One thing that works for me (palabra.io co-founder here) for them to 'open up' is to upfront let them know that everything they can share is useful and then something like 'I really have no idea about this space, it would be great if you could share your experience and your thoughts'. I think that people usually share more when they feel they are being useful. I wouldn't say something like that on a sales call but it's great when doing customer interviews.

In terms of getting the leads in the first place, I would say connections/people you know. But would love to hear what others are doing.

Thanks for your reply and advice, will try that!

These are people who signed up to use your app and most likely gave you permission to email them.

What's up hackers. This is a project I've been working on for like a month. Short version would be Zapier + Mailgun + Notion. We basically help non-technical founders and makers send automated emails easily and do the heavy lifting for them. Alternatives like customer.io are extremely powerful but sometimes hard to use when you don't have a technical background. Also making workflows using decision trees can get tricky. We have a trello-like interface (just move cards around to send automated emails) and 50+ emails written for you for the most popular cases (like welcoming a user to a newsletter). Would love to hear your thoughts!