A retainer
Account managers and a pod you never meet. Open pricing. Decks, reports, and activity. The motion leaves when they do.
For AI companies · Seed to Series B
Go-to-market, run by agents.
The usual alternative is an agency retainer: account managers, open-ended pricing, decks instead of systems. Xeme compiles TAM, ICP, personas, and signals into an engine that prospects, personalizes, and books. Built in Clay, n8n, Python, and Claude Code. You own the stack.
Prices on the pageEngine live in under a weekReply within one business day
01 — The choice
Three ways to buy go-to-market.
A pile of tools
A list, a sequencer, a CRM nobody trusts. Someone on your team still has to run every step. The tools do not own an outcome.
An engine
You name the revenue line and the guardrails. One pipeline handles signal, copy, routing, and attribution. It lives in your accounts.
02 — The loop
Signal it. Compile it. Ship it. Attribute it.
One loop, end to end. Most teams run these as four departments. The lab runs them as one pipeline.
01Signal
Job posts, stack changes, funding events, site visits. The lab watches who is buying this week, not who exists.
02Compile
TAM, ICP, personas, and the channel plan become agent config before anything is wired.
03Ship
Agents research, personalize, send, route, and follow up across email, LinkedIn, and ABM pages.
04Attribute
Every meeting and dollar traces back to the agent that sourced it. What does not attribute gets killed.
03 — The board math
The board math after a raise.
3.0×Pipeline the board expects
1.2×Headcount the budget funds
The deck promised pipeline. The budget funds a little more than the team you have. The old answer was an SDR team and an agency retainer. The AI-native answer is a compounding system, with humans on judgment and deals.
A fast engine pointed at the wrong market is expensive noise. Strategy compiles first. Then the roster takes over.
04 — Set in motion
Set an engine in motion.
A named process, your data, a human on the decision, and a number measured before and after. A chat licence is not the product. Nothing is migrated off the tools you already run.
Name the outcome.
Meetings, pipeline, or a closed-won line. Guardrails first: who is a fit, what never gets sent, and what a person still owns.
Bring it into the company.
Clay, the CRM, the domains, and the people who close. The engine connects to systems you already run. No 18-month migration.
Run it on the record.
Before a live mailbox, it runs against past replies, lost deals, and the calls that closed. You correct it. Then it ships.
Work where the team works.
When an account heats up, the closer gets the brief in Slack and the CRM. Agents did the preparation. A person takes the meeting.
05 — The roster
The GTM org chart, collapsed into software.
Every agent below has shipped in production and been tied to revenue. Humans handle judgment and deals. The roster handles the rest.
signal-agent
Signal Capture
Watches job posts, tech-stack changes, site visits, and LinkedIn engagement. Knows who is in-market this week.
40% pipeline-efficiency · $180K+ ARR in 6 months
TheirStack · Trigify · RB2B · PhantomBuster
copy-agent
7-Stage Copy Engine
Role mapping, intel, gap, positioning, generation. Per-contact emails ship after a second model scores them.
1.5%+ positive replies across 150+ domains
Clay · Claude Code · OpenAI · Smartlead
research-agent
Agentic Research
Async fan-out across 100+ domains per batch, including JS-rendered pages. Analyst-days of intel, no analyst.
6-hour batches down to under 30 minutes
Python · Playwright · asyncio
abm-agent
Asset-Led ABM
Visit-tracked pages measuring Share of Answer and AI Share of Voice, plus per-account video in sequence.
Enterprise logo closed at $25K MRR
Ahrefs · OpenAI · Sendspark
route-agent
Inbound Routing
An LLM rubric scores fit and intent with written reasoning, pushes context into the CRM, and pings the closer.
Qualification cut 48h → 9.6h (−80%)
OpenAI · webhooks · HubSpot · Slack
warm-agent
De-Anonymization
Resolves anonymous traffic to a person and an account, enriches through Clay, and sequences the same day.
Anonymous traffic becomes sequenced pipeline
RB2B · n8n · Clay · Smartlead · HeyReach
06 — Inside the engines
Node by node. Nothing hidden.
These are the production systems behind the numbers. Every stage is named. Every tool is listed.
Engine 01
The 7-stage personalization engine
Personalization is not a first-name merge tag. It is a research pipeline that ends in a sentence only this prospect could receive.
Outcome1.5%+ positive replies across 150+ sending domains. 95%+ deliverability sustained.
S1
role-map
Parse title, seniority, team scope, and tenure. Map a persona to the number this person is judged on, and what breaks it.
Clay · Sales Navigator · Claude Code
S2
company-intel
Crawl the site, docs, pricing, changelog, and careers page. Headless rendering so modern AI-company sites read the same as static ones.
Firecrawl · Playwright
S3
signal-context
Attach the trigger that put them in queue, with a timestamp. Timing is the personalization.
Trigify · TheirStack · RB2B · PhantomBuster
S4
gap-analysis
Compare the current motion with category benchmarks and isolate the one credible gap worth naming.
Ahrefs · Claude Code
S5
positioning
One angle: displacement, expansion, or timing. One claim, one proof point, mapped to the KPI from stage one.
