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Client Case Study: B2B SaaS Founder

The SaaS founder who burned their
domain and what we did next.

An early-stage B2B SaaS founder ran two self-managed cold email campaigns without proper domain warm-up. The primary domain was blacklisted across Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo. Deligatr rebuilt the full infrastructure from scratch. 24 demo calls booked in month 3. $340K in pipeline within 90 days.

The right infrastructure was all that was missing. The ICP was good. The offer was strong. The domain was not. Deligatr fixed the one thing standing between this founder and a pipeline that worked.

Service
Managed outbound
Billing
Quarterly, paid up front

Current Outbound package pricing: $2,500 a month on monthly billing, or $6,000 per quarter on quarterly billing (paid up front). Monthly billing has no long-term commitment. See full pricing at deligatr.ai/product.

Product:B2B SaaS platform
Stage:Early stage
Start point:Primary domain blacklisted
Key constraint:6-week enterprise sales deadline
24
Demo calls booked
Month 3
97%
Deliverability score
Rebuilt from blacklist
$340K
Pipeline value
Within 90 days

Results from one client. Yours will vary.

Demo calls booked per month

Month 1 is full infrastructure rebuild. LinkedIn activated during email warm-up.

M114M224M321M427M530M6Month 3: 24 calls

Email deliverability score

From blacklisted to a 97% deliverability score on new domains

Primary domain (blacklisted)4%
Emails landing in spam
New outreach domains (rebuilt)97%
After the four to six week warm-up

Pipeline value generated

$340K
90 days in
Month 2 pipeline$120K
Month 3 added+$220K
Enterprise deals late-stage2

What went wrong

Two failed DIY campaigns. One blacklisted domain. Zero emails reaching inboxes.

Self-managed cold email tools work when configured correctly. Most SaaS founders configure them incorrectly. Sending from a primary domain without proper warm-up, DMARC, or deliverability monitoring triggers spam filters fast. Recovery takes months. Sometimes it never fully happens.

The founder had the right ICP, the right offer, and a genuine problem to solve. None of that matters when your emails land in spam.

The primary domain was blacklisted across Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo after two poorly configured cold email campaigns without proper domain warm-up or DMARC setup.

Emails sent from the primary domain were going directly to spam for all recipients, including existing customers and investor communications.

The founder was six weeks away from a critical enterprise sales cycle and had no functional way to reach prospects by email.

LinkedIn had never been used for outbound. There was no alternative channel and no outreach infrastructure of any kind.

Investor pressure to demonstrate repeatable lead generation before the next funding conversation was increasing.

The three mistakes that blacklist domains and how Deligatr prevents them

Why DIY cold email destroys SaaS founder domains

01

Mistake: sending from primary domain

Every SaaS company needs their primary domain for product emails, investor comms and customer support. Sending cold outreach from it puts all of that at risk if blacklisting occurs. Deligatr builds separate outreach domains for every client.

02

Mistake: skipping the warm-up

New domains need four to six weeks of gradual, authentic sending before bulk outreach begins. Skipping this makes it far more likely that inbox providers flag the domain as suspicious. Deligatr runs a full warm-up protocol on every domain and ramps campaign volume slowly.

03

Deligatr fix: full DMARC stack and monitoring

SPF, DKIM and DMARC configured on every outreach domain. Deliverability monitored daily across Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo. If a domain score drops, Deligatr rotates capacity to other domains immediately. The primary domain is kept separate from outreach.

The Rebuild

From blacklisted domain to $340K pipeline in 90 days

The exact steps Deligatr took to recover full outbound capability from a completely blacklisted starting point, while keeping the primary domain protected.

Build
Week 1

Domain triage and isolation

Deligatr confirmed the primary domain had no viable recovery path within the required six-week timeframe before the enterprise sales cycle. Decision made to build three separate outreach domains with zero brand association to the main domain, keeping it fully isolated and protected from any further risk.

Build
Weeks 1 to 297% by end of warm-up

Full infrastructure rebuild

Three new outreach domains registered and set up across nine inboxes, with warm-up starting straight away and continuing for four to six weeks. Full SPF, DKIM and DMARC stack configured on every domain. Deliverability tested across Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo before any campaign sending began. The deliverability score reached 97% on the rebuilt domains.

Build
Week 39 warm LinkedIn conversations

LinkedIn pivot during email warm-up

While email domains warmed, LinkedIn was activated targeting VP Product and Head of People at the defined enterprise ICP. Connection-first sequences generated nine warm conversations before email even went live, giving the founder active pipeline to work while infrastructure finished warming.

Build
Week 4

Email launched across three ICP segments

Four-touch sequences, with volume ramping gradually as the domains finished warming, targeting three segments simultaneously: HR tech buyers at 200 to 1,000 employee companies, COOs at Series B plus SaaS, and ops leaders at fast-growth companies with recent headcount spikes. All copy insight-led, referencing specific growth signals for each prospect.

14calls
Month 214 demo calls$120K pipeline

Pipeline starts filling

Deliverability holding at 97% across all three domains. 14 qualified demo calls booked. Two progressed into formal procurement conversations. $120K in pipeline generated. The founder used real pipeline data in a board update for the first time, demonstrating a repeatable lead generation system.

