I just built a lead gen tool and I'm realizing the hardest part isn't building, it's finding the first customers. Cold outreach, Product Hunt, Reddit, indie hacker communities. Curious what's actually worked for other makers here.
For context, my tool scrapes business emails from Google Maps in real time. Launching tonight on PH. But right now I'm more interested in hearing how others approached their first 50-100 users.
Most lead gen tools sell you recycled data from old databases. This tool works differently. It searches Google Places for current, verified businesses, then scrapes their actual websites in real time to find email addresses. Smart query expansion turns a single search like 'electricians in Michigan' into 500+ results by auto-expanding across cities and synonyms. Pay $0.25 per verified email. No subscription, no upfront credits. You only pay for what you actually get.
