SaleshuntShould you build your own prospecting tool?
· The Saleshunt Team
For a handful of companies, yes. The work grows with the list: checking every company against each of your criteria, keeping a source for each answer, and setting aside the ones that almost fit. Saleshunt does that checking for you and shows the sources and what it couldn't confirm.
A demo is quick to build. Since 2023, we've been building everything after it. This piece is about what “after” means, so you can decide with your eyes open.
Three ways people build it themselves
| Route | Good for | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| Ask an AI chat | Reading up on one company, first drafts, working out who your best customers are | Every company in a market, checked the same way. More in Can ChatGPT or Claude build your prospect list? |
| By hand, tab by tab | A short list where every name matters | Every answer is typed in by hand and goes out of date |
| Wire up your own workflow or agent | A team with someone technical and one market to cover | Everything below. The first version works. Keeping it working is the job |
The demo is the easy part
Type a market, get twenty companies with a reason next to each. That part comes together fast, and it looks like the whole thing. Here's what comes after.
1. Knowing which companies exist
You can't check a market you can't list. Before any research starts, you need the companies themselves: every one in your region and size band, not only the ones that rank well in search. Starting from an empty sheet means building that first, for every country you sell into.
2. Every criterion, with a source
“Runs more than one site, 50 to 500 staff, publishes a sustainability report” is three questions per company, not one. Each answer needs a source you can open, and an honest “couldn't find it” when there isn't one, so a guess never looks like a fact.
3. The ones that almost fit
Plenty of companies in a market almost fit. If they end up on your list, you spend your week on the wrong ones. We look at about three companies for every one we give you. We check the near-misses too. You just never see them.
4. Keeping it running
Websites change, data providers change their prices, AI models change how they answer. The first version is a project. The tenth is a job.
When building it yourself makes sense
- You cover one narrow market and it rarely changes.
- Someone on your team enjoys building and maintaining this kind of thing, and has the time.
- You want full control over every step, and you're happy to own the checking.
If that's you, build it. If you'd rather spend that time on the customers it finds, use something that already does the checking.
Or build on us
Building anyway? Build on us. Connect Saleshunt to your own AI and give it the whole market to ask. Your AI asks in plain language, and Saleshunt checks every company against your question and brings back the matches with their sources. How to connect it: see How to use Claude for sales prospecting.
In the app or through your own AI, nothing goes out in your name until you approve it.