Grow an email list with agent-run cold outreach
June 8, 2026 · AI Rabbit Holes. Task: Drew Carr used Hermes AI agents to automate cold outreach and Facebook group engagement for email list growth. The workflow involved pulling leads from Apollo or AI Ark, verifying them with Million Verifier, and using an LLM to filter for fit. Hermes drafted replies and comments, but Drew manually approved each one before posting. He ran the browser automation on a separate machine controlled via Telegram, while he wrote the final email copy himself to avoid spam filters.; tools: Hermes Agent. Human role: The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.; limitations: Requires a $20/month OpenAI Codex subscription as the backend, as Anthropic bans Claude on third-party agents. A separate always-on computer (e.g., old laptop, Mac Mini) is needed for browser automation to avoid resource drain on the main device. Human approval is mandatory for every message to maintain quality and avoid spam flags. The source is a blog post by Ryan Doser, which may contain promotional bias..
Tools
Published on Agent Work Atlas:
Overview
June 8, 2026 · AI Rabbit Holes
Workflow
Drew Carr used Hermes AI agents to automate cold outreach and Facebook group engagement for email list growth. The workflow involved pulling leads from Apollo or AI Ark, verifying them with Million Verifier, and using an LLM to filter for fit. Hermes drafted replies and comments, but Drew manually approved each one before posting. He ran the browser automation on a separate machine controlled via Telegram, while he wrote the final email copy himself to avoid spam filters.
Reported result
The source claims Drew acquired 1,000 email subscribers in 80 days with zero ad spend. It states these were real people he later interacted with, not scraped data. No independent metrics or failure rates are provided in the text. The success is attributed to the combination of automated lead processing and human-approved outreach.
Human role
The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.
Limitations
Requires a $20/month OpenAI Codex subscription as the backend, as Anthropic bans Claude on third-party agents. A separate always-on computer (e.g., old laptop, Mac Mini) is needed for browser automation to avoid resource drain on the main device. Human approval is mandatory for every message to maintain quality and avoid spam flags. The source is a blog post by Ryan Doser, which may contain promotional bias.
Try it
Act as a marketing automation specialist. I want to replicate Drew Carr's Hermes AI agent workflow for cold outreach. Inputs: - Lead source: [Replace with Apollo/AI Ark export or CSV] - Target audience: [Replace with specific business niche] - My email copy style: [Replace with 3 examples of my past emails] - Approval channel: [Replace with Telegram/Slack] Steps: 1. Verify the lead list using a tool like Million Verifier to ensure valid addresses. 2. Use an LLM to filter leads that fit my offer. 3. Configure Hermes (or similar agent) to draft replies/comments based on my style. 4. Set up a human-in-the-loop approval process where I review and approve each draft before sending. 5. Run browser automation on a separate machine if possible. Deliverables: - A verified lead list. - Drafted outreach messages for my review. - A summary of approved vs. rejected drafts. Constraints: - Do not auto-send without my explicit approval. - Ensure email copy sounds human, not robotic. - If inputs are missing, ask for clarification before proceeding. First, perform a dry run on 5 sample leads and show me the output for confirmation.
Source reports are not independently verified. Publication date is the catalog publication date, not the original article date.