Day 3 update: 60+ cold DMs sent, 2 replies, 0 paying customers — here's what I've learnt and found.

This is really solid for where you're at honestly. The pivot to leading with their actual scan data instead of a generic pitch is exactly the right instinct — you're making the problem real for them before you even ask for anything. That CEO reply is worth more than it might feel like right now, a "I'll test it" from a decision maker at 60 DMs in is a genuine signal.

One thing that might help with the credibility gap — could you get the accessibility specialist who's reviewing your tool to give you a short quote or even just share your post? Third party validation from someone in the industry would do a lot of heavy lifting when you're reaching out cold.

Keep going with this. The fact that you're already iterating on what works after 60 outreaches instead of giving up is more than most people manage.

3.3% reply rate on cold DMs is actually not bad for day 3 — most people quit before they get to 60. The CEO who said 'I'll test it' is worth a quick follow-up in 2-3 days with a specific prompt: 'Did you get a chance to run a scan? Happy to walk you through what the fixes look like.' Accessibility is a compliance sale as much as a value sale — UK agencies especially have clients asking about WCAG. That angle might open more doors than the product benefits alone.

Respect for sharing the numbers — not many people do that.
I like the approach of scanning their site first and leading with real issues.
That feels much more helpful than a generic pitch.
Have you considered targeting smaller agencies first?
They might be more open to testing new tools than larger ones.

The scan-first angle is strong because you are not asking them to imagine the pain. You are showing it.

One thing I would test next is turning every useful scan into a reusable asset instead of a one-off DM. Short audit, one screenshot, one clear issue, one fix. Post those publicly and let the best ones become proof.

That way each outbound message also compounds into content, and the people who do reply already trust that you know what you are doing.

Honest question — have you thought about flipping the funnel entirely? Instead of cold DMing agency founders one by one, what if you published a "State of UK Agency Accessibility" report? Scan the top 50 agencies, anonymize the data, publish the aggregate stats ("73% of UK web agencies have WCAG violations on their own websites"), then share it on LinkedIn.

Two things happen: agencies Google themselves to check if they're in the report, and the ones who fail reach out to you. You go from chasing to being chased.

The other thing nobody's mentioned — your Clutch.co discovery about recycled listings applies to most directory sites. The real gold mine for UK agency sourcing is Companies House + LinkedIn combo. Filter by SIC code 62012 (business/domestic software development), cross-reference with LinkedIn for actual humans. Way more complete than any directory.

Also, the 2/60 reply rate isn't the number to optimize. The number that matters is what happens after the reply. That CEO testing your tool — what's your onboarding look like? If it takes more than 90 seconds to see value, you'll lose them. The scan-first DM sets a high bar that the product experience needs to match.

The scan-first approach is genuinely smart — you're leading with their problem, not your solution. That's a fundamentally different conversation.

3 days in with 60+ personalised DMs is strong execution. The "0 paying" result is actually normal for day 3 of a B2B tool — the sales cycle for agencies is usually 2-6 weeks even when they're interested. The CEO who said "I'll test it" is a real signal. Follow up in 4 days with one specific thing they can test in under 5 minutes.

One thing worth testing: instead of DMs, try posting a free scan of a well-known brand's accessibility issues (with their permission or as a public audit) on LinkedIn. Let the work demonstrate the value publicly rather than privately, and let prospects come to you.

the scan-first approach is smart. showing people their actual problems instead of pitching features is 10x more convincing.

one thing that helped me early on — instead of fighting the "15yo student" perception, lean into it. "built this as a high schooler, manually scanning sites to learn" is a way better story than trying to look like a traditional founder. authenticity converts.

also 60 DMs in 3 days is solid velocity. most people spend weeks overthinking before sending the first one.

The scan-first approach is so underrated for cold outreach. We did something similar when we first launched our dev tool, instead of emailing people "hey check out our product" we'd actually find bugs on their site and show them. Response rate went from like 2% to almost 15%.

One thing that helped us a lot was following up with a short Loom video instead of text. People are way more likely to watch a 45 second screen recording than read another cold email. Plus it makes you feel like an actual person not a bot.

Also 60 DMs at 15 is genuinely impressive ngl. Most founders I know took months before they even started doing outreach. The fact that you're iterating this fast is a huge advantage. Would love to see a day 7 or day 14 update.

The pivot to leading with specific violations is the right call — but it's worth thinking about what happens when you get the reply. Getting 2 replies from 60 DMs is actually progress; losing them in the follow-up is where most early-stage founders drop the ball.

