A business you run with AI

Start a lead-list building business while you keep your day job

Sales teams pay per list. Actionist reads the brief, finds the companies, enriches every contact, verifies the emails and formats the delivery. You approve the sample and the final list before it goes out.

Actionist does the research, enrichment and delivery. You approve the key moments and keep all the client relationships.

Your AI workforce
$400+per list, you set it
$38,400a year at 8 lists a month
6phases Actionist runs
Actionist operatesActionist App Store

Sales teams and agencies spend hours every week hunting for the right contacts, only to end up with lists full of wrong emails and outdated job titles. Starting a lead-list building business used to mean expensive data subscriptions, hours of manual research and the grind of verifying hundreds of rows in a spreadsheet. Actionist changes that: it reads a client brief, searches Apollo and LinkedIn for matching companies and decision-makers, enriches every contact through Clay and Clearbit, verifies each email with Hunter, and delivers a clean, formatted list in Google Sheets, all in the background while you keep your day job.

You do not need to be a data analyst or buy enterprise database licences to get started. You need a clear brief intake process, the right tools, and Actionist doing the data work in the background. You step in to approve the targeting approach and the final deliverable, and the agent handles everything in between.

start a lead list building businesslead list service with AIB2B prospect list businesssell prospect lists to sales teamsstart a data research business
01

Your opportunity

The opportunity

Why this works

Every sales team needs fresh, verified lists, and almost none of them want to spend their week building them. It is unglamorous, time-consuming work that gets handed off the moment there is someone to hand it to.

Because Actionist does the research and enrichment in the background, you can serve far more clients than a solo researcher and deliver faster, without hiring anyone or buying an enterprise data subscription.

What matters to you
  • A job every sales team needs done
    No sales rep wants to spend their day scraping LinkedIn and verifying emails. They pay to hand it off to someone who can do it reliably.
  • Recurring demand
    Teams need fresh lists each month as they move into new territories, verticals or personas. One client often becomes a monthly retainer.
  • A premium for accuracy
    A verified list with a low bounce rate commands a meaningful price premium over a raw scrape. Quality is the product.
  • Low marginal cost per list
    Once the pipeline is set up, the cost of running one more brief through Actionist is small. Margin grows as volume does.
Your projection

Run your own numbers

Your projection

Set the numbers, see the picture

Price per list
$400
lists a month
8
Per month
$3,200
Per year
$38,400

Illustrative, based on the numbers you enter. Many clients return monthly as they expand into new

Getting started

What it actually takes to start

Building prospect lists for sales teams used to mean a ZoomInfo licence, a VA, and hours of your own time. Actionist does the sourcing and enrichment, so the bar to start is far lower than most people expect.

What you don't need
  • An enterprise data subscription
    Actionist works with tools you can start for free or at low cost.
  • A background in data or research
    You set the brief; the agent does the data work.
  • A team of VAs
    Your agents cover prospecting, enrichment and delivery on their own.
  • A sales background
    You just need to understand what a client wants and deliver it clean.
  • To quit your day job
    Actionist works through orders in the background while you are at work.
What you bring
  • An eye for a clear brief
    You need to ask the right questions before the agent starts.
  • A laptop and a few evenings a week
    Mostly approvals and the occasional client call.
  • Actionist and a small tool stack
    Apollo, Clay, Hunter and Google Sheets cover most jobs.

If you can describe the kind of company a client wants to reach, Actionist can find, enrich and verify the list.

02

How Actionist works

How it works

How Actionist builds the business

You do not build the lists by hand. Actionist does. Here is how it works on any client brief: you take the order, the agent plans the data run, executes it, and brings you the moments that need a human decision.

  1. 01

    You take the brief and set the scope

    A client fills in your intake form with their ideal customer profile: industry, company size, geography, persona and how many contacts they need. You read it, confirm it makes sense, and set any constraints. That is the only heavy thinking you do before the run starts.

