4 ms·

I'm not sure why there is so much negativity in these comments. LeadGenius is nothing more than a well-financed spam enabler that charges more, and yet they ar

I'm not sure why there is so much negativity in these comments. LeadGenius is nothing more than a well-financed spam enabler that charges more, and yet they are celebrated in the Valley and have been handed $18 million in funding. The only difference is that they aren't as up-front about how the data they sell is derived.

ceejayoz 10y ago
LeadGenius looks gross too. Has it been praised on HN?
- downandout 10y ago
  They are a YC company.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - prodigal_erik 10y ago
    And not even the first spammer YC has backed.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > > LeadGenius looks gross too. Has it been praised on HN? > They are a YC company. While HN is offered by YC, being a YC company does not mean getting favorable reception by the community on HN. So LeadGenius being a YC company and Anymailfinder getting poor reception on HN doesn't demonstrate any kind of inconsistency.
    - downandout 10y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6490949 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6490949 They got 138 points on their launch and lots of positive comments. Then they received $18 million. I'd say that's pretty positive reception in the Valley.
      - dragonwriter 10y ago
        > They got 139 points on their launch. Points on a HN news article aren't the same as votes in favor of the company by the HN community (heck, this one on Anymailfinder has 49 points currently; if points were a measure, Anymailfinder would be getting a positive response, rather than the negative one complained of to launch this subthread.) > Then they received $18 million. Not from HN. > I'd say that's pretty positive reception in the Valley. Reception by the HN community isn't the same thing as reception in the Valley.
        downandout 10y ago
        The comments seemed pretty positive.
aantix 10y ago
While I agree that it probably does enable a certain portion of spammers, cold outreach is a necessary component to growing a company. There is nothing more effective than a well directed email stating that 1) you can solve one of their problems and 2) are you willing to purchase it today? Skip your blog posts. Skip your viral marketing videos. Skip your media blitz. Find your customers. Find their emails (yes, using services like LeadGenius) and just simply ask them. What would be the alternative?
- salemh 10y ago
  When I signed up for my local AMA (American Marketing Association) they sold my data out to a number of lists. I haven't had such a terrible instance of absolute blasting of spam with no regard to audience out of two SFO "lead gen" startups that resulted in several complaints to their CMO's to get me off their lists. The absolute wrong way to gain customers is to blast lists out to purchased people in a "hammer" fashion vs targeted / personalized informational content pieces. Your idea on: Find their emails (yes, using services like LeadGenius) and just simply ask them. Is fantastic, but this service is being used for lead validation/spam. If people want actual email addresses, they can typically online google search, or use data.com (formerly JigSaw). Most larger companies don't do demand generation well, and I think many people on here don't see an issue of batch/blasting for "lead gen". I'm in Marketing Automation for a living and deal with CANSPAM/compliance quite a bit day to day.
- downandout 10y ago
  I agree that one man's spam can be another man's valuable service offering. But generally sending unsolicited email to people at work is considered spam. The alternatives are numerous. Adwords, Facebook advertising, LinkedIn ads, running ad campaigns on targeted websites, etc. I saw one a story about one guy that was acutally able to specifically target a single person at a specific company he wanted using LinkedIn ads [1]. [1] http://thehustle.co/the-linkedin-hack-that-made-me-120000 http://thehustle.co/the-linkedin-hack-that-made-me-120000
  - the_watcher 10y ago
TheGrassyKnoll 10y ago
How about Constant Contact. "The Easy, Affordable Way to Reach Your Customers with Email Marketing"

ceejayoz 10y ago

LeadGenius looks gross too. Has it been praised on HN?

downandout 10y ago
They are a YC company.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- prodigal_erik 10y ago
  And not even the first spammer YC has backed.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > > LeadGenius looks gross too. Has it been praised on HN? > They are a YC company. While HN is offered by YC, being a YC company does not mean getting favorable reception by the community on HN. So LeadGenius being a YC company and Anymailfinder getting poor reception on HN doesn't demonstrate any kind of inconsistency.
  - downandout 10y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6490949 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6490949 They got 138 points on their launch and lots of positive comments. Then they received $18 million. I'd say that's pretty positive reception in the Valley.
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      > They got 139 points on their launch. Points on a HN news article aren't the same as votes in favor of the company by the HN community (heck, this one on Anymailfinder has 49 points currently; if points were a measure, Anymailfinder would be getting a positive response, rather than the negative one complained of to launch this subthread.) > Then they received $18 million. Not from HN. > I'd say that's pretty positive reception in the Valley. Reception by the HN community isn't the same thing as reception in the Valley.
      - downandout 10y ago
        The comments seemed pretty positive.

aantix 10y ago

While I agree that it probably does enable a certain portion of spammers, cold outreach is a necessary component to growing a company. There is nothing more effective than a well directed email stating that 1) you can solve one of their problems and 2) are you willing to purchase it today? Skip your blog posts. Skip your viral marketing videos. Skip your media blitz. Find your customers. Find their emails (yes, using services like LeadGenius) and just simply ask them. What would be the alternative?

salemh 10y ago
When I signed up for my local AMA (American Marketing Association) they sold my data out to a number of lists. I haven't had such a terrible instance of absolute blasting of spam with no regard to audience out of two SFO "lead gen" startups that resulted in several complaints to their CMO's to get me off their lists. The absolute wrong way to gain customers is to blast lists out to purchased people in a "hammer" fashion vs targeted / personalized informational content pieces. Your idea on: Find their emails (yes, using services like LeadGenius) and just simply ask them. Is fantastic, but this service is being used for lead validation/spam. If people want actual email addresses, they can typically online google search, or use data.com (formerly JigSaw). Most larger companies don't do demand generation well, and I think many people on here don't see an issue of batch/blasting for "lead gen". I'm in Marketing Automation for a living and deal with CANSPAM/compliance quite a bit day to day.
downandout 10y ago
I agree that one man's spam can be another man's valuable service offering. But generally sending unsolicited email to people at work is considered spam. The alternatives are numerous. Adwords, Facebook advertising, LinkedIn ads, running ad campaigns on targeted websites, etc. I saw one a story about one guy that was acutally able to specifically target a single person at a specific company he wanted using LinkedIn ads [1]. [1] http://thehustle.co/the-linkedin-hack-that-made-me-120000 http://thehustle.co/the-linkedin-hack-that-made-me-120000
- the_watcher 10y ago

TheGrassyKnoll 10y ago

How about Constant Contact. "The Easy, Affordable Way to Reach Your Customers with Email Marketing"