Custom Web Scraper — Competitive Analysis Tool

Overview

Mark built a custom web scraper capable of extracting structured data from any website, including those that deploy anti-scraping protections. The tool is part of a broader shift toward an API-first, automation-heavy workflow that also encompasses HubSpot and Salesforce integrations.

This tool enables competitive intelligence gathering at scale — pulling pricing, product catalogs, and other structured data from competitor sites into a usable database format — without manual copy-paste work.

Capabilities

• Universal site access: Circumvents common anti-scraping measures, so the tool is not limited to sites that expose a public API or permit crawling.
• Structured output: Returns scraped data in database form, ready for analysis or import into other systems.
• Google Places integration: Can query the Google Places API to enumerate businesses by category and geography (e.g., "every HVAC company in Milwaukee"), pulling all associated metadata.
• Competitor product/pricing data: Point the scraper at a competitor's e-commerce or SaaS site to extract product listings, pricing tiers, and related data.

Primary Use Cases

API-First Approach (Related Context)

The scraper is part of a broader tooling philosophy Mark described in the ^[1]:

"Everything I'm doing now in HubSpot, I'm doing through the API, and I'm not doing anything on the front end anymore. I'm finding that I can get a lot more done a lot faster, and also things that I could never have even done before."

This API-first approach applies across:
- HubSpot — automations and data operations previously requiring hours of UI work are now scripted
- Salesforce — fixes and updates that would have required specialist contractors are handled via API calls
- Web scraping — data extraction that previously required manual research or paid third-party tools

The reported productivity gain is approximately 3× output per working day compared to six months prior.

Limitations & Considerations

• Legal/ethical scope: The intended use is data extraction (pricing, product info), not copying creative assets or layouts. Usage should remain within applicable terms of service and legal boundaries for the target site.
• Maintenance: Anti-scraping measures evolve; the circumvention logic may require updates as target sites change their defenses.
• No UI: This is a developer-operated tool, not a self-service interface for non-technical team members.

Related Tools & Articles

• ^[2]
• ^[3]
• ^[4]
• ^[5]