HypeDesk

How to Find Leads for Your Project Using AI

Before you can send cold emails or manage outreach flows, you need one thing: a list of potential leads.

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Before you can send cold emails or manage outreach flows, you need one thing: a list of potential leads.

The good news? You don’t need to manually brainstorm every single one. With the help of AI (like ChatGPT or Claude), you can quickly generate lead sources tailored to your specific project or target audience.

🔍 Step 1: Define Your Project

Here’s a prompt you can give to ChatGPT, Claude, or your preferred AI assistant:

🧠 Prompt Template:

I’m building a product called [Your Project Name]. It helps [Target Audience] solve [Problem]. 

Can you suggest 10 ways I can find relevant leads or contact lists online for this type of project?

Please include creative methods like specific platforms, scraping ideas, relevant directories, public databases, or communities.

🧪 Example Prompt:

I’m building a tool called StartupPitch. It helps indie founders write compelling pitch decks and validate their ideas. 

Can you suggest 10 ways I can find relevant leads or contact lists online for this type of project?

Please include creative methods like specific platforms, scraping ideas, relevant directories, public databases, or communities.

✅ Example AI Output:

  • Scrape Indie Hackers profiles for people launching new products.

  • Search Product Hunt for recent launches and collect founder emails from linked websites.

  • Explore Reddit threads like r/startups or r/entrepreneur.

  • Use LinkedIn filters to find startup founders by title.

  • Look at Crunchbase for early-stage startups.

  • Find cohort lists from accelerators like YC, Techstars, or On Deck.

  • Join Slack/Discord communities focused on bootstrapping.

  • Use GitHub to find devs with “startup” or “side project” in their bios.

  • Scan launch newsletters like StartupBase, Launching Next, or BetaList.

  • Use BuiltWith to find websites using pitch-deck-related tools like Decktopus.

🎯 Why This Works

Using AI in this way is like having a smart research assistant. You can generate dozens of lead source ideas in minutes, then take action: scrape, visit, extract, or engage with them manually.

Once you’ve got a list of emails or profiles, you can move on to importing them into HypeDesk for personalized cold outreach.