About 🦈
the why
Back in the summer of 2024, there was no one tool out there that could automate the full-flow:
Someone comments on my LinkedIn post
I reply back to their comment
I DM them the resource they asked for
I realized this while talking to a few of the top creators on LinkedIn (in lead-generation space).
But roll the clock back to January of 2024. I quit my remote Product Lead job, at a maritime industry tech startup. And all I knew back then, was I never wanted to get another salaried job again. In this last role, I had to do direct sales (cold emails, and cold-calling each day) in addition to my PM responsibilities, such as designing and developing ship supplier solutions.
I realized then how hard it is to do outbound sales, and there weren't many good solutions that assisted prospecting (finding viable leads) with AI. So I started building my own Chrome extension for sales + prospecting automation. (which eventually turned into LeadShark)
Back in the summer of 2024, there was no one tool out there that could automate the full-flow:
Someone comments on my LinkedIn post
I reply back to their comment
I DM them the resource they asked for
I realized this while talking to a few of the top creators on LinkedIn (in lead-generation space).
But roll the clock back to January of 2024. I quit my remote Product Lead job, at a maritime industry tech startup. And all I knew back then, was I never wanted to get another salaried job again. In this last role, I had to do direct sales (cold emails, and cold-calling each day) in addition to my PM responsibilities, such as designing and developing ship supplier solutions. I realized then how hard it is to do outbound sales, and there weren't many good solutions that assisted prospecting (finding viable leads) with AI. So I started building my own Chrome extension for sales + prospecting automation. (which eventually turned into LeadShark)
june 2024
june 2024
june 2024
So I started interviewing anyone I could find on LinkedIn, who seemed successful to me (viral). Eventually I ran into one creator (around June 2024), who told me; We are paying roughly $600/mo for ManyChat, to automate our Instagram comment-to-DM workflows BUT there is no viable / similar solution for LinkedIn. This really kickstarted the journey of building LeadShark. I had already started an Estonian e-Residency company called LeadShark OÜ (without knowing what the company would actually be doing). But now was the time to build, and not just talking about building. So, I did what I do best, I created a detailed PRD (Product Requirements Document), and hand-sketched a wireframe.
the how
So I started interviewing anyone I could find on LinkedIn, who seemed successful to me (viral). Eventually I ran into one creator (you know who you are), who told me; We are paying roughly $600/mo for ManyChat, to automate our Instagram comment-to-DM workflows BUT there is no viable / similar solution for LinkedIn. This really kickstarted the journey of building LeadShark. I had already started an Estonian e-Residency company called LeadShark OÜ (without knowing what the company would actually be doing).
But now was the time to build, and not just talking about building something. So, I did what I do best, I created a detailed PRD (Product Requirements Document), and hand-sketched a wireframe:
For actually developing it, we were supposed to work with a software-development house. But in our very last meeting (before we were set to start), they had no idea what the product was about. So I decided to take the matter into my own hands, and I built the whole V1 myself (August-September 2024). Before coding agents were this good! I think it took me 2 weeks just to get the login sequence working. 😅
The final version of LeadShark launched on September 29, 2024 on Product Hunt. Rest is history.. LeadShark reached from 0 to almost 500 paying customers in just 1 year!
So what does it do?
It allows for Lead Magnet automation on LinkedIn. Basically, a good but challenging problem: it's made for people who are suffering from success, and get too many comments on their posts. So much so, that responding to each comment by hand, takes a very long time (when done manually).
This is where LeadShark comes in. It helps creators respond to comments automatically (by preset templates, never AI generated replies!), and delivers resources in DMs. Just to the people that asked for that resource by commenting under your posts, that's it!
To this day, there is no outbound DM sequence builder, no unlimited follow-ups (spammy DMs), and no AI generated comments that are allowed to be sent via the platform.
We stuck to our core values for over 2 years, which are:
Automation (no tedious copy+paste)
Inbound-first (no spam or unsolicited DM sequence)
Momentum (respond fast to keep the momentum of the post going!)
And above all, we stuck to our motto: "Automate everything but love" 🖤
So if you think it's relevant, feel free to check us out (we have a free no-card 7-day trial)!
With love from Tallinn,
Ruz, Founder
the what
So I started interviewing anyone I could find on LinkedIn, who seemed successful to me (viral). Eventually I ran into one creator (around June 2024), who told me; We are paying roughly $600/mo for ManyChat, to automate our Instagram comment-to-DM workflows BUT there is no viable / similar solution for LinkedIn. This really kickstarted the journey of building LeadShark. I had already started an Estonian e-Residency company called LeadShark OÜ (without knowing what the company would actually be doing).
But now was the time to build, and not just talking about building something. So, I did what I do best, I created a detailed PRD (Product Requirements Document), and hand-sketched a wireframe:
For actually developing it, we were supposed to work with a software-development house. But in our very last meeting (before we were set to start), they had no idea what the product was about. So I decided to take the matter into my own hands, and I built the whole V1 myself (August-September 2024). Before coding agents were this good! I think it took me 2 weeks just to get the login sequence working. 😅
the what
The final version of LeadShark launched on September 29, 2024 on Product Hunt. And the rest is history (as they say).. LeadShark reached from 0 to almost 500 paying customers in just 1 year!
So what does it do?
It allows for Lead Magnet automation on LinkedIn. Basically, a good but challenging problem: it's made for people who are suffering from success, and get too many comments on their posts. So much so, that responding to each comment by hand, takes a very long time (when done manually).
This is where LeadShark comes in. It helps creators respond to comments automatically (by preset templates, never AI generated replies!), and delivers resources in DMs. Just to the people that asked for that resource by commenting under your posts, that's it!
To this day, there is no outbound DM sequence builder, no unlimited follow-ups (spammy DMs), and no AI generated comments that are allowed to be sent via the platform.
We stuck to our core values for over 2 years, which are:
Automation (no tedious copy+paste)
Inbound-first (no spam or unsolicited DM sequence)
Momentum (respond fast to keep the momentum of the post going!)
And above all, we stuck to our motto: "Automate everything but love" 🖤
So if you think it's relevant, feel free to check us out (we have a free no-card 7-day trial)!
With love from Tallinn,
Ruz, Founder
LeadShark