How to Run a Cold Email Campaign to Y Combinator Founders (W25 & S22) Using Origami’s Built-In Sequencer (2026 Guide)

How to Run a Cold Email Campaign to Y Combinator Founders (W25 & S22) Using Origami’s Built-In Sequencer (2026 Guide)

Quick Answer: Once you’ve built a list of Y Combinator founders from the W25 and S22 batches in Origami, you can launch a multi-touch email campaign directly from the platform — Origami has a built-in email sequencer that handles the full outreach workflow. No exporting CSVs, no syncing with separate tools. In this guide, I’ll walk you through refining your list, writing a 3-touch sequence these founders actually respond to, and sending it all from one dashboard. If you haven’t built the list yet, read the companion piece on how to build a list of Y Combinator Founders from W25 and S22 Batches first.

I’ve sent thousands of cold emails to YC founders since 2024. Most pitches fail because they’re too long, too generic, or too salesy. This playbook strips all that. It’s the exact campaign I used in 2026 to book 15+ meetings with YC-backed founders in under three weeks — using one tool from list to send.

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Step 1: Build Your List in Origami (If You Haven’t Already)

The parent post covers list-building in detail, but here’s the short version for context. In Origami, you describe your ideal customer in plain English. The AI agent then scours the live web, chains together data sources (YC’s directory, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Apollo, and more), and returns a clean, enriched list of verified contacts — names, emails, phone numbers, company details, and even signals like tech stack and funding status.

For YC founders from W25 and S22, this is the exact prompt I used:

"Find founders and co-founders of B2B SaaS companies from Y Combinator’s Winter 2025 and Summer 2022 batches. Include company name, role, verified work email, LinkedIn profile, company size, industry tags, and funding status. Exclude companies that have shut down or are pre-revenue."

In under ten minutes, I had 340 contacts that matched. The free plan gives you 1,000 credits with no credit card — enough to build and enrich 200–300 leads — so you can run a full pilot without spending a dime.

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Step 2: Refine and Qualify the List Before You Send

A raw list of “all YC founders” will burn your sending reputation. You want people who can actually buy or champion your product today. In 2026, W25 founders are about a year out of YC, likely raised a seed round and scrambling to build repeatable early revenue. S22 founders are 3+ years out, many have Series A money and are scaling a sales team. The same message won’t land for both.

Open your Origami project and build two segments. Here’s how I qualify each:

For W25 founders:

• Role: CEO, co-founder, CTO, or Head of Growth.
• Company stage: Raised seed or have 3–10 employees. Filter by last funding round (Origami enriches this) — look for anything in 2025 or 2026.
• Behavior: LinkedIn signals like “hiring AE,” “cold outreach,” or “figuring out GTM.”
• Industry: Strictly B2B SaaS — AI/ML, devtools, fintech, enterprise infra. Consumer apps rarely buy B2B tools.

For S22 founders:

• Role: CEO, co-founder, VP of Sales, or Head of Revenue.
• Company stage: Series A raised or steady revenue trajectory (20+ employees).
• Behavior: Posts about “scaling pipeline,” “building an outbound machine,” or “sales tech stack.”
• Location: mostly SF, NYC, or remote. Time zone alignment can be a tiebreaker.

What does “qualified” look like? A founder who is actively spending brain cycles on outbound. If their LinkedIn says “We just shipped X, now we need distribution,” that’s a hot lead. If the company just raised and you see a job posting for a first SDR, that’s a golden window.

In Origami, you can add manual tags right in the table view — mark leads as “hot,” “warm,” or “nurture.” Then create two segments: one for W25 batch leads and one for S22. I typically end up with 100–150 leads total across both segments after cleaning.

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Step 3: Create the Email Sequence in Origami

Now the engine. Origami’s built-in sequencer lives inside the same project where your list sits. No exporting, no sync key.

You have two options:

1. Paste your own templates. Write a 3-touch sequence, set the spacing (I use Day 1, Day 3, Day 7), and upload them to the sequencer. You can personalize with merge fields like , , ``, and any custom fields Origami enriched.
2. Let the AI agent write it. Origami’s AI can generate a personalized 3-day email sequence for every lead automatically. It reads each contact’s profile — title, company, industry, even recent news — and writes messages that feel one-to-one. I’ve tested this, and it’s solid for scale, but for YC founders I prefer full control.

Below is the exact 3-touch copy that booked meetings for us. Replace [Your Product] with your offer, and [similar YC startup] with a real example if you have one. The tone is direct, references YC-specific context, and respects their time.

The Sequence (copy-paste ready)

Email 1 — Day 1 Initial Outreach

Subject: W25 founder → 2-minute thought on outbound
Preview text: saw your company on YC

Hey ,

I came across in the YC W25 batch. Most founders I speak with in your shoes are juggling product, hiring, and the ever-present pressure to show revenue velocity. The ones who build repeatable pipeline early are the ones who close their first 5 customers before the batch ends.