    A clear brief Actionist can execute against.
  2. 02

    Actionist builds the raw match list

    Actionist searches Apollo and LinkedIn for companies and contacts that match the targeting criteria. It uses Phantombuster to pull profile data at scale, logs every row in a working sheet, and deduplicates the pull before moving on.

    A raw list of companies and contacts that fit the brief.
  3. 03

    It enriches every contact

    Actionist runs the raw list through Clay to add verified job titles, company size, LinkedIn URLs and industry codes. It fills any gaps with Clearbit and Dropcontact, then flags any contacts that fall below the quality threshold you set.

    C
    A rich, structured dataset ready for verification.
  4. 04

    It verifies and cleans the list

    Actionist runs every email address through Hunter to check it is live and not a role-based catch-all. It removes bounces, deduplicates against any previous lists you have delivered, and scores each contact so the best rows sit at the top.

    A clean, verified list with low bounce risk.
  5. 05

    It formats the deliverable and asks your approval

    Actionist exports the list into Google Sheets in your agreed format, adds a short summary cover note, and sends you the sample for review. You check a representative slice, approve it, and the agent handles sending the delivery to your client.

    A polished deliverable, ready to send on your say-so.
  6. 06

    You invoice and set up the retainer

    Actionist raises the invoice at the agreed price, sends it through Stripe once you approve, and logs the completed order. It then drafts a short pitch for the client's next list or a monthly retainer, so the relationship keeps going without you having to chase.

    Payment collected and the next order already in motion.
Your agent team

Actionist is your whole team

You are one person taking orders and keeping clients happy. Actionist is the whole data team behind you. Here is every role it plays, and the one part of each that stays with you.

~53 hrs/week of work by hand, run by your agents instead

Plan each order

turns the client brief into a data run plan

Before any searching starts, your assistant reads the intake form, pulls out the targeting parameters, and builds the run plan that all the other agents work from.

If you did this by hand
Read every brief and extract the key criteriaDecide which tools to use for this nicheSet the quality threshold for this orderWrite the run plan and sequence the stepsUpdate the plan if the scope changes mid-run
~5 hrs/ week
reading briefs and planning the data run from scratch.3 days a month you do not have, handled for you.
What your agent does
One planper order, before any searching starts
Scopedto the client's exact criteria
  • Parse the brief
    Reads the intake form and extracts the ICP, volume, geography and persona so the run has a precise target.
  • Build the run plan
    Sequences the steps, picks the tools for this niche, and sets the quality bar before any searching starts.
  • Keep the plan live
    Re-plans if the client changes scope mid-run and keeps the other agents in sync.
Your part

You confirm the brief makes sense and set any constraints before the run starts. That is the only planning you do.

Apps your agent could useSee full Actionist App Store →
03

Your task plan

The task centre

Every task it takes, and who does it

This is the plan Actionist runs to deliver each client order: every stage, task and subtask. From reading the brief to verifying emails to formatting the deliverable, the work is split across your agents. Only the kick-off call and the key approvals stay with you.

30 tasks·90 subtasks
Actionist 25You 1Approval 4Actionist handles ~83%
Done
Reception Agent
Fire the brief template by email
Done
Set a 48-hour deadline on the form
Done
Chase if the form is not returned in time
Done
Done
Executive Agent
Pull the ICP: industry, size, geography and persona
Done
Note the volume and format the client needs
Done
Flag any ambiguous criteria for the kick-off call
Done
To do
You
Done
Operations Agent
In progress
Executive Agent

An example plan Actionist runs for a typical order of 500 verified B2B contacts. Your plan adapts to the client's niche, volume and format requirements.

Under the hood

What one automation looks like

Trigger·A completed client brief comes in through the intake form.
Confirmation
Step 5
Human
You review the enriched sample of 20 contacts and approve for full delivery
Saved per run
~3 hrs
Runs / week
~6×
A verified, formatted list delivered in one approved step.
04

The payoff

Your week

All it asks of you

Once an order is running, here is what a week actually looks like. Your agents are doing the data work every day. You step in for a handful of moments, the ones only you can handle, and the rest of your week stays yours.

