Tayo asked how he could make $1,000 in a week with his skills as a product engineer and designer.
Then he said he didn’t have a network.
Got me thinking. How many talented people can build something useful but don’t know who needs it or how to reach them https://x.com/i/article/2116023407896612864
You Have the Skills - Now Find Someone Who Needs Them.
You probably already follow people who could use your product, your skills, or something you could build for them. The problem is knowing who those people are, what they do, and whether there’s something useful you can offer.
That’s what Network Lens is trying to solve. Network Lens helps people find business opportunities among their X followers and following.
Why I built it.
I’ve spent a lot of time building software.
One thing I’ve learned is that building something is only part of the work. Finding people who need it is another problem entirely.
I’ve built products, shared them on X, and spent time trying to reach potential customers.
But I kept thinking about something.
I already follow hundreds of founders, business owners, creators, and people building interesting things. Some of them follow me too.
How many of those people could genuinely benefit from something I’ve already built?
How many have a problem I could solve with my skills?
And how would I even know?
I could manually open every profile, read their posts, visit their websites, try to understand their businesses, and then figure out whether there’s a reason to contact them.
That works when you’re researching one person.
It becomes difficult when you’re looking through hundreds or thousands.
So I started building Network Lens.
What Network Lens actually does
Network Lens helps you understand the people in your X network and find opportunities to work with them.
You start with your followers or following list.
Instead of simply showing you names and profile pictures, Network Lens helps you research people individually.
It looks at available public information about a person, what they do, what they’re building, and their business website if they have one.
The important part is what happens next.
It tries to find something specific you could actually help them with.
That could be an existing product you’re selling, a service you provide, or a new solution you could build.
For example, imagine you’re a developer.
You follow someone who runs a consulting business.
Network Lens researches their business and examines their website. Suppose it finds that customers have no clear way to book a consultation.
That’s a problem you might be able to solve.
Instead of suggesting that you send a generic message asking whether they need a website, Network Lens can help you develop a specific proposal.
Something like a simple booking system where customers can choose a service, select an available time, and confirm their appointment.
You now have something concrete to discuss.
The same idea applies if you’re a founder with an existing product.
Network Lens can help you identify people whose businesses might benefit from what you’ve already built.
The point is to find a reason to reach out, not invent one.
From finding someone to knowing what to say
This is the part I care about most.
Most outreach messages sound something like this:
“Hey, I came across your profile. I love what you’re building. Would love to connect and explore opportunities.”
I’ve received messages like that. I’ve probably sent some too.
But what is the other person supposed to do with that?
There’s no clear offer. No reason to respond. Nothing specific to consider.
I wanted Network Lens to approach things differently.
If research reveals a problem worth addressing, it should help you explain what you found and what you could do about it.
It helps prepare a message based on the proposed solution.
You review that message and decide whether to send it yourself.
Network Lens isn’t supposed to automatically message everyone in your network.
It’s supposed to help you understand who you might be able to help and why.
What makes this different from finding leads?
There are already plenty of tools that help you collect names, find email addresses, and build contact lists.
But a list of people isn’t the same thing as an opportunity.
Knowing that someone is a founder doesn’t tell me whether they need my product.
Knowing that someone owns a business doesn’t mean they need a new website.
And knowing that someone follows me doesn’t mean they’re interested in buying anything.
I want to know something more useful.
What does this person actually do?
Is there a problem I can identify from the information available?
Can I solve that problem?
And can I explain the solution in a way that makes sense to them?
That’s the difference I’m working toward with Network Lens.
Who is it for?
I initially built Network Lens for myself.
I build websites, apps, and software products. I wanted a better way to find people in my existing network who might benefit from that work.
But the same problem exists for other people who sell their skills or products.
A designer might find a business with an unclear customer experience.
A developer might identify a manual process that could be automated.
A consultant might find a company facing a problem they have experience solving.
A founder might discover someone who is a good fit for their existing product.
The common idea is that you start with people you already have some connection to, research their needs, and look for ways to be useful.
What I’m working toward
Network Lens is still evolving.
I’m improving how it researches people, checks websites, identifies problems, and turns those findings into practical proposals.
The difficult part isn’t generating a message with AI.
It’s making sure there’s a real reason behind that message.
I don’t want it to invent problems just to give someone something to pitch.
And I don’t want another tool that encourages people to send hundreds of messages nobody asked for.
I want something that helps you spend less time guessing who to contact and more time understanding what you can actually offer.
Because sometimes the next person you could work with isn’t someone you need to discover through another database.
They might already be following you.
That’s why I built Network Lens.
network.xsellship.com