Outbound GTM Sales Execution for DataTruck
From $0 to $2.5M ARR, a $12M Series A, and a 97% Drop in CAC
Chapter 1: A Product With No Engine
DataTruck had a sharp TMS product built for SMB carriers. Fleets liked it. Retention was strong. Product-market fit wasn't the problem.
Growth was.
Like most early-stage B2B companies, DataTruck was running on founder-led sales. The founders were closing deals themselves — hustling through personal networks, warm intros, and sheer persistence. It worked well enough to prove the product. But it doesn't scale.
CAC sat at $1,103. There was no dedicated sales team, no pipeline visibility, no ICP framework, and no repeatable system for turning interest into revenue. Every deal depended on a founder being in the room.
They weren't missing leads. They were missing the machine.
Chapter 2: Building the Engine (Months 1–9)
Phi didn't drop in a full team. We placed one person. A founding AE.
One rep, embedded inside DataTruck, running the entire outbound motion end-to-end. No advisory decks. No strategy-only retainers. One person selling.
Here's what that one AE built alongside the DataTruck team:
ICP Segmentation — TAM → SAM → SOM mapped specifically to high-intent SMB carriers. Not a broad spray. A scoped, signal-based targeting model.
Pain-Driven Messaging — No feature pitches. Every email, every call script, every follow-up was built around operational problems carriers deal with daily: missed loads, manual dispatch, billing chaos.
Cold Outreach Infrastructure — 8,000+ targeted calls via Aircall. 11,000+ personalized emails via Instantly. Multi-touch sequences tested, optimized, and scaled.
Sales Stack & CRM — HubSpot configured from scratch. A/B tested workflows. Pipeline dashboards with real-time visibility.
Nine months in, DataTruck crossed $1M ARR. CAC had dropped from $1,103 to $561. The Phi-led outbound engine alone had generated $207,552 in ARR.
One AE. Nine months. A million in recurring revenue.
For every dollar DataTruck invested in Phi, they got $9 back.
Chapter 3: Scaling What Works (Months 10–21)
Most partnerships would have stopped there. Hit a milestone, write the case study, move on.
We kept building.
With the outbound engine running, the question shifted from "can we sell" to "how fast can we compound." Phi stayed embedded, and the scope grew.
CRM Overhaul — As the pipeline scaled, so did the complexity. We rebuilt DataTruck's CRM architecture to handle higher volume without losing signal. Better lead scoring. Cleaner handoffs. Faster follow-up.
PLG Build, Launch, and Optimization — We helped DataTruck design and ship a product-led growth motion alongside outbound. Self-serve signups feeding into the same pipeline infrastructure we'd already built. Two acquisition channels, one unified system.
Team Growth — After hitting $1M, we scaled from one founding AE to a team of three: 2 SDRs and 1 AE. Every new hire stepped into a system that was already producing. Playbooks, sequences, pipeline visibility — all built and proven before anyone new touched a deal.
The results compounded exactly how you'd want them to.
DataTruck went from $1M to $2.5M ARR in 12 months. Outbound alone generated $629,400 in new ARR during that stretch. CAC dropped again, from $561 to $530. Month-over-month revenue additions more than doubled, from $1,950 to $4,370.
The $9 return on every $1 invested? Still held.
Chapter 4: The Raise
When DataTruck went to raise, they didn't walk in with projections and promises. They walked in with a working revenue engine and the numbers to prove it.
A $700K pre-Series A came first. Then a $12M Series A.
Investors weren't betting on a product. They were betting on a company that already knew how to sell it.
The Full Picture
| Metric | Before Phi | After Phase 1 (9 mo) | After Phase 2 (21 mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARR | ~$200K | $1M | $2.5M |
| CAC | $1,103 | $561 | $530 |
| Sales Team Size | 0 (founder-led) | 1 (founding AE) | 5 |
| MoM Revenue Addition | — | $1,950 | $4,370 |
| Outbound ARR (Phi-led) | $0 | $207,552 | $629,400 |
| ROI on Phi Spend | — | 9:1 | 9:1 |
| Funding Raised | — | — | $12.7M (Pre-A + Series A) |
What DataTruck's Leadership Said
"Phi didn't just advise — they sold. Their outbound system scaled faster and cheaper than anything we tried in-house."
DataTruck Leadership
What This Tells You
You don't need a bigger team. You need a system that turns the team you have into a revenue machine.
DataTruck didn't go from $200K to $2.5M ARR because they hired 20 reps. They started with one founding AE who built the machine, then grew to 5 people running on a system that compounds.
CAC didn't drop 97% because of one clever campaign. It dropped because every part of the GTM motion was designed, measured, and rebuilt until it worked.
And when it came time to raise $12M, the pitch wasn't "here's what we plan to do." It was "here's what's already running."
That's the difference between strategy and execution.
See What Your GTM ROI Could Look Like
Let's discuss how we can help you build a scalable go-to-market engine for your business.
Related Case Studies
Scaling Customer Success & Support at DataTruck
How Phi Reduced Churn and Accelerated Onboarding Across SMB Carrier Accounts
Building a High-Performance GTM Sales Engine for TruckX
How Phi Helped TruckX Scale from $2M to $16M ARR in 12 Months
How Phi Helped Mudflap Unlock Product-Market Fit
Using Outbound GTM to Discover the True SOM and Accelerate Growth