I have a new site I'm about to launch, and I also just got access to a linkbuilding tool that takes a shot-gun approach (lots of links, but not HIGH quality links). I'm wondering if I should ease into my link building efforts, or if I should just blast out as many links as possible right from the beginning. So, does it hurt me to get all those links right from the beginning?
Yes, it beleive it will hurt you to get lots of links at once, especially on a new site. I'd take it easy for the first few months. After all, SEO is more of a long term strategy - nothing happens quickly.
Don't bother about quantity but look for quality with relevancy. A small number of quality links will help you to get good ranking other than wasting your time in finding and posting links in low quality sites or posts or forums.