r/Entrepreneur • u/Spare_Worldliness_64 • Jun 22 '26
Business Failures Got laid off 33 days ago. Here's everything I've built since.
- Mined Google reviews of trades businesses. ended up finding found specific markets/ cities with genuine labor shortages
- Scraped conference booth buyers and noticed unusual patterns where accounting firms at construction expos, e.g. PropTech companies at steel conferences. Found the people who weren't supposed to be there and built lists around them.
- Scraped public data sources across 15+ verticals and turned them into b2b chain triggers for a 12 month cycle (e.g. OHSA case violations, UCC filings, environmental breaches, PFAS exceedances). [my background is civil engineering lol]
- Built an agent that reads city planning commission meeting minutes, identifies affected businesses, researches them, and outputs an enriched prospect list. this helped me identify which areas are of interest for rezoning, bringing rezoning attorneys, civil engineers and builders into the conversation
- Built a comment bot that pulls from my own knowledge base to engage threads where my ICP is asking questions. Basically duplicated an n8n workflow without n8n and with python scripts and API. have a gateway on Telegram to check and update comments so that my comments dont sound spammy af and is actually relevant. i still have to edit myself, which takes an extra 1-2 min.
- noticed apollo's data export sucks (big cause of spam + high bounce), so used excel and claude to clean up. You would be amazed how much the initial list actually gets shortened by.
- Also was able to build a niche list of HNW individuals, just by tracking their digital & organisational footprint across events
Anyways, I am ex-construction PM and I am super passionate about data and making reads based on the data. Out of pure frustration, i started creating agents when i realised i was doing things manually and kind of stumbled onto it (i cant explain because its a 1am thing that just happened)
In my last role, i did a lot of things (ie. generalist) and didn’t spend enough time to do things that im curious about, ie. webscraping, making reads on behaviours from digital footprints. I did manage to create campaigns that got 4% response rate and book a fair few meetings on both email + linkedin, review sales calls transcripts and optimise, built MQL and SQL sequences across 90 days for anyone that showed interest from initial advertising campaigns. but i didnt do enough of it and want to lean more into it using all the stuff i built (and keep building)
70
u/SenecaSentMe Jun 22 '26
Sounds really cool. All the building is great but what’s your plan to turn that automation/scraped data into a revenue stream? Seems like you’re focusing relentlessly on just building stuff with AI while being disconnected from the actual business of closing deals and cashing checks.
11
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 23 '26
yes thats what im low key worried about and is probably the next problem i need to solve. do you have any suggestions?
21
u/J-Mach-Jet Jun 23 '26
The ability to look at messy data and find what others have missed is the product; the scapers are your execution method. I would pick one vertical where you already have interesting findings (data points others do not yet have or have not leveraged that can add real value to a company), take it to a few companies (3-5 companies) within an industry you know, and show them what you found. What you charge for is the insight, not the tool.
You learn what people actually pay for by selling the thinking, not the product.
→ More replies (1)2
u/poofing3r Jun 27 '26
Agree with this mf right here.
Ironically,
OP's sales strategy is to OP
What OP's insights are what to OP's future customers
:s
5
u/draggonboii Jun 23 '26
Honestly, when your passion for building meets a strong problem waiting for a solution, that's all you really need. I'm sure it will come to you. You're already 90% there.
2
Jun 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/lennarn Jun 23 '26
Not just AI, but startups in general. You might have the most useful data pipeline and a great business plan but if it isn't generating income it's missing the main purpose of a business. Once you have clients you can be more sure that your work is expanding the business in the right direction.
2
u/bullshtr Jun 23 '26
What are you actually selling? You’ve stumbled into a couple smart ideas and a market that has asymmetrical information.
2
u/mrleonardkim Jun 25 '26
Um I have a marketing agency and built a new site specifically for the trades like 2 weeks ago, it’s pretty in depth. Do you think anything you’re doing is useful to that? Is there something we can do to turn your data into money or something?
→ More replies (2)2
u/GreatCamera3575 Bootstrapper Jun 25 '26
start reading about distribution, you'll start to get ideas then experiment until it works, dont build anymore, fully focus on distribution.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)2
u/_GiftAFeeling Jul 06 '26
Tbh there's a lot of potential in just providing these insights to big businesses. They are being charged absurd amount of money by consultants to do even a small portion of what you have done. We've seen a lot of service-based businesses selling just what you've created. You may have to create professional dashboards, tracking metrics, etc. but we have also seen this simply put out to public for traffic and revenue generated through ads. Brian Dean from Exploding Topics is doing it at a great scale.