You
A couple of hours

across the whole week, mostly approvals you can do from your phone

5 touchpoints · about 60 min all week

Your agents
Every day

searching, enriching, verifying and packaging lists in the background

7 jobs running in the background

Your team
Your full team runs in the background, every day.
  • Approve this week's outreach to new clients10 min
    mon · A quick yes before the agent sends.
  • Review an enriched sample before the full15 min
    wed · Spot-check 20 rows to confirm the brief is on track.
  • Approve the final list before delivery10 min
    thu · Last check on the finished deliverable.
  • Handle a client question about a delivery10 min
    fri · The agent drafts the reply; you send it.
  • Skim the weekly order and revenue summary15 min
    sun · What shipped, what is next, what is owed.
Your team, every day
  • DA
    Developer Agent
    Runs prospect searches on Apollo and pulls LinkedIn data for active orders
  • TA
    Technical Agent
    Verifies emails through Hunter and enriches contacts via Clearbit and
  • OA
    Operations Agent
    Formats deliverables in Google Sheets and raises invoices for completed orders
  • SA
    Sales Agent
    Pitches monthly retainers to clients who have received a list
  • SA
    Support Agent
    Answers client questions about delivery times and formats
  • CA
    CRM Agent
    Tracks every client order and queues follow-ups for repeat business
  • RA
    Reception Agent
    Books kick-off calls for new enquiries and sends intake forms
The payoff

What you walk away with

  • No database needed
    Start without an enterprise data licence
    Actionist uses Apollo, Clay and Hunter, tools with accessible entry plans, so you do not need ZoomInfo to get started.
  • Around your job
    Run orders while employed
    Actionist works through every search, enrichment and verification step in the background so you can deliver lists without leaving your desk job.
  • Monthly retainers
    Turn one-off orders into recurring revenue
    Clients who get a clean list come back next month for the next vertical. Actionist keeps the relationship warm so the order arrives before you have to ask.
Before and after

Doing it alone vs with Actionist

On your own
~21h / week
every job below lands on you
With Actionist
minutes to review
it runs all 10 in the background
  • 1Brief intake
    1.5h/wk
    A call followed by emails back and forth

    You take a rough verbal brief, then chase missing details over several email threads before you can start.

    ActionistOff your plate
    A structured form, read and parsed automatically

    Actionist fires the intake form, reads the answers, and flags any gaps so the run starts with a precise target.

  • 2Company prospecting
    5h/wk
    Hours filtering Apollo and LinkedIn by hand

    You set the filters, scroll through pages of results, and copy companies row by row into a spreadsheet.

    ActionistOff your plate
    A targeted company pull from Apollo

    Actionist runs the search in Apollo against the exact ICP and exports every matching company in one pass.

  • 3Contact research
    4h/wk
    Opening every LinkedIn profile one at a time

    You visit each company page, find the right persona, and note their title and URL manually.

    ActionistOff your plate
    Profiles pulled automatically from LinkedIn

    Actionist uses Phantombuster to extract profile data for every matching contact in the company list.

  • 4Data enrichment
    3h/wk
    Copy and paste from browser tabs

    You look up each contact in a browser, copy their title, company size and email pattern, and paste it into the sheet one row at a time.

    ActionistOff your plate
    Enriched in Clay with one run

    Actionist pushes every raw row through Clay and returns verified titles, company size and LinkedIn URLs for the whole list.

  • 5Email verification
    2h/wk
    Manually checking addresses or hoping for the best

    You either skip verification and accept the bounce risk, or paste addresses into a tool one batch at a time and check the results yourself.

    ActionistOff your plate
    Every address verified through Hunter

    Actionist runs the full list through Hunter and removes any address that comes back invalid or risky before the list is packaged.

  • 1Deduplication and cleaning
    1h/wk
    Finding and removing duplicates by hand

    You use spreadsheet formulas to spot duplicate emails and cross-check against previous lists you have delivered, which takes time and is easy to miss.