24calls
Month 324 demo calls$340K total pipeline

24 demo calls. $340K pipeline.

Full scale reached. 24 demo calls booked across LinkedIn and email. Two enterprise deals in late-stage negotiation adding $220K to the pipeline. The founder described month 3 as the first time in two years the company had a genuine, measurable outbound motion. The investor update contained real pipeline numbers.

Before vs After

From zero deliverability to $340K pipeline

Six months after the Deligatr rebuild. The primary domain has never been touched. Two separate outreach domain clusters run at full volume with a 97% deliverability score.

Metric
Before Deligatr
After Deligatr
Domain deliverability
Blacklisted (spam across all inboxes)
97% deliverability score
Monthly demo calls
0 (no email access)
21 to 30 (months 3 to 6)
LinkedIn active
No outreach running
Yes, multi-touch sequences
Pipeline value
$0
$340K within 90 days
Board pipeline visibility
None
Real-time via DeliHub
Investor confidence
No pipeline data
Repeatable system demonstrated
$340K

Pipeline value generated within 90 days of the engagement starting.

97%

Deliverability score across all outreach domains, rebuilt on new domains from a blacklisted starting point.

2

Enterprise deals in late-stage negotiation at end of month 3. First real pipeline data presented to investors.

Full 6-Month View

Demo calls, pipeline and deliverability by month

Month 1 rebuilds everything. No demo calls expected. LinkedIn generates nine warm conversations while email warms. From month 2, consistent qualified demo pipeline. By month 6 the founder had not touched a prospecting tool in five months.

Month 1
Infrastructure rebuild
3 domains set up and warming. 9 LinkedIn conversations. 0 email calls.
Month 2
First demo calls
14 calls. $120K pipeline. 2 in procurement. Board update with real numbers.
Month 3
$340K pipeline
24 calls. 2 enterprise deals late-stage. LinkedIn + email compounding.
Month 4
Optimisation
21 calls. HR tech segment paused. Ops leaders segment scaled.
Month 5
Scale
27 calls. Voice follow-ups added for prospects 3x opened.
Month 6
Predictable
30 calls, the highest month of the engagement.

Demo calls booked per month

This founder before Deligatr: 0 (domain blacklisted)

Month 1Rebuild month
Month 214 calls
Month 324 calls
Month 421 calls
Month 527 calls
Month 630 calls
“I thought torching the domain was the end. Deligatr had us generating real pipeline faster than the original campaigns ever did, and properly this time. For the first time in two years I had actual numbers to show investors.”
Founder, B2B SaaS platform
FAQ

Questions SaaS founders ask before starting

The most common questions from B2B SaaS founders evaluating managed outbound, especially those who have already tried self-managed tools.

What happens when a SaaS founder burns their email domain with cold outreach?
When a primary domain gets blacklisted through poorly configured cold email campaigns, emails go to spam across Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo regardless of content quality. Recovery can take months and is never guaranteed. The fastest solution is building separate outreach domains with proper warm-up protocols, keeping the primary domain completely isolated. Deligatr did exactly this for the SaaS founder in this case study, restoring the deliverability score to 97% on the new domains.
How many demo calls did the SaaS founder book with Deligatr?
The SaaS founder booked 24 qualified demo calls in month 3 of their Deligatr campaign. Month 1 was infrastructure rebuild and domain recovery. Month 2 delivered 14 demo calls as new domains warmed and sequences were optimised. Month 3 scaled to 24 as LinkedIn was added alongside the rebuilt email infrastructure.
How do you fix a burned email domain for SaaS outreach?
Fixing a burned primary domain requires three steps. First, stop all sending from the affected domain immediately. Second, build separate outreach-specific domains that mirror your brand but carry no sending history. Third, warm these domains gradually over four to six weeks with low-volume authentic sending before sending cold outreach at volume. Deligatr handles all three steps as part of the managed onboarding process.
Why did the SaaS founder choose managed outbound on quarterly billing?
The founder chose managed outbound on quarterly billing, which is paid up front and costs less than monthly billing, making it a good fit for founders planning a six-month outbound commitment. For the current Outbound package, quarterly billing is $6,000 per quarter against $2,500 a month on monthly billing, and annual billing is $18,000 paid up front. Monthly billing has no long-term commitment. Full pricing is on the pricing page.
What pipeline did the SaaS founder generate with Deligatr?
$340,000 in qualified pipeline was generated within 90 days of the engagement starting. This included two enterprise deals in late-stage negotiation by end of month 3. The SaaS founder used this pipeline data in an investor update for the first time, demonstrating repeatable lead generation to their board. This is one client result, not a typical outcome.
Free 30-minute strategy call

Ready to build outbound
that actually reaches inboxes?

This founder started with a blacklisted domain and zero outreach infrastructure. Deligatr rebuilt everything properly and generated $340K in pipeline within 90 days. The call is free. The plan comes with no commitment.

No tools to configure. No domains to manage. No deliverability to monitor. You attend the demo calls. We fill your calendar.

No commitment. No pressure. A clear plan for your SaaS outbound.