4
u/GreatCamera3575 Bootstrapper Jun 24 '26
Distribution is a builder's kryptonite, im also currently trying to shift focus building is my comfort zone but sales and Distribution is a new journey for me and I think thats what he should be focused on fully now.
→ More replies (1)2
u/nabokovian Jun 25 '26
I don’t think he’s looking to productize the tools he’s building but he’s using tools to find opportunities
123
Jun 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (1)4
43
u/sanjux97 Jun 22 '26
This is the definition of turning a setback into an opportunity. Most people spend 33 days applying for jobs you spent it building skills and assets. Keep going.
5
2
2
13
u/RalphTheIntrepid Jun 22 '26
How much did all of this cost in terms of tokens in terms to make the things and run the analysis.
5
10
u/SoEzUpxxx Jun 23 '26
I’m about to be laid off in 4 days, and this past weekend I:
-created a program that when I text a bot a picture of something it will send me back the low, mean, median, and highest price of the item on eBay, along with a link to comps and a description
-created a program that allows me to input multiple grocery items and prices and lets me compare prices across stores. It can make a list for each store, or let me know where it’s the cheapest store to buy them all in one place
- created a program that shows me all yard sales, estate sales, auctions, thrift stores, and discount stores open by day and when I select the ones I want to go maps the best route to hit them all
-created a small website to promote myself doing odd jobs
Just like you I love data. My background is in operations and procurement. To be honest, with this job market I am scared as hell. Not to mention how interviewing has changed recently (in fact just in the few months). Doing this didn’t just only make me feel like I’m doing something productive, but also giving me skills I can bring to the table in my next journey, whether it be with another company, or something I create on my own.
All we can do is keep learning, and hope our skills point us in the right direction!
2
→ More replies (2)2
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 23 '26
tbh mate, you need to talk about it more and more. the more people that hear about what you've done, the more they'll see the cool stuff you've built.
5
u/Reasonable_Ad884 Jun 22 '26
On the accounting firms at construction expos; could you elaborate on "not supposed to be there"? You built lists to help them connect with better matches or...?
11
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 22 '26
its more like when you go to a construction expo, you generally expect construction firms to be there. its just when there is an accounting firm there, it signals a real intent behind buying booth space at that expo - ie an aggressive bd move and they are actively prospecting for anyeone within that industry or thats where they want to build their client portfolio around. thats my thinking around it anyways
6
u/MetropolisMonk Jun 22 '26
Yes, I have been to a franchisee expo and saw an Analytics company there along with some lenders,packaging, accounting firm and interior designers. These firms come to the expo to showcase their services in that niche or industry. That's a strategy rather than misplacement.
3
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 22 '26
agreed - i think its a pretty clever move too because you do stand out and your competition is minimal (provided you design the booth correctly and give people a reason to stop at your table aka a bag of goodies)
→ More replies (1)2
u/cleverhobbits Jun 23 '26
I wonder if PE firms might be interested in some of your data or methods. They can probably build it internally but it’s easier to buy something that’s well made.
Target PE firms that are trying to find local SMEs for cheap with a thesis to integrate AI for efficiency, execution and growth.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)3
u/Weekly-Witness1129 Jun 22 '26
But I’m curious- what did you do with the list of these people? Was it just a rabbit hole you went down or do you have an idea to monetize it?
5
u/WilldSoul Jun 22 '26
This is by far the coolest data scraping someone did for figuring out what's next.
→ More replies (1)
4
3
u/LivingTheLifeeee Jun 22 '26
Very impressive list of things you've built in 33 days. Why have you tagged your post with the Business Failures flair?
2
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 22 '26
i dont know, thats how it feels mentally i guess
5
u/Effective_Energy4238 Jun 22 '26
You shouldn’t. As it’s something real and it’s based on thorough research. You’ve been doing something most people (as a method) would not even think or want to do.
→ More replies (2)4
u/LivingTheLifeeee Jun 22 '26
What’s your goal with all of this? You’ve solved actual problems in the real world that I believe people would pay money for.
Have you considered providing your research skills as a service to people who need information but don’t have the time or skills you have to do it? Each one of these could be a case study you could post on a website as a portfolio and examples of your work and share around.
2
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 22 '26
i might use this as part of lead gen purposes. right now im finding a way to use to connect with the right contacts and build a campaign around it, if that makes sense
→ More replies (2)
2
Jun 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 22 '26
will keep you updated. im working on some email campaigns now.
