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Case study · Coral Reef Search · Sydney, Australia

Anonymized name. Real engagement pattern.

A Sydney engineering recruiter scaled past referrals.

A 22-recruiter firm covering Australian tech and APAC tech expansion had built their book on referrals from the Atlassian / Canva / Afterpay ecosystem. Outbound was an afterthought. We built it.

Client (anonymized)
Coral Reef Search
22 recruiters · Sydney, AU
Vertical
Tech engineering & product
Senior + staff + leadership
Service used
Client lead generation
APAC + cross-border trigger map
Engagement
4 months
Ongoing
What they were doing before

All referrals. Zero outbound discipline. A scaling ceiling.

Coral Reef was a great delivery firm with a reputation problem inside the Sydney tech ecosystem, meaning, they had no reputation outside it. When they tried to expand into Melbourne, Singapore, and APAC SaaS, the referral pipeline didn't follow.

Tactic 01

100% referral-driven

Every new client came from a personal intro. Worked great in Sydney. Didn't scale beyond. Partners getting burnt out doing personal intros and conferences.

Tactic 02

LinkedIn DMs from senior partners

Partners spending 2-3 hours/week each on manual LinkedIn outreach. Conversion was okay when they personalized; most weeks they didn't have time. Inconsistent, hard to predict.

Tactic 03

Tried an Australian agency once

Sydney-based outbound agency at AUD $6K/month. Sent generic outbound to companies hiring engineers. Inbox warming poorly done, deliverability bad. Cancelled at month 3.

Tactic 04

No APAC signal infrastructure

When they wanted to expand into Singapore, Melbourne, and APAC SaaS, they had no system for monitoring hiring signals outside their Sydney network. Manual research per target. Couldn't scale.

What Montazzo did

APAC trigger map. Anchored on their tech bench.

The Australian tech ecosystem has clear signals: AU government funding rounds, Atlassian/Canva alumni starting new companies, US tech companies setting up APAC HQs in Sydney or Singapore. Coral Reef just didn't have a system to track them.

01

Pulled tech MPCs from their ATS

Top engineering and product candidates with deep APAC experience. Profile cards highlighted scale-ups at recognizable AU/APAC tech companies.

02

APAC + cross-border signal map

Australian tech firms with recent funding, US/EU SaaS companies opening APAC offices, Singapore-based fintech and SaaS in growth mode. Each matched to a relevant MPC profile.

03

Multi-channel sequences, partner voice

Email plus LinkedIn from a senior partner's authenticated account. Custom human + AI workflow generated copy that read like the partner wrote it personally, referencing specific candidates and specific company signals.

04

Hand off to delivery team

Replies routed to whichever senior recruiter owned the vertical and geography. Calendar embedded. MPC profile shared with the prospect ahead of the meeting.

Results that matter

Real outcomes. Real ROI.

Leads generated
28+
Across AU + APAC tech
Meetings booked
17
With CTOs + VP Eng + heads
Pipeline created
AUD $450K+
In active fee opportunity
Time to first meeting
11 days
From kickoff
Fee agreements signed
6
Across 3 cities
Placements closed
4
Plus more in late-stage
Revenue earned
AUD $230K+
In placement fees
Partner time saved
2 partners
Freed up to focus on closes

Australian or APAC recruiter? Let's chat.

15-minute fit call. Tailored proposal in writing within 24 hours.