{"uid":"cap_YnepTix6pZT9AfkqwlYaw","slug":"instant-expert-pay-to-accept-cold-outreach-api-ba16413c","name":"Instant Expert – Pay-to-Accept Cold Outreach API","description":"For founders and sales teams whose cold emails get ignored. We send the people you pick a paid offer, like $100 for a 15-minute call.","url":"https://instant.expert/api/x402/asks?utm_source=zero.xyz","method":"POST","headers":{},"bodySchema":{"type":"object","properties":{"query":{"type":"string","maxLength":500,"minLength":3,"description":"Instead of person: who you want, e.g. 'a VP of Sales at a Series A fintech'. The best few matches are invited; the first to answer is paid."},"person":{"type":"object","properties":{"name":{"type":"string","maxLength":200,"minLength":1,"description":"Full name. With company, identifies a person who has no email or LinkedIn URL here."},"email":{"type":"string","description":"Known recipient email; skips email finding while usable."},"company":{"type":"string","maxLength":200,"minLength":1,"description":"Current employer, matched together with name."},"linkedin_url":{"type":"string","maxLength":500,"description":"Known recipient LinkedIn URL; no confirmed name required."}},"description":"The one person to ask: an email, a LinkedIn profile URL, or a name plus current company.","additionalProperties":false},"question":{"type":"string","maxLength":500,"minLength":1,"description":"The question, in your words. It is sent as the invitation; leave the amount out (the invitation states it)."},"offer_cents":{"type":"integer","maximum":50000,"minimum":3200,"multipleOf":100,"description":"What the person receives for a written or voice answer, in whole-dollar USD cents (4000 = $40). Instant Expert's fee is added on top; the 402 response states the exact price."}}},"responseSchema":{"type":"json","example":{"ask_id":"6f1c1d2e-3b4a-4c5d-8e9f-0a1b2c3d4e5f","status":"preparing","status_url":"https://instant.expert/api/x402/asks/<status_token>","poll_after_seconds":30}},"example":null,"exampleRequest":null,"tags":["x402"],"displayCostAmount":"40","displayCostAsset":"USDC","priceDynamic":false,"priceHint":null,"priceStatus":"priced","priceSource":"probe","requiresHandshake":false,"reviewCount":0,"rating":{"score":"0.00","successRate":"0.00","reviews":0,"stars":null,"state":"unrated"},"availabilityStatus":"unknown","priceObserved":null,"sessionDeposit":null,"pricing":{"kind":"static","summary":"$40/call","primary":{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"40","per":"call","confidence":"exact"},"accepted":[{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"40","per":"call","confidence":"exact"}]},"paymentMethods":[{"uid":"pm_SIJz4JLlwIemd1IOQZYgc","protocol":"x402","methodType":"crypto","chain":"base","mode":"charge","costAmount":"40","costPer":"request","priority":0,"asset":"0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913","unit":"request","depositMicros":null,"planRef":null}],"brandName":null,"brandSlug":null,"brandBaseUrl":null,"brandDocsUrl":null,"whatItDoes":"Sends a cash offer (e.g. $40–$500) to a specific person or best-matched professionals inviting them to answer a question on a call, charging the caller only after someone accepts.","exampleAgentPrompt":"Send a paid call invitation to the VP of Sales at Stripe — search for the best match — offering them $75 for a 15-minute call, and ask: 'Would you be open to sharing how your team evaluates new payment infrastructure vendors?'","exampleUseCases":[{"title":"Reach a named executive with a cash offer","prompt":"I need to talk to Sarah Chen, Head of Partnerships at Brex — find her and offer her $100 to hop on a 15-minute call so I can ask: 'What does your partner vetting process look like for fintech integrations?'"},{"title":"Cold outreach to a role-based target","prompt":"I can't get any Series A fintech VP of Sales to reply to my emails. Send a paid ask offering $50 to the best few matches and ask them: 'Would you be willing to walk me through how your team currently handles outbound pipeline?' — first one to say yes gets paid."},{"title":"Expert interview for market research","prompt":"I'm doing research on AI procurement decisions. Offer $120 to a Director of Engineering at a mid-stage AI startup and ask: 'Can you describe how your team evaluated and selected your current ML infrastructure vendor?' — use their LinkedIn if you can find one."}],"resultDescription":"Returns a JSON object with a UUID ask_id, a 'preparing' status, a status_url for polling the outcome, and a recommended poll_after_seconds interval. The actual payment and delivery happen asynchronously; the agent should poll the status_url to learn if someone accepted, the call is scheduled, or the ask expired.","failureModes":["Offer amount below minimum ($32) or not a whole-dollar multiple returns a 400 validation error","Neither person nor query provided results in a 400 missing-target error","Person cannot be identified or email/LinkedIn not resolvable returns a 422 unprocessable entity","Payment via x402 not fulfilled results in a 402 Payment Required with exact price in response","No match accepts the offer within the expiry window — status transitions to 'expired' on the status_url","LinkedIn URL malformed or inaccessible causes a 422 lookup failure"],"whenToPreferThis":"Choose this endpoint when standard cold email or LinkedIn outreach has failed and you need a response from a specific named person or a specific professional role. It is the right choice when the value of a conversation justifies paying $32–$500 to the recipient, such as sales prospecting, expert interviews, investor outreach, or competitive research. It uniquely combines people-finding with financial incentive delivery in a single API call, unlike email APIs (which send for free but get ignored) or expert marketplaces (which require the expert to already be registered).","instructions":null,"reviewSummary":null,"reviewSummaryHighlights":null,"reviewSummaryConcerns":null,"reviewSummaryGeneratedAt":null,"activationCount":0,"lastUsedAt":null,"lastSuccessfullyRanAt":null,"lastHealthCheckAt":"2026-10-10T12:30:14.537Z","isFirstParty":false,"canonicalSlug":"instant-expert-pay-to-accept-cold-outreach-api-ba16413c"}