Setting up a Lead Scout agent
Create an agent in Vetta: give it a name, a goal and business context, pick where it finds leads, choose its signals, define your ICP, then switch it on.
Updated October 25, 2026 · 8 min read
A Lead Scout agent finds new prospects for you every day, without a list to start from. It needs four things before it can work: a name and a goal, a source, the signals to watch, and an ICP that says who counts as a lead. Vetta asks for them in that order when you click New agent on the Agents page.
Creating a Lead Scout agent that finds new prospects every day without a starting list. On Agents, click New agent, add a name, an optional goal and your business context, then choose Signals, the recommended source that watches LinkedIn for buying intent (the first signal agent is included, each extra one adds twenty-nine dollars a month). Pick at least five and up to twenty signals, define the good fit by roles, industries, size and locations, review the sample and Launch agent.
Transcript
A Lead Scout agent finds new prospects for you every day, without a list to start from. An agent's sequence is a simpler view of a sequence on the canvas, and you can convert it there when you want more control. On Agents, click New agent. Give it a name, an optional goal, and attach your business context, so it knows what you sell. Then pick where it finds people. Signals is the recommended source: it watches LinkedIn for buying intent. Your first signal agent is included, and each extra one adds twenty-nine dollars a month. Next, choose your signals: keywords people engage with, your competitors' pages, job changes, hiring and more. Each keyword or page counts as one signal. You'll want at least five, and up to twenty. Then confirm who counts as a good fit: job roles, industries, company size and locations, either strictly or with similar matches. Save, and the agent scans your signals and shows a sample of what it found, each person with the signal that matched. Click Launch agent, and it starts hunting. Its sequence lives on the agent page, under Sequence. Each quarter, Alex asks Claude for a Lead Scout agent for insurtechs. Claude builds six signals and an ICP, and keeps it paused. Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant you connect to Vetta works on your real workspace, so repeat this, then give it a bigger job each week. In Vetta, check the signals, then activate it yourself.
Step 1: Name and goal
- Agent name: something you will recognise in lists, such as
CFO Scout: Fintech EMEA - Agent's goal (optional): what it should do, in a sentence. For example: "Find CFOs at fintech companies in EMEA who show buying intent."
- Business context (required): click Attach business context and pick the document that describes what you sell. The agent uses it to judge which posts and people are relevant to you, and its AI uses it from the first message on. See Business context and AI Skills.
Create & continue saves the agent and moves on.
Step 2: Choose a source
"Where should this agent find leads?" offers:
- Signals (intent), marked Recommended: track buying and engagement signals on LinkedIn. This is the full Lead Scout path described below.
- Upload a list (CSV): start from a spreadsheet of leads you already have.
- From Sales Navigator: capture leads from a Sales Navigator search with the Vetta Chrome extension.
- Connect an inbound source (API / webhook): coming soon.
Your first signal-based agent is included in your plan. Each extra one is an add-on at $29 a month, and Vetta shows what changes before anything is charged.
An agent that takes its leads from a list or from Sales Navigator does not need signals. With the extension installed, you tick profiles in a Sales Navigator search, click Push profiles to Vetta and send them to the agent. Its sequence can check each of those leads against your ICP before writing to them, since nobody has scored them yet: see Working with the agent's sequence.
Pushing many leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator into Vetta in one go. With the Vetta extension installed, a bar appears above your results and each profile shows whether it is already in your CRM. Tick profiles or use Select all, then click Push profiles to Vetta. Basic info always comes along (name, job title, city, company, LinkedIn link), optional email or phone shows a credit cost badge, and Add to people skips Leads or sends them to an agent, pipeline or sequence. Imported profiles get an Imported to Vetta badge.
