Navigating from “nice to meet you” to closing. — Today I’m drilling down on first meetings. Specifically, from an outbound sales and business development perspective. Why? Despite a ton of enthusiasm shared between both parties in many first meetings, they notoriously lead nowhere a lot of the time. No sales. No partnerships. Nada. This adds up to a significant…

People think he’s “performing alchemy.” — If you’re into Formula 1, you know that engineering prowess is absolutely critical to fielding a competitive racing car. Unlike many fictional movies and TV shows that suggest driver talent is by far the overwhelming input factor to success, the reality is very different. If F1 teams aren’t top of…

Here’s one, from a psychologist turned founder. — Mental health is one of the most overlooked areas of productivity optimization for entrepreneurs. A lot’s been said about the mechanics of building a startup (MVPs, fundraising, customer acquisition, etc) but the driving force making it all happen, a founder’s brain, gets relatively little attention. Small investments in this area…

Critical business lessons from the card table. — Last year revered founder, investor, operator, and incredible human being, Tony Hsieh died totally unexpectedly at 46. He is probably best known as the former CEO of Zappos, the online shoe retailer acquired by Amazon in a deal worth $1.2 billion way back in 2009. His untimely demise was met…

Their sales pitch to me was badass. — I know firsthand how frustrating it is to be a victim of commercial cybercrime. Both emotionally from watching your livelihood attacked, and, financially from losing a ton of money as a result of business disruption. Cybercrime has affected me since the first company I founded with friends, just over ten…

What makes you unstoppable. — You often hear about how perseverance played a huge role in the success of an entrepreneur’s journey. Stories about how ‘XYZ founder didn’t give up’, ‘just kept at it’, and ‘defied the odds’ despite continual setbacks, marketplace resistance, and scepticism are characteristic startup origin scenarios that persist throughout a company’s…

From Mark Cuban and the founders of Twitter, Zynga, and Craigslist. — Cold emailing has been one of the most popular topics I’ve written about through Founders’ Hustle so far. The idea that you can connect with someone extremely knowledgable, well-connected, or wealthy — from anywhere in the world, right now, for free — is incredibly compelling. It’s such a powerful mechanism…

Low friction, fast, and less expensive than legacy options. — This is the origin story of Claimer, who’ve created a seamless way for UK startups to claim R&D tax relief. Why is Claimer better for founders than legacy options? 10X faster and easier (automated). ⏩ Reliable, maximised claims (expert reviewed). 📈 Low cost (5% fee!) 😍 Bonus: use this referral…

How to make your customer acquisition thrive in the new iOS ‘era’. — If you have an iPhone app in the marketplace or are planning on releasing one, you’re likely astutely aware of the ‘bombshell’ update Apple is about to drop on iOS 14.5 as part of its App Tracking Transparency framework — IDFA deprecation. To those uninitiated, Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) is…