u/Capital_Evening1082

TL;DR - These are the lessons I learned:
* Tried to validate demand for this big, great project - people on sales calls kept telling me they needed something else
* LinkedIn hates automation, but they're fine with content consumption

A while ago, the startup I was working at tasked me with building a process automation / AI agents framework. They tried n8n, Zapier and the usual candidates but didn't like them.

They liked the framework I built and thought about turning it into a product. So they started cold calling people to validate demand. The problem with cold calling: Most of the people you call aren't looking for a solution at the exact time you're calling them.

But one theme kept coming up: "Can we use this to automate find and contact leads?"

So, we built agents scraping LinkedIn for conversations where people were looking for what they had to offer. And it worked.

As it turns out, LinkedIn hates automation (automated posting, DMs etc.) and they take various measures against scraping (e.g. limiting profile search result count), but they're totally fine with content consumption. You won't get banned for scrolling the feed all day long - and neither will your AI agent.

So I built agents that do just that - and finds "warm" leads in the process.

I demoed it to a few more people and demo call gave me an idea. When I tried to explain to the other person how it worked: "Our agents are like a swarm of puffins scanning the ocean for fish - only the fish are your next customers."

And I thought, "wouldn't puffins make a fun landing page?". So I built prospectpuffin. Not because I set out to build a lead scraper. But because people kept asking for it. And because I like puffins. Let me know what you think.

So please roast my puffins on prospectpuffin.ai

TL;DR - As long as you manually reach out to or interact with people on LinkedIn, they will allow you to automate finding the people to connect with and conversations to take part in.

A while ago, the startup I was working at tasked me with building a process automation / AI agents framework. They tried n8n, Zapier and the usual candidates but didn't like them.

They liked the framework I built and thought about turning it into a product. So they started cold calling people to validate demand. The problem with cold calling: Most of the people you call aren't looking for a solution at the exact time you're calling them.

But one theme kept coming up: "Can we use this to automate find and contact leads?"

So, we built agents scraping LinkedIn for conversations where people were looking for what they had to offer. And it worked.

As it turns out, LinkedIn hates automation (automated posting, DMs etc.) and they take various measures against scraping (e.g. limiting profile search result count), but they're totally fine with content consumption. You won't get banned for scrolling the feed all day long - and neither will your AI agent.

So I built agents that do just that - scroll LinkedIn all day, read the posts and conversations - and finds "warm" leads in the process.

Sure, replying to posts takes time. So does reaching out to people. And I truly believe you should not let AI do that, but actually write your own content.

But you know what takes even more time? Doom scrolling all day to find the conversations where you can provide value (as a human). And personally, I don't think automating that is morally wrong, as long as you're still writing authentic messaged. Neither does LinkedIn. So if you agree with me, you can use that to your advantage as a social media marketer.

TL;DR - As long as you manually reach out to or interact with people on LinkedIn, they will allow you to automate finding the people to connect with and conversations to take part in.

A while ago, the startup I was working at tasked me with building a process automation / AI agents framework. They tried n8n, Zapier and the usual candidates but didn't like them.

They liked the framework I built and thought about turning it into a product. So they started cold calling people to validate demand. The problem with cold calling: Most of the people you call aren't looking for a solution at the exact time you're calling them.

But one theme kept coming up: "Can we use this to automate find and contact leads?"

So, we built agents scraping LinkedIn for conversations where people were looking for what they had to offer. And it worked.

As it turns out, LinkedIn hates automation (automated posting, DMs etc.) and they take various measures against scraping (e.g. limiting profile search result count), but they're totally fine with content consumption. You won't get banned for scrolling the feed all day long - and neither will your AI agent.

So I built agents that do just that - scroll LinkedIn all day, read the posts and conversations - and finds "warm" leads in the process.

Sure, replying to posts takes time. So does reaching out to people. And I truly believe you should not let AI do that, but actually write your own content.

But you know what takes even more time? Doom scrolling all day to find the conversations where you can provide value (as a human). And personally, I don't think automating that is morally wrong, as long as you're still writing authentic messaged. Neither does LinkedIn. So if you agree with me, you can use that to your advantage as a social media marketer.

TL;DR - These are the lessons I learned:
* Tried to validate demand for this big, great project - people on sales calls kept telling me they needed something else
* LinkedIn hates automation, but they're fine with content consumption

A while ago, the startup I was working at tasked me with building a process automation / AI agents framework. They tried n8n, Zapier and the usual candidates but didn't like them.

They liked the framework I built and thought about turning it into a product. So they started cold calling people to validate demand. The problem with cold calling: Most of the people you call aren't looking for a solution at the exact time you're calling them.

But one theme kept coming up: "Can we use this to automate find and contact leads?"

So, we built agents scraping LinkedIn for conversations where people were looking for what they had to offer. And it worked.

As it turns out, LinkedIn hates automation (automated posting, DMs etc.) and they take various measures against scraping (e.g. limiting profile search result count), but they're totally fine with content consumption. You won't get banned for scrolling the feed all day long - and neither will your AI agent.

So I built agents that do just that - and finds "warm" leads in the process.

I demoed it to a few more people and demo call gave me an idea. When I tried to explain to the other person how it worked: "Our agents are like a swarm of puffins scanning the ocean for fish - only the fish are your next customers."

And I thought, "wouldn't puffins make a fun landing page?". So I built prospectpuffin. Not because I set out to build a lead scraper. But because people kept asking for it. And because I like puffins. Let me know what you think.

