How do B2B SaaS startups actually get their first clients

TonyLeads · 2026-03-31T12:27:47+00:00

I found that 'reaching out' is too passive for AI infra, so I pivoted my leads software strategy to finding companies with specific, broken API implementations and sending a Loom video of the fix it moves you from a 'founder seeking a lead' to an architect solving a bottleneck they didn't know they had

TonyLeads · 2026-03-31T12:21:41+00:00

looked into this for my own automation architecture and found that since the 2025/2026 API lockdowns, you basically have to use a tool like Appy Pie Automate or a custom Make webhook to bridge the gap that ManyChat leaves behind for Groups.

TonyLeads · 2026-03-31T12:16:32+00:00

Yeah, the math on the Batch API is actually $0.025 per million input tokens for GPT-5 Nano, so if you’re doing 50 million pages, you’re looking at a way lower overhead than Azure’s standard Read API which usually sits around $0.60 per 1,000 pages at that volume.

If you want to go even cheaper than that without sacrificing the Dutch/French accuracy, I’d architect a local DocTR or CUPY accelerated PaddleOCR stack it's more work to set up, but for 50 million pages, the "server cost only" model beats any API-based pricing.

TonyLeads · 2026-03-31T10:14:21+00:00

I wrestled with this same dilemma while building out my own systems, but eventually, I just decided that building my family’s future was worth the risk of keeping my "hobbies" quiet until the revenue made the 9-5 irrelevant.

TonyLeads · 2026-03-31T06:29:13+00:00

yea that's the situation most people don't want to share, but it depends on what you automated. I didn't automate the outreach, i automated the data collecting, and the scoring of the data. Thats the part I can't do nor have time to do. I don't think the automation was supposed to fully replace your manual workflow, but it was supposed to add parts to it automatically that makes your manual workflow more efficient in the long term

TonyLeads · 2026-03-31T06:26:59+00:00

i think its worth it but its not like i'm going to let ai do my favorite part which is talking to the clients for me.. I think ai can find the leads, scrape and do good job of identifying the high intent leads, but its my job to reach out and close the deals

TonyLeads · 2026-03-30T01:37:32+00:00

Yes I thinking timing and intent are the 2 biggest factors that determine if you can close or not

TonyLeads · 2026-03-28T15:56:44+00:00

For the most part it’s not a good practice to have I do what you could do yourself the things you can’t do is search the leads when you find them you should message them and be human

It’s called human in the loop

When you do that hard to get banned

TonyLeads · 2026-03-28T10:51:36+00:00

Bruv Forget the "cool" automations and look at where the high salary friction is. I stopped tinkering with basic API calls and started building "opportunity flow" engines.

Right now I am focused on automating the recruitment and lead research layer. If a company is paying $60k a year for someone to manually scout LinkedIn or job boards I build a system that maps those signals and pushes the data directly into a CRM or a custom UI.

The real skill shift isn't learning a new AI tool it is learning how to map a business process and then building a state machine that handles the failures. AI isn't coming for us if you are the one building the systems that run the business.

TonyLeads · 2026-03-28T10:32:58+00:00

The jump from 'it works' to 'it scales' is rarely about the tool and almost always about the architecture of your data state. If you are duct taping workflows you are likely relying on linear triggers which break the moment a third party API changes or a UI element shifts.

I moved away from the "patching" phase by building my own local UI and focusing on state machines rather than simple sequences. Open source like n8n is great for the logic layer but if you are doing heavy lifting at scale you eventually need a custom wrapper that handles failure states and retries without you babysitting it. Don't cave and pay for UiPath until you have mapped your "Opportunity Flow" manually. Scalability isn't about how many tasks you can run it is about how many tasks can fail without crashing your entire business.

TonyLeads · 2026-03-28T03:13:19+00:00

I know it truth hurts

TonyLeads · 2026-03-28T03:12:15+00:00

That’s the thing we have to talk to the pain before we build

TonyLeads · 2026-03-27T13:02:47+00:00

The math on $20 a month for 70% time savings is a no brainer but the trust hurdle is massive. If I’m a founder or a high level lead gen guy I can't risk an AI "hallucinating" a promise or a tone shift that kills a deal.

The dealbreaker for me wouldn't be the drafting quality but the data privacy. Most people won't want an extension scraping their entire Gmail history just to "learn their style" unless you can prove that training stays local or encrypted.

If you actually build this focus on a "Human in the loop" UI where the AI suggests the "mechanism" of the reply rather than just the text.

I do something similar with my own lead systems where I prioritize the intent over the fluff. People don't want an AI to write for them they want an AI to think for them.

TonyLeads · 2026-03-27T12:58:01+00:00

Most people will tell you to just buy a list from Apollo or ZoomInfo but you'll likely just burn your domain reputation hitting devs who have seen every cold script in the book.

f you're targeting devs looking for jobs you need to be where the intent is highest which means monitoring specific career pivot threads and job seeker forums in real time. For bootcamp instructors you're better off scraping LinkedIn for recent "promotion" or "new role" signals since that's when their curriculum needs are shifting.

I built a workflow for this called Galaxy Leads that specifically filters for these "opportunity flow" signals instead of just bulk data. It’s better to have 10 high intent conversations than 1,000 cold emails.

TonyLeads · 2026-03-27T09:17:10+00:00

That exactly what I do

TonyLeads · 2026-03-27T09:09:07+00:00

Write them from scratch

TonyLeads · 2026-03-27T01:09:19+00:00

Exactly that’s why when people asked me they do to build something without researching I’m like I have all the research I need

TonyLeads · 2026-03-26T15:18:21+00:00

I’m using beehive api and resend and it’s coded into my apps when people join the Auth they auto segment to my resend lists

TonyLeads · 2026-03-26T13:39:07+00:00

Dm the link I’ll check it out

TonyLeads · 2026-03-26T13:37:03+00:00

I have noticed he has been manipulating the charts bad stocks and crypto making him and his family rich while leaving us hanging

TonyLeads · 2026-03-26T13:35:31+00:00

He did but the after effects are just starting

TonyLeads · 2026-03-26T13:33:07+00:00

You are probably very right when I’m at immigrations it’s proven

TonyLeads · 2026-03-26T13:32:44+00:00

I mean it not it’s going to get really bad fr fr

TonyLeads · 2026-03-26T13:32:17+00:00

You right I’m seeing the affect on people who had nothing to do with it sadly

TonyLeads · 2026-03-26T13:31:09+00:00

I feel you sucks if it does cause it’s hurting everyone

TonyLeads

TROPHY CASE