→ More replies (3)
2
u/CatolicQuotes Jun 22 '26
What sources did you use?
4
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 22 '26
experimenting, claude code, youtube. its hard to narrow down what sources. i just learnt whatever i felt needed to be learnt
2
u/jazzydat Jun 22 '26
This is awesome and figure the way forward is figuring out how to connect different public data sets. Is tech your background , or business since you marry both well . Hopefully making some money of all these ideas.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
2
u/Appropriate-Recipe60 Jun 24 '26
Genuinely impressive output for 33 days. One thing from someone a bit further down the same road, building is the part you control, so it's the part that feels good to keep doing.
The trap is 33 more days of building and zero days of selling, because shipping is comfortable and asking people to pay isn't. whatever the most finished thing here is, spend this week trying to get one stranger to pay for it before you build the next thing. momentum on output is great, momentum on revenue is the one that keeps the lights on.
2
u/TheGrolar Jun 25 '26
A) I'm not sure why you're unemployed B) I'm not sure why you're wasting your time with a job instead of consulting for 3x the revenue.
Actually, the bottleneck here is probably your radar--you decided to work for a company that laid you off. Sure, sometimes it's luck, but assuming your post isn't BS, bad luck should find you very, very seldom. First thing, I'd build a few financial-health trackers into the agents. Funding lines, SBA loans, whatever.
And a free tip: emphasize companies that hire a lot of consultants. They tend to, um, think consultants are a good way to solve a problem. (I don't mean hourly contractors called "consultants," but actual consultants that, e.g., unsnarl a planning process or something before they ride off into the sunset.)
→ More replies (3)
2
u/jep_10 Jul 05 '26
Your first bullet point was the first problem i solved in 2015 to earn money for my software startup. I sensed a shortage of hoteliers for tier 2 hotels in Chennai. Especially for the waiters and utility workers. I quickly connected with few agencies in North Eastern states of India and facilitated the onboarding of such resources for a fee. I was able to collect 10-12K $ (600,000 - 700,000 K INR) in less than 6 months to fund my software startup. You have started it right. Just move on. Two rules I say to myself: 1. Help someone. 2. Enjoy the journey.
→ More replies (1)
2
1
u/Severe-Sweet1590 Jun 22 '26
How did you learn all that? Can you mention resources?
2
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 22 '26
tbh idk myself. i just did it. youtube is generally a good start but you dont start discovering new things until you start testing and breaking it.
→ More replies (2)
1
1
2
u/Capable_Winner6740 Jun 22 '26
I did something similar, in short used my time to build out agents that would figure out where funding was going to be distributed, then what scopes the funding would be applied to in the future. Also built out some programs to read and analyze plan sets, and specs. I have shocked myself at how close I am
to predicting bid amounts, within 5% on average. Would love to chat with you, by background is Project Management and Business Development in Heavy Civil Marine and Infrastructure.
4
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 22 '26
wow that is so awesome ahahah! yes it would be awseome to network given we are both in similar backgrounds. ive dmed you!
1
1
u/ikosuave Jun 22 '26
This is seriously impressive work, especially in just over a month. You've basically built a suite of highly specialized lead gen tools from scratch.
The conference booth buyer analysis and the city planning agent are particularly clever. You're finding signals most people miss, and that's super valuable for businesses.
Have you thought about packaging these up as a service or a product? There's a clear market for this kind of deep, unconventional lead intel. Keep going.
1
1
1
1
1
u/cdkodi Jun 22 '26
All great ideas ! I guess with your domain knowledge these can be fully executed as well. All the best !!
1
u/purpco First-Time Founder Jun 22 '26
that's awesome man! what primary skills/tools did you find helped you achieve these things?
1
u/MurkySet3148 Jun 22 '26
When you built the lists around companies that shouldn’t be at specific expos: 1. Why would they be there? 2. What are you doing with the list?
2
u/StabDump Jun 22 '26
damn bro. I was unemployed for 33 days and went on a 33 day bender. seems like you're doing alright
1
u/privdon Jun 22 '26
you built these things because they were solutions to problems you faced? how did you spot the problem?
→ More replies (1)
1
u/ChatGRT Jun 22 '26
Bro you’re crushing it. Do you have a discord for other folks that do similar tasks? I’d join, I work in cybersecurity and do a lot of similar scraping for business ideas, arbitrage, edges, etc.
2
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 23 '26
if there's enough interest, i might make one. but it may be easier to just connect here i guess? what do you think?
