How Mindpath Used Automated Bidding to Capture High-Value AI Projects and Save 40+ Expert Hours a Week

Scaling Expertise: The Automation Agency's Dilemma

Mindpath is a powerhouse on Upwork. As a Top-Rated Plus agency with over 200 developers and deep expertise in AI, workflow automation, and enterprise software, they don't struggle with project delivery. Their challenge was different: how do you keep a world-class team of this size consistently fed with high-quality, challenging projects from a marketplace as vast and noisy as Upwork?

The answer, until recently, involved a team of senior project and business development managers manually sifting through thousands of job posts. They were experts wasting their time on a low-level task. "We build automation for a living," explains Divya S., owner of Mindpath. "It was ironic and inefficient that our own growth was constrained by a manual, repetitive process. We were either missing out on perfect-fit jobs or burning out our best people on prospecting."

Automating the Automators

Mindpath needed a tool that was as sophisticated as their own services. They found their solution in Vollna's automated bidding feature. This was not about replacing their team with a blunt instrument; it was about equipping them with a precision tool.

They configured a set of highly specific rules in Vollna to act as their first line of offense:

• Keyword Targeting: Filters zeroed in on niche terms like "n8n automation," "custom GPT," "LangChain," and "enterprise API integration," ensuring every matched job was in their wheelhouse.
• Client Vetting: The system automatically prioritized jobs from clients with a strong hiring history, high spend, and positive reviews, weeding out low-quality leads.
• Budgetary Constraints: Only projects with budgets exceeding a significant threshold were even considered, aligning with their focus on large-scale engagements.

With these rules in place, Vollna's automated bidding worked 24/7, submitting an initial, intelligent proposal the moment a matching job was posted. This secured Mindpath an immediate touchpoint, placing them at the front of the queue. "The auto-bid gets our foot in the door," Divya notes. "Then, our team gets a notification and can step in with a highly personalized, strategic follow-up. We're engaging with warm, pre-qualified leads, not cold prospects."

From Prospecting to Winning: The Results

The impact of automating their bidding process was immediate and transformative. The senior team was freed from the drudgery of the job feed and could reinvest their time in crafting winning proposals, nurturing client relationships, and strategic planning.

For Mindpath, Vollna became a critical piece of their own operational toolkit. "We sell efficiency and intelligence to our clients," says Divya. "It only makes sense that we use it ourselves. Vollna allows us to practice what we preach, turning client acquisition from a manual chore into a smart, automated system that drives our growth."