Clay scales lookalike matching with Ocean’s API
Clay scales lookalike matching with Ocean’s API
At a glance
At a glance
Customer: Clay – workflow platform for modern go-to-market teams
Integration: Ocean API (Company & People Lookalikes)
Impact: 1.5M+ actions run (and growing)
Favorite Feature: People Lookalikes
"In total now it’s been like 1.5 million actions run."
- Stefan Kollenberg
The Challenge
The Challenge
Clay’s customers wanted smarter expansion lists, not just more filters. Traditional firmographic filters (industry codes, employee bands) rarely map cleanly to nuanced ICPs.
Clay needed a solution to:
- Generate high-quality lookalikes for both companies and people
- Maintain product velocity without spinning up an ML team
- Fit naturally into Clay’s credit system and workflows
“We’d heard really good things about Ocean and the quality of your lookalikes… quality, customer feedback, flexibility of the team, and API support influenced our decision.”
- Stefan Kollenberg
“We didn’t do a detailed one-to-one comparison initially; later looked at others but held off.”
- Stefan Kollenberg
Build vs. Buy: Why Clay partnered with Ocean
Build vs. Buy: Why Clay partnered with Ocean
Building data and ML in-house means high engineering costs, months of setup, and constant maintenance. Partnering with Ocean eliminates that overhead—no ML team needed, faster time to market, and proven, high-quality data via API. With Ocean, you get rapid iteration and effortless scalability, so your team can focus on growth instead of infrastructure.
“Working with a trusted partner saves a ton of engineering time and ongoing AI costs. Speed and quality are higher out of the gate.”
- Stefan Kollenberg
The solution
The solution
Clay integrated Company Lookalikes and People Lookalikes.
What changed for Clay users:
Skip steps in prospecting Go straight to qualified people
Smarter lists Expand beyond rigid filters into ICP-adjacent targets
Prioritization Generate ranked accounts & contacts that mirror past wins
“The person lookalike feature is especially powerful—you can skip multiple steps in prospecting and go straight to the ideal people you want.”
- Stefan Kollenberg
Results & impact
Results & impact
1.5M+ actions run via Ocean API (and growing)
Clay’s customers expand target lists beyond traditional firmographic filters
Clay shipped new capability without building ML infrastructure
“Customers use it to expand their list building and sourcing - especially when their ICP doesn’t fit into traditional filters."
- Stefan Kollenberg
How quality stays high
How quality stays high
Clay improves results by prompting users for the most predictive inputs (roles, skills, outcomes). This guidance, combined with Ocean’s models, ensures consistently higher-quality matches.
“Quality is best when users input the right signals… guide them to fill in what they actually care about.”
- Stefan Kollenberg
Implementation experience
Implementation experience
Docs Straightforward, easy to follow
Support Fast answers to technical questions
Iteration Smooth back-and-forth testing on new endpoints
“The docs were good and straightforward… iteration on new endpoints like People Lookalikes was organized and easy to test.”
- Stefan Kollenberg
Customer impact
Customer impact
Clay customers now:
Expand
Expand ICP lists beyond standard filters
Prioritize
Prioritize accounts that resemble past wins
Accelerate
Accelerate prospecting and sourcing
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