This Cold Emailing Masterclass from our partners at Apollo.io, it's all about getting your emails read and, more importantly, getting replies. Let's face it, cold emailing can feel like shouting into the void. You fire off a load of emails and get next to nothing back. It's like being at a party where nobody wants to talk to you. This resource aims to change all that. It's about making sure your emails cut through the noise and actually get a response.

The aim of this masterclass is simple: to teach you how to write cold emails that people actually want to read. Now, I know what you might be thinking: "Cold emailing? Isn't that a bit spammy?" And, yeah, it can be if you do it wrong. But when done right, cold emailing is a legit way to connect with potential customers, partners, or investors. It's about finding the right people, crafting a compelling message, and offering genuine value. "Value proposition" should be at the forefront of your mind.

This resource is for anyone who wants to improve their cold emailing game. Whether you're a founder trying to land your first customer, a salesperson trying to close a deal, or a marketer trying to generate leads, this masterclass can help. It's about giving you the tools and knowledge you need to write emails that get results. This can help boost your "sales performance".

Now, this isn't just some fluffy guide with vague advice. It's a practical framework based on Apollo.io's own experience. They've sent millions of cold emails, so they know what works and what doesn't. They've distilled their knowledge into a step-by-step process that you can follow to write effective cold emails.

What's the history? Well, Apollo.io has become a bit of a go-to for sales and marketing teams. They've built a platform that helps you find and connect with potential customers. Cold emailing is a big part of that, so they've spent a lot of time figuring out how to do it right. They've tested different approaches, analysed the results, and refined their framework over time. This masterclass is the result of all that hard work.

This is a valuable tool for entrepreneurs looking for "business development strategies", and wanting to get their products or services in front of potential customers, as it's about using cold emails to connect with the right people and offer genuine value. It's designed to provide actionable insights that you can implement straight away. This tool can have a tangible impact on your business.

This Startup Marketing and Sales Ultimate Planner Kit is brought to you in collaboration with HubSpot.

This isn’t some dry, theoretical textbook. It's a practical, hands-on toolkit designed to help you create effective marketing campaigns and sales strategies, even when you’re short on time and resources. It’s about getting organised, setting realistic goals, and putting a solid plan in place to attract prospects and convert them into paying customers.

Who's this for? If you're a founder, CEO, or anyone responsible for marketing and sales in a startup, this kit is your new best friend. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your existing strategies, this planner will give you the structure and guidance you need.

What makes this kit different? It's not just about throwing money at ads and hoping for the best. It's about understanding your target audience, crafting compelling messaging, and building a sustainable growth engine. It's about working smarter, not harder, and getting the maximum impact from your marketing and sales efforts.

The kit includes everything you need to get started, from templates for defining your marketing and sales frameworks to a workbook for planning your content strategy. It'll also help you create goals using the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) framework, ensuring your objectives are clear and attainable. Plus, it uses the MSPOT technique to help you establish your organisational-level directions. In short, it enables you to craft clear, goal-orientated marketing strategies that translate into sales.

Think of this kit as your "marketing and sales co-pilot". It gives you the tools and framework you need to navigate the often-turbulent waters of startup growth. It will help you invest your time wisely, allowing you to attract more prospects and convert them into loyal customers.

You’ve got a product, someone needs it, you sell it to them. But any founder who's been in the trenches knows that building a solid sales strategy is anything but straightforward, especially when you're juggling a million other things. That's why we're offering this Sales Guides and Templates Kit, brought to you in partnership with HubSpot.

This isn’t just another collection of generic advice. This kit’s designed to give you practical tools, frameworks, and templates you can actually use to improve your sales process, whether you're a solo founder just starting out, or a business leader looking to optimise your existing sales efforts. We're talking about things that will immediately affect your bottom line.

Who should use this? Well, pretty much anyone involved in selling your product or service, from the CEO who's still closing deals, to the newly hired sales team. If you're involved in revenue generation, this kit is for you.

What makes this kit special? It's not just about closing deals, it’s about doing it in a way that builds relationships and creates long-term value. It's about moving away from those pushy, outdated sales tactics and towards a more customer-centric approach. And, importantly, it's about saving you time. Time that you can better spend on product development, team building, or, you know, actually getting some sleep.

This kit is essentially a sales "jump start". It equips you with what you need to acquire more customers without seeming intrusive or annoying. As founders, we know you wear numerous hats, making a sales playbook or strategy a daunting task. This kit allows you to begin selling now, and also prepares you for future success, thanks to the help of our friends at HubSpot.

We understand that navigating the sales world can be complex, especially with limited resources. This Sales Guides and Templates Kit offers practical solutions and frameworks to enhance your sales strategies, whether you're a startup founder or a seasoned business leader aiming to boost revenue.

