Okay so I used to hate outbound. Like genuinely dreaded it. Prospect research took forever. Writing emails that didn't sound robotic felt impossible at scale. So I just... avoided it. Then I rebuilt the whole thing with AI and ran a few campaigns for myself and some clients. 3.68% reply rate. 3 closed deals. Not bad for something I used to procrastinate on for weeks. The thing that changed most: I stopped guessing the ICP and started researching it properly with AI. Who specifically has this pain. What size company. What their ops actually look like. Once that was right, everything else got easier. If anyone's struggling with cold email and wants to see the sequence we used, happy to share it.

Hey everyone, I’m starting an AI automation agency and I’m currently confused about which tool I should focus on first. Right now I’m looking at Zapier and n8n. My goal is to: - Build AI-based automations for clients (emails, lead handling, workflows) - Start getting my first clients as soon as possible - Eventually scale into a proper agency So my questions are: 1. Should I start with Zapier first because it’s easier, or go straight into n8n? 2. What do most agencies actually use when they scale? 3. If you were starting again today, which one would you choose and why? 4. Is it smart to learn both, or is that a waste of time at the beginning? I’m still new, so I’d really appreciate advice from people who are already doing this. Thanks in advance 🙏

Agencies keep asking me the same question. "Can you build us a system that does X?" X is always different. Instagram reports. Amazon competitor analysis. LinkedIn outreach drafts. TikTok shop intelligence. Meta ads library intelligence. The engine is always the same. Scrape. Store. Analyze. Output. Here is what I learned building custom automation for agencies. 1. Build the data layer first. Supabase with client_id on every table. New request comes in. I already have the schema. Add a new source. Same database. 2. Keep the interface stupid simple. Telegram bot. One command. No dashboard. If they have to learn a new UI, they will not use it. 3. Batch the AI calls. One prompt. 30 items. Structured JSON. Not 30 separate calls. Cost drops 70%. 4. Deliver where they already work. Email. Telegram. Slack. Google Slides. Do not make them open another app. 5. The first request is never the last. Cookie Monster started as Instagram competitor reports. Same engine now runs Amazon ASIN analysis, LinkedIn message drafting, and TikTok shop research. The agencies that win are not the ones with the most tools. They are the ones with the fewest steps between data and decision.

I have a potential client who needs to have an automated cold email system that handles either LinkedIn scraping or through Appollo.io, AI-powered email personalization, and full send/reply tracking. Anyone who has experience building such system contact me and we can see if there is alignment.

Curious what everyone here is doing for lead gen once the warm network dries up. Most people start with friends, family, former colleagues. But what happens after that? Especially if that first round didn’t go anywhere. Selling is a completely different skill from building and I think it’s underrated how hard it is to figure out where your next client is coming from. For me it’s been cold outreach on LinkedIn. Consistently getting 3 to 5 positive replies a week which has been enough to keep conversations going. Would love to know what’s working for you. Drop the platform you’re using, cold calls, Instagram DMs, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, email, ads, whatever it is. Just curious what the mix looks like across the community.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​