Imagine building a demand generation agency from scratch, signing six or seven new clients off a single cold email campaign, and then riding that momentum to hire more staff, formalize your business, and partner with top industry platforms. That’s exactly what happened to Stan Stojanović, Founder of frontBrick.io and self-described “architect of sophisticated pipeline generation strategies for ambitious B2B teams.” In this detailed case study, we explore how Stan harnessed Smartlead to catapult his AI-powered outbound agency to new heights, from improved deliverability to multi-channel outreach. If your goal is to scale enterprise-level outreach without hitting the spam folder, read on.‍

Background: Stan’s Journey from SaaS Sales to Demand Generation

Stan Stojanović began his career in SaaS, working as an Account Executive at a business analytics company called Databox. There, he absorbed core sales fundamentals from people with backgrounds at HubSpot, Salesforce, and other major players. That environment was his first glimpse of the power and potential of structured outbound programs, even if he wasn’t fully immersed in outbound strategies just yet.

A shift came in 2021: Stan moved into business development for a Canadian web design agency. As the first sales hire, he quickly recognized the need for a predictable pipeline—inbound alone wasn’t enough.

So he built an outbound motion from the ground up. The climate for cold emailing was more lenient then, but Stan never liked “spray-and-pray.” He focused on targeted, segmented approaches, combining creative strategies with solid deliverability measures. Over time, he developed a knack for “creating sophisticated systems that drive pipeline in the long run.”

That knack led him to formalize frontBrick.io, an AI-driven demand generation agency with the tagline:

“Take The Lead. Brick By Brick. AI-Powered Demand Generation Agency for Predictable Revenue Growth. We use AI and automation to identify, engage, and convert high-intent leads before your competitors do.”

But how do you actually launch an agency from scratch? You need case studies, you need leads, you need client wins. This is where Smartlead enters the picture, fueling Stan’s big breakout campaign.

How frontBrick.io Nearly Hit the Spam Wall Before Finding Smartlead‍

Stan needed a reliable, scalable platform for cold emailing that wouldn’t trash his domain reputation. As a new brand, frontBrick.io had minimal domain authority. The last thing he wanted was to end up blacklisted because he was pushing large volumes of outbound.

Market Reality: B2B leads, ecially in industries like web design, marketing, or enterprise software—get blasted by emails daily. If your approach even hints at spam, you’re done. Also, modern spam filters analyze sending volumes, domain age, bounce rates, personalization depth, and more. Meanwhile, Stan also wanted to experiment with AI-based personalization so each email felt relevant, not generic.

Key Requirements:

1. Deliverability Tools (warm-up, domain rotation)
2. Personalization (AI or advanced segmentation)
3. Integration with other AI tools for scraping or prospecting
4. User-Friendly enough to manage multiple subdomains or client campaigns

In short, Stan needed a platform that could keep him off spam lists while letting him scale. As he puts it, “I do a lot of sophisticated systems, not just lead gen for the sake of it.” So the technology had to match his ambitions.

How a Single LinkedIn Tip Led Stan to Smartlead (and Changed Everything)

Stan first heard about Smartlead through LinkedIn recommendations—someone in his network had praised the platform’s advanced domain warm-up features and the fact that it doesn’t charge per seat. Intrigued, he tested the waters, launching a single pilot campaign in the mid-2020s. The result? A mind-blowing success that sealed his decision to formalize frontBrick.io.

Primary Reason to Try: “Other tools back then charged per seat. Smartlead let me scale outreach cost-effectively.”

Immediate Win: He launched a campaign with 470 leads to test deliverability and personalization at scale.

Results:

Stan got 52 replies, a reply rate of approximately 18.37%—notable for cold outbound. Even better, 41 of those replies were positive, a huge majority. This single campaign netted 7 or 8 new customers, basically jumpstarting frontBrick.io’s client base. The influx allowed him to hire staff, build an agency brand, and collaborate with other AI or automation tools.

