How Butteredtoast generated $1M+ in pipeline scaling one founder's personal brand
in pipeline generated
$1M+
HIGHER REVENUE
Output
5x
MORE MEETINGS
LinkedIn followers doubled
2x
BETTER TRACTION
"I as one human, couldn't do what one Valley does at scale. There's simply not enough hours in the day to do what they do. The quality of conversations were as good as if I was typing it myself."
David Baeza
Founder & CEO
CHALLENGES
Scale Outbound for Butteredtoast, his enterprise B2B agency working with complex software companies
David Baeza needed to scale outbound for Butteredtoast, his enterprise B2B agency working with complex software companies.
His customers aren't easy sells - they're enterprise software companies with $120K-$180K annual contracts, complex sales cycles, multiple stakeholders, and seven-figure deal sizes.
Butteredtoast is a marketing agency targeting enterprise accounts that do between $20-$250M ARR - these are enterprise software companies with over 100 employees, which means every single meeting is a potential $200k deal.
He had a job description posted for an SDR. Then AI SDR technology hit mainstream.
David started researching. Clay. Multiple AI SDR platforms. Everyone was pitching the same thing: volume, speed, sequences. "We can send this many messages, we can do it this fast." It felt like a race to the bottom - who could stuff more messages into LinkedIn the fastest.
Before finding Valley, David was doing outbound the only way he knew how: manually. Five to seven deeply researched emails per day. Each one took 30 minutes.
"I would do the same deep research that Valley does. Trying to find a reason to reach out. What's the connection? What do we have in common? What have they been up to since the last time I reached out? Is there a reason for being that I should even be talking to you? I just literally used to do it manually."
The math was brutal. At 30 minutes per email, David could reach maybe 10-14 prospects per day if he did nothing else. To scale his agency's outbound, he'd need to hire multiple SDRs - not just one, but several to handle research, copywriting, campaign development, and strategy.
He pulled the job posting. There had to be a better way.
The question wasn't whether AI could help. It was whether it could do the one thing that actually mattered to David: hold a quality conversation.
“
We needed more meetings, end of story.
SOLUTIONS
Why Valley
David looked at the usual suspects - Clay, other sequencers, volume-first tools. He wasn't impressed.
"Everybody else is like, 'we can send this many messages, we can do it this fast.' It felt like a race to the bottom — who could stuff more messages into LinkedIn. That felt like a dangerous route."
What changed his mind was a post Zayd wrote on Substack. Not a product page. Not a demo. A piece of content about human psychology and the quality of connection.
"You were the first one to say that quality matters more than anything, and then produce a very well-written piece of content around it. That's what caused me to buy."
He bought the philosophy before he bought the product.
The Ramp-Up (And Why He Went Slow on Purpose)
David started in April 2024. One AI SDR. Deliberately slow.
He didn't want to blast volume until the messaging was right, the brand voice was trained, and the conversations felt like him. The first six weeks: single-digit acceptance and response rates. Expected. He stayed patient.
"I found the more time I put in, the better it got. It just got better and better and better."
By month one or two, the numbers started jumping.
This wasn't set-it-and-forget-it. David describes it the same way he'd describe onboarding a new hire:
RESULTS
$1,000,000+ in pipeline generated with one seat
David's context matters here: he's not chasing 10 meetings a day. He's targeting enterprise software companies with $120K–$180K ACV and complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles. Two to three high-quality meetings a week is a strong week for this ICP.
"If I get one, two, three meetings a week, that's high. But the quality of the meetings are very, very good - which is what I want."
Engagement Rates
Acceptance rates: 40–60%
Response rates: 20–40%
David's comparison is blunt:
"The engagement rates are so far in excess of every other channel out there. There's no close second, third, fourth. Email, nothing comes close. It's like when AdWords was five cents a click."
LinkedIn Audience Growth
Valley's activity didn't just generate pipeline. It grew David's personal brand.
LinkedIn followers more than doubled
Direct and indirect traffic to buttertoast.com spiked - and held
HubSpot database grew dramatically, creating a secondary marketing asset
"There are so many additional benefits in addition to meetings and pipeline. It grows the business everywhere."
Safety & Detection
Across 18,000+ prospects reached, David has seen exactly three responses questioning whether the outreach was AI-generated.
"I'm not fucking worried at all. Not even a little."
What Valley Actually Replaced
Zayd asked David directly: if he had to replicate what one Valley AI SDR does with humans, how many people would he need?
David broke it down:
2 people for deep research
1 person for copywriting
1 person for campaign development
1 person for strategy and oversight
Total: 5 full-time hires. For one seat.
"I, as one human, couldn't do what one Valley AI SDR does at scale. There are simply not enough hours in the day."
What's Next
David is adding a second and third AI SDR to his account - and expects the ramp to be significantly faster now that messaging, voice, and campaign structure are dialed in.
"What took nine months will probably take two, maybe less, because we just know so much now. It's just multiplying the effect."
He projects doubling the pipeline in a short period. And he's not even running email marketing on top of it yet.
in pipeline generated
HIGHER REVENUE
Output
MORE MEETINGS
LinkedIn followers doubled
BETTER TRACTION
Buttered Toast is a B2B marketing agency that helps tech companies (startups to enterprises) sharpen their positioning, messaging, and go-to-market strategy to drive real pipeline and revenue growth.
Try Valley
Make LinkedIn your Greatest Revenue Channel ↓
VALLEY MAGIC
Which channels does Valley support?
Valley supports LinkedIn outreach, including connection requests and InMails. Valley users safely send 1000-1200 messages per seat every month.
How safe is it and does Valley risk my LinkedIn account?
Do I have to commit to an Annual Plan like other AI SDRs?
How does Valley personalize messages?
