For SoftBank, the best place to start with outbound prospecting is by focusing on lookalikes of your most successful portfolio companies or your ideal investment target. Imagine the founders and executive teams you've already partnered with successfully—target similar AI, semiconductor, robotics, and deep-tech startups, especially those at seed through Series B stage. Leadsforge can help you quickly identify and build lists of founders and teams that share characteristics with your best investments. Here is why: This approach lets you leverage real-world success to find more companies likely to be a fit—maximizing deal velocity and minimizing wasted outreach. Leadsforge’s filters can match by sector, size, funding stage, or geography, so you’re always targeting prospects that align best with your investment goals.

To find new deal opportunities and partners, go after the followers of your competitor’s company pages on LinkedIn. These are audiences already interested in similar investment theses or sectors. All you need to do is provide the competitor’s company page link and company website in Leadsforge, and it will find relevant follower details for you. Here is why: This is a smart way to reach engaged, relevant contacts who are eager about industry updates. Just paste the competitor LinkedIn page into Leadsforge and let it build fresh prospect lists for your next campaign.

Segment your outreach using a combination of industry (AI, ML, deep tech, semiconductors), company size (startup, scale-up, mid-market, enterprise), and geography (Japan, US, UK, India). Within each segment, further group by role—such as founders, CTOs, or heads of corporate development. Here is why: Segmentation ensures your messages feel highly relevant to the recipient. For example, founders at early-stage AI companies will respond to different hooks than heads of corporate development at major enterprises. Organized segmentation leads to better messaging and reply rates.

For more advanced targeting, create verticals such as AI/ML startups, semiconductor design firms, IoT/robotics manufacturers, and clean energy innovators. You can develop custom outreach for each slice—for example, referencing recent fundraising news in the AI vertical or regulatory trends in clean energy. Here is why: Tailoring outreach by vertical instantly signals you understand their world, making your message stand out amid generic cold emails.