Why I built LeadsLocales: from a tool to find my own clients to a platform

LeadsLocales started as a tool I built for myself: it searched Google Maps for businesses without a website and sorted them by rating and reviews, so I would know who to offer my services to. It is what I use to find clients, and at some point I decided to open it up so anyone could use it. Today it is a platform that finds Argentine businesses by industry and area, with industry-specific messages, a CRM and MercadoPago subscriptions.

I am Facundo Campo, and this is how it went from my own tool to a product, and why I made each decision.

What problem did I have?

The same one anyone selling services to local businesses has. To find clients I had to open Google Maps, search an industry in an area, open every listing, check whether it had a website, copy the phone number into a spreadsheet and then write each message one by one. Hours of work before sending the first WhatsApp.

I looked at the prospecting tools out there, and most are built for a different market: companies with corporate email and LinkedIn profiles. The neighborhood Argentine small business, the one that runs everything on WhatsApp, was not there. That gap is what LeadsLocales ended up filling. I describe the manual process in how to find clients as a freelancer.

How did it go from my own tool to a product?

The tool solved my problem, and only mine: it ran on my computer and I knew how to read its output. For someone else to use it, it had to become a product: a website with users, well-organized data, a way to charge and a way to reach businesses without leaving the platform.

The core idea is still the same: Argentine businesses with their public contact details, searched by industry and area. Each business is classified by digital presence: No Site, Social Only, Basic Site or Own Site. That classification is the heart of the product, because it tells you not just who to write to but what to offer them.

Which product decisions did I make?

• Searches that respond instantly. Filters by area, industry and digital presence stay fast even with many businesses loaded, because searching is what people do most.
• No duplicate businesses. Each business shows up only once, even when the same area is surveyed again.
• Data that stays current. Each business's information is checked again every so often, so you do not work with phone numbers or websites that have changed.
• Messages that pick themselves. The message is chosen by channel (WhatsApp or email), digital presence and industry, with a general one when there is no specific one. It fills in the business's details and yours, and each user can edit their own.
• Secure accounts without friction. Your session stays open so you do not have to log in all the time, but it stays protected and closes completely when you log out.

Why do the contacts you reveal stay yours forever?

Contacts are revealed with monthly credits. The question was what happens when someone cancels: do they lose everything they revealed? I decided no. Revealed contacts stay with the user forever, even if they cancel.

It looks like a cost, because nobody is "trapped" paying to keep their list. But it builds trust ("I do not lose what I paid for") and lowers churn, because people stay for what the product keeps giving them, not out of fear. I go into how recurring billing works and how plans get activated in MercadoPago subscriptions for a SaaS.

Why are messages sent by hand?

Because WhatsApp is not a bulk-messaging tool, and a message that lands identically on a hundred numbers is spam. LeadsLocales builds the message per industry with the WhatsApp link ready, but you send it yourself, one by one, after reviewing it. It is slower than a bot, and that is exactly what makes it work without burning your number. I explain it in WhatsApp prospecting without spamming.

By the same logic, follow-up lives inside: a CRM with statuses, notes and reminders, so you do not depend on a separate spreadsheet. I cover what a simple CRM needs in a CRM for small businesses and freelancers.

What changes compared to doing it by hand?

What did I learn?

That the best product idea is often a tool you already use yourself. I did not have to imagine what a freelancer looking for clients needed: I needed it. That saved me endless feature debates and gave me a simple test for every decision: would this help me find clients faster and better?

It also confirmed something I see in my other products, like Recorrido 3D or the games I published on Google Play: solving first what people use every day, and keeping simple what nobody sees, lets you spend your time on the product.

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