How to Run a LinkedIn Outreach Campaign to AI Agent Platform Founders and CTOs in 2026

Quick Answer: You already built a list of AI agent platform founders and CTOs inside Origami. Now use Origami’s built‑in LinkedIn sequencer to send connection requests and follow‑ups without switching tools — sequence, track replies, and auto‑remove hot leads from the campaign. Below I’ll walk through refining that list, the exact 3‑touch message cadence you can steal (copies pastable directly into Origami’s “my templates” tab), and what results to expect. No exporting CSVs, no syncing a separate sequencer.

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Step 1: Build the List (Recap from the Parent Post)

If you haven’t built your list yet, the first step is literally one sentence. Inside Origami, you describe your ideal audience in plain English and the AI agent does the rest. Here’s the exact prompt that tailors the list to AI agent platform founders and CTOs:

“Find me founders and CTOs of AI agent platform companies (building infrastructure that lets other companies deploy autonomous agents). Limit to startups with 10-200 employees, who raised at least a Series A, based in the US or EU, with verified work email, phone, and LinkedIn URL.”

Origami’s agent chains data sources, enriches contacts, and returns a prospect table: full names, titles, company name, company size, industry tags, LinkedIn profiles, direct email addresses, and direct dials where available. Every record is qualified — no interns, no random engineers. The free plan gives you 1,000 credits (no credit card) so you can test the whole flow before paying a dime.

If you need a deeper walkthrough on building and validating the list — including exclusion filters and enrichment sources — read the parent post: how to build a list of AI Agent Platform Founders and CTOs.

For the rest of this guide, I’ll assume you have that list ready in your Origami dashboard.

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Step 2: Refine and Qualify Your List for LinkedIn

AI agent platform founders are not a monolith. You have open‑source‑first founders (think LangChain alternatives), enterprise‑focused founders targeting insurance carriers, and CTOs deep in multi‑agent orchestration. If you blast the same message to all of them, you’ll burn through your list with a sub‑3% reply rate.

How to segment inside Origami

Origami’s list view lets you filter, tag, and remove leads before you ever launch a sequence. Here’s the segmentation I’ve found useful for this audience:

• Segment by company stage. Filter by employee count or funding stage (Origami pulls Crunchbase/Apollo data). Seed/Series A founders are still obsessed with product‑market fit. Series B+ founders care about scaling revenue and sales efficiency. Your messaging pivot sits right there.
• Segment by ICP tech stack. AI agent platforms often build on specific LLM providers (OpenAI vs. open‑source) or serve specific developer ecosystems. If your own product integrates with one stack better, segment accordingly.
• Segment by geography. Remote/global startups behave differently on LinkedIn than SF‑based ones. Time‑zone awareness often doubles acceptance rates.
• Remove competitors, investors, and service providers. Some titles are misleading. Someone might be a “CTO” of an AI platform that is really a consulting shop. Look at company description and headcount; remove anything that doesn’t match your ICP.

What “qualified” looks like

A qualified lead for this campaign:

• Holds a founder or CTO title at a company whose primary product is an AI agent platform (not an agency, not a feature inside a larger CRM).
• Company headcount between 10 and 200 — large enough to have a budget for tools/services, small enough that the founder/CTO still reads LinkedIn messages.
• Raised outside capital, or has publicly visible revenue (even if modest). Bootstrapped solopre‑neurs won’t convert the same way.
• Active on LinkedIn in the last 30 days (Origami shows this if available). A CTO who last posted in 2023 won’t see your request.

Once you’ve segmented, create separate sequences for each segment. I typically run three parallel campaigns: one for open‑source AI founders, one for enterprise AI infrastructure, and one for late‑stage scaling startups. Same base messaging, but the hook changes.

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Step 3: Create the LinkedIn Sequence (and Steal These Exact Messages)

This is where most sales guides go soft. I’m giving you the full 3‑touch LinkedIn sequence I’ve used to book meetings with AI agent platform founders and CTOs. Each message is 50‑100 words, direct, and references a real pain point I’ve heard again and again from this crowd: “We have great technology and decent open‑source traction, but turning that into predictable enterprise revenue feels like pulling teeth.”

