How Vaibhav Built Smartlead

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Maven Club is one of the fastest growing communities for serious startup builders. We talk to founders and GTM/Product leaders and share their real playbooks and key learnings—stuff you won’t find on LinkedIn.

Today, we break down the journey of Vaibhav, founder of Smartlead—a hypergrowth email automation platform that now sends over 100 million emails a day, serving tens of thousands of businesses globally.

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Smartlead didn’t win by being first. Or by having a brilliant idea. Instead, Vaibhav built a breakout SaaS business by doing what most founders avoid: obsessing over support, iterating fast, and showing up where decisions get made. 

If you’ve ever wondered what it actually takes to grow 10x year after year, this one’s for you.

1. You Don’t Need a New Idea—Just a Better Execution

“We were the 50th to market. PMF was already solved. We just had to do it better.”

Smartlead wasn’t born from a genius insight. It was a response to an obvious pain: Vaibhav’s previous product, Smartwriter, integrated with existing email tools. Customers kept asking for a better one. Competitors like Snov.io limited how many emails users could send. So he built what people asked for—and fixed the pain points they were already complaining about.

Founder Takeaways:

• Don’t chase novelty. Chase dissatisfaction.

• Compete in crowded markets if you can out-execute others.

• You don’t need a “Eureka!” moment. You need proof people already want this.

2. Early Traction = Manual, Unscalable Hustle

“I was in 25 WhatsApp groups, replying to every message from 6am to 1pm—every day.”

The first 100 customers didn’t come from ads, PR, or launches. They came from Vaibhav personally replying to founders in Slack and WhatsApp groups, offering help, building features overnight, and following up directly.

This wasn’t scalable. But it worked.

Founder Takeaways:

• Before scaling, show up where your customers already are.

• Speed wins. Build what users ask for—fast—and tell them when it’s live.

• Don’t just validate ideas. Validate your responsiveness.

3. Customer Support Is the Ultimate Growth Hack

“If you go to our G2, 90% of reviews mention customer support.”

Smartlead’s biggest acquisition lever wasn’t paid ads or SEO—it was support. Users stayed (and told others) because Smartlead felt like the fastest-moving team in the space. The playbook: listen, respond, solve, repeat.

Even today, everyone—from engineers to ops—spends time on support. That way, every team member sees how their work impacts revenue and retention.

Founder Takeaways:

• Support isn’t a cost center. It’s your most powerful GTM channel.

• Let every team member feel the customer’s voice. It changes how they build.

• Use support to surface problems—and ship solutions fast.

4. Community Is for Retention, Not Just Leads

“We don’t use community to get revenue. We use it to keep revenue.”

Smartlead’s 9,000-person Slack community wasn’t built as a lead gen funnel. It’s where customers feel heard. Unlike Facebook groups (used by competitors), Slack gives customers a voice—and Vaibhav’s team responds.

This community keeps churn low, creates feedback loops, and builds loyalty.

Founder Takeaways:

• Don’t fake “community.” Give customers direct access and let them speak.

• Use Slack or private groups to retain users, not just convert them.

• The goal: make users feel heard. That alone builds loyalty.

5. Hire Content Writers Before Marketers

“One blog post I wrote a year ago drove 50 signups a day.”

Vaibhav’s obsession with content started at a previous startup, when one blog unexpectedly drove free, organic signups months after publishing. Since then, content has been his first hire in every company—including Smartlead.

Instead of chasing vanity metrics, Smartlead invests in SEO-driven, high-intent educational content. It’s not “top 50 subject lines”—it’s deep dives into real outbound problems, backed by their own data.

Founder Takeaways:

• Start content early. It compounds.

• Avoid generic posts. Write what your users are Googling in moments of pain.

• Paid ads stop when you stop spending. Content keeps giving.

6. Channel Partners & One-to-Many Selling

“I sell to one sales coach. They bring 300 users.”

Instead of selling 1:1, Smartlead focuses on leverage. One sale to an outbound educator leads to hundreds of downstream users. They also support white-label use cases and partner with other platforms like Clay.

Founder Takeaways:

• Don’t just sell to users. Sell to influencers with user networks.

• Design pricing and onboarding to make partnerships easy.

• Think: “How can this one sale turn into 50 more?”

7. Stay Close to the Edge (Even at Scale)

“I’m still coding every day. If you relax for one month, you fall behind.”

Even at 100M+ emails/day, Vaibhav stays in the weeds. His industry moves fast—email deliverability, like SEO, changes weekly. To keep up, the Smartlead team constantly rebuilds infrastructure, watches customer feedback, and adapts.

Founder Takeaways:

• The closer you stay to your customer, the faster you can adjust.

• Growth ≠ cruising. Stay paranoid. The game always changes.

• You’ll scale faster if your engineering and support teams stay aligned.

8. Saying No Is a Superpower

“We’ve said no to a lot of things we should’ve said yes to. That’s how we got here.”

When users ask for everything, it’s tempting to build it all. Smartlead says no constantly—so they can keep moving fast on what matters. Every new request gets filtered through one lens: “Will this make us the reason users stay, not leave?”

Founder Takeaways:

• Don’t let user feedback turn into feature bloat.

• Prioritize based on retention and differentiation, not just requests.

• Be ruthless about your “no list”—it’s what keeps you focused.

Final Thought: Build Like No One’s Coming to Save You

Smartlead didn’t raise venture money. It didn’t launch with a bang. It won by showing up early, listening closely, building fast, and obsessing over users.

If you’re in the early stages, this is your edge too. Be the founder who replies at 4am. Be the team that ships in hours, not quarters. And remember:

“No one works for me. We all work for the customer. They pay our salaries.”

Until next time,
Maven Club