List building is dead.
If you're still paying teams to "build lists," you're already behind. In 2025, your CRM should be auto-populating itself with qualified pipeline, programmatically. No spreadsheets. No bottlenecks. No waiting around for someone to "build a list."
Every new closed-won should unlock 100 new companies to engage with automatically. That's how you build a modern, compounding pipeline engine.
Back in 2013, Thomas Tunguz wrote: "This new CRM will scour the web to find potential customers, discover points of social proof with potential customers increasing close rates and finally record the transactions in the system."
A decade ago, that was forward-thinking. Today, it's table stakes.
Here are four workflows that flip your CRM into self-filling mode.
1. Lookalike: Clone your best-fit customers#
Your next best customer looks a lot like your last one. Take every closed-won Tier-1 account and instantly generate a list of companies with matching DNA: same industry, size, location, you name it.
Automatically enrich the right buyers and drop them straight into your CRM, fully qualified and ready for engagement.
Pro move: Allocate these lookalikes to the AE who closed the original deal. Nobody knows the playbook, use cases, and pain points better than the person who just won. It's a built-in incentive. That's how you turn every win into a repeatable formula, not just a one-off.
Bonus: Layer AI qualification on top to narrow down your ICP, or at least grade each lookalike according to your latest ICP definition. This way, you focus reps on accounts that actually look like real opportunities, not just surface-level matches.
2. Champions: Track ex-users who change jobs#
Your product champions are always on the move. On average, 3–4% of your users change jobs every month. If you're waiting for them to show up in your inbound or relying on Sales Navigator, you're missing deals.
Automate it. The moment a champion leaves a customer, your CRM auto-updates with their new company and fresh contact info. As soon as they land somewhere new, trigger outreach, or better yet, task the AE who built the original relationship to re-engage. The trust is already there, and the door is wide open.
Pro move: When you reach out to a champion in a new role, lead with a personal touch: congratulate them on the move and make sure to highlight what's new since they last used your product. Show them what they're missing: new features, major improvements, customer wins, or expanded use cases. You're not just saying "remember us," you're giving them a reason to bring you in again.
Bonus: Don't treat every champion the same. If your champion was a decision-maker, you're already talking to someone with buying power, go straight to value you could provide to the new company. If they were an end user or influencer, the move is different: ask for an introduction to the new decision-maker, or encourage them to champion your tool internally (think gift card, company swag, whatever gets attention).
3. Reverse Champions: Leverage your new users' past employers#
Not a very well known one here.
Whenever you close a new customer, whether it's a decision-maker or a key end user, dig into their previous experience. Instantly pull up their past companies, enrich the right contacts ("alter egos") still at those accounts, and get proactive. Ask your new customer for an intro back into their old company, or just reach out cold: "Hey, we're now working with someone who used to be at ABC company. Happy to share why they made the switch."
Pro move: Before you sync all those new companies to the CRM, clean up your data. Filter out "vanity roles" like community (Revgenius, Pavillion etc.) advisory, or investor positions, otherwise, you'll end up targeting irrelevant accounts. Focus only on actual former employers where your new customer was hands-on.
Bonus: Auto-generate a one-pager (Canva API for design + your AI (OpenAI, Claude, etc.) that explains the specific use cases your new customer is solving with your product. Send this to their former company as social proof. It's the fastest way to spark interest—and makes your outreach look pro, not generic.
4. Alumni: Target ICPs who used to work at your new customer#
My personal favorite.
How many times have you heard, "Oooh, you went to Berkeley too?" or, "I used to be at BCG," or even, "I've got the same watch"? That's the power of belonging. What Robert Cialdini calls the "unity" principle of persuasion.
For GTM, this is the "Alumni play".
Every time you win a new logo, automatically surface all qualified personas who used to work at that company and are now somewhere else. Just closed Ramp? Your CRM should instantly pull up everyone in your ICP who's now at new companies. It's running an alumni playbook in reverse, turning one win into a dozen new opportunities.
Pro move:
Don't just mention the alumni connection, reference a specific GTM win, process, or unique strength from their former company and use it as context for your outreach. Make it clear you understand the DNA of where they came from, and why that makes them valuable now. For example: "Most ex-ramp folks I meet have a super advanced vision of the revenue engine. Curious if you're seeing similar playbooks work.
List building should be reserved for ad-hoc plays: an event, an experiment, a one-off campaign. Your revenue engine should run as a trigger-based system, so your team focuses on what actually matters: closing deals, not building lists.
MaxJun 3, 2025