One thing we found at WOWSystems: when a prospect finally responds, they're curious but fuzzy on scope. If your next message is still text, you're asking them to do mental work. We started sending a one-page visual map of what we'd deliver (scope, deliverables, timeline as a diagram) before any call. Drastically reduced the "let me think about it" ghosting.

At 15 iterating this fast, you're already ahead of most adult founders. The distribution problem is harder than the product problem — looks like you know that.

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Have you validated this yet?

This is a great breakdown — especially the part about leading with their actual problems instead of pitching the tool.
I’ve been seeing something similar while building DealUp (a social accountability app).
Generic messaging gets ignored, but when people feel like “this is about me”, engagement changes completely.
One thought on your LinkedIn barrier — maybe lean into it instead of hiding it:
“15yo building an accessibility tool, manually scanning sites and learning from real feedback.”
That story itself might convert better than trying to look like a traditional founder.
Also curious — have you tried turning those reports into something shareable (like a quick before/after or score)?
Feels like there could be a viral angle there.
Rooting for that CEO test 🤞

richard this is wild — we are living the exact same journey in parallel. im at 342 cold emails sent with 0 meaningful replies vs your 60 DMs with 2 replies. your DM approach is outperforming my email approach by a huge margin.

the personalised scan you include is what makes the difference i think. i do the same thing — run their site through my SEO scanner and include the score in the pitch. but a DM feels more human than a cold email.

btw i just posted an update on our combined scanner idea — the prototype is working. ran artdedente.com.au through it and got SEO 90 + accessibility 68. check the comment on our collab post when you get a chance.

your persistence at 15 is genuinely impressive. most adults give up after 10 outreach attempts.

Good insight on leading with real problems — that always works better.

For credibility, try sharing the scan publicly (post/case study) and let them come to you instead of only DMs

this resonates hard. im at 367 cold emails sent (not DMs but same energy), 2 days into a gmail restriction, and sitting on 1,224 more queued up across 4 niches. the 0 paying customers part hits different when youve been grinding for weeks.

the biggest thing ive learned: diversify the outreach channel. gmail goes down, you need contact forms, DMs, whatever works. one channel = one point of failure.

also worth trying: instead of cold DMs, build something the audience already wants and let them come to you. im testing that with a free SEO chrome extension — zero friction, solves a real problem, and it gets my name in front of people who might need the paid stuff later.

keep going its being consistent that makes the difference!
well done with your project! check our site synexiscore to scan your site and see any issues that may arise and fix them within a click if eligible!

The personalized scan approach is smart — leading with their actual data instead of a generic pitch is exactly right. Most cold DMs fail because they're about you, not them.

One thing that compounds well alongside outreach: write up 2-3 case studies showing the before/after of real sites you've scanned. "Agency X had 47 WCAG violations — here's what we found and how to fix them." That content does double duty: it's a cold DM attachment that proves credibility, AND it ranks on Google for accessibility-related queries so inbound starts flowing.

The 60 DMs → 2 replies ratio is actually not terrible for day 3. The real question is whether the CEO who said "I'll test it" converts. That single warm lead is worth more than the next 100 cold DMs because you can learn what the actual buying friction is. Ask them what almost stopped them from trying it.

I'm just starting my own SaaS journey too, and seeing a 15-year-old put in this kind of raw hustle (60+ DMs on Day 3!) is honestly super inspiring. Your pivot to the 'audit-first' approach is brilliant—I'm definitely taking notes. Fingers crossed for that CEO to convert. Keep going, you're doing amazing!

been in the exact same boat. sent 367 cold emails to agencies before gmail shut me down. 2 replies from 60 DMs is actually a decent signal — most people quit before they get any response at all. the thing i learned is that the message matters less than targeting the right person at the right time. keep iterating on who youre reaching out to, not just what youre saying. the volume game is real but only if the list is tight.

The ICP you've chosen has a structural problem worth thinking about early. Web agencies fix violations and then stop needing you — there's no recurring trigger unless they're constantly building new sites. One-time fix, one-time customer.

The regulated industry angle is different. NHS contractors, government portals — they get audited repeatedly, ship new features constantly, and have compliance obligations that don't go away. An agency is a one-time buyer. Their regulated clients could be recurring ones.

What's your current pricing model thinking — one-time report, per-site subscription, or something else?

The pivot from "try my tool" to "I found X violations on your site" removes the key obstacle in cold outreach — making someone care enough to respond before you've earned any trust. That instinct is right and you figured it out fast.

One angle that might sharpen the targeting: filter for agencies that serve clients in regulated industries — healthcare, government, financial services. Those clients often have contractual or legal obligations around accessibility, so the agency founder isn't asking "is this useful?" but "how do I fix this before it costs me the contract." That urgency makes for a very different conversation than pitching agencies where accessibility is just a nice-to-have.

