i refused to send cold emails.
so, we sent custom doormats to 100+ of the hottest startups instead.
"your shoes look good. do your SOCs 2?"
(spoiler: it got us more responses than weeks of cold emails.)
Selin Kocalar
1,221 posts
Selin Kocalar
@kocalars
- Karun and I left MIT in 2023 to build an AI compliance startup. Here's the real origin story behind @getdelve:
- since everyone's been asking, here's how much we actually spent on our doormats hack: $6,318 total. and it generated us $500k in pipeline in 1 day. growth hacks for the win.
i refused to send cold emails. so, we sent custom doormats to 100+ of the hottest startups instead. "your shoes look good. do your SOCs 2?" (spoiler: it got us more responses than weeks of cold emails.) - I came out of my dentist appointment and saw my co-founder taking a call on his car like this He’s an absolute sales demon
- took my mother to the Delve dropout billboard she might be smiling but she's not too happy about this one
- how it started: small team cramped in a MIT single-person dorm how it's going: whole floor of an office building in FiDi
- WE’RE DELIVERING 10,000 DONUTS ACROSS SF TODAY! Comment below and we’ll drop some off to you!!!
- 2 years ago, I attended Treehacks as a participant. This year we’re sponsoring it. Crazy how things change. Stop by the Delve booth if you’re on campus!
- In my freshmen year at MIT, I participated in HackMIT itself - MIT's famous annual hackathon. The following year, I was one of the organizers helping pull off the hackathon. This year, we're returning as sponsors. If you're on campus, stop by our booth to say hi!
- she's soc razyyyyy love her 2
- we spent $6k on a silly doormat idea and accidentally created our most viral campaign ever for growth hacks, the bar for success is incredibly low you don't need a grand and elaborate idea. just go and execute on your simple+stupid ones.
- we were 2 hackers coding out of a dorm at MIT, taking turns alternating between the one desk and floor because there wasn’t enough space. years later we’re in our SF office automating the future of compliance with an amazing team and incredible customers. it’s been a wildToday, we're announcing our $32M Series A at a $300M valuation led by Insight Partners. Delve is automating busywork for humanity, starting with compliance. Here's our story.
00:00 - I helped a bunch of founder friends get into the upcoming YC batch the secret lies in the interview (hint: it's not what you say, it's how you say it) 🧵
