How to build a $12K/mo AI agency as a solo founder in 60 days
No team. No funding. Just Claude + cold DMs + a tight niche.
- 1.Picked one boring vertical (B2B lead enrichment) instead of a generic "AI agency."
- 2.Built a Claude-powered service offer, not a product — clients pay for outcomes, not access.
- 3.Closed first 6 clients via cold DMs on LinkedIn within 30 days, scaled to 12 by day 60.
The story
Most "AI agencies" fail because they pitch tools instead of outcomes. Robin did the opposite — he wrapped a Claude prompt chain inside a done-for-you service and sold it as a monthly retainer.
The wedge was simple: B2B sales teams hate manual lead research. Robin built a Claude workflow that takes a list of 100 companies and returns enriched profiles (decision makers, recent news, hiring signals, talking points) in under an hour.
Pricing started at $1,000/mo per client. By day 60, twelve clients = $12K MRR. Margins above 80% because the only real cost is the Claude API and a domain.
The exact stack
Tools they used. Click any to start with the same setup. Total cost: ~$110/mo
The playbook
Pick a boring B2B niche
Avoid generic "AI consulting." Pick a vertical where buyers already pay for manual labor (lead research, content briefs, customer support triage). Robin picked B2B SaaS sales teams.
Build the prompt chain first
Before writing copy or building a site, prove the Claude workflow works on 5 sample inputs. If it can't beat a human VA, kill the idea. Robin spent 4 days iterating prompts.
Wrap it in a service, not a product
Sell outcomes ("we deliver 100 enriched leads/week") not access ("here's an AI tool"). Service pricing is 5-10x higher and clients don't churn over an API outage.
Cold DM with proof
Robin sent 30 cold DMs/day on LinkedIn — each included a free sample (one enriched lead from the prospect's actual ICP). Reply rate hit 18%.
Charge monthly, deliver weekly
Retainers compound. Twelve $1K/mo retainers > one $12K project. Deliver in weekly batches so clients see ongoing value.
Copy & paste prompts
The exact Claude prompts they used. Click Copy and run them yourself.
→ Lead Enrichment Prompt (Claude): Paste this into Claude Sonnet 4.6 with one company URL at a time. Returns a structured profile sales reps can act on immediately.
You are a B2B sales research analyst. I will give you a company URL.
Return a one-page enriched profile with:
1. Company snapshot
- One-sentence pitch (no marketing fluff)
- Headcount range, HQ city, last funding event
2. Decision makers
- Top 3 likely buyers for our product (title + why)
- Recent LinkedIn signals (job change, post, hiring)
3. Hot signals (last 90 days)
- News, hiring spikes, product launches, layoffs
- Cite source URL for each
4. Three talking points
- Concrete, not generic. Each should reference something
specific to THIS company, not the industry.
Tone: like a smart analyst writing for a busy AE.
Skip filler words. Use bullets, not paragraphs.
Company URL: [PASTE URL HERE]→ Cold DM Generator (Claude): After enrichment, generate a 2-sentence cold DM that references one hot signal. ~18% reply rate on LinkedIn.
Write a 2-sentence LinkedIn DM to {{name}} at {{company}}.
Context:
- Their role: {{title}}
- One hot signal from research: {{signal}}
- We help with: {{your_offer}}
Rules:
- Sentence 1: reference the hot signal naturally — show you did
homework. Do not say "I noticed" or "saw that."
- Sentence 2: one specific outcome we delivered for a
similar-stage company. End with a single question.
- Total under 35 words.
- No greetings. No "hope you're well." No "quick question."Revenue breakdown
- →Service > product when you're solo. Higher price, lower churn, no support burden.
- →Niche down hard. "AI agency" loses to "AI lead enrichment for B2B SaaS sales teams."
- →The stack is dirt cheap. The bottleneck is sales, not tech.