How do I start a lead generation business from scratch?

Starting a lead generation business requires three things: a vertical to serve, infrastructure to capture and route leads, and buyers willing to pay for them. The most common mistake is starting with traffic before you have a system to process it. Build the infrastructure first, then turn on traffic — not the other way around.

Step 1: Pick a vertical and understand the economics

Choose one vertical to start. Insurance (auto, life, annuities), finance (personal loans, credit), and legal are the most common because buyers in these verticals pay $15-200+ per qualified lead and purchase consistently. The economics are straightforward: if auto insurance leads sell for $25-70 each and your cost per lead acquisition (traffic + infrastructure) runs $8-15, the margin is there.

Research what buyers in your vertical actually pay. Talk to aggregators. Look at what platforms like LeadsPedia and Boberdoo charge. According to Zippia's 2025 industry analysis, the US lead generation market is projected to exceed $10 billion by 2027, with insurance and financial services representing the largest buyer segments.

Step 2: Build or buy the infrastructure

You need: landing pages (forms that capture lead data), a database to store and deduplicate leads, routing logic to deliver leads to buyers, consent verification for TCPA compliance, and tracking to know which traffic sources produce leads that actually sell.

There are two paths. Building custom infrastructure gives you control but costs time and money. One operator built a full lead management platform — PRJ-01 — in 74 active days, processing 616,543+ leads across 7 verticals with 135 database tables and 20 integrations. That replaced 6 separate SaaS platforms ($1,565/month) and reduced monthly operating costs by 90% to approximately $825/month. But that operator had 15 years of performance marketing experience and technical ability.

The faster path: deploy on existing infrastructure. Deploying from proven templates, new verticals can launch in as little as 1 day for templated setups, or 5-16 days for custom builds. One scaffold-based approach launched 4 insurance verticals simultaneously from shared infrastructure, with the fourth product (the most complex) built in just 11 active days at 79% lower support cost than the first.

Step 3: Establish buyer relationships before you spend on traffic

According to Forrester Research (2025), 68% of new lead generation businesses fail within the first year — and the primary reason is spending on traffic before securing committed buyers. Line up 2-3 buyers with agreed pricing and volume commitments before you invest in acquisition. Aggregators are the easiest first buyers because they accept leads across multiple verticals and have established purchasing programs.

Step 4: Start traffic, measure, and optimize

Begin with paid search (Google Ads) or social (Facebook lead ads) in your chosen vertical. Track cost per lead, buyer acceptance rate, and return rate from day one. A 90%+ buyer acceptance rate means your qualification is working. Below 80% means your forms, targeting, or verification need adjustment.

The infrastructure investment pays for itself quickly. When your operating cost is $825/month instead of $6,312/month, every lead sold carries a structurally higher margin.

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Related: What compliance requirements do I need for lead generation?

References

1. Zippia (2025). "US Lead Generation Market Analysis." Market size and growth projections.
2. Forrester Research (2025). "Lead Generation Business Failure Rates." New business survival data.
3. Keating, M.G. (2026). "Case Study: The Flagship Build." Stealth Labz. Read case study
4. Keating, M.G. (2026). "Case Study: One Scaffold, Four Products." Stealth Labz. Read case study