Michael Gardiner (DFY Meetings)
Michael is our CEO, so yes, we’re biased. He’s here because he posts practical, tool-level cold email tutorials and agency growth breakdowns.
Michael has been doing cold email since 2014. He runs DFY Meetings, where we’ve worked with 500+ companies, sent over 5,000,000 emails and booked 5,000+ calls for clients. His YouTube channel, Michael Gardiner – B2B Strategies, is about growing an agency and getting sales calls through outbound prospecting.
What He Posts About
Expect step-by-step tool walkthroughs (Clay, Smartlead, Leadsforge), deliverability fixes like Why Your Emails Land In Spam (& How To Fix It), and the agency side of things, like How I Grew My Agency to $2,500,000. He also covers channels that pair well with cold email, such as lumpy mail.
He also interviews other operators, which is where a few names on this list come from.
Where to Follow
- YouTube: @MichaelGardinerB2B
- X: @mgentrepreneur
- LinkedIn: Michael Gardiner
- Community: Grow B2B
What to Learn From Him
Start with the tutorials if you’re setting up your stack. Our written versions are here too: how to use Clay for lead generation and our Smartlead guide.
💡 Pro tip: Search YouTube for “Michael Gardiner” and you’ll find an old, unrelated channel. The right one is @MichaelGardinerB2B.
Matt Lucero (Anevo)
Matt is the guy to follow if you want to see how a cold email agency scales, including the cold calling that sits on top of it.
Matt is the founder of Anevo, which sells done-for-you cold email and cold calling. His LinkedIn headline says his team has booked 5,000+ sales meetings for clients, and he’s a Smartlead Certified Partner based in Tampa.
What He Posts About
His channel covers how to book sales meetings with cold email and cold calling. Recent videos include “The New Rules Of Cold Email 2027,” “Brutally Honest Advice About Cold Email in 11 Mins” and “How to Book 196 Sales Meetings in 90 Days.” He also runs a Skool community called The Cold Email Lab.
Where to Follow
- YouTube: @matthewlucero
- X: @MattLucero_
- LinkedIn: Matt Lucero
What to Learn From Him
Michael has interviewed Matt twice. In the first interview in 2024, Anevo was at around $40,000 a month. In September 2026 Matt came back to talk about reaching a $2M a year run rate:
Two lessons from that episode stuck with us. First, calling leads who already showed interest nearly doubled results. In July, about 160 of the 300 meetings his team booked for clients came from calls. Second, he segments instead of over-personalizing. That means templated copy for very narrow slices of a market, each with the right case study.
💡 Pro tip: Before you build another AI personalization workflow, split your list into tighter segments and write one sharp email per segment. It’s usually faster and easier to test.
Nick Abraham (Leadbird)
Follow Nick for the numbers side of outbound: volume math, inbox placement testing and offers.
Nick runs Leadbird, a done-for-you B2B lead generation agency, plus Cleverly. His YouTube bio says he also runs several SaaS companies, including Scrubby for email validation. His LinkedIn headline says he sends 2M+ cold emails and 1M+ LinkedIn DMs a month for 1,000+ active clients across Leadbird and Cleverly.
What He Posts About
His channel is about lead generation, automation and data scraping. Recent titles include “Every Outbound Channel Ranked Worst to Best,” “Primary Inbox vs Spam: The Placement Test That Matters,” “The Offer Framework That Books 9x More Meetings” and “How Many Cold Emails Should You Send? (The Real Math).”
Where to Follow
- YouTube: @nickabraham12
- X: @NickAbraham12
- LinkedIn: Nick Abraham
What to Learn From Him
In Michael’s 2023 interview, Nick talks about how he turned cold emailing into a 7-figure business:
On LinkedIn he’s shared simple copy rules we agree with: make the subject line look internal, keep the email short and relevant, and use an ask that’s easy to say yes to, instead of asking for their time.
💡 Pro tip: Pair Nick’s placement-testing videos with our cold email deliverability guide before you scale volume.
Rather skip the learning curve?
We build the lists, write the emails and book the calls for you. We’ve worked with 500+ companies and have been doing cold email since 2014.
Eric Nowoslawski (Growth Engine X, Now Clay)
Follow Eric if you want to get good at Clay, buying signals and signal-based targeting.
Eric founded Growth Engine X, a Clay Enterprise Partner agency. In October 2026 he announced he was rejoining Clay as a PLG Growth Leader, and he’s staying on as an advisor to Growth Engine X. He says Clay will pay him to run growth experiments and then open source them, on things like contact sourcing, deliverability and AI-written emails. So his feed is about to get even more useful.
What He Posts About
Clay workflows, buying signals and cold email strategy. Recent videos include “I Ranked the Best Buying Signal in 2026,” “Claude Code + Clay.com Destroys Any Marketing Team” and “Give Me 25 Minutes and I’ll Give You 7 Years of Cold Email Advice.” His LinkedIn is full of signal-based targeting ideas, like job postings, tech stacks and headcount growth.
