The Zero-Budget Outreach Plan

I was a broke founder once.

Outreach tools were expensive, and I couldn’t afford them.

But without outreach, there’s no growth.

So I got creative!

I turned to free credits, Chrome extensions, and old-school hacks to build my first prospect list.

It wasn’t fast or fancy, but it worked.

Today, I’m sharing how you can do the same, step by step, without spending a dime upfront.

Here’s how you can build your prospect list

These are the exact steps I used to start my outreach. And now you can do it too.

Start with GrowthList’s Free Company List

Every month, GrowthList shares a curated list of 100 funded companies, , completely free with their “Free Forever” plan.

It’s a great place to start, no guesswork, just a list of companies ready for outreach.

You’ll get essential company details like names, websites, industries, and funding information, which is a solid foundation for your prospecting efforts.

But you’ll still need to identify your ICP, their decision makers and find their emails, which takes us to the next step.

Find Decision Makers on LinkedIn

Now that you have your ICP list, it’s time to put it to work.

Head over to each company’s LinkedIn page and look for the decision makers like:

• CEO

• Founder

• Head of Sales

• Head of Marketing

• Operations Manager

These are the people who usually hold the budget or can approve your offer, so reaching them directly means less time wasted on gatekeepers.

Find Your Prospects Emails with Free Tools

With your list of decision makers, the next step is finding and validating their emails but you don’t need expensive tools.

The good news is you don’t need to pay for fancy tools right away.

Many popular email finders like Hunter, Apollo, ZoomInfo, Clearbit, Snov.io and Lusha offer free monthly credits, usually enough to gather your first set of 50–100 contacts.

To avoid high bounce rates, use free validators like EmailListVerify, MailboxValidator, NeverBounce, UseBouncer, and ZeroBounce.

Most of these tools also have Chrome extensions, so you can seamlessly find and validate emails as you go, ensuring your outreach is solid and ready to roll.

What happens when you have used all your free credits?

Don’t worry, there’s still a way to find and validate emails for free.

You can use the Name2Email chrome extension to do it.

Once you add the extension, just open a new email draft in Gmail, click the little search icon next to Cc and Bcc, and enter the prospect’s first name, last name, and company domain.

Hit search, and Gmail will suggest a valid email for you without any fancy software!

This trick is surprisingly effective when you’re just starting out, and it’s a handy way to get accurate emails without spending a cent.

Your scrappy first steps in outreach will fuel the growth you’re aiming for.

Remember, it’s not about having the perfect tools or the biggest budget.

It’s about taking action, no matter where you are right now.

Start with what you have, build momentum, and keep going.

And as money starts flowing in, you can fine-tune your process, automate your outreach, and scale your efforts.

So go on, take that first step. The rest will follow.

Until next time,

Karthick Raajha.