We built Clay
before Clay was cool.
In 2023, two engineers built a full data aggregation platform from scratch. Python backend. Next.js frontend. Three months. It scraped business directories, found decision-makers, and enriched every row with personalization data.
The product worked. The business didn't. We almost went bankrupt — not because the tech was wrong, but because we were engineers who didn't know how to sell. This is its story.
Thomas Hartmann
David Serhovic
Onur Ozkan
Sebastian Schnaak
3 months
Build time
2
Engineers
15+
Data enrichment points
The problem we solved
Agencies were paying for 6 tools
to do one job.
Clutch for scraping. Apollo for contacts. Clearbit for enrichment. Google Sheets for formatting. Clay for connecting them. And a VA to babysit all of it. We replaced all of them with one workflow.
How it worked
Three steps. One workflow.
Built target lists from real directories
Pulled companies from Clutch, Capterra, Indeed, Wellfound — filtered by industry, location, size, budget. No CSV uploads. No guessing.
Clutch Company
A platform for finding professional service providers.
Capterra Company
A comprehensive directory for finding business software.
Indeed Company
A global Employment website to find Open job Applications...
Wellfound Company
A tech startup job board showcasing open roles and th...
Build Potential Client List
Personalize your data
Germany
Germany - Web developers - Medical - 100-199$
Initial Data
| Company name | Agency Size | Clutch Rating | Website URL | Min Project Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UHP | 10-49 | 0 | uhp.digital | $15,000+ |
| Vivid Binaries GmbH | 2-9 | vividbinaries.com | ||
| Bananapie GmbH | 10-49 | 5 | bananapie.com | $25,000 |
| Prepend GmbH | 10-49 | 0 | prepend.io | $25,000 |
| Thinslices | NO DATA | 5 | thinslices.com |
Germany - Web developers - Medical
Germany - Web developers - Medical
| Company Name | Company Tagline | Clutch Rating | Clutch Reviews count | Avg. Hourly Rate | Employees count |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HHEY | Novel interactive exper... | 0 | 0 | $100 - $149 / hr | 2 - 9 |
| Select World GmbH | advertising, branding, c... | 0 | 0 | $100 - $149 / hr | 250 - 999 |
| Thinslices | Techy Forward. | 5 | 5 | $100 - $149 / hr | 50 - 249 |
| SIDESTREAM | Custom Software for C... | 0 | 0 | $100 - $149 / hr | 10 - 49 |
| MING Labs | We make businesses f... | 0 | 0 | $100 - $149 / hr | 50 - 249 |
| Vivid Binaries GmbH | Shaping Ideas into Tec... | 4.9 | 4 | $100 - $149 / hr | 2 - 9 |
| Hybrid Heroes | Experts for mobile and ... | 0 | 0 | $100 - $149 / hr | 10 - 49 |
| emit gmbh | digitalage... | Future Digital Services | 0 | 0 | $100 - $149 / hr | 10 - 49 |
| Mainmatter | Your expert guides for t... | 4.8 | 11 | $100 - $149 / hr | 10 - 49 |
| Boldheart | The #1 App, Web & Sof... | 5 | 11 | $100 - $149 / hr | 10 - 49 |
| prepend GmbH | Software Development... | 0 | 0 | $100 - $149 / hr | 10 - 49 |
| DEPT® | Pioneering tech/marke... | 4.9 | 33 | $150 - $199 / hr | 1,000 - 9,999 |
The output
Clean, enriched,
ready to send.
Every row was a potential client — with company info, decision-maker contacts, Clutch ratings, tech stack, SEO data, and any personalization point selected. One click to export as CSV.
The backstory
We built this in 2023.
Before Clay raised their Series B.
Data aggregation and enrichment for B2B outreach — scrape from real directories, find decision-makers, enrich with every data point that matters. Python backend handling the scraping and data processing. Next.js frontend for the UI you see above. Built the whole thing from scratch. Three months. Two engineers.
The product worked. The business didn't. We were engineers — we knew how to build, but not how to sell. We spent 150K GEL and almost went bankrupt.
So we went back to agency work, learned the business side the hard way, and turned the pain into expertise. Every tool we build now comes from that experience — engineering rigor backed by hard-won commercial instincts.
See it in action
The full walkthrough
We still build things like this.
Data SaaS didn't survive as a business, but the engineering did. Everything we learned went into building better systems for our clients.