RB2B tried paid ads. It didn’t work.
The Experiment
Spent up to $100K/month on ads.
Likely targeted B2B marketers.
Expected high-quality leads.
Got... no ROI (or at least not enough to justify the spend).
Results didn’t come close to organic LinkedIn + outbound.
Their small team got stretched thin managing the ad ops.
Some of the same audience was already seeing Robinson’s content.
So they asked:
Why burn cash when the free stuff is outperforming?
They pulled the plug on all paid ads.
Once the team stopped paid channels:
They doubled down on what worked:
→ Founder-led content.
→ Personal outbound.
→ Community buzz.
Underestimating Copycat Competition:
Adam Robinson once joked —
“RB2B had 3,247,892 copycats within weeks.”
Okay, maybe not that many. But it sure was.
From scrappy tools to giants like ZoomInfo and 6Sense, dozens began offering their own version of “person-level visitor ID.”
The Mistake → RB2B initially ignored the clones.
They believed:
Being first was enough.
Being fast was enough.
The market would know who the OG was.
Robinson later admitted:
“Any SaaS that works will be copied by 1,000 people in 1 week.
Shame on me for not seeing that coming.”
To stay ahead, RB2B had to:
Ship “v2” features fast.
Emphasize accuracy and performance.
Keep the Slack alerts free — a killer moat competitors couldn’t easily match.
Reinforce their founder-led, transparent, human brand.
Takeaway:
RB2B’s early growth wasn’t smooth. They made mistakes with pricing, onboarding, and positioning. Users were confused, churn was high, and features didn’t always hit the mark. But instead of doubling down on what wasn’t working, they pivoted fast.
Robinson didn’t hide from problems. He shared them publicly, got feedback, and made bold changes. When the free Slack leads weren’t converting to revenue, he added usage limits, better onboarding, and smarter targeting. When features failed, he scrapped them and tried again.
That mindset—listen, learn, and move fast—is what saved RB2B from stalling. Founders often wait too long to fix what’s broken. RB2B did the opposite. They turned mistakes into momentum.
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