Why Your Pitch Matters More Than Your Website (Nikita from Maildoso)
Transcript:
Mike: Hey Nikita, how are you?
Nikita: Hey, doing well. Thanks for inviting me.
Mike: Of course. I’m really glad to have you on the show. This is a topic that people don’t usually discuss often but is so important—and that’s cold outreach. But before we get into that, I was really inspired by your journey. One thing that stood out is you proudly mention failing at seven startups before launching Maildoso. I totally relate—being an entrepreneur myself, I’ve made plenty of mistakes. What sparked your entrepreneurial journey? Was there a defining moment?
Nikita: I think I kind of knew from early childhood. I remember renting out my toys at summer camp.
Mike: Wait, you rented out your toys at summer camp—for money?
Nikita: Yeah, yeah. For money.
Mike: That’s brilliant. Do you remember how much you charged for a toy rental?
Nikita: No, I wasn’t that smart. I didn’t track inventory, and I’m pretty sure I lost more than half of the toys. The deals weren’t great either, but it was my first attempt. I liked the experience.
Mike: That’s amazing. It already shows you were thinking about mutual exchange at such a young age—providing value and getting something in return. Maybe not perfect execution, but the mindset was there.
Nikita: Yeah, maybe someone even gave me the idea. I’m not sure. It just kind of happened.
Mike: Did you go to college? How did your first startup come about?
Nikita: Even before the seven startups I mentioned, there were earlier attempts. One of the first was trying to launch an e-commerce store. I was working as an SEO consultant and saw a lot of e-commerce businesses grow through SEO, so I wanted to do something similar.
I already had some coding skills, but instead of going with an easy, working solution, I tried to build everything from scratch. I spent a ton of time building it, but it never really worked—we only got one order. I burned out and ended up closing it. Then I took a pause.
Mike: And then you kept going, learning from each attempt?
Nikita: Exactly. Later, I launched a VPN service with a co-founder. That came with a lot of unexpected hurdles—like not being able to open a bank account or accept credit card payments. Stripe wouldn’t support VPN companies at the time. I didn’t know much about the industry, but I thought it was a great idea. Turns out, it’s also extremely competitive. We didn’t get any paying customers.
Mike: I can relate. My first company was a web design business I started with a classmate in high school. We didn’t land any clients either, but every experience teaches you something. You learn what works, what doesn’t, and how to set up the basics like a business bank account or onboarding process. You start figuring out what obstacles come with different industries.
Nikita: Exactly.
Mike: So now we’re getting to Maildoso. What made that idea stick compared to the others?
Nikita: My previous startup before Maildoso was called Backlink Swappers. It was a marketplace for SEO professionals, and we got over 600 customers—all through cold email.
Because of how the marketplace worked, we needed highly targeted outreach. Running ads didn’t make sense, so we had to build strong cold email infrastructure to support our growth. That’s when we realized the bottleneck wasn’t the product, it was the infrastructure.
Maildoso is built specifically for cold email—it’s like Gmail but only for cold outreach. No calendar or Google Drive, just tools built to scale and simplify the cold emailing process. At our peak, we were sending over 10,000 cold emails per day.
Mike: Wow. And you needed to spread that volume across multiple domains and mailboxes, right?
Nikita: Exactly. You don’t want to send that many emails from a single domain or you’ll get flagged. We started investing heavily in our email infrastructure. I started sharing our system with friends, and some of them asked me to teach them. I said no, but I decided to build a basic version of the product instead.
My co-founder and I built a simple onboarding flow using Google Forms, with no front-end interface. But we launched it and made $10,000 in the first month. That was a big moment—we knew we were onto something.
Mike: That’s incredible. And the name “Maildoso”—where did that come from?
Nikita: It only took me about 15 minutes to come up with. I knew the name itself didn’t matter as much as the branding behind it. I checked that the domain was available and that was it.
Mike: Smart. I always say if the domain’s available, the name is clean in Google, and you can register the LLC—you’re good. It’s all about what you build behind the name.
