# How Operatana Booked 400+ Positive Replies and 100+ Meetings for Startups with Smartlead

[Wajahat Ali](/content/author/wajahat-ali/index.html)

8

Min

Published On

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Updated On :

March 3, 2026

Recreated On:

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## Key Highlights

- Sent 1.2 million+ cold emails in 6 months
- 400 positive replies and booking several hundred meetings
- 100+ meetings from 4 clients in just 4–5 months
- Multiple startups now run 20+ meetings/month in-house
- Can manage 6,000+ inboxes via Smartlead

## Company Background

[Operatana](https://www.operatana.com/), co-founded by [Sascha Lang](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sascha-ai/) and Fabian—both Y Combinator alumni and former startup CEOs—specializes in B2B lead generation for SaaS companies and digital-first businesses, especially early-stage startups.

Drawing on years of hands-on outbound experience, they set out to help startups unlock cold email as a scalable, predictable channel for growth, moving beyond their own founder-led experiments to a proven, repeatable system.

## Challenge

- Startups, despite abundant advice online, struggle to make cold email work at scale due to complexity, [deliverability](/content/blog/email-deliverability-best-practices/index.html), and a noisy market.
- Manual sending and browser-based tools couldn’t scale campaigns or maintain quality efforts.
- Startups had trouble even starting, let alone measuring, iterating, and building a reliable meetings pipeline.

## Solution & Approach

With Smartlead as their core infrastructure, Operatana ramped from sending 10–100 manual emails a day to managing campaigns at immense scale with over 1.2 million emails sent in six months. Here are a few things Sascha emphasized:

### API-First Ecosystem

Every feature in Smartlead is accessible by API, enabling Operatana to automate internal workflows, reporting (like Slack updates), enrichment, and build custom tools tailored for each client.

### Deliverability Management

They leveraged Smartlead’s warmups, sending infrastructure, and robust deliverability controls to achieve results in today’s challenging inbox environment, outperforming legacy providers.

### Full Analytics Visibility

Smartlead’s [global analytics](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/abhishek-ajith_we-at-smartlead-are-excited-to-announce-that-activity-7343297460368203776-ASQ9) and client logins build transparency and trust as clients could see real data in real time, becoming more self-sufficient as campaigns mature.

### Startup Handover Program

Operatana moves beyond done-for-you agency work by setting up the entire outreach stack, mentoring founders, integrating fresh data and campaign workflows, and handing over a fully functional system and empowering startups to own and scale their own outbound channel.

## Results

- Sent 1.2 million+ cold emails in 6 months across all clients, generating over 400 positive replies and booking several hundred meetings.
- For 4 clients, 100+ meetings were generated in just 4–5 months—business-changing results opening new sales channels.
- Multiple startups now run 20+ meetings/month in-house, with costs far below paid ads and fully owning their lead gen stack.
- Operatana manages 6,000+ inboxes via Smartlead, automates Slack notifications and client updates, and iterates weekly to maximize campaign performance.
- Rapid feature development from Smartlead (e.g., better bulk management, advanced analytics) supports ongoing agency and client innovation.

## Lessons Learned

- Follow clear, focused advice from experts instead of piecing together scattered tactics. Consistency and iteration drive results, not one-off “hacks.”
- Scaling is only possible with robust, API-driven platforms that allow for deep automation, customization, and [seamless integration](/content/blog/email-integration/index.html).
- Smartlead’s focus on infrastructure and ongoing updates make reliable inboxing and results possible even as cold email gets tougher.
- Giving startups ownership of outreach systems (not just leads or meetings) builds sustainable growth and internal capability.

## Feedback for Smartlead

- [Advanced API](/content/powerful-apis-and-automation/index.html) and Feature Velocity: API-first design gives unmatched control for agencies; regular new features are appreciated, though improvements to bulk inbox management and more granular Slack integration would help larger-scale operations.
- Analytics & Client Portal: Live analytics streamline reporting and enable clients to become self-reliant quickly.

## Conclusion

Operatana, powered by Smartlead, demonstrated that with the right infrastructure, it’s possible to transform cold email from a founder-led grind into a predictable, scalable acquisition engine.

Generating 1.2 million emails, 400+ positive replies, and 100+ meetings per client in months, they help startups unlock new markets and pipeline, all while paving the way for in-house ownership of a critical growth channel.