u/Alternative-Gas8641

So I run cold email / outbound (for my beginning agency) and I keep seeing people on LinkedIn and X talk about TAM mapping like it’s the most important thing you can do before you send a single email. A lot of the folks saying it seem to actually know what they’re talking about, and honestly it’s making me feel like I’m stuck doing outbound the old way (build a big list, spray, pray, iterate, fin a new segment).

I want to fix that but I’m a bit lost on the how, so I figured I’d just ask people who do this for real.

A few things I’m trying to wrap my head around:

• Why has this step become such a big deal now?
• How do you actually map your market in practice? What tools, what data sources, what does your process look like start to finish?
• How do you segment once you’ve got the market mapped? I sort of get the idea but I’d love to hear how you actually cut it (industry, size, tech stack, signals, whatever you use).
• And how do you tier it? My assumption is something like: tier 1 gets cold call + LinkedIn + cold email, tier 2 gets LinkedIn + cold email, tier 3 just cold email. Is that roughly how you think about it or am I oversimplifying?

Basically I want to move from “segment A list” then I try "segment B list" to something structured where the effort matches the account value.

If you’ve got a process that works, a tool stack you like, or even just a YouTube video or two that made it click for you, I’d really appreciate it. Trying to learn from people who’ve actually done it instead of just the LinkedIn hype.

Thanks a lot.

So I run cold email / outbound (for my beginning agency) and I keep seeing people on LinkedIn and X talk about TAM mapping like it’s the most important thing you can do before you send a single email. A lot of the folks saying it seem to actually know what they’re talking about, and honestly it’s making me feel like I’m stuck doing outbound the old way (build a big list, spray, pray, iterate, fin a new segment).

I want to fix that but I’m a bit lost on the how, so I figured I’d just ask people who do this for real.

A few things I’m trying to wrap my head around:

• Why has this step become such a big deal now?
• How do you actually map your market in practice? What tools, what data sources, what does your process look like start to finish?
• How do you segment once you’ve got the market mapped? I sort of get the idea but I’d love to hear how you actually cut it (industry, size, tech stack, signals, whatever you use).
• And how do you tier it? My assumption is something like: tier 1 gets cold call + LinkedIn + cold email, tier 2 gets LinkedIn + cold email, tier 3 just cold email. Is that roughly how you think about it or am I oversimplifying?

Basically I want to move from “segment A list” then I try "segment B list" to something structured where the effort matches the account value.

If you’ve got a process that works, a tool stack you like, or even just a YouTube video or two that made it click for you, I’d really appreciate it. Trying to learn from people who’ve actually done it instead of just the LinkedIn hype.

Thanks a lot.

Running cold email campaigns on Instantly, pretty standard stack, Clay/Airsclae, some scraping, waterfall enrichment, nothing exotic. I use Claude every day but only in the chat window: copy, spintax, reply drafts, ICP research. That’s it.

Lately I keep seeing people talk about Claude Code and agent setups like Hermes, and I honestly can’t tell if it’s a real unlock or just people playing with new toys.
So for those of you who actually run it day to day:
What did you build first? What was the thing that made you go “ok this actually saves me hours”?
Are you letting an agent handle inbox replies instead of paying for Instantly’s AI credits? Lead qualification? List cleaning? Reporting?
And for someone who’s never touched Claude Code and just uses the chat, what’s the realistic jump? Is it worth the setup time when you’re solo with a handful of clients, or does it only pay off at scale?

Curious what’s actually working vs. what sounded good in a demo. Thanks.

Running cold email campaigns on Instantly, pretty standard stack, Clay/Airsclae, some scraping, waterfall enrichment, nothing exotic. I use Claude every day but only in the chat window: copy, spintax, reply drafts, ICP research. That’s it.

Lately I keep seeing people talk about Claude Code and agent setups like Hermes, and I honestly can’t tell if it’s a real unlock or just people playing with new toys.
So for those of you who actually run it day to day:
What did you build first? What was the thing that made you go “ok this actually saves me hours”?
Are you letting an agent handle inbox replies instead of paying for Instantly’s AI credits? Lead qualification? List cleaning? Reporting?
And for someone who’s never touched Claude Code and just uses the chat, what’s the realistic jump? Is it worth the setup time when you’re solo with a handful of clients, or does it only pay off at scale?

Curious what’s actually working vs. what sounded good in a demo. Thanks.