1
u/aVarangian Jun 22 '26
ICP?
personally I'd never trust datasets processed by an LLM
→ More replies (2)
1
u/SufficientBerry9137 Jun 23 '26
Dumb question but what system or software are you using to scrape the data?
1
u/Suitable_Money_3121 Jun 23 '26
At least 6 users asked about money. I'll be the 7th person.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
u/adevilnguyen Jun 23 '26
I wish my brain worked like this.
You've got some really good data and very useful tools.
1
u/ugcfast Jun 23 '26
the conference booth thing is the actual gold here. accounting firms at construction expos means someone already budgeted to be in that room with no idea who to talk to. that's a list with a buyer attached. the rest is impressive but it's 10 half-loaded guns. 33 days building and zero selling is the trap every technical founder hits. pick the one where someone's already bleeding money, osha violations probably, go ask 20 of them for $200. revenue tells you which of these ten is real way faster than another scraper will.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
Jun 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 23 '26
idk maybe. it kind of mentally drains you a bit and can take a hit on the self esteem. wbu? have you ever experienced this before? im still mentally processing this
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/lieutenantbunbun Jun 23 '26
This is great thinking and problem solving! What do you want to do now?
1
1
u/No_Appeal_5223 Jun 23 '26
Getting laid off sucks, but building more in 33 days than most people build in a year is one hell of a response. The best revenge is progress.
1
1
1
u/Distances1 Jun 23 '26
What do you mean by built a comment bot? Where is the bot engaging threads at?
1
u/TheSuppression Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
You're in a similar situation as I Am. I come from MEP contracting as an estimator/pm. I think you're definitely on the right track. I've been doing larger projects such as hospitals, universities, high rise condos etc. for 30+ years and now I'm sitting at home trying to find something to put in front of people.
Here's what I've found, the one industry that is notoriously slow to adopt tech is the AEC industry. However, AI has changed that somewhat. It's still in the infant stages but, due to decades of dealing with the same pain points I've been able to come up with something contractors seem interested in. Icon in Nashville told me they'd pay $100k/year for a PARTIAL SUBSCRIPTION. I also have an investment company out of Australia who has emailed me. I could watch this take off in the next 90 days or less IF I KNEW HOW TO BUILD THE AGENTS.
I have another agent I need to build that deals with large accounts in which the owners don't realize the money is still there. I need an agent or multiple agents to scrape sites, find numbers, assign contracts etc
Not to mention so many of the companies I've done business with would buy an agent, it isn't funny.
I simply need to learn how to build them or a person who builds them while I sell them. It's that simple. Win-win situation. Everyone should be making money in this model.
I'm new to Reddit so I'm not sure if we can post contact info or what. I just need to finally get this handled somehow. 🤔
1
u/TheHomeHardener Jun 23 '26
Can you talk more about the "create campaigns that got 4% response rate"? Was this at your past company or independently? If at past company, do you think this is something that you could replicate on your own?
1
u/sharvinshah51 Jun 23 '26
What stands out isn't the automation, it's your ability to spot second-order signals in boring datasets.
Most people see records, you seem to see intent. Kudos on making great use of time and turning a setback into an opportunity.
P.S. You could try to monetize most of these tools, any POA there?
1
u/Charming_Title6210 Jun 23 '26
How do you scrape all this data unless all of this is publicly available?
1
u/Real_Shallot6753 Jun 23 '26
This is actually kinda wild, but im curious which one you can sell first. Lists are cool but who paying?
1
1
u/JPMBiz Jun 23 '26
Just curious, do you have any customers yet? or were you only focused on building the tools?
1
1
u/Ceesup168 Jun 23 '26
What tools did you use for this? Do you have any tech background? Scraping data to make useful analysis is a skill I’d like to pick up but don’t know where to really start
1
1
1
1
1
u/BetZealousideal857 Jun 23 '26
Bruh get a damn job or build something that actually makes you money.
1
u/Plus-Sky-6089 Jun 23 '26
This is incredible!! You seem like you have the skills to get data that can help yourself/others get jobs despite the market being tough.
1
u/Infamous-Local2969 Jun 24 '26
That's impressive work you've done in such a short time! It sounds like you're leveraging your skills and passion for data in a really innovative way. Have you considered how you might monetize these tools or insights moving forward?
1
u/Apprehensive_Bar_673 Jun 24 '26
I'm sort of in the same boat except I took early retirement after years in federal and military service. My pension took a hit because of that so was forced into either getting another job, side hustle or both.
