One thing I'm always most excited about as an investor:

Watching CEO interviews.

Over the years, I’ve watched over 100s of them.

Here’s 25 traits I’ve seen in the very best leaders.

You can swipe these into your own framework to evaluate management teams:

1. They don’t rely on external motivation

Not status or money.

Instead, they seem to be driven an inner fire.

Sometimes it’s to make the world a better place.

Other times, it’s to prove themselves right.

And that's why they can keep going even after they're already rich AF.

2. They're not human

They don't see the world like 99% of us

Whether it’s creating a culture that’s a sports team vs a family...

Or thinking of everything from first principles…

They have a different modus operandi.

This helps them see solutions that 99% of us muggles miss.

3. They enjoy founder-company fit

The great leaders are great because:

They’re in a company that plays to their unique personality.

The stars have to align for a great leader to be made.

The product + business model + personality of the leader must match.

4. They give lots of freedom and autonomy

They know how to unleash the potential in their team

They know how to paint an exciting vision…

And then give their team the space to roam free.

They understand that people flourish when you give them room to explore and experiment.

14 mental models that helped me build 10 startups and sell (a bunch of them) for millions.

1) Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)

Everyone focuses on the Total Addressable Market (TAM), which gives an unrealistic expectation of your market size.

Instead SOM gives you a more practical estimate.

2) Viral Coefficient

Is the number of new users an average customer generates and a strong indicator of how highly your users like your product.

The higher your viral coefficient, the cheaper your acquisition costs.

3) Beta Testing

The process of exposing your users to different versions of the product/ messaging to determine the most effective one.

All top companies do this on a regular basis.

4) Conversion Funnel

The different stages that a buyer goes through before making a purchase.

Understanding what stage they're in helps you strategize your marketing accordingly.

I helped a startup grow from $3M to $24M in 8 months.

The secret? Be a little delusional.

Here are 14 lessons I learned about growing a rocketship:

Before going further, always remember:

• It's always a team effort.
• Retention is key to growth.
• It's rare a product grows without marketing.

Okay, let's go:

1/ Find out your wedge and double down.

Wedge: It is simply a strategy to win a large market by initially capturing (1) a tiny part of a larger market or (2) a large part of a small adjacent market.

Our wedge was our unique point-of-view.

Our POV gave the AHA! moment.

2/ It's never one person game.

You need 3 kinds of players: a visionary, executor and processor.

I was the executor, my boss a visionary & my other two key teammates were amazing at processing and making it work.

Lesson:Find a great combination that feels like magic.

3/ Category creation and innovation do pay off.

Our product created its category and innovated its field.

It was a unique sub-category & take on learning.

The timing was right in this case.

Category drives POV & growth.

@realjondavids @jayvasdigital @awilkinson Please do! Would love to listen to this.

Venture capital open letters be like

(if) can generate free cash - generate
(else) raise capital today
like right now
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Today, my little one-person business crossed $3M in revenue.

It took 1,187 days, I ran zero ads & operate at a 94% margin.

Here are the 20 steps of my wild & strange journey:

Hope it's helpful to someone.

[🧵 thread]

1/ Created lots of noise

When I was just getting started, I looked at attention as my friend.

I wrote content every day before I even had a business, just to find my voice.

I started on LinkedIn.

I shared my thoughts & observations about building a SaaS unicorn as the CRO.

2/ Honed in on signals

Inside all of that noise was some signals.

Sometimes I bombed, and sometimes I struck a chord.

The more I looked at what resonated, the more I doubled down.

This allowed me to understand what people cared about.

So, I kept writing & talking about it.

3/ Built a service business

My experience building SaaS was resonating. So I began creating more and more content about that.

Founders sent me DMs asking questions.

I responded to every single one.

Once I had prospects in my funnel, I started consulting.

4/ Found my ideal customers

Inside your customer base is more signals.

What are the commonalities between the customers you love & those who love you?

Mine were early-stage SMB SaaS in the healthcare space. A space I was experienced in & loved.

That became my ideal customer.

11 pricing strategies so effective customers will line up to pay you:

Price Anchoring:

Anchoring is a psychological bias that overemphasizes the first piece of information received.

Here's how its used:

Sellers show prospects a high number and then follow it up with a lower price to increase perceived value.

More value = more sales

Decoy Pricing:

It's common to see pricing options that comes in three's.

One of the options is a "decoy" or a fake designed to increase sales of a cheaper plan.

For example:

The presence of the £1680 plan increases the sales of the £560 because its relatively cheaper.

Freemium Pricing:

Companies allow partial use of their products in exchange for creating an account.

Typically, top features are restricted or the user cannot have their experience ad free.

Free versions are effective at "warming up" prospects to become paid users.