Claude Code · prompt library
S6
generation
Subject plus a body under 90 words. First line is the signal. Middle is the gap. Close is one low-friction ask.
Claude Code · OpenAI · Clay
S7
qa-score + ship
A second model grades factuality, specificity, and spam risk from 0 to 10. Below threshold, it regenerates. Above, it enters sequence.
LLM judge · Smartlead · 300+ mailbox rotation
Engine 02
The signal-led ABM engine
A per-account asset the buyer can visit, a loop that watches the visit, and a sequence that reacts in the same hour. Built for six-figure deals where three stakeholders have to say yes.
OutcomeEnterprise logo closed at $25K MRR. Anonymous visits converted to multi-threaded pipeline.
S1
account-select
Tier on signals, not firmographics alone: fresh funding, GTM hiring, stack adoption, engagement history.
Clay · Common Room · Bombora · TheirStack
S2
deep-enrich
47+ data points per account, including a baseline of Share of Answer and AI Share of Voice in their category.
Clay · Ahrefs · agentic research
S3
asset-build
A personalized page per account, visit-tracked. Tier 1 also gets a per-account video recorded against that page.
500+ pages shipped · Sendspark · OpenAI
S4
orchestrate
Email carries the page. LinkedIn carries the relationship. Every touch lands inside the buying window.
Smartlead · HeyReach · n8n
S5
intent-loop
Revisits, watch-through, reply sentiment, and colleague visits re-score the account. A hot account pings the closer.
RB2B · webhooks · Slack
S6
handoff
The human enters with the brief: signal history, assets viewed, stakeholders touched, suggested talking points. Agents did the 95%. The closer does the 5%.
HubSpot · Attio
Engine 03
Speed-to-lead
OutcomeQualification cut from 48 hours to 9.6 hours.
S1
capture
Forms, replies, and de-anonymized visits land in one queue with context attached.
webhooks · n8n · RB2B
S2
llm-score
A rubric grades fit and intent with written reasoning. Disqualifiers get a polite path.
OpenAI · custom rubric
S3
route
Qualified leads push into the CRM with the reasoning. The right human is pinged in Slack.
HubSpot · Slack
S4
respond
A context-aware first reply or booking link goes out while the lead is still on the site.
Smartlead · calendar
Engine 04
AI share-of-answer
OutcomeShare of Answer becomes a tracked pipeline channel, for companies whose buyers ask AI first.
S1
baseline
Measure how often ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and AI Overviews mention you against competitors on real buying prompts.
Prompt panels
S2
citability
Rebuild key pages into self-contained passages: claim, number, and context in one block. Crawlable HTML. llms.txt in place.
llms.txt · schema · clean HTML
S3
seed
Publish the assets those engines cite: comparisons, benchmarks, teardown data.
Content system
S4
track + iterate
Re-run the prompt panel monthly. The number gets its own attribution line.
Monthly report
07 — The build
Thirty days, instrumented.
The Sprint is not a discovery phase. It is a build schedule with dated deliverables. Three greenfield engines have shipped on this cadence.
DAYS 00–03
Compile
TAM, ICP, personas, signal selection, channel plan. Nothing is wired before this ships. About two hours of founder time.
DAYS 03–07
Infra
Domains, mailboxes, warm-up, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, CRM instrumentation. The signal layer goes live.
DAYS 08–14
Engines
Personalization and ABM engines shipped. First sequences in flight. QA rubrics tuned on live sends.
DAYS 15–21
Meetings
First qualified meetings land. Speed-to-lead goes live on inbound. Iteration follows reply data.
DAYS 22–30
Attribute
Attribution, runbooks, and handoff docs. Every dollar traceable to an agent. You own everything. The Lab is optional from here.
08 — Operating system
Four laws of the lab.
Strategy compiles first
TAM, ICP, personas, and signal selection are decided before a tool is wired.
Signals over lists
Static lists say who exists. Job posts, stack changes, visits, and engagement say who is buying this week.
Unattended by default
If a client pipeline needs a babysitter, it is not finished. Agents score, retry, branch, and ship. A person still owns judgment and the deal.
Instrument to revenue
Reply rates are diagnostics. ARR is the metric. Every agent attributes to closed-won or gets killed.
09 — The difference
Agency versus lab.
| Agency retainer | Xeme | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | Account managers, handoffs, a pod you never meet. | The engineer who builds the system. |
| Pricing | Open-ended retainers. Pricing revealed on a call. | Fixed builds and flat subscriptions, printed on this page. |
| Deliverable | Decks, reports, and activity summaries. | Production systems running in your infrastructure. |
| Ownership | The system lives in their accounts. You rent it. | Your Clay, your CRM, your domains. |
| Metric | Sends, opens, replies. | Closed-won revenue, attributed per agent. |
| When you leave | The engine leaves with them. | The engine stays and keeps running. |
10 — Engagements
Pick your build.
Fixed scopes. Prices on the page. You own what ships.
GTM Engine Sprint
$15KFixed · 30 days
The full engine, greenfield: strategy, signal layer, personalization, sending infrastructure at 95%+ deliverability, CRM instrumentation and routing.
