What Brex did
Brex launched in 2018 as the first corporate card for startups. Shortly after launch, with about 30 employees and almost no revenue, it ran what Sam Blond, later its CRO, calls the most successful outbound campaign he has ever seen (Sam Blond on LinkedIn):
- The list. A PitchBook report of seed to Series B startups in the Bay Area that had raised a round in the last six months: about 300 companies.
- The gift. 300 bottles of Veuve Clicquot at about $50 each, delivered to each company's founders.
- The note. Handwritten, from the CEO, along the lines of: "Congrats on your recent fundraise! We know how hard it is to build a startup and we're rooting for you."
- The follow-up. Shortly after delivery, the CEO emailed asking if they'd be open to a demo.
The result: 75% said yes to a demo, or passed it to the right person at their company, and 75% of the demos became customers. That's 225 demos and about 169 new customers. The total cost was about $19,000: $15,000 for the champagne, $2,000 for the handwritten notes and $2,000 for TaskRabbit delivery, or roughly $112 per customer.
The numbers are self-reported, from one campaign in 2018, by a company with a new product its market wanted. Read them as what's possible, not what to expect.
Why it worked
The trigger matched the need. A startup that just raised has new money, is hiring, and is setting up its finance stack. That is the moment a corporate card gets chosen. Brex didn't send champagne to random startups; it sent it to the ones about to make the decision it wanted.
The gift matched the moment. Founders celebrate a round. A bottle of champagne joins the celebration instead of interrupting it, and it lands on a desk where the whole team sees it.
The CEO signed it and sent the follow-up. A handwritten note from the CEO, then an email from the same person, reads as one company leader to another. It's the same effect as founder messages to new users, before the signup.
Physical beats inbox. In the weeks after a round, founders get flooded with "congrats on the raise" emails that all say the same thing. A bottle with a handwritten note is the one they remember when the follow-up arrives.
Brand was already working. In the same thread on how to do outbound, Blond explains that Brex launched with PR, billboards across San Francisco, events and podcasts, and aimed outbound at companies likely to have heard of it. Before launch, while in stealth, its only outbound went to Y Combinator companies, starting with its own batch (Sam Blond's thread).
His general point: cold outreach from a startup nobody has heard of gets almost no replies. Start with your network, do things that don't scale while each customer matters, and aim outbound where your brand already reaches.
Make your own version
Blond's advice is not to copy the bottle: "Come up with the equivalent that is on brand for your company and try it out." Four decisions make the campaign:
- The trigger. The event after which your product gets bought. A funding round for finance, HR, recruiting and security tools; a new VP of Sales or Marketing for sales and marketing tools; a new office for workplace tools; a first SOC 2 audit for compliance tools; a product launch for analytics.
- The list. A few hundred companies that hit the trigger recently and match your best customers. Funding data comes from PitchBook, Crunchbase or a list of funded startups; job changes from LinkedIn.
- The gift. Something that fits the moment and your brand, worth keeping on a desk: champagne for a round, a book for a new executive, something for the team's first office. Check the buyer's company and country rules: some ban alcohol or cap gift value.
- The follow-up. From the person who signed the note, within a few days of delivery, with one ask: a demo, or a call with the right person.
Then do the math before you buy anything. Brex spent about $63 per target and got a customer from 56% of them. Your break-even is the gift and delivery cost per target divided by (demo rate × close rate). If even a third of Brex's rates would beat your current cost to acquire a customer, it's worth one test cohort.
Where it fails
- No trigger. A gift to a company with no reason to buy now is a nice gesture with no follow-through.
- Addresses. Under the post, the first commenter asked how this works when most targets work from home. Send to an office where there is one, or let the person choose the gift and the address online, and accept a lower delivery rate.
- Alcohol. Not everyone drinks, and some companies and countries restrict alcohol gifts or cap gift value. Have an equivalent that isn't a bottle.
- Scale. At a few hundred targets it's memorable; sent to thousands, it's a marketing expense with a handwritten font. Blond's own framing is doing things that don't scale while each customer makes a difference.
- A weak follow-up. The bottle opens the door; a generic sequence from an SDR closes it. The follow-up has to come from the person who signed the note.
- The product. 75% demo-to-close says as much about Brex's product in 2018 as about the champagne. If demos don't convert today, the gift won't fix it.
