Andrej Persolja

Experiencing stagnant growth? DM me to help reposition your tech startup to attract best-fit customers 🚀 Lowered CAC by 52% for my last startup 🏹 Founder, Positioning @ Tangible Growth

You've built a good product. You're growing. But does it feel harder than it should?

Hi. I'm Andrej. I help CEOs in complex industries fix three things that kill growth: unclear positioning, misaligned teams, and spending money on developing products & features users don't buy.

- If you are stuck in alignment calls
- not 100% happy with what your website says
- If your board or co-founders are asking questions you don't know how to answer... I've probably seen (and solved) what you are experiencing.

Because the real cost of these challenges? Isn't just growth. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮. You're spending mental energy keeping everyone happy. Second-guessing your decisions on a Sunday night. Spending time in meetings instead of enjoying it with family. (You sigh, as you message your group of friends saying you won't make it to your basketball game for the third week in a row).

This 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 how leading a company should feel like. As a co-founder, I spent 2 years trying every marketing hack in the book chasing growth. Templates, frameworks, books... Nothing changed until we realized the problem wasn't tactics, but positioning. I never wanted to feel that way again, so I got really good at fixing it.

Because here's the truth: This is a 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 problem at your stage. Internally, positioning breaks because your company is evolving. Externally, you are competing against teams with bigger budgets that make clear, de-risked decision. Most founders hire consultants hoping for the answer, but their frameworks never get implemented. That's the gap.

I've been fortunate to learn from and work alongside the best in the industry, including Seth Godin, Brian Tracy, and Philip Kotler, which created the foundation of everything I do with founders:

Instead of consulting, I work with your team. We map your market, find your strengths, turn them into a competitive advantage. One that works across your product, marketing, and sales.

The result of that is confidence & clarity on what to build, who to target, and how to win.This approach has:

✔️ Helped a CEO scale their B2B SaaS from $1M to $3M in < 12 months.
✔️ Helped a management team build a defensible strategy for a B2C tech company scaling from $10M to $30M
✔️ Helped a B2B AI team deliver 10 impressive leads (Accenture, Bridgestone, ERM) proving traction before going for Series A. 

I work with max 3 companies per quarter. If you want that to be you, book a call. 

Let's see how we can turn the challenges you are facing into your competitive advantage: https://tidycal.com/tangible-growth/discovery-call

Founder

With Tangible Growth, I want to help you turn poor positioning symptoms:

➡️ You have some loyal customers, but new clients don’t know what you do
➡️ You have long sales processes, low conversion rates
➡️ Clients object your prices.
➡️ You don't get enough or get poor quality leads
➡️ People are leaving your product.

Into a strong positioning strategy, where you will be able to leverage your newly found position to:
💥 Get more high-quality leads at a lower cost
💥 Convert more leads into clients
💥 Charge more
💥 Increase your product's lifetime value
💥 Grow sustainably!

Send me an email to grow@apersolja.com and let's nail your positioning.

We sailed past $1M ARR in November. In December, we hit $1.5M. But we didn't get there by chasing hacks. Instead, we focused on 3 things that most SaaS companies at $1M+ ignore 👇

I joined Aimfox end of September as a CMO/CGO.
The growth has been explosive. We keep raising the goals and just... keep hitting them.

The results are mostly down to having an amazing product (becoming a top choice in the outreach space), mastering the foundations and the team's hard work.

Here are the 3 major moves we made immediately:

**1. We treated onboarding like it matters (because it does)**
This comes down to a long-standing belief: If users don't understand the value of product IMMEDIATELY, they drop off in the funnel. So...
- We simplified the UX.
- We set better context.
- We managed expectations.

The results? Double the website to paying user conversion rates. I'm surprised more companies don't make better care of how the users experience their products. 

The UX improvements translate nicely onto the bottom line. At each point in the buyer's journey think: What does the customer know? What's the next piece of information they need to make a decision? And then give them that.

PS. If you think your software might need UX work, feel free to send this post to your CEO / CPO or tag them in the comments below. 

**2. We got serious about analytics.**
Tracking what matters helps us segments clients so we can serve unique customer segments... uniquely. It's not (just) about maximizing the profits, but mostly about (again) giving the users the experience they are looking for. 

The analytics currently help us qualify users, but in the future, we have a HUGE plan to set up systems that will allow you to go down a completely unique path in the software.