Porter's Five Forces is a framework for analysing the competitive intensity and attractiveness of an industry. It was developed by Michael Porter at Harvard Business School back in 1979. Trust me, it's not just some dusty old academic theory. It's a powerful tool that can help you understand the dynamics of your industry, identify potential threats and opportunities, and develop a sustainable competitive advantage.

If you are competing in a market, you really need to understand what you're competing against, so that you can best position yourself to be in the strongest spot to win.

The framework looks at five key forces:

1. Threat of New Entrants: How easy is it for new competitors to enter your market? Are there high barriers to entry, such as significant capital requirements, strong brand loyalty, or government regulations?
2. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: How much power do your suppliers have? Can they dictate prices and terms? Are there many suppliers to choose from, or are you reliant on a few key players?
3. Bargaining Power of Buyers: How much power do your customers have? Can they demand lower prices or better terms? Are there many buyers to choose from, or are they concentrated?
4. Threat of Substitute Products or Services: Are there other products or services that could meet the same needs as yours? How easy is it for customers to switch to these alternatives?
5. Rivalry Among Existing Competitors: How intense is the competition in your industry? Are there many players vying for market share? Is price competition fierce?

By analysing these five forces, you can gain a clear understanding of the competitive environment in your industry. You can identify the factors that are driving profitability and the factors that are eroding it. You can also identify potential opportunities to differentiate yourself from your competitors and gain a competitive advantage.

This PDF and Google Sheet resource provides a structured template for conducting your own Porter's Five Forces analysis.

It's designed to be practical and actionable, helping you to:

• Assess the intensity of each of the five forces.
• Identify the key drivers of competition in your industry.
• Develop strategies to mitigate threats and capitalise on opportunities.

The 7 P's of Marketing Mix is a foundational marketing model that helps businesses define their marketing options in terms of tactical considerations.

The original 4 Ps were:

1. Product: What are you selling? What needs does it satisfy?
2. Price: How much are you charging? What's your pricing strategy?
3. Place: Where are you selling your product or service? How are you distributing it to your target market?
4. Promotion: How are you communicating with your target market? What marketing channels are you using?

Over time, as marketing evolved, three more Ps were added to the mix:

1. People: Who are your employees? How are they interacting with your customers?
2. Process: What are the processes involved in delivering your product or service? How can you improve them?
3. Physical Evidence: What tangible elements do you use to communicate your brand and value proposition?

This expanded model provides a more holistic view of marketing, recognising the importance of customer service, operational efficiency, and brand experience.

This PDF and Google Sheet resource provides a structured template for analysing your marketing mix. It's designed to be actionable, helping you to:

• Define your product or service offering.
• Set competitive prices.
• Choose the right distribution channels.
• Develop effective promotional strategies.
• Empower your employees to deliver excellent customer service.
• Streamline your processes for maximum efficiency.
• Create a compelling brand experience.

MoSCoW is a prioritisation technique used to reach a common understanding with stakeholders on the importance of delivering each requirement.

MoSCoW stands for:

• Must have: These are the non-negotiable requirements. If these aren't delivered, the project is considered a failure.
• Should have: These are important requirements that should be included if possible, but the project can still succeed without them.
• Could have: These are desirable requirements that can be included if time and resources allow, but they're not essential.
• Won't have: These are requirements that are not planned for this iteration or release. They may be considered in the future.

It's a simple but powerful framework that helps you to:

1. Focus on the most critical requirements.
2. Manage stakeholder expectations.
3. Make informed decisions about resource allocation.
4. Deliver value quickly and efficiently.

This PDF and Google Sheet resource provides a structured template for conducting your own MoSCoW prioritisation exercise. It includes two extra fields, Overview and Rationale, to provide additional context and justification for each prioritisation decision. This ensures that you and your team are aligned on the reasons why something is considered a "Must have" or a "Won't have".

Here's why it's great: the template also gets you to consider the Overview and the Rationale. The Overview of the task, and the Rationale for why it sits in one of the areas of the MoSCoW method. It's about more than just saying what is important, but actually backing it up.

A SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes to understand their current position and plan for the future. It helps founders, business leaders, and teams to assess both internal and external factors that impact their business, guiding them toward informed decision-making.

The concept of SWOT Analysis dates back to the 1960s when Albert Humphrey, a management consultant at the Stanford Research Institute, used it to identify the reasons why corporate planning failed. Today, it is widely used across industries because of its simplicity and effectiveness.

At its core, a SWOT Analysis allows you to map out:

• Strengths: What your business does well, what makes you competitive.
• Weaknesses: Areas where your business could improve or is lacking.
• Opportunities: External factors or trends you can leverage for growth.
• Threats: External challenges that could impact your success.

Who should use a SWOT Analysis? It’s for founders, entrepreneurs, startups, small business owners, and even large corporations. Whether you are launching a new product, entering a new market, or simply conducting a health check on your business strategy, a SWOT Analysis is a critical tool.

PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental. It's a framework to help you identify and analyse the key external factors that could impact your organisation. Think of it as a way to scan the horizon, spot potential threats, and seize emerging opportunities. A good PESTLE analysis can be used as a framework for your businesses entire existence, ensuring that it always sits in the right spot to serve it's target market.

Why bother? Well, the business world is constantly changing. New regulations, economic shifts, technological advancements – they all create both risks and possibilities. By conducting a PESTLE analysis, you can make more informed decisions, adapt your strategies, and stay ahead of the curve. It is also crucial to remember that the goal isn't about getting it all right, but merely making sure that you've kept it in consideration when planning your next steps.

This PDF and Google Sheet resource provides a structured template for conducting your own PESTLE analysis. It's designed to be straightforward and actionable, helping you to:

• Identify relevant external factors
• Assess the potential impact of each factor
• Develop strategies to mitigate risks and capitalise on opportunities

Who should use it? Ideally, anyone involved in strategic planning, market analysis, or product development. It's especially useful for founders, business leaders, and marketing teams who need to understand the broader context in which their business operates.

Now, a bit of history. The PESTLE framework is an extension of the simpler PEST analysis, which originally focused on just the political, economic, social, and technological factors. The "L" (legal) and "E" (environmental) were added later to reflect the increasing importance of these issues in the modern business environment. I'd argue that, in today's landscape, it's more important than ever to keep an eye on the environmental and social side of your business. After all, consumers are more and more wanting to support companies that share their views and beliefs.

The 5 C's of Marketing is a powerful tool for analysing the key factors that influence your marketing strategy. It's a comprehensive approach that helps you get a 360-degree view of your business environment.

The 5 C's stand for:

• Company: This is you! It's a deep dive into your internal capabilities, resources, and overall strategy.
• Customers: Who are you trying to reach? What are their needs, wants, and pain points?
• Competitors: Who else is vying for your customers' attention (and wallets)? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
• Collaborators: Who can you partner with to amplify your message and reach a wider audience? This could be suppliers, distributors, or even other businesses.
• Context: What's happening in the wider world that could impact your marketing efforts? This includes economic, social, technological, and political factors.

The aims and objectives of using this framework are:

• Informed Decision-Making: To make strategic marketing decisions based on a thorough understanding of your business environment.
• Targeted Messaging: To craft marketing messages that resonate with your ideal customers.
• Competitive Advantage: To identify opportunities to differentiate yourself from the competition.
• Strategic Partnerships: To build mutually beneficial relationships with collaborators.
• Adaptability: To anticipate and respond to changes in the wider context.

Who should use it?

Anyone involved in marketing or strategic planning. That includes marketing managers, brand managers, product managers, and even founders who are wearing multiple hats (as most of us are).

It's particularly useful when you're:

• Developing a new marketing plan.
• Launching a new product or service.
• Entering a new market.
• Responding to a change in the competitive landscape.
• Trying to improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

History of the Framework:

Unlike some of the other frameworks we've got, pinpointing a definitive origin or single creator for the 5 C's of Marketing can be a bit tricky. It's more of an evolution of various marketing principles that have developed over time. Think of it as a synthesis of different schools of thought, rather than a Eureka! moment. The framework is more recently used, and can be a modern alternative to the original 4Ps model from the 60s. It focuses on internal and external factors.

SMART Goals is a no-nonsense framework to help you translate those big, hazy visions into concrete, actionable steps. Think of it as the scaffolding that helps you build your business empire, brick by brick.

The aims and objectives are pretty straightforward:

• Clarity: To define exactly what you want to achieve. No more vague notions of "growth" or "success."
• Focus: To prioritise what's actually important, cutting through the noise and distractions.
• Measurable Progress: To track your journey and see how far you've come. Because nothing's more motivating than cold, hard data proving you're not just spinning your wheels.
• Achievability: To set realistic goals that actually have a shot of being accomplished, rather than setting yourself up for inevitable disappointment.
• Accountability: To keep yourself, and your team, on track and committed to the plan.

Who should use it?

Honestly, anyone who wants to get stuff done. Whether you're a solo founder bootstrapping your way to success, or a seasoned CEO leading a team of hundreds, SMART goals can help you stay focused and drive progress.

It's particularly useful when you're:

• Launching a new product (Product Development)
• Entering a new market (Go-To-Market Strategy)
• Trying to improve your website's ranking (SEO)
• Scaling your sales team (Sales)
• Improving your customer satisfaction scores (Customer Success)

A little history:

The SMART framework wasn't dreamed up in some Silicon Valley incubator yesterday. It's been around for ages – dating back to an November 1981 issue of Management Review by George T. Doran, who was a consultant at Washington Power Company at the time.

The acronym itself has shifted in meaning over the years, but the core principles have stayed remarkably consistent. The idea remains the same: that goals need to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It's a classic for a reason - it works.