    ActionistOff your plate
    Duplicates and past contacts removed automatically

    Actionist deduplicates the list and removes any contact the client has already received in a previous delivery.

  • 2Delivery formatting
    1.5h/wk
    Reformatting the sheet for each client

    Every client has a slightly different template, so you rename columns, reorder rows and fix formatting every single time.

    ActionistOff your plate
    Formatted to the client's template automatically

    Actionist applies the agreed column order and naming, sorts by match score, and locks the formatting before you send.

  • 3Delivery and handover
    45m/wk
    Writing the delivery email yourself

    You draft the email, attach or link the file, write a summary of what was built, and send it when you get around to it.

    ActionistOff your plate
    Delivery sent on your approval

    Actionist drafts the cover note with the stats, sets up sharing on the Google Sheet, and sends the email once you give the go-ahead.

  • 4Invoicing
    1h/wk
    Invoices sent late or forgotten

    You raise the invoice when you remember, which is often after the client has moved on, and then have to chase payment yourself.

    ActionistOff your plate
    Invoiced on delivery, chased if late

    Actionist raises the invoice the day the list is delivered and sends a follow-up if payment has not arrived within seven days.

  • 5Repeat business
    1h/wk
    Hoping the client comes back

    You deliver the list and wait. If the client wants another one next month, they either remember to contact you or they do not.

    ActionistOff your plate
    A retainer pitch, drafted and queued

    Actionist drafts a re-order or retainer pitch for each client after delivery and queues it for your approval before it sends.

That is roughly 21 hours of work handed off every week, while you keep your day job
The tools

The apps Actionist operates

05

Stay in control and start

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Trust and control

You stay in control

This is your business and your clients. Actionist asks before it does anything that reaches a client or moves money, and it logs every step so you can see exactly what happened on every order.

You approve every client-facing move

Sending a deliverable, an outreach email or an invoice always waits for your yes. Nothing reaches a client without it.

Every step is logged

Each search, enrichment run and verification pass is recorded so you can audit any order and stand behind the work.

Your tools, your data

Actionist works inside your own Apollo, Clay and Hunter accounts. You keep ownership of every list and every client relationship.

Choose how hands-on you are

Set approval modes per task, from asking every time to letting routine steps run. You decide how much oversight each order needs.

FAQ

Questions about this idea

Do I need an expensive data subscription like ZoomInfo to run this?
No. Actionist works with Apollo, Clay and Hunter, which all have accessible entry plans well below enterprise pricing. You can start a lead-list building business at a fraction of what a ZoomInfo licence costs and scale the tools as your order volume grows.
How does Actionist find email addresses without a built-in database?
Actionist uses Hunter to look up and verify professional emails by name and company domain, and Dropcontact to surface any that Hunter does not return. Both tools work without you needing a proprietary database.
How accurate are the verified email addresses?
Hunter checks each address against the live mail server and returns a confidence score. Actionist removes any address scored as invalid or risky before the list is packaged, so clients typically see bounce rates well below industry averages. The exact rate depends on the niche and the data sources available for that vertical.
What if a client wants a list of 5,000 contacts?
Actionist runs the search and enrichment in batches, so larger orders take longer to complete but follow the same pipeline. You set the turnaround expectation at brief time and the agent works through it in the background, updating you as each stage completes.
Can I start with just one or two clients and build from there?
Yes. The pipeline is the same whether you are running one order or twenty. Starting with a small number of clients lets you refine your brief intake and delivery format before scaling. The marginal cost of adding more clients once the workflow is set is small.
Will Actionist send the list to my client without me seeing it first?
No. The final deliverable always waits for your approval before it goes to the client. You review the formatted Google Sheet and the cover note, confirm it is right, and Actionist sends the delivery email only after you say yes.
How long does it typically take to deliver a list?
For a standard order of 200 to 500 verified contacts, Actionist can work through the search, enrichment and verification stages within a business day or two, depending on the complexity of the niche and the volume requested. Actionist keeps the client updated as each stage completes so they are not left wondering.
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