Where to Follow
- YouTube: @ericnowoslawski
- X: @ENowoslawski
- LinkedIn: Eric Nowoslawski
What to Learn From Him
Start with Michael’s 2024 interview on how Eric grew his agency to 50+ clients:
Then take one signal and build a list around it in Clay. We wrote one up: finding recently funded companies in Clay.
Lead Gen Jay (Jay Feldman)
Lead Gen Jay is the biggest channel on this list, and the best pick if you want cold email mixed with AI automation.
Jay Feldman teaches entrepreneurs how to get B2B leads with cold email and AI. His YouTube bio says he built two Inc. 5000 companies with cold email. His site, leadgenjay.com, offers AI-powered cold email systems and done-for-you builds.
What He Posts About
Cold email setup and deliverability, B2B lead generation, and AI automation with tools like Claude Code and n8n. He also covers GoHighLevel and Instagram DM automation. Recent titles include “I Ran 1,000 Email Deliverability Tests. Here’s What Works in 2026,” “Why Your Emails Land in Promotions” and “UPDATE: Cold Email Setup Just Changed.”
Where to Follow
- YouTube: @leadgenjay
- X: @leadgenjay
- LinkedIn: Dr. Jay Feldman
What to Learn From Him
Use his setup and deliverability videos as a checklist when you build new infrastructure. Then borrow the automation ideas once your basics are working, not before.
💡 Pro tip: Setup rules change. If a video is more than a few months old, check that the steps still match what your sending tool and inbox provider recommend today.
Hoani Taylor (Carrots Not Sticks)
Follow Hoani for blunt, high-volume lessons on what moves results and what doesn’t.
Hoani is based in London and works on Carrots Not Sticks, a demand generation company that works on a revenue-share model. His LinkedIn lists him as Head of Operations there. His YouTube bio says he posts about B2B acquisition, systems thinking “and anything else that would help my former self.”
What He Posts About
Big experiments and the lessons from them. Titles include “I tried sending 1.35M cold emails in 30 days (raw results),” “I’ve sent 20M cold emails in 2026, here is everything that works” and “26 Cold Email Lessons I Wish I Knew When I Started.”
Where to Follow
- YouTube: @HoaniCtaylor
- LinkedIn: Hoani Taylor
What to Learn From Him
His 20M-emails video is a good place to start. The chapters cover why the offer matters most, why volume is the simplest lever, short copy with a clear offer, and why playbooks have a shelf life. On LinkedIn he’s also said a good lead list beats good copy, and that you can reuse leads more often than you’d think.
💡 Pro tip: Note his username: it’s @HoaniCtaylor, with a C. The more obvious spellings don’t lead to his channel.
Cold Email Creators Compared
Short on time? Pick one or two based on what you need to learn right now.
How to Learn From Them Without Drowning
Follow fewer people, pick one idea per week, and test it on a real campaign.
Watching is the easy part. Here’s how we’d use this list:
- Pick two creators whose focus matches your current problem. Deliverability issues? Nick and Jay. Targeting? Eric. Scaling an agency? Matt and Michael.
- Take one idea per week. A new segment, a new subject line style, a new signal.
- Test it against what you have now. Change one thing at a time so you know what worked.
- Keep notes. A simple doc with what you tried and what happened beats a “watch later” playlist with 200 videos.
If the copy side is where you’re stuck, start with the structure of a winning cold email.
Answers To Questions You Might Have
Who should I follow to learn cold email?
Start with creators who run outbound for real clients. Our picks are Michael Gardiner, Matt Lucero, Nick Abraham, Eric Nowoslawski, Lead Gen Jay and Hoani Taylor. Choose based on what you need, like deliverability, Clay, agency growth or copy.
Is YouTube the best place to learn cold email?
It’s a great place to see tools and setups on screen, and all six creators here post on YouTube. LinkedIn and X are better for quick takes and tests. Use both, then try what you learn on a live campaign.
Who is best for learning Clay?
Eric Nowoslawski. He built a Clay partner agency and rejoined Clay in October 2026. Michael also has a step-by-step Clay tutorial on his channel.
How many cold email creators should I follow?
Two or three is plenty. Following everyone means a lot of conflicting advice and not much testing.
Wrapping Up
There’s no shortage of cold email advice. The trick is to learn from people who do the work, then test what they say on your own lists.
Pick one creator from this list, watch one video this week, and run one test. That’s how a playlist turns into booked calls.
Hungry for more tips on conquering the B2B world? Keep your eyes glued to our CEO’s YouTube channel!
Want us to run your outreach from list to booked call? We’ve sent over 5,000,000 cold emails and booked 5,000+ calls for 500+ companies since 2014.
P.S. If you’re interested in growing your business with outreach, you can join multiple agency owners, coaches, and freelancers in our outreach community to get expert tips, templates, and much more!
Cheers to learning from the best and booking more calls! 🥂
Author:
Michael Gardiner
Michael is a cold email expert who has been doing cold email since 2014. He has worked with 500+ B2B companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500s, sent over 5,000,000 emails, generated 50,000+ replies and booked 5,000+ calls, driving multi-7-figure revenue from email. Outside of work, you will find him traveling around the world with a goal to set foot in every country.