You've raised funding. Built a great product. Proven product-market fit. But Fortune 500 buyers don't respond to cold emails—they respond to warm introductions from people they trust. Welcome to The Growth Council: Your bridge to the I-75 corridor's $2 trillion enterprise market.
See How Startups Qualify →Month 1-3: You buy ZoomInfo or Apollo ($30K/year). Hire SDRs ($60K+ per head). Build target lists. Write personalized sequences.
Month 4-6: Send 300 emails to get ONE response. That response is from a director who "needs to check with their boss." You schedule a demo. They seem interested.
Month 7-9: Follow-up after follow-up. "We're still evaluating." "We need to bring in a few more stakeholders." "Let's circle back next quarter."
Month 10-12: Radio silence. Or worse: "We decided to go with another vendor." (One who got introduced by someone the CXO actually trusts.)
70% of the buyer journey is complete before vendors get a call
90% of buyers create their shortlist before talking to any vendor
71% ultimately choose whoever was first on that list
By the time they respond to your cold email, they've already picked your competitor.
You're not in the room where the decision gets made. You're not even in the building.
Cost of this approach:
• $60K-$300K per year on SDRs, tools, and lists
• 306 emails per lead (and rising)
• 0.1% conversion rate
• 12-18 month sales cycles
• Talking to gatekeepers without authority
There has to be a better way.
The Geography: Within a 3-5 hour drive from Detroit to Cincinnati, you'll find one of the world's largest concentrations of Fortune 500 headquarters and enterprise buying power.
The Numbers:
• $2+ trillion in annual enterprise spending
• Hundreds of Fortune 500 headquarters
• Thousands of buying decisions made every quarter
• Industries: Manufacturing, automotive, supply chain, retail, healthcare, financial services, logistics
These companies don't respond to cold emails from Bay Area startups. They don't know you exist. And you have no way to reach them.
Until now.
Guaranteed Access to Decision-Makers Who Want to Meet You
This isn't lead generation. This isn't networking. This is curated access to the room where enterprise decisions get made.
Not "warm leads." Not "networking opportunities." Actual quarterly virtual sessions with Fortune 500 executives who opted in to hear solutions in your category. Four times a year. Consistently. Reliably.
We don't put you in front of directors who "need approval" or managers who "need to check with their boss." We bring you C-suite and VP-level executives with budget authority, innovation mandates, and the power to say yes.
If you're building AI for supply chain, you meet supply chain executives. If you're solving cybersecurity challenges, you meet CISOs and CTOs. We match by industry alignment, problem-solution fit, buying urgency, and decision-making authority.
By the time you're in the session, they already know who you are, what problem you solve, and why they should care. You're not interrupting their day. You're answering a question they're already asking.
Every executive in your session chose to be there. They're not being pitched to—they're actively seeking solutions. No ambush intros. No surprise calls. Everyone consents explicitly.
After the session, interested CXOs request deeper conversations. You schedule demos. You run pilots. You negotiate terms. You close deals. We opened the door. You walk through it. The relationship is yours to build. We're the bridge, not the middleman.
This isn't one intro and done. Quarterly sessions. Ongoing access. New CXOs every quarter. As long as you're growing and creating value, we keep connecting you with enterprise buyers who need what you're building. This is systematic enterprise GTM, not random networking.
Traditional Outreach vs. The Growth Council
| Metric | Traditional Outreach | The Growth Council |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Cost | $60K - $300K | One annual commitment |
| Meetings Guaranteed | Zero | Quarterly C-suite access |
| Who You Talk To | Gatekeepers, directors | C-suite, VP-level with budget |
| Conversion Rate | 0.1% (cold) | 3.6% (warm intro) |
| Conversion Multiplier | Baseline | 36× higher |
| Sales Cycle | 12-18 months | 3-4 months |
| They Opted In? | No (cold outreach) | Yes (they want to hear from you) |
| Pipeline Predictability | Hope and pray | Guaranteed quarterly sessions |
The Bottom Line:
One enterprise deal pays for your entire investment. And we give you 12 shots per year.
Warm introductions convert 36× better than cold outreach. Your sales cycle drops by 6-12 months. You talk to actual decision-makers instead of gatekeepers.
This is guaranteed access to enterprise decision-makers.
The Reality Check:
The Growth Council is not for everyone. We're selective because our reputation with CXOs depends on the quality of startups we introduce.
If we introduce you to a Fortune 500 executive, we're putting our credibility on the line. That means we only work with startups who are ready for that level of conversation.
Are you?
If you're a funded startup with proven traction and you're ready to systematically break into Fortune 500 accounts, we'd like to learn more about your solution.
Here's what happens next:
This is guaranteed access to enterprise decision-makers. This is The Growth Council.
Apply for The Growth Council