Price Reframing:

Divide the monthly or annual prices by the number of days in that period to show the daily price, or smallest number possible.

Also, compare pricing to everyday objects like a cup of coffee to make bigger costs more palatable.

Lower number = less friction.

9 slides I've used to generate $9M in revenue (steal these):

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I share tools, systems, and mental models to help you achieve your dreams in life and business.

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We've been told having a job is safer than entrepreneurship.

But that's a lie.

10 reasons to bet on yourself:

More value capture:

As an employee or an owner, income is a function of value creation.

The only difference?

Some (or most) of an employee's value flows upstream to ownership.

Owners capture ALL of the value they create, and even more from their team's output.

Income diversification:

Entrepreneurs spread income across several accounts/business units, acting as insurance against total income loss.

Employees have a single income source AND are exposed to factors out of their control:

- economy
- corporate pivots
- budgets

Low downside:

In the past you needed an investment or debt to start a business.

In 2022 you need an internet connection, creativity, and consistent effort.

EX: you can start a 7-figure agency business (65%+ margins) for a few hundred dollars per month in software fees.

Time freedom:

Successful entrepreneurs use leverage (labor, capital, technology, audience) to disassociate their time with income.

Employees are required to be present in-person or on calls/video, making it hard to use leverage to get more done with less time.

I earn $40,000+ per month as a solo creator.

If I had to start over, here's what I'd do: 🧵

1.) Start an weekly newsletter

If you have experience in a particular industry or niche, start there and position yourself as an expert.

If you don't have experience, pick something you're obsessed with and position yourself as a curious learner.

2.) Study, study, study

Whether you're starting from zero or already have experience in your niche, become one of the most knowledgeable people IN THE WORLD on that subject.

The better you know a subject, the more unique, insightful, and compelling your work.

So read – a LOT.

3.) Go HARD on Twitter

There's still a lot of opportunity on Twitter – especially with Threads.

Turn on notifications for big accounts in your niche and become visible (and appreciated) by being an early value-add in their replies.

Tweet daily and publish 1-2 threads per week.

4.) Repurpose your best threads

There's a huge arbitrage opportunity for turning your best threads into carousels on LinkedIn and Instagram.

You can use Tweetpik or go the extra mile and use a design template from @canva.

Sohaib 17 weeks ago:

• Ugly profile
• 31 followers
• Almost no traction

Sohaib now:

• 25,000+ followers
• Going viral on the usual
• +250 followers every day

Here are 7 simple things that helped me build a 25K+ audience:

👋 Join +4,143 others in Growth Tribe Newsletter

Every Saturday, you will get free tips/resources that will help you grow and monetize your one-person

I scaled my last SaaS startup to $2M/yr in <18 months with 0 paid ads.

Steal the 6 step blueprint I used:

Many startups over-rely on paid advertising.

I can tell you 1st hand, this is risky.

• Platform policies change
• Costs increase overnight
• Your audience gets ad fatigue

Which is why, you should consider organic marketing…

Organic marketing attracts customers...

But in a different way.

Paid ads = lead generation
Organic marketing = lead nurturing

You nurture people from social media followers,

Into community leaders, brand ambassadors, and loyal customers.

These 6 steps will show you how:

1) Create consistently

Organic marketing starts with consistency.

• Post daily
• Test ideas

Do your best to provide content your audience finds valuable.

And make sure it feels native to each platform.

At this point, your focus is daily action, not performance.

2) Leverage analytics

Leverage analytics to see what’s working.

Recommended metrics to measure:

• Likes
• Shares
• Profile visits
• Followers/ subs

Here’s what each will tell you…

Four simple headline formulas you can use on your ads or landing pages:

1. [Introduce The Product] x [Say What It Does]
2. [Value Creation] x [Tackle The Objection Behind It]
3. [Define The Outcome] x [Explain What Creates The Outcome]
4. [Be Specific] x [Add Your Hook]

If this helped you, then I think you'll enjoy my newsletter centered around growth marketing :)

- One case study every Thursday
- 40k+ marketers and founders read it
- Only goal is to make you a better marketer
- 3 min a week

Join us here

9 TED Talks in 9 days that will change your life:

Day 1:

Sleep is your Superpower by Matt Walker

• How we can get better sleep
• Why sleep is our life-support system
• Sleep's impact on learning, memory, and our immune

Day 2:

The Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown

• How happiness leads to courage
• Understand the importance of feeling connected

Day 3:

Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator by Tim Urban

• The conflict between the "instant gratification monkey" and the rational mind
• Why we binge YouTube and Netflix to avoid important

Day 4:

Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are by Amy Cuddy

• Power-posing and how it can change your mood
• How confidence leads to more successful outcomes