That one campaign, as Stan put it, was “the most successful campaign I’ve ever run,” demonstrating how Smartlead’s approach to domain health and personalization can yield near-immediate ROI.

The frontBrick.io Approach: “AI + Relevance Over Spray-and-Pray”

Stan’s philosophy is that “relevance matters more than personalization.” If your outreach is triggered by actual signals—like company expansions, funding rounds, or new product lines—you’re not sending random blasts. Instead, you’re targeting prospects at the right moment with a real solution. frontBrick uses:

1. AI & Automation: Tools like Clay, HeyReach, or other scraping solutions feed the top of the funnel, identifying high-intent leads.
2. Strategic Segmentation: They group leads by triggers (e.g., newly hired marketing directors, companies that posted about “expansion” on LinkedIn).
3. Smartlead: The final stage for delivering the actual emails. They build sequences with advanced spintax and multi-inbox rotation to keep deliverability high.

By stacking these tools, frontBrick.io was able to set up robust pipelines for their clients. In Stan’s words, “It’s about building systems that produce consistent pipeline over time, not quick hacks.”

What Helped Most? Stan’s Favorite Smartlead Features

When asked what top features matter most in Smartlead, Stan highlighted:

1. Master Inbox

• Centralized Campaign Management: frontBrick.io could see all leads, all sequences, and all replies from one dashboard.
• Reply & Unsubscribe Detection: If someone replies or unsubscribes, the system automatically halts further emails to that lead, avoiding spam complaints.

2. Smart Delivery

• Adaptive Sending: Emails are spaced out to mimic human behavior, reducing sudden volume spikes that trigger spam filters.
• Domain Warm-Up: The platform gradually ramps up sending from new addresses, ensuring no domain is overwhelmed.
• Customizable Throttling: frontBrick.io can calibrate how many emails go out per hour/day, preserving domain health.

3. Client Access & White-Labeling

• Multi-Client Management: Perfect for agencies. frontBrick.io can add new subdomains or new inboxes for each client, all under their own brand.
• Collaboration: External clients can see dashboards or analytics without messing up the main workflow.

Additionally, Stan praised the webhook integration for hooking into CRMs or lead-sheets. That synergy with other AI-based data-collection tools (like Play or Clay) forms the backbone of frontBrick.io’s entire approach.

Stan’s Notable Campaign: 470 Leads, 52 Replies, 41 Positive

One shining example from the transcript is a single campaign Stan ran to target founders on a specialized platform (like Webflow experts). He combined:

• Scraping: He used a scraping solution to find relevant agencies or companies.
• Segmentation: Each lead was chosen based on certain triggers (like having a Webflow listing or offering Webflow design).
• Smartlead: Sequences were loaded into Smartlead, with domain warm-up, personalization tokens, and an interval-based approach.

Outcome:

1. Out of 470 leads, he got 52 replies (~18.37% reply rate), with 41 positives.

2. That’s roughly 78–79% positive ratio among those who replied, which is phenomenal for a cold outreach scenario.

3. He ended up signing 7 or 8 brand-new clients, fueling the birth of frontBrick.io as a formal agency.

In short, the synergy of advanced segmentation plus deliverability optimization through Smartlead turned a list of 470 leads into a profitable client pipeline.

The Evolution of Outbound (According to Stan)

Based on the transcript, Stan sees two main shifts in the outbound space:

1. Deliverability Complexity‍

It used to be easy to export lists from a database and blast them. Now, if you do that, Google or Microsoft flags you almost instantly. Tools like Smartlead, with advanced domain and inbox management, are essential to avoid meltdown.

2. AI & Personalization

The race to stand out in the inbox has led to more sophisticated personalization strategies. Basic mail merges are losing effectiveness. frontBrick.io leans on AI to create lines referencing each prospect’s context, ensuring they “feel” relevant at scale.

“Whoever is managing to stay a bit more ahead of time in deliverability and segmentation can still have great results,” Stan says. The key is avoiding the old approach of dumping 10,000 leads into a single sequence. No one wants that.

