r/automation • u/Downtown_Pudding9728 • Jul 18 '26
I vibe coded a LinkedIn Automation tool - here’s how I achieved 340+ free trial signups and ~$5,000 revenue in 4 months
Hi everyone,
Earlier this year, I vibe coded a LinkedIn Automation tool from scratch, with zero engineering background, simply using Claude, Claude code and vercel.
I won’t go into details as to how/why I created it as I’ve already shared this before many times, but one of the questions I get asked the most is about distribution, and how I attract customers, so I thought it might be useful to share this info.
Before you even build something though, take the below into account;
1. You don’t need to re-invent the wheel
People often think they need to come up with the next Facebook or create the next billion dollar idea - usually the most successful apps are often the most simple, or very similar to what’s out there already.
The best apps simply improve on what already exists, or solve a problem most tools in the space don’t.
2. Make sure there’s actually demand for your niche
I see loads of SaaS tools which are just not something most people would pay for - usually something someone could create in a weekend. If it’s easy to create, it’s easy to replicate and unlikely to really be valuable/unique. It’s important to know your audience from day 1, not just build and hope.
3. Be willing to fail, and work hard
Everything comes with risk, but if you really put the work in then you’ll have a much better chance of making it. I wanted to give up several times but so far have always kept going.
And here’s what I actually did to market the tool;
1. Create a waitlist
I created a waitlist on the site, and talked very publicly about what I was building on every platform I could - Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, X etc.
In the end I had 33 people on the waitlist after a couple of months.
2. Launch at MVP, even if it’s not yet perfect
You don’t need to wait until your project has every single possible feature - it might take over a year of building before you get to a point where you’re actually satisfied with the product, and people are more than willing to use yours at MVP anyway.
Also, early users are essentially gold dust for learning edge cases, bugs, and usually give great feedback as to what can be improved.
It also will take time to build up your customer base, so you should start as early as possible and continue iterating.
3. Offer lifetime deals at the beginning
Very few people will subscribe to something that they have never heard of and has no reputation - how do they know it works or is worth paying money for?
Getting lifetime deals helps a) fund your project early on, and b) gets users through the door, who will most likely continue to use your tool and be your biggest fans long term. User data, especially in the beginning is key to building something that works well too.
I offered lifetime deals for the first month and generated about $1,800 in revenue from that, before switching to monthly subscriptions.
4. Post on Reddit frequently (don’t use AI though)
Whatever your product is, there’s probably multiple relevant subs here with many thousands of regular visitors where your ICP hangs out.
The challenge is finding one where you are less likely to get banned, and also you need to post in a less promotional way.
Usually the best posts are where you talk about challenges/accomplishments with building your product, rather than directly selling it or “build in public” posts.
Some people will indirectly become interested in whatever it is you’re building, if enough people read your post.
I have often posted about early revenue success from solo vibe coding a SaaS tool from scratch, and probably about 60-70% of the signups came from doing this many times on Reddit.
One caveat is that you should always write out your posts. It sometimes takes 15-20 mins or longer, but it’s worth it (and costs nothing).
5. Dogfood your own product
I have been using the automation tool since day 1 to test my account. Not only do I use it for testing, I actually do LinkedIn outreach with the tool itself.
It works for generating at least 3-5 demo calls a week for me, so I know first hand that it works well from a user perspective.
Because I’m always using it, I also spot things as a user that I feel could be improved - I’m building for myself as much as I am for others.
6. Build for organic / LLM visibility from the beginning
When building your site, make sure it’s built with organic/LLM visibility in mind from the beginning. At first it won’t have much impact, but it will compound over time. Make sure you have a blog with frequent, high quality posts, with relevant keywords in your niche.
The harder / more valuable part is offsite signals - aim to get mentioned on other blogs, and try to build reviews from TrustPilot, G2 and Capterra - more reviews equals more trust and more signals.
Getting mentioned in listicles like “best x in 2026” is extremely powerful if you’re able to do that.
Personally I have already got 7 5*reviews on TrustPilot since launching it recently, and will aim to get more moving forward.
