"This was before AI took over."
That’s a phrase a lot of people will be using in hindsight and I’m one of them.
After years of running a web development agency, one problem kept coming up: consistent lead generation.
So the question became: How do you generate new leads with zero ad spend?
Cold outreach.
And one concept consistently outperforms in sales: free.
Free trials. Free samples. Low friction entry.
But web design has a problem -> you can’t easily give a “free sample” of a website.
So I built one.
The system allowed outreach teams to generate personalized website mockups for prospects in minutes.
The customers real visual assets (logos, colors, images, etc…) all dynamically inserted into a mobile-friendly website.
No design or development skills required. Each demo felt tailored to the business, not templated.
Watch the video below to see how it works.
The Problem
I initially pitched this to our partners (mostly marketing agencies), but adoption was low. In hindsight, it was likely a positioning issue. This should have been sold directly to web agencies as a recurring SaaS product.
Before I could rework the model, AI-generated website mockups emerged and made the core value less compelling.
What I learned
- Generating multiple layouts from a single structured content source
- Using URL parameters and conditional logic to power white-labeled experiences
- Building a lightweight lead management system
What I’d do differently now
- Instead of a fixed set of templates, I’d use AI to generate fully unique layouts per prospect, paired with built-in lead tracking and follow-up automation.