Two ways to build your sequence in Origami

Before I drop the copy, understand your options inside Origami:

1. Paste your own templates. Write your 3‑touch sequence (connection request, follow‑up 1, follow‑up 2) directly into Origami’s sequencer. You set the delays: Day 1 (connection), Day 3 (follow‑up), Day 7 (final touch) — or whatever cadence fits your buyer. Then hit “Launch.” The sequencer sends each touch automatically, exactly as you wrote it, respecting the schedule.

2. Let the agent write it for you. Alternatively, you can ask Origami’s AI agent to generate a personalized 3‑touch sequence for every lead. It reads each prospect’s title, company description, and industry, then crafts a sequence that references their specific context. You still review and approve before sending. If you’re worried about sounding like a bot, this option does a surprisingly good job at scale, but I recommend reviewing the first 10 to train your own style.

For the rest of this guide, I’ll give you the copy you paste into option 1. Even if you use the agent later, these templates serve as your baseline.

The 3‑Touch LinkedIn Sequence (Copy‑Paste Ready)

Cadence: Connection request → Day 3 follow‑up → Day 7 final soft‑close. Origami automatically un‑enrolls any lead who replies, so you won’t send a breakup message after a booked meeting.

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Touch 1 — Connection Request (note field, max 300 characters)

"Hey , I saw what you’re building at — the agent infrastructure layer is blowing up. I help AI platform founders like you turn developer traction into enterprise revenue. Would love to connect and share what’s working right now."

Why it works: The AI agent founder persona respects people who understand the space. “Agent infrastructure layer” is insider language; it says you’re not a generic SDR. The offer is vague enough to not pitch, but specific enough to pique curiosity. No one else is saying “turn developer traction into enterprise revenue” — and that’s exactly their internal boardroom conversation.

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Touch 2 — Day 3 Follow‑Up (send after connection accepted)

", thanks for connecting. Quick thought: most AI agent platforms I work with get great open‑source adoption but struggle to move those users into a paid enterprise pipeline. I’ve mapped out a 3‑step framework that’s helping a few platforms add 3‑5 qualified enterprise conversations per month without hiring a full sales team. Worth 15 minutes to see if it applies to ?"

Why it works: You’re naming the exact pain point (open‑source → paid pipeline) and giving a concrete output metric (3‑5 enterprise conversations). Founders love frameworks — it implies you have a repeatable process, not a magic trick. The time ask is tiny (15 mins). The CTA is a question, not a command.

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Touch 3 — Day 7 Final Message (soft close)

", I’ll leave you with one data point: we recently helped an AI agent platform similar in size to go from 0 outbound pipeline to $120k in pipeline in 6 weeks using a simple ICP‑first outbound motion. If scaling revenue is on your Q4 roadmap, happy to share the exact sequence and targeting we used. No pitch deck, just the playbook. Let me know."

Why it works: This is a soft close because you’re sharing social proof (another AI agent platform) and a specific result ($120k pipeline). The phrase “no pitch deck, just the playbook” lowers the barrier. If they don’t reply, you’ve left value — and you can re‑sequence them in 60 days.

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Personalization tip: Always replace with the actual company name; Origami’s sequencer handles this automatically if you use the variable. I often add one manual line if I see the founder posted about a specific feature launch — but only if it takes less than 30 seconds. Beyond that, you’re losing efficiency.

When to let Origami generate the sequence for you

If you have a list of 200+ leads and you don’t want to write variations, toggle on Origami’s AI‑generated sequences. The agent reads each lead’s profile and writes a lightly customized version of the above framework — it might reference a recent LinkedIn post, a tech stack mention, or the company’s founding year. In testing, this gives a 15‑20% boost in reply rates over completely static templates, because the message feels less carpet‑bombed. You still control the delay schedule and can override any message before launch.