We built [Your Product] to give YC startups a turnkey outbound engine — no SDR needed. It’s how [similar YC startup] booked 12 enterprise demos while still in beta.

Worth 10 minutes this week?

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Email 2 — Day 3 Follow-up

Subject: re: outbound thoughts
Preview text: no pitch, just a pattern

Hey ,

Quick follow-up — I’ll keep it tight.

A pattern I’m seeing with YC S21 and S22 founders: the ones who adopted [Your Product] in their first year out of YC hit pipeline targets 3x faster than peers who waited. The difference? They didn’t guess at who to email; they had enriched lists ready from day one.

Curious if you’re actively exploring outbound or if it’s a post-funding priority. Either way, happy to share what’s working right now for W25 teams — just reply “outbound” and I’ll send a 2-min loom.

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Email 3 — Day 7 Breakup

Subject: Permission to close the loop?
Preview text: leaving you with something useful

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Haven’t heard back — totally get it. If the timing’s off, I’ll pause here.

But I did want to leave you with something. I pulled together a public database of 200+ YC founders’ outbound playbooks (tools, scripts, cadences they actually used to get first customers). No opt-in, just a link: [Link].

It’s been useful for W25 founders who are still in the weeds. If outbound ever becomes a priority, you’ve got a shortcut.

Rooting for .

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All three messages are under 80 words. They avoid generic flattery, lead with a pattern or insight, and close with a low-friction ask. I configured the delays: Email 1 sends immediately, Email 2 after 2 business days, Email 3 after 4 business days. You can tweak the cadence — sometimes I compress to Day 1, Day 2, Day 4 for W25 founders who are more transient.

If you built two segments (W25 and S22), clone this sequence and adjust the subject line and opening line for S22. For example: “S22 founder → scaling outbound?” and reference “post-Series A growth” instead of demo day. The core ask stays the same.

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Step 4: Send the Sequence Directly from Origami

This is where Origami shines as an all-in-one platform. Once your sequence is ready, hit Launch. Origami sends the emails from your connected domain (I strongly recommend a dedicated sending domain with proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC set up; warm it for 2–3 weeks prior). The sequencer handles multi-step sends automatically, pulling in contact data, respecting delays, and personalizing each message.

Because everything lives in Origami, you can monitor the whole campaign from the same dashboard where you built the list. You’ll see:

• Real-time activity feed: opens, clicks, replies — all per contact.
• Prospect context: when viewing a contact’s activity, you still see their enriched profile (title, company, tech stack, batch info). No more tab-switching to remember why you reached out.
• Automatic unenrollment: if a founder replies — even with “not interested” — Origami pulls them out of the sequence. No accidentally sending a breakup email after they agreed to a call. You can also manually unenroll at any click.

The sequencer is included on all paid plans. You aren’t paying per send; you’re paying only for the credits you used to enrich leads when you built the list. The sending itself is free. That means if you already built your list on the free plan, upgrading to $29/month unlocks unlimited sequencing for up to 1,000 contacts per month (exact send limits depend on plan).

What Response Rates to Expect

Based on several YC-founder campaigns I’ve run in 2026, here’s the benchmark for a well-qualified list of 150 leads:

• Total reply rate: 25–35% (includes “not interested” and “not now”)
• Positive reply rate: 12–18% (meetings booked, interest expressed)
• Open rate: 60%+ is doable if domain reputation is healthy and subject lines are sharp.

If your list is larger and less filtered, these numbers will dip. If you only target the top 50 hottest leads (funded, actively hiring), you can push a 20%+ positive reply rate.

When to Iterate on Messaging vs. the List

All your metrics live in Origami, so you can diagnose fast:

• Low open rate (<50%): the emails aren’t reaching inboxes. Fix subject lines or domain reputation first. Try A/B testing two subject lines within the sequencer.
• High open, low reply (below 8%): the copy doesn’t resonate. For YC founders, often the “hook” is off. For W25, maybe demo day references feel dated in 2026 — swap for “seed to Series A” urgency. For S22, try emphasizing speed of implementation over cost savings.
• High reply but low meeting rate: the list includes window shoppers. Go back to Step 2 and tighten your qualification. Add “must have raised seed+” or “must be hiring a sales role.”

Because your list and sequences live in one Origami project, you can clone the campaign, adjust the segment or copy, and re-launch in minutes.

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Wrapping Up

Finding Y Combinator founders from W25 and S22 batches is step one — but you already did the legwork (if not, go back to the list-building guide). The real needle-mover is what you do next. With the built-in email sequencer in Origami, the full loop — find, enrich, sequence, send, track — lives in a single tool. No CSV exports, no duct-taping outreach tools together.

In 2026, that’s the difference between running one campaign this month and shipping ten. Use the exact 3-touch sequence above, launch it from the same dashboard, and watch the replies roll in. You’ve got the list. Now send it.

Ready to test it? Grab your free 1,000 credits and build that YC founder list. Then launch your first sequence this afternoon.