Introduction

Tiddle, founded in 2020 by Mike Hahn, has rapidly evolved from a music marketing agency to a successful influencer management company. At just 21 years old, Mike has built a team of six full-time employees, managing TikTok influencers with millions of followers. Tiddle's use of Lindy has radically transformed their operations, allowing them to scale while maintaining a lean team.

"I founded Tiddle in 2020 as a way to pay for college," Mike recalls. What started as a side hustle quickly became a full-fledged business, compelling Mike to make the bold decision to drop out of the University of Wisconsin after his freshman year. "Things started going so well. I kinda made the jump to do this full time," he explains.

Company Overview

• Founded: 2020
• Founder: Mike Hahn (CEO)
• Team: 6 full-time employees
• Core Business: Managing TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram influencers
• Time saved with Lindy: 60 hours a week

Bootstrapped Growth

Despite rapid growth, Tiddle remains bootstrapped. 

Mike notes, "We've thought about it, but if we raise... I don't know what we'd spend the funds on right away. Maybe it's better to grow at the current pace, because we’re still learning lessons every day."

The Challenge

Before implementing Lindy, Tiddle faced significant challenges in managing the high volume of incoming brand deal requests. The company was inundated with approximately 500 new emails daily, but only 2-4 out of these 500 were qualified leads. This overwhelm resulted in managers (and Mike, himself) spending 6-8 hours each day on what Mike termed "brainless tasks" of sorting through emails. The workload was growing too large for the current team to handle.

Mike describes the situation: "Too much volume. Six to eight hours spent a day of almost brainless tasks... And we have smart people, so it's just frustrating for them to have to do that."

Discovering Lindy

Tiddle's journey with Lindy began through an unexpected channel. Mike explains, "Our CTO, Mitch, is a pretty avid Twitter user, and we were looking for some types of automation... He was just going through and found Flo. I think he just DM'd Flo, and I think Flo got back to him through Twitter."

Automating The Agency with Lindy Agents

Tiddle integrated Lindy to automate their initial communication process with brands. Here's how Lindy works for them:

1. Email Screening: Lindy reads incoming emails and determines if they are qualified leads.
2. Initial Response: Lindy responds to qualified leads, either asking for more details or giving personalized responses and partnership information, based on the inquiry.
3. Qualification: Lindy is customized to only accept paid offers, filtering out unpaid or gift-based collaborations.
4. Customized Responses: If an offer doesn't meet the criteria, Lindy explains to the lead why not and suggests a counteroffer.

Mike explains: "Lindy reads the emails we get and determines whether it's a good lead. Then it tells the brand what we're interested in."

Implementation

• Setup Time: With the latest version of Lindy, setup took only 3-4 hours — although Mike says that if he were to get started today as a brand-new user, he could easily get it running in 2 hours or less.
• Integration: Seamlessly works with Gmail, Tiddle's primary communication tool with brands.
• Customization: Tiddle uses custom prompts across all influencer inboxes, adjusting specific details to tailor Lindy's responses based on the influencer and brand.

Results and Impact

• Time Savings: Mike estimates these as “40 to 60 hours a week.”
• Improved Efficiency: Managers now focus on high-value tasks like scaling accounts and outreach.
• Cost Savings: Reduced need for additional hires, allowing for faster scaling. Mike estimates they've avoided hiring at least 2-3 additional managers.
• Quality Control: Every deal closed in the last two months has been initially qualified by Lindy.
• Team Satisfaction: "The team loves it," Mike reports, as it eliminates tedious tasks.

Mike emphasizes the impact: "As Lindy kind of automated a lot of that process, we were able to need fewer people early."

Future Plans

Tiddle aims to expand Lindy's capabilities:

• Potential for rate negotiation for bigger accounts
• Further automation of the deal-closing process

Mike envisions Lindy evolving to handle more complex tasks: "Eventually, we want to get it to a point where it can even, for some of our bigger accounts, understand rates and how to negotiate."

Competitive Advantage

Mike considers Lindy a significant competitive edge: "I wouldn't [recommend it to other agencies] because it's a real competitive edge. I mean, they have to hire people to do that work!"

Mike notes that if his friend or family member were to start an agency of their own, he would be recommending Lindy… but to keep it secret!

Conclusion

Tiddle's use of Lindy agents has revolutionized their influencer marketing business in several key ways:

1. Massive Time Savings: Lindy saves Tiddle 40-60 hours per week on email management and lead qualification. This frees up the team to focus on high-value tasks like growing influencer accounts and reaching out to new brands.
2. Reduced Headcount Needs: By automating the initial communication process, Tiddle avoided hiring additional staff to handle their growing workload. This allowed them to scale their business without increasing labor costs.
3. Increased Deal Closure: With Lindy qualifying leads, Tiddle's team can focus on closing deals. In fact, every deal closed in the last two months was initially qualified by Lindy!
4. Improved Qualification: Lindy accurately screens thousands of emails daily, identifying the 2-4 qualified leads out of approximately 500 incoming messages. This ensures the team only deals with promising opportunities.
5. Efficient Email Triage: Lindy manages the influx of thousands of emails, responding appropriately to each one based on Tiddle's criteria. This eliminates the need for human intervention in the initial stages of communication.
6. Significant Cost Savings: By reducing the need for additional hires and automating time-consuming tasks, Tiddle has dramatically cut operational costs.

Mike Hahn's decision to implement Lindy has positioned Tiddle for rapid growth and success in the competitive influencer marketing industry. 

As Tiddle continues to expand Lindy's capabilities, they're set to push the boundaries of AI-driven efficiency in their field, allowing it to handle more work, close more deals, and grow faster — all while keeping the team lean and focused on what really matters.