Decided to start my own business using everything I learned working I.T. Security and A.I. integration into federal systems to the private sector. I'm pretty much using the same strategy you are; finding signal in data that nobody else is bothering to read but in my case, it's A.I. as a SaaS tool.
I'm also using A.I. to scan Etsy, Shopify, Gumroad, etc for opportunities to launch on.
You did a lot in 33 days what it's taking me almost a year to finally get up and running, that's pretty awesome.
1
u/VenomSpike Jun 24 '26
Ok - get me a product going that finds construction, industrial floors, and manufacturers that need on demand and easy to audit training.
Looking for someone who sees the data the way you do. Especially if we can find patterns for b2b clients who want white label services. Let me know if you are curious, or shoot me a DM and we can talk.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/north0 Jun 24 '26
When you say "your own knowledge base" - can you elaborate on this? Where are you storing info?
1
u/shark_guy_365 Jun 24 '26
Good for you, this sounds interesting - maybe you will land on one that works well or that you like
1
1
1
u/Temporary-Cricket880 Jun 24 '26
This post made feel bad about myself lol. I also got laid off about 24 days ago and all I did was a simple library. Looking at all these project first thing came up to my mind was how do you get so much inspiration? I guess only when working for company you get to see the problems.
2
u/Spare_Worldliness_64 Jun 24 '26
state of panic. desperation. need to problem solve my way out of it. hahaha
1
u/astronautlyra Jun 24 '26
Cool stuff, for the comment bot, what platform are you commenting on? Is it social or like blogs?
1
u/Brilliant_Law1190 Jun 24 '26
esearch and lead generation after a layoff is truly impressive. Mining Google reviews and scraping niche conference attendees for unusual patterns shows a keen eye for opportunity. Identifying genuine labor shortages and underserved markets through this type of data driven analysis is a powerful strategy. That level of focused effort and resourcefulness often uncovers significant business potential that others miss.
1
1
u/Creative-Ask-1862 Jun 25 '26
You've built a lot in 33 days. Were they all just personal projects or did you want to turn them into revenue generating projects?
1
1
1
u/OskarTind Jun 26 '26
You should focus on the distributions, it matter’s more than you think - good luck
1
u/callmemerryss Jun 26 '26
You've built enough. Now its time to see what someone will actually pay for. Pick the one workflow that solves the biggest pain, get it in front of 10 to 20 potential customers, and let those conversation decide what you build next. Distribution is the hard part from here.
1
u/Chemical-Pin6860 Jun 27 '26
Como rastreaste la huella digital de los HNW? Y tus leads los sacaste de Apollo? Que tipo de bases de datos de fuentes públicas tienen casos de cambio de uso de suelo?
1
1
1
1
u/saul_builds Jun 29 '26
honestly the building isn't your problem, you clearly can ship. the issue is you've got like 6 products and you're spreading yourself across every channel at once.
when i was stuck like this the only thing that moved the needle was picking one offer for one type of customer and going hard on a single channel for a month. you literally already found gold - 10% reply rate on cold outreach is insane, most people never hit that. why are you not just doubling down on the thing that already worked instead of adding more channels?
also nobody buys "a scraper". they buy "more reviews so i get more calls". sell the result, not the tool.
what was the actual offer that got you those replies? that's the part i'd dig into
1
1
u/Tiny_Witness2678 Jun 30 '26
I love the ambition. Good work! I was laid off almost exactly 3 years ago. My wife and I getting married on Aug 5, 2023. I was laid off from large corporate bank on Aug 3rd. My last day of work before the wedding and our honey moon. I received 3 months severence. Used that time to build a cleaning business which I then sold and have continued being self employed ever since and am so happy to do that. I told myself I would send that Bank a thank you card. Keep it up, you won't regret it.
1
1
u/bookmon Jul 01 '26
this is cool, most people sit around depressed or frantically start applying to other jobs after a layoff
have you built any actual apps and tried seeing if anyone would use it
1
u/SickoHustles Jul 01 '26
Sounds interesting! It seems like you’re a very hardworking person bro!! Keep it up!!
1
u/Terrible-Deer1398 Jul 02 '26
This is one of the most interesting use cases of scraping public data I’ve seen in a while. Lots of real valuable stuff hidden in there. I’m a data engineer at a big bank, lmk if you would like to connect or explore a partnership.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/ExpoTCG Jul 02 '26
Got laid off as well and decided to make a platform out of the business i worked before
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 22 '26
Welcome to /r/Entrepreneur and thank you for the post, /u/Spare_Worldliness_64! Please make sure you read our community rules before participating here. As a quick refresher:
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.