Michel Lieben 🧠 on Shifting from OpenClaw to Hermes Agent for Lead Generation

In a recent LinkedIn post, Michel Lieben 🧠 discusses a significant shift in lead generation technology, detailing how founder Max Mitcham transitioned from a complex OpenClaw setup to Hermes Agent. Lieben 🧠 highlights Mitcham’s experience, emphasizing the practical challenges and benefits observed during this transition.

The post begins by recounting the initial viral attention Mitcham’s OpenClaw ‘mission control’ garnered. However, this was quickly followed by a decision to move entirely to Hermes Agent. Lieben 🧠 unpacks the reasons behind this pivot, presenting them as key insights for businesses evaluating similar tools.

Technical Reliability and Ease of Use

One of the primary drivers for Mitcham’s change, as detailed by Lieben 🧠, was the technical overhead associated with OpenClaw. According to Michel Lieben 🧠, for users who are not deeply technical, OpenClaw demands continuous maintenance.

I
‘ve never had to fix it. Not once.

This quote, attributed to Mitcham via Lieben 🧠’s post, underscores a critical difference. Hermes Agent, in contrast, is presented as a solution that functions effectively ‘straight out of the box,’ minimizing the need for debugging or constant updates following software releases. This ease of use is a significant factor in its adoption.

Integrated Memory and Self-Learning Capabilities

Michel Lieben 🧠 further elaborates on another key differentiator: Hermes Agent’s built-in memory system. Unlike OpenClaw, Hermes features a self-learning loop that automatically creates and updates skills and memory files based on user interaction. Lieben 🧠 explains this by noting:

“The more he uses it, the smarter it becomes.”

This continuous improvement cycle means the system adapts to user preferences and usage patterns without explicit instruction. For instance, if a user frequently requests specific types of information, like statistics for LinkedIn hooks, the AI remembers and refines its output for future posts.

Architectural Synergy and Tool Integration

Contrary to a complete abandonment, Lieben 🧠 points out that Mitcham’s transition involved a strategic integration rather than a full replacement. Hermes Agent offers the capability to port OpenClaw configurations, allowing users to leverage existing setups. In Mitcham’s revised architecture, Hermes Agent acts as the primary orchestrator, handling approximately 90% of the work, while OpenClaw is utilized for more tool-intensive tasks, accounting for the remaining 10%. This hybrid approach maximizes efficiency by using each tool for its strengths.

AI Model Performance and Cost Considerations

The post also touches upon AI model choices, particularly the shift away from Claude. Lieben 🧠 notes that this decision was influenced by Anthropic’s policy changes regarding third-party tools and a perceived decline in Opus quality. Mitcham’s move to Codex on a more cost-effective plan, within the Hermes Agent environment, reportedly yields results where the AI’s performance is indistinguishable from higher-tier models like Opus 4.6 or GPT 5.4.

Advanced Memory Layer: A Neural Network Approach

Drawing inspiration from Andrej Karpathy’s concepts on agent memory, Lieben 🧠 describes how Mitcham structures Hermes Agent’s ‘brain’ akin to a Wikipedia graph. This involves linking concepts in a non-linear fashion, creating a rich, interconnected knowledge base. Lieben 🧠 explains:

Every concept links to every other concept. Founder-led content connects to signal-based selling, which connects to brand intelligence.

This structure allows Hermes Agent to analyze patterns across the entire knowledge graph before generating responses, leading to more sophisticated and contextually aware outputs. The post concludes by hinting at further details available upon request and announcing an upcoming private webinar where Mitcham will demonstrate his setup.