The LinkedIn credibility gap shrinks fast with even one documented case study — a before/after where someone actually implemented your fixes. That single result does more work in outreach than profile age or follower count ever will. Keep posting the numbers.

this is painfully relatable. i sent 342 cold emails to marketing agencies across 41 countries and got 3 replies (0.82% reply rate). the thing that helped most was switching from generic templates to mentioning something specific about their website — like a broken meta tag or missing alt text.

the 2 replies you got from 60 DMs is actually a solid signal that your offer resonates with someone. id double down on understanding exactly what those 2 people liked about your pitch and clone that angle.

also worth trying: contact forms on agency websites. gmail cut me off at ~80 emails/day so i started using their own contact pages as a backup channel. no rate limits there.

The personalized scan approach is smart — when you're showing someone real violations on their own site, your age doesn't really matter. The data does the talking.

One thing I'd look into is content marketing. Write about common accessibility mistakes, WCAG stuff that devs actually google. It builds your authority on the topic and gets people coming to you instead of you chasing them through DMs.

Also just a thought for down the road — this feels like something that could plug into CI/CD pipelines. Scan for accessibility issues before deploy, maybe even open PRs with fixes like Renovate does for dependencies. That's the kind of thing agencies would actually pay for.

Solid product, keep at it.

Leading with specific site violations is a genius move for cold outreach—total value-add.

I'm a product designer and parent of 4 currently soft-launching Spellkitt (a spelling app for kids), and I'm hitting a similar 'credibility' wall, just on the B2C side.

Don't sweat the age thing too much; that level of hustle at 15 is actually a massive selling point for most founders. Keep it up!

this is painfully relatable. ive sent 800+ cold emails to agencies and the reply rate was brutal at first too. couple things that helped me:

1. subject lines that reference something specific about their business (not generic "i can help you grow")
2. keeping it under 4 sentences — nobody reads walls of text from strangers
3. following up exactly once, 5 days later. the follow-up actually converts better than the first email

the 60 DMs in 3 days pace is solid though. most people quit after 10. keep going and track what gets replies vs what gets ignored — the patterns emerge around message 100-150.

The pivot from "here's my tool" to "here are your specific problems" is such a powerful pattern. We're seeing something really similar building AdShot (AI ad creative generator) — when we just told people "paste a URL and get ads," the response was lukewarm. But when we'd actually generate sample ads from their real website and show them the output, conversion was night and day. People don't want to imagine value, they want to see it applied to their stuff.

On the credibility gap — have you thought about doing short Loom walkthroughs where you scan a prospect's site live? It shifts the dynamic from "random DM" to "someone who clearly put effort into understanding my business." It also gives you content to post here and on LinkedIn, which builds the profile credibility over time. Three birds, one stone. Keep sharing these updates, the transparency is genuinely helpful for other founders in the trenches.

The specific violation approach is the right call. Leading with their problem instead of your solution removes the "why should I care" friction immediately.
The LinkedIn credibility gap is real but fixable. Profile age matters less than post history. Even 2-3 posts showing your process before the outreach changes how people perceive the account.
That CEO reply is worth more than it looks. One warm lead from 60 DMs at this stage is actually a decent signal.

Your pivot from "here's my tool" to "here are your specific violations" is essentially the same playbook that enterprise sales reps use with personalized ROI decks — except you figured it out at 15 through pure iteration, which is remarkable. The 3% reply rate on cold DMs is actually in line with industry benchmarks, so don't be discouraged — most founders I know didn't crack that until months in.

One angle worth exploring: instead of targeting agency founders directly (who get pitched constantly), try reaching out to their project managers or developers. They're the ones who actually feel the pain of accessibility remediation and are more likely to champion your tool internally. The decision-maker isn't always the best first contact.

Also, with the EU's European Accessibility Act enforcement ramping up in June 2025, UK agencies with EU clients will have urgent compliance needs. Have you considered framing your outreach around that regulatory deadline rather than just "violations found"? Urgency + specificity tends to outperform specificity alone in cold outreach.

The shift from "I built a tool, try it" to "I found X violations on YOUR site" is such a powerful insight — you're basically doing free consulting as your sales motion, and that always converts better because you're leading with value instead of asking for attention.

One thing that helped us when we were doing early outreach for our SaaS (AI ad creative generator): instead of just DMing, we'd actually create the output for them first and share it. In your case, you could send the full report unprompted — not just "want me to send it?" but actually attach it. Removes the friction of them needing to say yes before seeing value.

