How we use The Whale Finder, Claude Cowork, Apollo, and Placer.ai to discover venues, enrich decision-makers, and run LinkedIn outbound for Pokemon trading card vending machine placement. No cold calling. No paid ads. Just smart outbound.
Four tools working together. The Whale Finder discovers venues, Apollo enriches contacts, Claude Cowork orchestrates everything, and LinkedIn is where conversations happen.
Our Claude project that sweeps 37 venue categories per market. Uses Placer.ai data + web search. Scores every venue. Outputs a formatted .xlsx ready for outreach.
Pre-loaded CSVs covering malls, airports, colleges, casinos, stadiums, grocery, gyms, and more. Verifies 80K+ and 100K+ foot traffic thresholds before prospecting.
Takes the approved venue list and fills in decision-maker names, emails, phone numbers, and LinkedIn profiles. Runs after you sign off on venues.
Connection requests with 300-character notes. InMail for high-priority targets. DM sequences to book calls.
Your plan determines how many cold InMails you can send monthly. Connection requests with notes are unlimited (but LinkedIn caps ~100/week before flagging).
| Plan | Monthly InMails | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Premium Career | 5 | Not enough for outbound |
| Premium Business | 15 | Light outbound only |
| Sales Navigator Core Recommended | 50 | Best for this playbook |
| Recruiter Lite | 30 | Designed for hiring, not sales |
The move: Don't burn InMails on people you can reach with a free connection request + 300-character note. Save InMails for decision-makers who won't accept connections from strangers (VPs, Directors, C-suite at large chains). Unlimited notes with Premium (300 characters).
Pokemon trading card vending machines go anywhere with high foot traffic, families, collectors, or bored people waiting around. These are every venue category we're prospecting, organized by type. All leads are sourced within a 45-minute radius of your target market.
Exclude grocery chains where The Pokemon Company already has machines.
Independent arcades and bowling: verify foot traffic with Placer.ai before prospecting.
Rock climbing: flagship locations only, 80K+ annual foot traffic.
Exclude any venue where The Pokemon Company already has machines or national contracts. Also exclude retailers that already sell Pokemon: Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam's Club. Verify before outreach.
The Whale Finder is our Claude project that turns a city name into a fully enriched lead list with LinkedIn profiles. Here's how every lead flows from discovery to DM.
"Run a full sweep for Orlando, FL. 45-minute radius."
Sweeps all 37 venue categories. Pulls Placer.ai foot traffic data + web search. VIBE-scores every venue. Flags competitors. Outputs .xlsx with venue name, address, category, foot traffic, and decision-maker type.
Review the venue list. Cut anything that doesn't fit. Remove venues where Pokemon Company already has machines. Sign off before enrichment begins. This saves Apollo credits.
Takes the approved venues and fills in decision-maker info. Finds two contacts per venue where possible.
Two sheets: the full lead list (one row per venue with contacts) and a dashboard with category breakdown and estimated monthly revenue opportunity.
Connection request with 300-char note. Discovery DM when they accept. Follow-up sequence. Book a call. Close the placement.
Decision-maker on a call. Walk through the placement model, answer questions, handle objections, and move toward a signed agreement.
This is the step-by-step sequence for every lead, from the moment you find them in Apollo to the moment you close the placement. Send 50 connection requests per day and run this cadence for each one.
Pull the lead from your Apollo spreadsheet. Send a connection request with a personalized 300-character note. Mention their venue by name. Do NOT pitch in the note.
As soon as they accept, send a direct DM introducing the Pokemon vending concept. These people aren't active LinkedIn users, so move fast. You may only get one shot at their attention.
If they reply, match their energy. If they're engaged and asking questions, you can introduce the Pokemon vending concept right here. If the conversation is going well enough to close same-day, go for it. Drop your number or ask for the best way to reach them.
If they accepted but didn't reply to your first DM, send a light follow-up. Don't be pushy. Reference something specific about their business to show it's not a mass message.
For leads who are interested but haven't committed to a call yet, send a short video of the machine in action at a similar venue. This does more selling than any paragraph of text. Then suggest a quick phone call.
LinkedIn is for starting conversations. The phone is for closing them. Get them on a 10-minute call to walk through the placement logistics and value prop. Send a follow-up with the placement agreement if they're interested.
Scripts for connection request notes, discovery DMs, follow-ups, and video sends. These are still being tested and will be added once we've validated what converts.
Connection notes, discovery DMs, follow-up messages, and closing scripts will be added here after testing with live leads.
Every cycle follows this loop. Run it once per ICP, then stack the next one on top.
Pod Plug — Internal Strategy Document
Built with Claude Cowork + Apollo AI