Transcript
On a LinkedIn Sales Navigator search, with the Vetta Chrome extension open, you've found the right people, and copying them over by hand would take all afternoon. A bar appears above your search results, and every profile shows whether it's already in your CRM. Tick the profiles you want, or use Select all for the whole page, then click Push profiles to Vetta. You can push your selection, or the first profiles of the search, as many as you set. Basic info always comes along: the name, job title, city, company and LinkedIn link. Add an email or a phone number if you need one, and the badge at the top shows what it will cost. Turn on Add to people to skip your Leads, or send them straight to an agent, a pipeline or a sequence. Save, and each profile gets an Imported to Vetta badge. Every Friday, Jonas pushes his search, then asks Claude to add them. Claude adds 41 and skips 6. Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant you connect to Vetta works on your real workspace, so repeat this each push, then give it a bigger job. In Vetta, preview the first messages. The sequence sends them, not Claude.
The same push works for a single profile when one person deserves the full treatment: enrich their email, fill your own fields, and send them to an agent, a pipeline or a sequence in one go.
Pushing a single LinkedIn profile into Vetta with everything set in one step. Tick one profile and click Push profile to Vetta, turn on Enrich email (the badge shows the credit cost first), turn on Add custom field data to fill one of your own fields, such as the event where you met, then choose Send to agent or open Add to for a pipeline, a sequence or both. Save confirms each step. Use it for a high-value prospect. For many profiles at once, see the bulk push video.
Transcript
On LinkedIn, with the Vetta Chrome extension open, tick just one profile and click Push profile to Vetta. Turn on Enrich email, and the badge at the top shows the credit cost before you commit. Then turn on Add custom field data. Pick one of your own fields and give it a value, like the event where you met, and add another field if you need one. Now decide where it goes next. Send to agent hands it to one of your Lead Scout agents. Open Add to, and drop it into a pipeline, a sequence, or both. Save, and the bar confirms every step: imported, sent to the agent, added to the pipeline and enrolled in the sequence. One push, and it lands in Vetta already moving, all without leaving LinkedIn.
Step 3: Choose your signals
Each keyword, person or page is its own signal. There are two groups:
Engagement signals (each needs something to watch):
- Keyword engagement: people who engage with posts about topics you choose (for example
month-end close) - Engaging with your market: people who engage with specific creators or voices
- Competitor engagement: people who engage with your competitors' posts and pages
- People engaging with you: who engages with the posts on your own profile
- People engaging with your page: who engages with your company page posts
The last two read your own profile and page through your connected LinkedIn account, so connect it first. See LinkedIn CRM integration.
Buying events:
- Recent job changes: people in your ICP who changed roles in the last 90 days
- Hiring momentum: companies scaling their team
- Hiring for roles: companies in your ICP with open job posts for roles you pick. Name the role being hired (for example
Receptionistif you sell an AI receptionist), not the buyer; your ICP's job roles decide who at the company becomes a lead. - Top 5% active profiles: the most active people in your ICP right now
An agent runs on between 5 and 20 signals. More is not always better: the agent shares its scanning time across its signals, so twenty loose keywords each get looked at less often than eight good ones. A mix works best: engagement signals bring fewer, warmer leads who said something you can open with, and buying events bring steady volume.
Step 4: Confirm who counts as a lead
The ICP filters run the search and score every lead the signals surface. Each section can stay on "All" to skip it:
- Job roles, with Moderate (also accept similar titles) or Strict (only these roles)
- Industries, again Moderate or Strict
- Company size, from 1-10 to 10000+ employees
- Locations: company headquarters, or where the person is based
- Excluded: service providers, freelancers and consultants; Open to Work profiles
- Competitors / keywords to exclude
Set at least one of job role, industry, company size or location; exclusions alone do not narrow who the agent looks for. Save & find leads runs the agent for the first time, and Preview leads shows a sample of what it found, each lead with the signal that matched. The sample is not a dry run: those people are kept as the agent's first leads. Launch agent opens the agent.
Changing signals and ICP later
Open the agent's Signals tab. The left side lists every signal with the leads it has found and when it runs next; the right side is Your ICP.
Agents · Signals- Edit signals opens a side panel: add or remove keywords, pages and profiles, add new signal types under Add a signal, then Save. The count of active signals updates at the bottom, and changes apply to this agent only. Signals whose LinkedIn link cannot be found are listed at the top so you can replace them.
