# Outreach plan — 5–100 person startups

Goal: talk to **technical decision-makers** (founding engineer, CTO, Head of Product Engineering, AI lead) — not generic HR inboxes.

## Who to target

- Seed–Series B product companies shipping LLM features with real users.
- Team size **~5–100**; you want to sit next to the people who decide.
- Domains that map to your proof: **edtech / tutoring**, **vertical AI tools**, **ops automation**, **consumer utilities with AI**, **marketplace tooling**.
- Skip: huge FAANG volume apps, pure research labs with no product seat, agencies that only want ticket-grinders.

## What to send (short)

Subject: `Product engineer — FlyingMinds / LLM evals`

> Hi {Name} — I’m Shlok. Sole engineer on FlyingMinds (adaptive tutoring, 1,500+ students, eval harness 81→92% grading agreement). Looking for a founding/product-engineering seat at a {5–100} person team shipping AI for real users.  
> Case study: https://shloksharma.com/flyingminds.html  
> Resume: https://shloksharma.com/resume.html  
> If useful, happy to walk a 15-min architecture story or a take-home-shaped eval.

## Weekly rhythm (keep it humane)

1. **10 accounts** researched (product, stack clues, recent launch).
2. **5 personalized notes** to a named technical lead (LinkedIn + email if public).
3. **2 follow-ups** on warm threads only.
4. Log in a simple sheet: company, person, date, channel, next step.
5. Do **not** ask FlyingMinds or filmmaking to “save” the week emotionally — they’re ongoing crafts; the job search is a separate system.

## Example company shapes (fill with live lists)

Replace with current openings from Wellfound, Himalayas, Softaware, friends’ intros:

| Shape | Why you fit | Who to contact |
|---|---|---|
| Edtech AI tutor / assessment | FlyingMinds + evals | CTO / Head of Eng |
| Vertical AI for ops/sales | MaxedS automation story | Founding engineer |
| Consumer AI utility | IvyOdds + shipping taste | Product-eng lead |
| Civic / labor tech | Driver’s Voice pipeline | Technical cofounder |

## Boundaries

- Filmmaking and FlyingMinds stay alive on the site and in life.
- Neither is allowed to be the only source of self-worth or the only plan for rent.
- If a week is quiet, ship a public demo commit or one outreach batch — not a spiral rewrite of the homepage.