LeadFWD isn't the easiest tool to use; it requires a bit more effort to get the hang of it. Setting it up takes time, but that also shows it's a well-developed product. It's definitely more technical than what an average user might be comfortable with.

And I consider myself an average user.

You might have seen my comments where I asked several questions because I was struggling to figure out the setup. Kevin, the founder (I think), was very patient and helped clear up my confusion with a Loom video, which made sure I understood everything to set it up myself.

Now that I’ve set it up the way I like, I'm currently giving it a test run.

Here's what I found out (and Kevin confirmed): LeadFWD uses LinkedIn, email, voicemail, and SMS to connect with prospects but think of LinkedIn here like voicemail or SMS — it’s more of a channel to keep light engagement with prospects. Email is still the main driver for closing deals or booking calls. Kevin recommends doing max 2 interactions via Linkedin to keep your account safe.

This approach works for me.

On the surface, the UI and UX are straightforward, but as you dig deeper, you encounter many technical options that might confuse the average user (like they did me). For instance, there are 3 different "scheduled" options in three different places that control the timing of a sequence. This may not be 100% accurate, but it's how it felt to me. I'd love to hear from others or recommend watching Kevin's video to understand it better. Some parts of the UI feel a bit outdated but still get the job done. There are also some oddities — like being able to resize a description text field I didn’t need but not being able to resize the message field, which would’ve been more useful.

You can rely entirely on LinkedIn to find leads using the browser extension. This extension pulls prospects from LinkedIn searches (no Sales Navigator needed), verifies their emails, and adds them to your list on LeadFWD. You can also add them directly to your pre-set sequences straight from the extension. The process is slow and requires you to manually pick the right leads, but that's intentional. It's not designed for mass outreach — and that’s actually a good thing because it makes LeadFWD more trustworthy.

Overall, it's a mature, feature-packed SaaS tool. Everything works well and doesn’t have that half-baked feel that some other SaaS tools on AppSumo have.

I'd recommend LeadFWD to anyone serious about cold outreach, but don’t expect a quick 10-minute setup. If you want it to work and generate strong leads, you’ll need to put in the effort and keep optimizing for a few months to find the best fit.

P.S. LeadFWD gives you plenty of email templates to get started but no sequence templates. It would be helpful for new users to have those to speed up the process instead of starting from scratch.