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Step 4: Send the Sequence Directly from Origami

Here’s where Origami’s workflow shines. You’re not downloading a CSV, uploading it to a separate sequencer, and praying the email/LinkedIn identifiers match. Everything lives in one platform.

Launching the campaign

1. In your Origami list, select the segment (e.g., “Series A AI platform founders, US”).
2. Click “Sequence” and choose the LinkedIn sequencer (included on all paid plans — you only pay for credits to enrich leads; the sending is free).
3. Define the touch schedule. I typically use Day 1 (connection), Day 3 (message), Day 7 (message). You can add a Day 14 touch if the audience is slower to respond, but for founders, three touches over 7 days is the sweet spot.
4. Paste your templates or activate the AI‑generated sequence.
5. Hit “Launch.”

From that moment, Origami automatically sends connection requests and follow‑up messages, respecting the delays. It never sends a message before a connection is accepted — the sequencer waits for the acceptance event before starting the Day‑3 clock.

Tracking results in the same dashboard

While the campaign runs, you stay inside the Origami dashboard. Here’s what you see:

• Opens & clicks. LinkedIn doesn’t show open rates natively, but if you include a link (like a Calendly or a case study), Origami tracks clicks and inbound replies.
• Replies. Every reply appears in a unified activity feed. When you click into a contact’s reply, you can still see their enriched profile (title, company, tech stack, tools used) — so you know exactly why you reached out. No switching tabs to creep a LinkedIn profile.
• Automatic un‑enrollment. The moment a lead replies — even a “Not interested” — Origami removes them from the active sequence. No one gets a follow‑up after they’ve already replied. If the reply is positive, you’ve just saved an awkward “just checking in” message.
• Sequence analytics. Overall connection acceptance %, reply rate, and clicks per touch. This data tells you whether your offer resonates.

What response rates to expect

From my own campaigns targeting AI agent platform founders and CTOs (200‑500 leads, segmented), here’s the realistic range:

• Connection acceptance: 25‑35% (if your profile looks credible and your industry is relevant).
• Reply rate (out of sent connections): 8‑12% for the first touch, another 4‑6% for the follow‑ups.
• Meetings booked: Typically 3‑5 meetings per 100 connection requests, provided the sequence is tightly targeted and the offer matches their current priorities.

If you’re seeing connection rates below 15%, the problem is usually one of three things: (1) your LinkedIn profile looks sales‑y or empty, (2) the segment is too broad (you’re reaching co‑founders of “AI content generators” who call themselves platform builders), or (3) your connection note is too long and makes a direct ask.

If reply rates are below 5%, iterate on the message, not the list. Try a different hook in Touch 2 — maybe stress speed (“we go from 0 to pipeline in 2 weeks”) if their market is expanding fast, or emphasize “capital efficiency” if they just raised and need to show traction without headcount growth.

One platform from list‑building to outreach

No external CSV exports. No syncing between a data provider and a separate Sales Engagement tool. No “did this lead’s email change between enrichment and my first message?” anxiety. Origami handles find → enrich → segment → sequence → send → track in one place. The built‑in LinkedIn sequencer is free on every paid plan; you’re only paying for the credits used to enrich the leads in the first place. That means once you’ve built a list, sending follow‑ups costs nothing extra.

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Next Steps

1. Go back to the parent post and finish building your list if you haven’t already: how to build a list of AI Agent Platform Founders and CTOs.
2. Log into Origami, open your list, and segment it as described in Step 2 above. Tag leads that fit your ideal three segments.
3. Paste the 3‑touch sequence into Origami’s sequencer templates. Adjust the hooks if needed (for example, if you’re selling a DevOps tool rather than revenue acceleration, swap the pain point to “scaling agent observability”).
4. Launch a small test campaign on 50 leads. Watch the reply rates in Origami’s activity feed. If you hit double‑digit reply rates, scale to the full list.
5. Within 10 days, you’ll have a pipeline of conversations with founders who actually care about what you sell — not because you did magic, but because you matched the right message to the right audience, and spent zero minutes uploading CSVs.