What Could Be Better: Stan’s Honest Feedback on Smartlead

Though Stan is a big advocate of Smartlead, he did mention some improvements he’d love to see:

1. Global Analytics

He’d like deeper, possibly more interactive analytics to slice data historically and export leads by tags or statuses.

2. Multi-HubSpot Accounts‍

If you’re an agency with 10 HubSpot-using clients, you might want each one integrated. Currently, hooking multiple HubSpot accounts can be a bit tricky, but it’s on Smartlead’s roadmap.

3. Better “All Leads” Filtering‍

For instance, if you want to export only the positive replies from a specific client’s campaign, it can be a challenge. Having robust filtering or search for leads across campaigns would speed up the offboarding process.

He also expressed an interest in seeing how the new global analytics and dashboards evolve. Being from a data analytics background, Stan craves deeper insights. That said, he values that Smartlead “rolls out features so fast,” with plenty of new updates arriving regularly.

The Path Forward: frontBrick.io & Smartlead Collaboration

frontBrick.io has grown into a legitimate AI-powered demand gen or cold email agency, thanks to successful outbound campaigns with tools like Smartlead. The synergy is straightforward:

1. Play or Clay scrapes data, identifies triggers, or segments leads.
2. Smartlead sends them out in carefully structured sequences— domain warm-up, spintax personalization, advanced analytics.
3. HubSpot or a separate CRM receives data and organizes the pipeline, either via direct integration or webhooks.
4. frontBrick.io’s team monitors results in real-time. If open rates dip, they adjust domain rotation or tweak the messaging.

Stan also joined the Smartlead experts program, acknowledging that he’s not just a user but a partner, providing feedback and suggestions to shape the product’s direction. For him, real synergy comes from forging alliances with best-in-class platforms so they can both evolve with the ever-changing spam filter landscape.

"Outbound isn’t Dead, It's Just That the Bar is Higher Now"

For any B2B software company or outbound agency reading this, here are a few things to note from Stan’s journey:

1. Deliverability Is King: “We used to blast out 10,000 leads in a single go,” says Stan. Not anymore. Strategic domain warm-up, multiple subdomains, and a warm-up tool are non-negotiables if you want consistent results.

2. AI & Segmentation: frontBrick.io doesn’t believe in “spray-and-pray.” Instead, they identify triggers or intent data to ensure each email resonates. Tools like Smartlead let them scale that approach safely.

3. Measurable ROI: That single campaign that yielded 7 or 8 new clients from 470 leads demonstrates that high-volume, targeted outreach can pay off big if done right.

4. Keep Evolving: The outbound game changes monthly (or even weekly). Working with a platform that updates features—like better analytics or multi-CRM connectivity—keeps you a step ahead.

5. Partnership Over Tool Usage: frontBrick.io sees Smartlead as more than just software. They see it as a partner in building robust pipeline generation systems. That synergy is key for surviving the modern spam filter arms race.

Stan’s Final Word: “Outbound isn’t dead; it’s just that the bar is higher now. With the right approach—like focusing on domain health, triggers, and actual personalization—you can do wonders. Smartlead allowed me to unify advanced deliverability with multi-channel sequences, and that was a game-changer for our 2,000+ daily emails.”

At the end of the day, Stan’s story with frontBrick.io shows that cold emailing, even in 2025, can be a powerful revenue driver—if you do it right. The synergy between specialized tools like Smartlead and a strategic demand gen approach can catapult your brand from “just another spammer” to “the next unstoppable pipeline engine.”

Interested in seeing how frontBrick.io leveraged advanced domain warm-ups or multi-channel sequences? Head over to Smartlead to explore the possibilities. Or, if you’re serious about supercharging your own outbound, join the ranks of forward-thinking agencies that count on Smartlead’s domain warm-up, spintax personalization, and flexible pricing to keep them out of spam and in the black. Because, as Stan would say, “Outbound still works. You just need the right system behind it.”

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