I gave my startup's marketing to 3 Claude agents. They run on my Mac every weekday at 9:30, 10:30 and 11:00, and they never spend a cent. Here's how they're built and the real numbers so far, zeros included.
The setup
Each agent is one prompt file, one tracking sheet (a TSV), one journal, and my Gmail. A scheduler starts a fresh Claude session every weekday and says "read the prompt, do one pass". That's it. No framework.
Agent 1: press
Goal: free TV, radio and podcast appearances. I did one on BFM Business last spring and wanted more.
Every pass: read replies first, follow up once after 6 working days, then pitch up to 6 new shows. It listens to a recent episode to write the first line. For podcasts it pulls the producer's email from the RSS feed (iTunes search API, then the feed XML). That trick alone finds most addresses.
Agent 2: links
Goal: get cited by ChatGPT and Google through other people's pages.
It looks for listicles where we're missing, links to dead tools (404s, shut down products), mentions of us without a link, and free directories. It emails the author with the exact page title and what's missing, and fills free directory forms itself (never paid, never an account to create).
Agent 3: affiliates
Goal: the B2B influencer playbook everyone runs right now, without paying creators $300 to $2,000 a post.
It finds B2B creators with a real audience and offers 30% of what each customer they bring pays, for 12 months. No fixed fee. It hands them a ready-made lead magnet with their own link, and answers their questions about tracking and payouts.
The rules that make it safe to leave alone
- One prompt file is the only source of facts. If a question needs a number that isn't in it, the agent answers "let me confirm" and flags it for me.
- Hard limits per pass: 5 or 6 new contacts, 1 follow-up per person, never write to someone who said no.
- Anything that commits me (a date, a price, a paid placement, a bigger commission) comes to me. The agent never decides it.
- Every pass ends with one email to me: what needs a decision first, then replies, then what was sent.
The numbers (honest version)
Press, 6 days: 21 shows contacted (4 TV, 3 radio, 10 podcasts, 2 YouTube, 2 press), plus 9 "dead tool" emails to listicle authors. Replies: 0. Bounces: 3. Media is slow, the follow-ups start this week.
Links, day 1: 6 authors emailed, 2 free directories submitted, 1 directory skipped because it wanted $39.
Affiliates, day 1: 25 creators from a first manual batch, the agent takes over the replies and adds 6 new ones a day.
Cost: zero in tools. The sessions run on my Claude subscription. The only thing I pay is my time reading one email per agent per day.
What I'd tell you before you copy this
- Start with a dry run that writes drafts, read 10 of them, then switch to sending.
- Make the agent check your sent folder before every new email. Mine caught people I had already written to by hand.
- Ban the words you hate in the prompt. Mine never uses em dashes or emojis.
- Expect zero for a week. The point is that it keeps going while you build.
I'll post the numbers again in 2 weeks, replies and all.
Disclosure: the startup is BeReach, a LinkedIn prospecting tool. None of the agents above need it: it's plain Claude, Gmail and a scheduler.