Lead Scout

Challenge

Manual lead research is tedious and inconsistent. Opening dozens of browser tabs, copying data into spreadsheets, and trying to qualify leads without clear criteria wastes hours every week. The goal was to build a tool that could automatically discover businesses matching specific criteria, research them thoroughly, and present a scored, prioritised list ready for outreach.

Approach

Lead Scout uses Playwright for browser automation — navigating to business directories, search engines, and social platforms to gather data programmatically. Each lead is scored against configurable criteria (industry relevance, company size, online presence, location, etc.). The tool outputs structured YAML/JSON data that feeds directly into the Project Vantage pipeline. Scoring thresholds are configurable, and the tool supports headless and visible modes for debugging. I designed the architecture to be extensible — new data sources can be added by implementing a simple scout interface without touching the core scoring engine.

Key Code

// Scout interface — add new sources by implementing this
interface Scout {
  name: string;
  discover(query: string): Promise<RawLead[]>;
  enrich(lead: RawLead): Promise<EnrichedLead>;
}

// Example: Google Maps scout
class GoogleMapsScout implements Scout {
  async discover(query: string): Promise<RawLead[]> {
    const page = await browser.newPage();
    await page.goto(`https://maps.google.com/maps?q=${query}`);
    return page.evaluate(() => {
      // Extract business listings from the DOM
    });
  }
}

Results

• Automates hours of manual research into a single command
• Configurable scoring criteria ensures only qualified leads reach the pipeline
• Extensible scout interface allows adding unlimited data sources
• Integrates directly with Project Vantage as the discovery layer

Key Learnings

• Playwright's auto-waiting is invaluable for scraping — fewer race conditions than Puppeteer
• Rate limiting and polite scraping are essential for maintaining access to data sources
• YAML output makes the tool composable — it pipes naturally into other systems

Gallery