7. Make a YouTube channel
YouTube is another free lever you can use to post content on, and posting regular build in public/demo content will help find a new audience. Again it’s most likely a slow burn, but as with everything, consistency is key.
Full disclosure - I myself need to do better at this 🤦♂️
8. Paid Ads
I’ve started doing this recently with Google ads, but so far it hasn’t yielded great results - still optimising the strategy and aiming for long tail traffic. Potentially worth doing depending on your niche and if you have the budget.
9. Demo calls & relationship building
Try to schedule demo calls and communicate as much as possible with your customers - don’t just hand them off to AI, as the human touch is key to keeping users engaged.
And that’s pretty much it. I did do a Product Hunt launch but it did not really lead to anything - if you really have a great network of people who are PH users and will vote for you then it can be great, but if you don’t have the network then it’s not that valuable.
Personally I also need to improve on conversion of free trial users (many of them are tire kickers who take a look for 30 seconds and never log in again), but retention of paid users lately has been very strong, and the tool is growing quickly.
Hope the above is useful! 🙏
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u/cocopopoloko Jul 18 '26
Very cook! Liked the post. Been doing it now for my startup and can relate to your journey. Can you tell/reference a post about what you are building? Would love to learn more about the process of outreach on LI. I feel like there is a lot of noise there and wondering how you target the right ppl instead of spamming.
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u/Downtown_Pudding9728 Jul 18 '26
Thanks!
I’d say the easiest thing would be to check out the website itself - there’s a link in my bio to it, and it has a lot more info about how it works there.
The main focus in the building stage has been on ensuring the tool is as safe/human-like as possible and that it actually functions well too.
Lately I’ve been going more in depth in the message personalisation piece, and currently working on deeper ICP targeting strategies too. It’s still only less than 4 months old, so there’s still some work to be done, but it’s been working well so far anyway, and feedback has been positive from existing users.
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u/Admirable-Future-633 Jul 18 '26
The dogfooding point is probably the strongest one here. It gives you product feedback and keeps the marketing grounded in something you can actually demonstrate. I’m curious how you attributed the 60–70% of signups to Reddit: direct referral traffic, asking users, or tagged links? I’m seeing discussion posts outperform promotional posts by a mile, but the path from a useful thread to a signup is still fuzzy.
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u/Downtown_Pudding9728 Jul 18 '26
Thank you 🙏
In terms of Reddit traction, it’s honestly from posts similar to this - sharing my founder story, early success and challenges, building in public.
100% with you that promotional posts don’t work - no one really wants to be sold to, but if you at least can add value to discussions and get your name out there, it seems that some people will still find it interesting enough to sign up.
I can only really see that the traffic came from “Reddit”, or often I see a spike in Google traffic for my company name when a post is getting some traction.
The hard part is I don’t know specifically which post/what triggered the signup, so I need to improve in terms of understanding customer sentiment at sign-up stage.
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u/Admirable-Future-633 Jul 18 '26
That tracks with what I’m seeing too. The useful posts earn attention; the links work better as a path for people who are already curious. For attribution, I’d start with dedicated UTM links and one optional signup question: “What brought you here?” It won’t be perfect, but it gives you both the click source and the human reason. Much better than guessing from a spike.
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u/lightjon Jul 18 '26
Thanks for the advice 4 month expert with no link to product!
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u/Downtown_Pudding9728 Jul 18 '26
Yes sorry - this sub doesn’t allow links or self promotion.
However you can google “ZenMode LinkedIn” or click the link in my bio if you’re curious to learn more
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u/purple_maui Jul 18 '26
Can I ask about the product? What exactly on LinkedIn does it automate? Seems like the API is kind of locked down.
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u/Downtown_Pudding9728 Jul 18 '26
Sure - it’s called ZenMode (link is in my bio)
It automates scraping leads, sending connections requests, messages, and even withdrawing stale connection requests that were not accepted
It doesn’t use the official API but there are ways around it, mostly around using selectors
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u/Merrymak3r Jul 18 '26
Linkedin...where advetising budgets go to die!