The short version
Apollo.io is a B2B sales intelligence platform used by over 550,000 companies. It works like a search engine for business contacts — aggregating information from public web sources like company websites, press releases, SEC filings, job postings, and professional profiles. We are not buying private phone numbers, personal email addresses, or data from shady third-party lists. We're using a tool that organizes publicly available business information into one searchable database.
What data we actually use
Company info
Firmographic data
Company name, industry, employee count, headquarters location, revenue range, tech stack. Sourced from company websites, public filings, and professional network profiles.
Contact info
Work email & job title
Business email addresses (not personal Gmail/Yahoo accounts) and current job titles. Derived from company email patterns and publicly listed professional profiles.
Role context
Seniority & department
Whether someone is a VP, Director, or Manager, and which department they sit in (Finance, IT, Treasury). Pulled from professional profiles and company org charts.
Signals
Intent & activity signals
Job changes, funding rounds, hiring activity, technology adoption. All derived from public announcements, press coverage, and job board postings.
Where Apollo gets its data
- Public professional profiles — Job titles, company names, work history. Information people post publicly on professional networking sites and personal websites.
- Company websites — Team pages, About sections, press releases, leadership bios. Information companies publish intentionally.
- Public filings & registrations — SEC filings, corporate registrations, patent filings. Government-mandated public records.
- Job postings — Company hiring pages and job boards reveal tech stack, team size, growth trajectory, and org structure.
- News & press coverage — Funding announcements, executive hires, product launches. Publicly reported business events.
- User-contributed data — Apollo's "Living Contributor Network" of 2M+ users who connect their email or CRM can contribute business contact data. Contacts can request removal via Apollo's privacy portal.
What we are not doing
Personal phones
We do not purchase, store, or use personal cell phone numbers. Apollo offers direct dials for some contacts, but we do not use this feature for cold calling. Our outreach is email-only to business addresses.
Personal emails
We target work email addresses only (e.g., name@company.com). We do not reach out to personal Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail accounts.
Social scraping
We do not scrape private social media accounts, DMs, or any non-public information. Apollo's data comes from publicly visible profiles, not hacked or leaked databases.
Data broker lists
We are not buying bulk contact lists from third-party data brokers. Apollo is a first-party platform with its own data collection practices, compliance team, and opt-out mechanisms.
Consumer data
Apollo is a B2B-only platform. Its entire product is built around professional and business data — company info, job titles, work emails. It has no consumer data products and doesn't deal in purchase history, browsing habits, health data, or financial records.
Common questions
Is this legal?
Yes. Aggregating publicly available business information is legal in the US and most jurisdictions. Apollo complies with GDPR and CCPA, is registered as a data broker in California, holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certifications, and provides CAN-SPAM-compliant email tooling. They have a dedicated legal and privacy team and typically process opt-out requests within 24–48 hours.
Can people opt out?
Yes. Anyone can request removal through Apollo's privacy portal (apollo.io/company/privacy-center) or by emailing privacy@apollo.io. Requests are typically processed within 24–48 hours. Apollo also suppresses contacts who unsubscribe from outreach sent through their platform. Note: opting out of Apollo doesn't remove data from other platforms or from customers who already exported it.
How is this different from buying a phone list?
Buying a phone list means purchasing private contact information from a broker who may have obtained it without consent. Apollo aggregates publicly posted business information — closer to searching LinkedIn than buying a list off Craigslist.
What if someone doesn't want to be contacted?
Every email we send includes an unsubscribe link. We also maintain internal suppression lists. If someone says "don't contact me," they're removed permanently from our outreach.
Who else uses Apollo?
Over 550,000 companies including Autodesk, Qualtrics, and hundreds of B2B SaaS companies. Apollo holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certifications. It's a mainstream sales intelligence tool, not a gray-market data source.
Bottom line
Apollo.io is a search engine for business contacts. Every data point it surfaces is either publicly posted by the person themselves, published by their employer, or filed with a government agency. We use it to find the right decision-makers at companies that fit our target profile — then reach out with relevant, permission-based email. No personal phone numbers. No private data. No shady lists.