- Engine live in under a week
- First qualified meetings by week 3
- Every dollar attributed in your CRM
You own the stack
The Lab
$7.5KFrom / month · 3-month minimum
Ongoing operations after the Sprint: signal expansion, campaign iteration, ABM assets, inbound routing, and a monthly attribution review.
- Optional performance kicker on closed-won
- Roster tuned weekly, killed if it does not attribute
Sprint graduates only
Modules
Per buildAttach to either engagement
- AI Share-of-Answer, so ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity cite you in your category
- Founder content on LinkedIn and X, built from real work
- Speed-to-lead, scored and routed in minutes
Priced per build
The Teardown
$1.5K5 days
A paid audit of the current GTM stack and signals, delivered as a node-by-node build plan.
- Credits toward a Sprint if you proceed
The low-risk first step
11 — Proof
Numbers from shipped engines.
Zero to revenue in nine months.
One engineer, one system. Fastest build live in under 3 days. 300+ mailboxes orchestrated. Every dollar attributed from signal capture through closed-won. Full case study on request.
$180K+
ARR in 6 months for a $12M ARR services firm. 250+ domains at 95%+ deliverability. Qualification cut from 48 hours to 9.6.
+45%
Targeting accuracy. Asset-led ABM and outbound for an early-stage cybersecurity startup. NDA signed.
AI search-marketing platform
Seed · build no. 3
Engine live in under 3 days. Revenue attributed end to end across nine months. 300+ mailboxes orchestrated.
$12M ARR services firm
Greenfield engine
250+ sending domains, qualification cut from two days to under ten hours, $180K+ new ARR inside six months, 40% pipeline-efficiency gain.
Cybersecurity startup
Early stage · NDA signed
Targeting accuracy up 45%. Asset-led ABM opened enterprise accounts the team had chased for a year.
12 — Lab notes
Every system, documented in public.
When a champion looks up the lab, they should find the workflows: node diagrams, prompts, and the numbers already on this page. The first essays are not up yet. The drop is one production workflow a week, with no gate.
The Lab Notes drop
Work email. It lands with ops@xeme.co. No sequence is attached.
13 — The loadout
100+ tools tested. These made the cut.
If your stack already includes some of these, the lab builds around what you have.
AI and automation
Claude CodeAnthropic APIOpenAI APIMCPsOpenRouterGroqn8nModalApifyFirecrawlZenRows
Signals and intent
TrigifyPhantomBusterTheirStackCommon RoomBomboraRB2BSumble
Outbound and enrichment
ClayApolloSales NavigatorSmartleadInstantlyLemlistHeyReachFindymailProspeoZeroBounce
GTM and CRM
HubSpotSalesforcePipedriveAttioFathomFirefliesSendspark
Data and analytics
PythonPlaywrightSQLSupabasePostgreSQLRedisGA4GSCAhrefsMixpanel
14 — The operator
Run by the engineer.
Xeme is run by Rasul Shaikh. Three greenfield GTM builds attributed to revenue, shipped in Clay, Python, n8n, and Claude Code.
You work with the person who builds the system. Scoping, architecture, shipping, attribution. Capacity is capped at two builds a month for that reason.
15 — Questions
The hard questions, answered.
Who is a fit?
Venture-backed AI/ML companies from Seed to Series B with a sales-led or hybrid motion. Founders doing founder-led sales, first GTM hires, or revenue leaders whose SDR math stopped working. Not a fit: pure PLG with no sales motion, or anyone who wants rented SDR bodies.
Why not just hire an SDR?
Hire one later, for the judgment work. An SDR doing manual research and sends costs more than a Sprint per quarter and produces less pipeline than an instrumented engine. The teams that win give their best person agents, not a team to manage.
Do we own the stack?
Yes. Everything is built inside your infrastructure: Clay, HubSpot or Attio, n8n, sending tools, domains. When we part ways, the engine stays and keeps running.
How fast until it produces?
The engine goes live in under a week. First qualified meetings typically land by week 3. The full system is instrumented at 30 days. The schedule is above.
What do you need from us?
About two hours of founder or GTM-lead time in the first week for the strategy compile, access to the CRM and domains, and sign-off on the signal plan. After that the roster runs. You take the meetings.
We already run Clay and outbound. Still useful?
Usually the most useful case. Most Sprints start from a half-built stack. The Teardown maps what to keep, and the Sprint rebuilds the engine around it. Existing tools lower the build time, not the value.
How does pricing work?
Fixed-fee Sprint, flat monthly Lab subscription, optional performance kicker on closed-won revenue. Prices are printed on this page on purpose.
How do you handle deliverability?
Multi-domain setup, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, warm-up, and inbox rotation. 95%+ deliverability sustained across 150+ domains in production. Volume scales only as reputation allows.
Who actually does the work?
The engineer. No juniors, no offshore pods, no handoffs. That is also why capacity is capped at two builds a month. The agents do the volume. One human does the judgment.
What happens when the engagement ends?
The engine stays. It lives in your accounts with runbooks and handoff docs. Lab clients get a 30-day wind-down with a full transfer session.
Open channel
Build the machine.
One call to scope the engine. We reply within one business day.
Accepting Q4 clients · 2 build slots a month