What if pizza was the secret ingredient to skyrocketing a tech company's revenue? For Matthew Parkhurst, the 26-year-old cofounder and CEO of Antimetal, it was exactly that.
With a tight $15,000 marketing budget, Parkhurst took an unconventional approach: he sent more than 1,000 pizzas to potential clients, venture capital firms and tech influencers in New York and San Francisco.
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The pizzas, sourced from local pizzerias, weren't just lunch – they were a statement. Each box carried Antimetal's branding and contact details, turning every slice into a clever pitch for the company's cloud optimization services. Any undelivered pizzas were given to drivers, who also received tips of several hundred dollars each.
The results were remarkable. According to internal documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, 75 companies that received pizzas became paying clients, generating over $1 million in annualized revenue. "The ROI is insane," Parkhurst said. "It wasn't just effective – it was fun and supported local businesses."
Antimetal's core business involves saving startups money on cloud infrastructure costs. Companies spending tens of thousands monthly on platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) can pay Antimetal $599 monthly to identify inefficiencies and reduce those expenses.
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But standing out in the tech world is no small feat even with a valuable service. Parkhurst knew he had to do something different to break through the endless emails that flood executives' inboxes.
Rahul Sonwalkar, CEO of Julius AI, was one such executive. He recalls seeing Antimetal's name in a cold pitch and promptly ignoring it. Then, a pizza arrived at his office. "We opened the box, started eating and realized this wasn't random.
I looked online and Antimetal was everywhere," Sonwalkar said. Intrigued, he signed up for the service and says he plans to remain a client as long as the savings continue.