TL;DR - These are the lessons I learned:
* Tried to validate demand for this big, great project - people on sales calls kept telling me they needed something else
* LinkedIn hates automation, but they're fine with content consumption

A while ago, the startup I was working at tasked me with building a process automation / AI agents framework. They tried n8n, Zapier and the usual candidates but didn't like them.

They liked the framework I built and thought about turning it into a product. So they started cold calling people to validate demand. The problem with cold calling: Most of the people you call aren't looking for a solution at the exact time you're calling them.

But one theme kept coming up: "Can we use this to automate find and contact leads?"

So, we built agents scraping LinkedIn for conversations where people were looking for what they had to offer. And it worked.

As it turns out, LinkedIn hates automation (automated posting, DMs etc.) and they take various measures against scraping (e.g. limiting profile search result count), but they're totally fine with content consumption. You won't get banned for scrolling the feed all day long - and neither will your AI agent.

So I built agents that do just that - and finds "warm" leads in the process.

I demoed it to a few more people and demo call gave me an idea. When I tried to explain to the other person how it worked: "Our agents are like a swarm of puffins scanning the ocean for fish - only the fish are your next customers."

And I thought, "wouldn't puffins make a fun landing page?". So I built prospectpuffin. Not because I set out to build a lead scraper. But because people kept asking for it. And because I like puffins. Let me know what you think.

TL;DR - These are the lessons I learned:
* If you're an SDR, give the people you talk to the opportunity to tell you what they need - and let your employer know
* If you're employing a sales team, make sure you can learn from what people are telling them on the phone
* We showed people this big, great SaaS - they told us all they wanted was a micro SaaS subset of it
* LinkedIn hates automation, but they're fine with content consumption

A while ago, the startup I was working at tasked me with building a process automation / AI agents framework. They tried n8n, Zapier and the usual candidates but didn't like them.

They liked the framework I built and thought about turning it into a product. So they started cold calling people to validate demand. The problem with cold calling: Most of the people you call aren't looking for a solution at the exact time you're calling them.

But one theme kept coming up: "Can we use this to automate find and contact leads?"

So, we built agents scraping LinkedIn for conversations where people were looking for what they had to offer. And it worked.

As it turns out, LinkedIn hates automation (automated posting, DMs etc.) and they take various measures against scraping (e.g. limiting profile search result count), but they're totally fine with content consumption. You won't get banned for scrolling the feed all day long - and neither will your AI agent.

So I built agents that do just that - and finds "warm" leads in the process.

I demoed it to a few more people and demo call gave me an idea. When I tried to explain to the other person how it worked: "Our agents are like a swarm of puffins scanning the ocean for fish - only the fish are your next customers." And then I thought, "wouldn't puffins make a fun landing page?". So I built prospectpuffin. Not because I set out to build a lead scraper. But because people kept asking for it.

TL;DR - These are the lessons I learned:
* If you're an SDR, give the people you talk to the opportunity to tell you what they need - and let your employer know
* If you're employing a sales team, make sure you can learn from what people are telling them on the phone
* We showed people this big, great SaaS - they told us all they wanted was a micro SaaS subset of it
* LinkedIn hates automation, but they're fine with content consumption

A while ago, the startup I was working at tasked me with building a process automation / AI agents framework. They tried n8n, Zapier and the usual candidates but didn't like them.

They liked the framework I built and thought about turning it into a product. So they started cold calling people to validate demand. The problem with cold calling: Most of the people you call aren't looking for a solution at the exact time you're calling them.

But one theme kept coming up: "Can we use this to automate find and contact leads?"

So, we built agents scraping LinkedIn for conversations where people were looking for what they had to offer. And it worked.

As it turns out, LinkedIn hates automation (automated posting, DMs etc.) and they take various measures against scraping (e.g. limiting profile search result count), but they're totally fine with content consumption. You won't get banned for scrolling the feed all day long - and neither will your AI agent.

So I built agents that do just that - and finds "warm" leads in the process.

I demoed it to a few more people and demo call gave me an idea. When I tried to explain to the other person how it worked: "Our agents are like a swarm of puffins scanning the ocean for fish - only the fish are your next customers."

And I thought, "wouldn't puffins make a fun landing page?". So I built prospectpuffin. Not because I set out to build a lead scraper. But because people kept asking for it.

TL;DR - These are the lessons I learned:
* We showed people this big, great SaaS - they told us all they wanted was a micro SaaS subset of it
* LinkedIn hates automation, but they're fine with content consumption

A while ago, the startup I was working at tasked me with building a process automation / AI agents framework. They tried n8n, Zapier and the usual candidates but didn't like them.

They liked the framework I built and thought about turning it into a product. So they started cold calling people to validate demand. The problem with cold calling: Most of the people you call aren't looking for a solution at the exact time you're calling them.

But one theme kept coming up: "Can we use this to automate find and contact leads?"

So, we built agents scraping LinkedIn for conversations where people were looking for what they had to offer. And it worked.

As it turns out, LinkedIn hates automation (automated posting, DMs etc.) and they take various measures against scraping (e.g. limiting profile search result count), but they're totally fine with content consumption. You won't get banned for scrolling the feed all day long - and neither will your AI agent.

So I built agents that do just that - and finds "warm" leads in the process.

I demoed it to a few more people and demo call gave me an idea. When I tried to explain to the other person how it worked: "Our agents are like a swarm of puffins scanning the ocean for fish - only the fish are your next customers."

And I thought, "wouldn't puffins make a fun landing page?". So I built prospectpuffin. Not because I set out to build a lead scraper. But because people kept asking for it. And because I like puffins. Let me know what you think.