The lead generation industry has a reputation problem. Sales teams pay thousands of dollars for databases filled with outdated contacts, bounced emails, and leads with little to no buying intent. Despite flashy dashboards, most incumbent providers struggle with the same core issue: stale, low-quality data.
In a conversation with Ventura Labs (see below), Pranav and Gavin, co-founders of Leadpoet (Subnet 71), explain how they’re tackling this problem head-on using Bittensor’s decentralized AI network. By incentivizing a global network of miners and enforcing rigorous validation, Leadpoet has already scaled to over 1.1 million validated, high-intent leads — and they’re just getting started.
This article breaks down how Lead Poet works, why Bittensor subnets matter, and what their journey teaches anyone building real-world decentralized AI applications.
The Core Problem: Why Lead Generation Is Broken
Traditional lead providers operate on centralized databases that decay quickly. Contacts change jobs, emails go stale, and intent signals disappear, yet customers keep receiving the same recycled leads.
Pranav and Gavin speak from experience. They’ve lived through:
- Manually qualifying leads for hours
- Paying for contact lists with high bounce rates
- Wasting sales cycles on prospects who were never a good fit
The insight was simple but powerful: lead generation doesn’t fail because of lack of data, it fails because of poor validation.
From Idea to Scale: 1.1 Million Validated Leads
The founders’ collaboration began through shared experiences in crypto and open-source technology, including early exposure to networks like Helium. After discovering Bittensor, they realized its incentive design was ideal for solving high-friction data problems.
Within months, Leadpoet went from concept to scale, sourcing over 1.1 million validated leads through decentralized contributors.
This rapid growth wasn’t driven by brute force, but by well-designed validation pipelines that ensured only legitimate, relevant leads made it through.
How Leadpoet Validates Lead Quality
Validation is the backbone of the entire subnet. Miners are rewarded only when they provide leads that pass multiple checks, including:
- Verified email addresses (excluding catch-all emails)
- LinkedIn profiles tied to real individuals
- Company data, including size, location, and industry
- Role relevance, ensuring alignment with buyer personas
Beyond static data, Leadpoet evaluates intent signals, the difference between a random contact and someone actively looking to buy.
Intent Signals: Finding Buyers, Not Just Contacts
One of Leadpoet’s biggest differentiators is how it determines intent.
Instead of relying on outdated firmographics, the subnet analyzes:
- Social media posts
- Funding announcements
- Company filings and growth signals
- Public hiring or expansion activity
By mapping individuals to companies and cross-referencing multiple data sources, Leadpoet surfaces leads that are not just accurate, but timely.
Double Validation: Solving the “Stale Lead” Problem
A standout innovation is double validation.
- Leads are validated when they first enter the system
- They are validated again right before delivery to the client
This second check ensures that emails haven’t gone cold, roles haven’t changed, and the lead is still reachable. It directly addresses one of the biggest frustrations in sales: paying for data that’s already outdated.
Incentives and Tokenomics: How the Alpha Token Works
Leadpoet’s subnet uses an alpha token burn model.
Users burn tokens to request leads via:
- API access
- LeadPoet.com (which abstracts the blockchain complexity)
Miners earn alpha tokens by submitting leads that pass validation. This creates a closed incentive loop where:
- Users demand quality
- Validators enforce standards
- Miners compete to deliver better data
The system naturally discourages spam and low-effort submissions.
Partnerships That Accelerate Growth
Leadpoet’s growth has been amplified through strategic partnerships, including:
- Nvidia Inception Program, providing access to compute resources, discounts, and investor networks
- DSV Fund, offering capital, mentorship, and go-to-market support
- Multiple Bittensor ecosystem partners acting as early users and beta testers
These relationships reduced infrastructure costs and tightened feedback loops during scaling.
The Roadmap: Automating the Entire Sales Funnel
Leadpoet’s vision goes beyond lead generation.
Future plans include:
- Automated outreach
- Email warm-ups
- Calendar booking and sales call scheduling
The goal is to remove low-value manual work from sales teams so reps can focus entirely on closing deals.
Lessons for Building Successful BitTensor Subnets
In their closing advice, the founders emphasize two principles:
- Validation is everything: Weak validation leads to weak incentives and weak outputs.
- Choose problems with high centralized barriers: Bittensor shines where centralized solutions struggle to scale efficiently.
Decentralized competition, when paired with strong validation, becomes a powerful moat.
Final Thoughts
Leadpoet demonstrates what’s possible when decentralized AI is applied to a real, painful business problem. By combining Bittensor’s subnet architecture, rigorous data validation, and thoughtful token economics, the team has built a system that delivers fresh, intent-driven leads at scale.
Their journey offers a blueprint for entrepreneurs, developers, and investors exploring decentralized AI:
solve hard problems, design strong incentives, and never compromise on validation.
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