Also, on the credibility barrier — have you considered partnering with a freelance web dev who'd be willing to white-label or co-pitch Vía to their existing clients? That sidesteps the age perception issue entirely and gets you warm intros instead of cold DMs. Keep pushing, the iteration speed here is impressive.

The value-first approach you discovered is the same thing that works for us. We built a Mac dictation app and the posts where we lead with solving a specific problem (like Apple dictation's 60-second limit or no Electron app support) get real engagement, while generic "check out our app" posts get us banned. Your 3% reply rate from cold DMs is actually not bad. For comparison, Reddit comments on relevant threads have been our best channel — lower effort per contact and the replies are public so other people see them too. Keep sharing the numbers, this is the kind of honest content that makes IH useful.

The fact that you're leading with their specific violations instead of a generic pitch is such a smart move — that's basically the "show, don't tell" approach to cold outreach. Most founders (myself included) learned this the hard way: nobody cares about your tool until you show them their own problem.

One thing that helped me when I was doing early outreach for my SaaS was switching from "here's what my tool does" to "here's what I found wrong with YOUR setup." The conversion on those personalized audits was night and day compared to generic messages.

On the LinkedIn credibility thing — have you considered doing a few free case studies? Even 2-3 documented results (before/after accessibility scores) would give you social proof that outweighs any profile concerns. Agency founders care about results, not age. Keep grinding, this is impressive for day 3.

The shift from "check out my tool" to "I found X violations on your site" is such a smart move — you're basically giving them a free audit before they even sign up. That's the kind of value-first outreach that actually converts.

One thing that worked for us while building an AI ad creative tool: instead of cold DMing founders about what our product does, we'd actually generate sample ads using their website URL and send those as the pitch. The response rate jumped because they could immediately see the value without having to imagine it. Maybe you could try something similar — send the actual scan results unprompted with a short Loom walking through the top 3 issues?

Also, the credibility barrier at 15 is real but honestly it could become your biggest asset. Founders love the "young builder" narrative on IH and Twitter. Have you considered building in public more aggressively? That social proof compounds fast. Keep going — Day 3 with real data like this is more progress than most people make in months.

Leading with a real scan of their actual site is way smarter than "check out my tool." You're solving their problem before they even asked. That's product instinct right there.
The LinkedIn credibility barrier is real but temporary. Once you get 2-3 paying customers, their logos and testimonials do the selling for you. The first 10 are always the hardest. Keep going.

Makes a lot of sense since they most likely get a lot of "I built a tool" pitches. I would reply too if I saw the person took their time to scan my site tbh.

The pivot from generic "I built a tool" to leading with their specific violations is such a smart move — you're basically doing free consulting in your DM, which builds trust instantly. That's the exact pattern I've seen work in our own outreach for an AI ad creative tool we're building. Instead of saying "we make ads," showing someone their competitor's ad alongside what we'd generate for them gets way more responses.

One thing that helped us with the credibility gap (not being 15, but being an unknown founder): we started offering a completely free first deliverable with zero strings attached. People who got real value upfront became our best word-of-mouth. Your scan-first approach is already doing this — maybe lean into it even harder by sending the full report without asking, then following up. Rooting for you on this!

The pivot from "I built a tool" to "I found X violations on your site" is textbook value-first outreach — that's the kind of iteration most founders take months to figure out.

On the credibility barrier with LinkedIn DMs: have you tried leading with a one-page PDF report instead of just the message? A professional-looking deliverable shifts the conversation from "who is this person" to "this data is useful." The report does the credibility work for you regardless of your profile.

The scan-first approach works because it removes the imagination gap — they don't have to picture the problem, they're looking at it. That's a harder thing to ignore than any pitch.
On the credibility gap: the age thing gets smaller the moment you have one real case study. Even a free audit where an agency actually implemented your fix becomes "I helped X agency resolve 14 WCAG violations on their checkout page" and that line opens doors regardless of who's behind it.
The CEO who said "I'll test it": follow up today, not tomorrow. That kind of reply goes cold fast.
Keep posting the numbers. Day 3 with real data is already more useful than most build-in-public content out there.

The shift from "here's my tool, try it" to "I scanned your site and found specific problems" is such a powerful reframe. You're basically doing free consulting disguised as outreach, and that's exactly how you build trust with agency founders who get pitched all day long.

One thing that helped me with a similar credibility challenge — I'm building an AI ad creative tool and had the same issue of cold outreach falling flat early on. What changed things was showing the output first, not the product. Instead of "check out my tool," I'd send someone a sample of what the tool actually generated for their brand. The conversation shifts from "why should I care" to "wait, how did you make this?"

