Playbooks

Founder led LinkedIn discovery calls: one product, one person, a link only after a yes

A solo founder building three products used Sellinger on his own LinkedIn for customer discovery. The agent matched one product to each person, asked about their work and asked for their perspective, not a purchase. 935 conversations opened, 395 replied (42%), 19 calls were booked and 10 are documented as held.

Published by Sellinger AI. Numbers and settings checked on 19 October 2026 against the fact register. Report an error.

conversations opened from 2,259 invited: 935
replied: 395 people, about half of them courtesies such as thanks for connecting: 42%
discovery calls booked (2.0%), 10 documented as held: 19
bookings came from intent lists. Title searches booked 1 in 225: 16 of 19

The scenario

A software engineer needed real conversations with the people his pre launch products were for: is the problem real, what do they use today, what would they pay. These were feedback calls, not sales calls, and no revenue from them is claimed. See the B2B software industry page.

The configuration

1
Day 0
Connection note
One compliment on a profile detail, the one product that fits them, often: I would value your perspective.
2
After accept
One question
About their work, in their words.
3
Every 5 to 7 days
A narrower bump
For example: is getting team members to actually amplify those messages a bottleneck you run into?
4
No fit
A clean exit
I will leave it there for now. All the best.
5
After a yes
A 15 minute call
Framed as a feedback chat or a walkthrough, not a sale.

Write as the founder: a fellow engineer, concise, jargon free.
Present one product only, and only if it is relevant to the person.
No calendar link in the first message. Offer the call once the person is interested.
Goal ladder: see the product in action first, then a 15 minute call.

The result

Where the 19 calls came from
Lead list	Conversations	Replied	Calls
Engaging with a US growth marketing creator	230	51%	6
Engaging with competitor and adjacent tool pages	224	45%	6
Engaging with a Polish creator	202	43%	4
Other	54	33%	2
Title and keyword searches	225	33%	1

Intent lists booked 2.0% to 2.7% of their conversations, title and keyword searches 0.4%. 15 of 19 booked threads followed the rule of the link only after a yes. Follow ups and questions re asked weeks later won 7 of the 19.

What we would change

One product per thread. Switching products mid thread rarely converted.
Keep replies in full sentences. Auto learned style drifted to one line probes.
Ask the first real question sooner than 3 to 6 weeks after an accept.
Median first touch to booking was 22 days, so plan for a long tail.

Common questions

Is this a sales playbook?

No. It is customer discovery for products still being built. The calls were for feedback and no revenue is claimed.

Why does the link wait?

In 15 of 19 booked threads the link followed a yes. It went out within 1 to 6 minutes in five threads from late January.

How do I know the calls were held?

10 are documented by the founder's own notes or a thank you after the call. 5 have no outcome recorded.

Does it work for a sales offer?

The pattern of one product, one person and a late link is general. The numbers belong to discovery calls.

Sources and method

A playbook here is a configuration that ran, with the outcome it produced and the base of every number. It is not a template promise: your audience and offer decide your own rates. Source: ShortVibe case study, Sellinger production data, snapshot 10 October 2026. Every booked thread and first reply was read by hand.