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Instant Expert – Pay-to-Accept Cold Outreach API
x402
Instant Expert – Pay-to-Accept Cold Outreach API is a paid API for AI agents from instant.expert, paid per call via x402, $40/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-10).
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.
Price / call$40
Success—
StatusUnknown
How this service works
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.
Output
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.
Example use cases
Reach a named executive with a cash offer
“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?'”
Cold outreach to a role-based target
“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.”
Expert interview for market research
“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.”
Technical details
Endpoint
POSThttps://instant.expert/api/x402/asks?utm_source=zero.xyzWhen to prefer
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).
Side effects
- 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
Input
Schema · Request body
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| query | string | 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 | object | The one person to ask: an email, a LinkedIn profile URL, or a name plus current company. |
| question | string | The question, in your words. It is sent as the invitation; leave the amount out (the invitation states it). |
| offer_cents | integer | 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. |
Output
Schema · Response
{
"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
}
}Tags
x402
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