Nikita: Totally. You learn from past mistakes what matters and what doesn’t. One time I spent a couple thousand dollars on a website redesign that did nothing for conversions. Since then, I don’t overthink design. I try to build something quick—an hour or two max. If it makes sense, that’s enough to start.
Mike: Same. I tend to overthink, so I appreciate that mindset. Start lean, then iterate.
Nikita: Exactly. And it helps to know where your value really is. Great design can matter in some industries, like phones or fashion. But in B2B SaaS or infrastructure—it’s not even in the top ten priorities. What matters is your offer.
Mike: 100%. If your product or service solves a real problem, the rest supports it—but it can’t make up for a weak offer.
Nikita: Exactly. Even the best-looking cold email won’t work if the offer isn’t compelling. And a strong offer will still perform, even if the email has typos. That’s why we focus a lot on offer development with our customers in our coaching group.
Mike: That’s so key. What’s your basic definition of a cold email for anyone new to the concept?
Nikita: Cold email is reaching out to someone you’ve never interacted with before, typically through their professional email, to offer something valuable that solves a problem. Many companies have built multi-million-dollar revenue streams from cold email alone.
Mike: And anyone can do it—you’re not limited by location or status. But it comes down to your message. You have to know who you’re talking to, what they care about, and how you can help. So what makes a good cold email campaign?
Nikita: There are two parts: your offer, and the message. When we launched Maildoso, we tested 10–15 different offers. One that performed surprisingly well was: “We built a system that lets you send 5,000 cold emails per day and double your sales.” Simple, but it worked. We scaled with that message.
Mike: It’s funny how the offer you might not think is your best is the one that hits hardest. Real testing matters.
Nikita: Yes. Once you find a winning offer, you can then optimize the copy—write stronger subject lines, openers, CTAs. But the offer itself is always step one.
Mike: Are there common mistakes people make with cold emails?
Nikita: Definitely. One is writing like it’s an essay. Don’t be vague or too long. Either get to the point—"if you’re struggling with X, we can help by doing Y"—or hook them with an intriguing first sentence. Don’t start with cliches like “Hope this email finds you well” or waste space introducing yourself.
Mike: Totally agree. Keep it tight: who you are, why you’re reaching out, the value you offer, and what the next step is. And you mentioned follow-ups—how do you handle those?
Nikita: When we’re just testing offers, we don’t send follow-ups. But once we find something that works, we’ll add 1–3 follow-ups depending on the industry. No more than that. Better to recycle leads than annoy them with 20 emails.
Mike: Respectful follow-ups are huge. You’re already asking for someone’s time, so you want to be strategic. And you definitely don’t want to use your main Gmail account for this!
Nikita: Absolutely not. We get so many customers coming to us after their personal Gmail accounts get suspended. If you’re doing outreach at scale, you need to use proper tools and infrastructure.
Mike: Exactly. And that’s where something like Maildoso comes in. If you’re doing outreach at volume, it’s worth investing in a partner that can handle it the right way.
Let’s wrap with a few fun questions. Are you playing any games right now?
Nikita: Sometimes I play chess. And recently, I downloaded Dota 2 again—it’s been years, but I played a bit this weekend.
Mike: Nice! That’s a tough game. I’ve played League of Legends, so I can relate. How about music—what are you listening to?
Nikita: Not really a specific artist. I use the Daily Mixes on Spotify—usually something light and electronic, especially for driving.
Mike: Same here. Music in the car hits different. Last question—if you could only give one piece of advice to another entrepreneur, what would it be?
Nikita: You can brute force everything. If something doesn’t work now, just keep going. Keep testing. When we launch something new, we expect it to take at least 15 tries. It’s all about iterations.
Mike: I love that. Sometimes you’ve got to brute force it—try, fail, learn, and keep moving. Thanks so much for your time today. I really appreciate it.
Nikita: Thank you for having me.