- A removed signal is not lost: under Show more in the Signals tab, click Restore to bring it back.
- Edit ICP opens the same ICP sections as the setup.
Changes apply from the agent's next scan. Leads it has already found keep the scores they were given.
Changing what an existing agent listens for. Open the agent, go to Signals to see every signal with the leads found and the next run, beside the ICP they are checked against. Click Edit signals, paste a competitor's LinkedIn company page and click plus, add keywords the same way, or remove a signal. Each keyword or page counts as one signal and the total updates at the bottom. Changes apply to this agent only, and removed signals can be restored under Show more.
Transcript
Signals are what your agent listens for. An agent's sequence is a simpler view of a sequence on the canvas, and you can convert it there when you want more control. Open an agent and go to Signals. You'll see every signal it runs on: competitor pages, keywords and buying events, each with the leads it has found and when it runs next. On the right is the ICP those leads are checked against. To change your signals, click Edit signals. To watch a new competitor, paste its LinkedIn company page and click plus. Keywords work the same way. To stop a signal, just remove it. Each keyword or page counts as one signal, and the total updates at the bottom. Save, and the changes apply to this agent only. A removed signal isn't lost: under Show more, you can restore it. Each month, Daniel asks Claude to tune his CFO Scout agent. Claude adds two competitors and pauses the weakest keyword. Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant you connect to Vetta works on your real workspace, so repeat this on your own agent, then give it a bigger job. In Vetta, open Signals and check the new rows.
Switching the agent on and off
Activate in the agent's header asks "Do you want to activate?" and offers Lead Scout, Sequence, or Lead Scout and the Sequence. There is no further confirmation: the part you pick starts right away. Run Lead Scout alone while you review its first leads, then switch on the sequence when the messages are ready. Deactivate works the same way in reverse.
Once on, Lead Scout runs every day until you pause it, working 2 to 3 of its signals each day. Finding leads does not use credits.
Before you switch on the sequence, tick a few leads in the Leads tab and click Preview to read the messages they would get. See Previewing and regenerating messages.
Common questions
How many signals should an agent have?
Between 5 and 20. More is not always better: the agent shares its scanning time across its signals, so eight good ones get looked at more often than twenty loose keywords, and a mix of engagement signals and buying events works best. See Step 3: Choose your signals.
How often does an agent scan its signals?
Every day. Each day the agent works 2 to 3 of its signals, rotating through the rest, which is why a focused set of signals gets looked at more often. See Switching the agent on and off.
Why isn't my agent finding any leads?
Check your ICP first: set at least one of job role, industry, company size or location, because exclusions alone do not narrow who the agent looks for. See Step 4: Confirm who counts as a lead.
Are the leads in the preview kept, and do they cost anything?
Yes, they're kept: the sample is not a dry run, and those people become the agent's first leads. Finding leads does not use credits. See Step 4: Confirm who counts as a lead.
Is a second signal-based agent included in my plan?
Your first signal-based agent is included. Each extra one is an add-on at $29 a month, and Vetta shows what changes before anything is charged. See Step 2: Choose a source.
Can I change the signals or the ICP after the agent is running?
Yes. Open the agent's Signals tab and use Edit signals or Edit ICP. Changes apply from the next scan, and leads already found keep the scores they were given. See Changing signals and ICP later.
I removed a signal by mistake. Can I get it back?
Yes. In the Signals tab, click Show more and then Restore next to the signal. See Changing signals and ICP later.
Why do the "People engaging with you" signals need a connected LinkedIn account?
They read your own profile and company page through your connected LinkedIn account, so connect it before you add them. See Step 3: Choose your signals.
Does clicking Activate start sending messages right away?
Only if you pick Sequence or Lead Scout and the Sequence: there is no further confirmation, and the part you pick starts immediately. Pick Lead Scout alone to review the first leads before any message goes out. See Switching the agent on and off.
Key outcome
With a goal, the right signals and a clear ICP, the agent keeps a steady flow of qualified leads coming in. Next, see how to judge them in Reviewing your agent's leads.
Still stuck?
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