People keep asking how I found the German compliance client. The boring answer: I applied to a LinkedIn post.

A lot of people in my last post asked how I found the German compliance firm. Honestly the answer is pretty boring and that's exactly why I want to write it up. I think most people skip this channel and it's one of the highest converting things I've done.

I didn't run cold email. I didn't write LinkedIn posts that went viral. I didn't have inbound from a website.

I saw a LinkedIn post from an ex lawyer running a small AI agency. He was looking for a developer to help build an internal AI tool for a compliance team that was his client. It wasn't a job listing on a board, just a post in his feed asking if anyone was around to help.

I commented. Then I DM'd him. Two calls later I had the build.

Here's what I think actually mattered.

The first thing was speed. His post had been up for maybe two hours when I saw it. My DM wasn't "interested, here's my portfolio." It was something like "I've built RAG systems for document search before, here's the stack I'd use for this specific problem, here's what I'd watch out for since it's compliance work, happy to hop on a call." That alone filters past everyone who replies with a generic pitch. By the time we got on the call he already trusted I knew what I was talking about.

The second thing was framing. He wasn't hiring an employee, he was trying to solve his client's problem and look good doing it. So I sold to his incentive, not to a job description. "Here's how I'd make this work and make you look credible in front of your client" is a different conversation than "here's my resume."

The third thing was that I had one real reference point. I'd built a smaller RAG project before this one. So I could talk about what worked, what broke, what I'd do differently. One real story is enough. You don't need ten case studies to start. You just need one you can tell with specifics.

What I'd do differently now.

I'd treat LinkedIn job shaped posts as a real channel and check it deliberately. Founders post these constantly. "Looking for someone who can build X for a client", "need a dev for a small AI project", that kind of thing. Response quality is usually low because most people treat it like a job application. If you reply like a freelancer who already understands the problem you're competing against almost nobody.

I'd also keep a saved search for phrases like "looking for a developer", "need help building", "anyone available to build", paired with "AI" or "RAG" or whatever your niche is. These posts decay fast. Speed is most of the win.

So the takeaway isn't "post on Reddit" or "do cold email". Both of those are slower channels with longer feedback loops. The takeaway is that right now, today, there are people on LinkedIn posting that they need someone to build the exact thing you build, and they're getting mediocre responses. Show up fast and specific and you skip prospecting entirely.

Build was €2,700. Retainer is €1,300/month. Acquisition cost was basically zero, plus an hour of writing the DM and the proposal.

Happy to answer questions. Going to write up the pricing mistake separately because it deserves its own thread. Short version: I should have charged €10 to €12k, not €2,700, and the math behind it is pretty simple.