before you hire a clay agency, talk to me
the question I keep getting
every week, someone DMs me the same question. different words, same energy.
"should I hire a Clay agency?"
"is [agency name] legit?"
"we're spending $X/month on Clay and I have no idea if we're getting value."
I don't run a Clay agency. I'm not trying to be one. but I've been deep in Clay since the early days - building tables, debugging Claygent prompts, writing HTTP API integrations, documenting enrichment waterfalls for the Clay Wiki. 60+ entries and growing.
so people ask me. and I keep giving the same advice: before you sign anything, audit what you already have.
the audit checklist
this is what I walk through with anyone who asks. five questions that tell you whether an agency engagement will actually help or just add another layer of opacity.
1. how many workspaces are you running?
most teams don't know. Clay workspaces multiply fast - one for the SDR team, one the agency set up, one from that pilot project nobody shut down. each workspace has its own credit pool, its own tables, its own version of the truth.
if you can't list your workspaces on one hand and explain what each one does, that's the first red flag. consolidation alone can save thousands per year.
2. are your GTM engineers using credits efficiently?
credits are the hidden cost of Clay. every enrichment, every Claygent call, every API lookup burns credits. I've seen teams blow through 50,000 credits in a month because nobody set up conditional logic to skip enrichments they already had.
the fix is almost always the same. check if data exists before enriching. cache results in a data lake instead of re-enriching the same leads across campaigns. set up credit tracking so you know what each table costs to run.
I wrote a full breakdown of credit transparency for GTM tools if you want the implementation details.
3. are you paying more for credits than you need?
Clay's pricing tiers have changed multiple times. some teams are on legacy plans that made sense two years ago but don't anymore. others bought the enterprise plan for features they never use.
pull up your billing page. compare your monthly credit burn against your plan allocation. if you're consistently using 40% of what you pay for, you're overpaying. if you're hitting limits every month and buying overages, you might need a different tier - or better table efficiency.
4. do you understand the vendor lock-ins?
if an agency builds your Clay tables, who owns them? what happens when the engagement ends? can your team maintain and modify those tables, or are they black boxes that only the agency understands?
I've seen companies pay agencies $5,000/month to run tables they could maintain internally with a week of training. the knowledge transfer never happened because it wasn't in the contract.
before signing with any agency, ask:
- who owns the workspace and tables?
- will your team get documentation and training?
- can you export and rebuild if you switch providers?
- are they using custom integrations that only they can maintain?
5. is anyone monitoring table efficiency?
a Clay table that worked six months ago might be burning credits on enrichments that return empty 30% of the time. data providers change, endpoints deprecate, and prompts that worked with GPT-4 might produce garbage with the latest model update.
somebody needs to be watching hit rates, error rates, and cost-per-row. if nobody is, you're flying blind - whether you have an agency or not.
what I actually offer
I'm not building an agency. I have 2-3 customers at a time. that's intentional.
what I do:
- AI operating systems - custom GTM infrastructure that versions itself, tracks costs, and compounds data over time
- web development - the sites, the dashboards, the tools that sit on top of the data
- enablement - teaching your team to own and maintain what gets built
my approach is education-first. I'd rather teach you to fish than sell you fish every month. everything I learn goes into public resources - the Clay Wiki, the GTM OS (open-source), and content that breaks down exactly how things work.
the goal is independence, not dependency.
the free audit
30 minutes. no strings. no pitch deck. just a screen share where we walk through your Clay setup together.
what I look at:
- workspace sprawl and consolidation opportunities
- credit usage patterns and waste
- table efficiency (hit rates, error rates, cost-per-row)
- vendor lock-in risks in your current setup
- gaps between what you're paying for and what you're using
what you walk away with:
- a clear picture of where you stand
- specific recommendations (written, not just verbal)
- enough context to evaluate any agency proposal with confidence
if it turns out you need an agency, I'll tell you that too. I'll even tell you what to look for in the contract.
why I do this for free
two reasons.
first, I learn something every time. every audit shows me a new pattern, a new failure mode, a new way teams get stuck. that knowledge goes back into the Clay Wiki and the GTM OS. the community benefits.
second, some of those conversations turn into customers. not all. not even most. but the ones that do are the right fit because they already know how I think and what I build.
no pressure. no follow-up sequence. just a conversation between two people who care about doing GTM right.
proof of depth
everything I build is public:
- Clay Wiki - 60+ entries covering enrichments, formulas, Claygent patterns, HTTP API setups, and workflow architectures. growing every week.
- GTM OS - open-source operating system for GTM engineers. the infrastructure I use every day, shared publicly.
- daily content - I post Clay breakdowns, plays, and system shares across LinkedIn, X, and my blog. no gatekeeping.
people reach out daily because the work is visible. building in public, sharing what I find.
book the audit
DM me on LinkedIn. email me at shawn@shawnos.ai. or just reply to any of my posts.
30 minutes. your Clay setup. my honest take. free.
I'd rather spend 30 minutes now than watch you spend 6 months locked into the wrong setup.
shawn ⚡ GTM Engineer