In B2B, you're not selling to a single person; you're selling to a whole company, a whole decision-making unit. That's why understanding your Ideal Customer Persona (ICP) for B2B sales is absolutely crucial. It's not just about demographics; it's about understanding the company's needs, their decision-making process, and the individual stakeholders involved.

This isn't just about finding any customer; it's about finding the right customer. The one that's a perfect fit for your product or service, the one that will see the value you offer, and the one that will become a long-term, profitable partner. The more you know about your ICP, the more targeted your sales efforts can be, and the higher your chances of closing those deals.

This PDF and Google Sheet resource is designed to help you define your ideal B2B customer by exploring:

• Name & Job Title: Who are the key decision-makers and influencers at your target companies? What are their roles and responsibilities?
• Company Type: What industry are they in? What size are they? What's their business model?
• Goals: What are the company's strategic objectives? What are they trying to achieve?
• Pain Points: What are their biggest challenges? What problems are they trying to solve?
• Buying Triggers: What events or changes within the company would prompt them to seek out a solution like yours?
• Decision Process: How do they make purchasing decisions? Who's involved? What are the key criteria they use to evaluate potential vendors?
• Objections: What are the common reasons why they might not buy your product or service?
• Where They Learn: Where do they go for information? What conferences do they attend? What publications do they read?

By answering these questions, you'll gain a deep understanding of your target market and be able to tailor your sales messaging and strategy accordingly. It's about knowing your customer better than they know themselves, so you can position your product as the perfect solution to their needs.

This template has been built to support your team get as much information together about your target market, so that you can all work in harmony to achieve success.

An ICP is a semi-fictional representation of your best customer. It's based on research and data about your existing customers, as well as some educated guesses about your target audience. Think of it as building a detailed profile of the person who is most likely to buy your product, rave about it to their friends, and become a loyal, long-term advocate for your brand.

This template is specifically designed for D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) businesses. In the D2C world, building a strong brand and connecting directly with your customers is absolutely crucial. You don't have the luxury of relying on retailers to do the marketing for you. You need to understand your customers inside and out.

This Google Sheet and PDF resource helps you to define your ideal customer by exploring their:

1. Demographics: Age, location, income, education, etc.
2. Goals: What are they trying to achieve in their life or business?
3. Frustrations: What are their pain points? What keeps them up at night?
4. Buying Triggers: What motivates them to make a purchase?
5. Where They Hang Out: Which social media platforms do they use? Which websites do they visit?
6. What They Say: What kind of language do they use? What are their common objections?
7. Why They Say No: What are the main reasons why they wouldn't buy your product?

By answering these questions, you'll gain a much deeper understanding of your target audience. You can then use this information to:

• Craft more effective marketing messages.
• Choose the right marketing channels.
• Improve your product development.
• Provide better customer service.

Essentially, it's about focusing your resources on the customers who are most likely to deliver the biggest return. It's the difference between blindly firing arrows and carefully aiming at the target. So, stop trying to be everything to everyone and start focusing on your ICP.

The Bullseye Framework is a simple but powerful method to figure out where your marketing efforts should go — and more importantly, where they shouldn’t.

It was introduced by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares in their book Traction, which focused on how startups can grow by finding and doubling down on the marketing channels that actually work. The idea is brutally simple: instead of spreading yourself thin across dozens of marketing tactics, use a structured way to test and identify the few that give you traction. Then, double down.

The Bullseye Framework is ideal for early-stage startups, side hustles, small teams, or honestly — any business that doesn’t have time or budget to waste on guesswork. It forces you to get focused, test fast, and make marketing decisions based on data, not vibes.

At Foundra, we’ve taken this framework and made it even easier to use with ready-to-go templates in PDF, Google Sheets, Slides, and Excel. The spreadsheet versions also include a scoring system to help you track and compare which channels are actually working. It’s designed for people who want to move fast, make smart bets, and spend their marketing budget wisely.

The big idea: Your goal isn’t to be present on every channel. It’s to find one that works, and go all in.

This Annual Marketing Plan is designed to give you exactly that: a structured, actionable plan for your marketing efforts over the next 12 months. It's not about throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. It's about understanding your business, understanding your customers, and choosing the right marketing channels to reach them effectively.

The template focuses on four key areas:

1. Business Objectives
2. Team
3. Marketing Channels
4. Marketing Budget

By working through each section, you'll gain a clear understanding of your current position, where you want to go, and how you're going to get there.

This resource is perfect for marketing leaders and finance leaders. If you are in charge of marketing, in any capacity, this is for you.

Essentially, it's a way to move past the gut feeling and start making data-driven decisions about your marketing spend. It's the difference between hoping for the best and actually planning for success.

We created this template a number of years ago, and have improved on it every year and have worked on it with many companies over the years. It's our go-to document!