How big export-import companies actually find their buyers (spoiler: it's not Alibaba or trade directories)

So I got curious about how the actual big export-import houses land their buyers so consistently, while everyone else is stuck cold-emailing random contacts off some directory that never replies.

After a lot of digging, I realised they're not doing it randomly — they're working off real shipping and customs data, things like bills of lading and port filings, to literally see who's importing what and from where before they even reach out, and their whole buyer qualification process is built around that instead of guesswork.

So I started building something called Lengine that does the same thing for smaller exporters and importers who don't have that kind of access. It pulls buyer info straight from actual shipment records, so you know their MOQ, who the real decision maker is, and you're reaching out with something actually relevant instead of a generic pitch.

Still building it out, but I'm already working with a big Indian export company on this for the past few days, and honestly just want to talk to more people who are actually in exim before I lock anything else in. If this sounds like something you'd use or you're just curious how it works, drop a comment or dm me and we can talk it through.