The LinkedIn filtering tip is gold too. Have you thought about going after freelance web devs instead of agency CEOs? They tend to be way more responsive and often have multiple clients they could use Vía for. Rooting for you on this — the transparency of sharing real numbers on day 3 is exactly the kind of build-in-public energy that makes IH great.

The shift from "try my tool" to "I found X violations on your site, here's the report" is such a smart move. Leading with value you've already created for them removes all the friction of asking someone to sign up and figure things out themselves.

We're building an AI-powered ad creative tool and learned something similar early on — when we stopped saying "paste your URL and make ads" and started showing people actual sample ads generated from their own site, the conversation changed completely. People went from "interesting" to "how do I get this?"

At 15, the LinkedIn credibility gap is real but honestly could become an advantage. Once you get a few case studies, "I'm a teenager who saved agencies hours on accessibility compliance" is a story people remember and share. Have you thought about offering a handful of free full audits to agencies in exchange for a testimonial? That social proof could do more than 100 cold DMs.

The personalized scan angle is the right instinct. In my experience the next bottleneck after message quality is simply risk: a CEO has to believe the problem is real and that fixing it matters now, so a small proof artifact tends to work better than a pitch. If you can attach one concrete issue plus the exact business consequence, you'll probably learn faster than sending more volume.

This is actually a really useful data point.

One thing I’ve noticed is cold DMs don’t fail because of volume, but because the message doesn’t connect to a specific pain.

Were your messages focused on what you built, or the exact problem you’re solving for them?

The switch from Clutch.co to LinkedIn filtered search is a great insight — most people would've kept grinding the same channel. That willingness to pivot your sourcing method quickly is honestly more important than the DM copy itself.

One thing that worked well for me when doing cold outreach: instead of asking if they want the report, just send a 2-3 line summary of the worst findings directly in the DM. Something like "Your checkout page has 14 WCAG violations, 3 of which would fail automated compliance checks." When they can see the problem without clicking anything, the reply rate goes way up because you've already delivered value before asking for anything.

Also curious — have you tried reaching out to freelance web developers instead of agencies? They're usually more responsive to DMs, have more direct decision-making power, and often need accessibility tools because they don't have a dedicated QA team. Could be a faster path to your first paying customer.

the 23-day timeline is interesting because most people i talk to in the IH community (myself included) are stuck in the 'build more stuff' loop instead of the 'sell what you have' loop.

im 3 weeks into a cold outreach service and the biggest lesson has been that the product doesnt matter if nobody sees it. 26 products on gumroad, $0 revenue. but 79 IH notifications in one morning from people engaging with my building-in-public posts.

what was your distribution channel for those first sales? was it existing audience, paid ads, or cold outreach?

the 60 DMs to 2 replies ratio is actually not terrible for cold outreach - ive been tracking my own numbers and 367 emails got 3 replies which is basically the same conversion rate.

what changed my approach: instead of pitching the product, i started leading with something free. ran a scan on their site, found a specific issue, put that in the subject line. open rates doubled.

also - saw your reply on the accessibility post about combining our tools. still interested in that conversation. the data format overlap between SEO audits and WCAG violations is real and i think a combined report would be a much easier sell to agencies than either tool alone. vemtraclabs at gmail whenever youre ready to prototype something.

60 personalised DMs in 3 days at 15 years old is honestly more hustle than most adult founders I know 😄
The scan first approach is exactly right. You are not selling a tool. You are showing them a problem they did not know they had. That always lands better than generic pitch.
One thing from agency side — when you are DMing agency founders, the credibility gap is real but you can work around it. Instead of hiding your age, lean into it briefly. Something like "I am a student who built this because I kept seeing how many sites fail accessibility audits" is actually more memorable than a generic agency pitch.
The CEO who said I will test it — follow up today. Not tomorrow. Today. That kind of reply goes cold very fast.
Keep posting the numbers. This kind of honest build in public always gets attention 😄

60 personalised DMs in 3 days is solid. The scan-first approach is the right call — you're leading with their problem, not your product.

One thing on the CEO who said "I'll test it": don't wait. Offer a 15-minute call to walk them through the report. That phrase almost never converts on its own.

Also — being 15 and having built this is actually a hook, not just a liability. The right founder will find it memorable. Keep posting the numbers.

congrats on shipping this. getting something out the door is the hardest step and youve done it. my advice from going through a similar launch: focus on one channel and go deep rather than spreading across five platforms. for me IH content ended up working better than cold email, ads, or anything else. whats your top acquisition channel so far?