The goal is providing as much value as possible to each individual user. That value translates into higher order value and higher retention rates. = more happiness for the client. More money for the company.

**3. We went where our customers are.**
The key to early growth is collaboration. Our clients already do outreach. So we partnered with Instantly.ai. They are using Clay, so we hosted a Clay event. You get the point. Early... Don't try to change your users' habits. Latch onto them instead. 

Shout out to Aleksandar Besarovic who is absolutely killing it in building these relationships. And if you are interested in partnering or integrating with Aimfox, don't hesitate to reach out to him. 

2026? Goals are even bigger.
I'm not going to spoil anything, but we have some massive announcements coming in the next weeks and months. So stay tuned and click that follow button.

Would you like to be a part of the discussion: Oyku and I are thinking of hosting a small get-together. A live (online) event, where we would be sharing insights and exhanging knowledge on things we are doing to grow our companies. Interested? Add your name below, tag someone else in, or DM either of us:)

Fractional Growth (CMO/CGO) | Growing Aimfox | 🏂 Fan of snowboarding, motorsports & rock concerts.

At the end of the month I am recording a podcast with the man who was pivotal in ClickUp's growth to 10M users. 

I'm not exagerating, says so right on their website. 

Gaurav Agarwal is the Chief Operation Officer at ClickUp and has played a crucial role in developing a hybrid go-to-market strategy that combines product-led and sales-assist approaches, effectively reducing customer acquisition costs and enhancing revenue generation. 

As a fan of PLG + Sales assisted growth working together, I'm sure we'll have a good conversation (I'll try not to get too nerdy around Clickup's positioning & GTM, but I'm making no promises 😅)

But I wanted to hear from YOU. If you had the chance... what would you ask Clickup's COO? (Think: what would help my company / client?)

Fair warning: I've already collected some questions by industry leaders (more on that in future posts), so I can't promise every question will get asked, but I'll consider every one of them and choose the ones that will suit the narrative I have in mind. 

PS. Make sure to give me a follow for future posts and click on that bell button to be the first one notified when the episode airs.

Zoom made my business.  
In‑person meetings made it scale.

I worked with SaaS teams all over the world on Zoom… California, NY, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Australia... and I still try to meet every client face-to-face at key moments.

Why?

Harvard’s Tsedal Neeley puts it bluntly:  
“Even in the age of digital communication, periodic face-to-face meetings are essential. They help global teams build trust more quickly, resolve miscommunication, and establish norms that make virtual collaboration far more effective.”

The problem I see in our industry for most fractionals / service providers?

They treat in-person as random.  
“I’ll visit when I’m in the area.”  
“We’ll see about meeting at the next conference.”

The last designer that I worked with wasn't thrilled to meet and we were in the same town!

I get that travel comes with its problems. But SaaS world moves to fast for you to wait for the next "excuse" to be in town. And with the simplicity of travel today, there is no excuse not to "go the extra mile" and meet your team in person.

In my mind, the key is to be there for your clients in key moments.
- When you are starting to work together and need to set up workflows
- For important strategy decisions
- To workshop things like positioning, website redesign
- When fundraising or closing a HUGE client.

Everything else? Status updates. Feature reviews. Async feedback... 

Keeping those remote. ruthlessly. Not just remote, but often off-Zoom as well. I found that too many Zoom calls lead to me being "zoomed out". Thank you Loom for often saving me from too many meetings.

Anyway, that’s how I try and get the best of both worlds:
- Efficiency from digital that allows me to work with any team.
- Depth from in-person that allows me to build relationship and make decisions faster.

I’ve literally wrote this from the Aimfox's office in Belgrade.

Zoom got us started. We first met remote.
Being in the room is what’s going to help them scale faster. We already have big plans in work for Q1.

If you’re a fractional or any type of a service provider, here’s your quick filter:

Before booking your next flight, ask:  
1️⃣ Is this about trust, ambiguity, or a high‑stakes decision?  
2️⃣ Will this materially change the size, length, or quality of this relationship?  
3️⃣ Will the insight from this meeting compound across multiple accounts?

If you get a yes, pack your bags.

And if you are a founder / CEO reading this. Invite your "outside" team members to your office. Get to meet them. You'll get more results that way. And some friends in the process.

I recently spoke to one of the highest valued GTM strategist in SaaS and asked him what he thought was the key to growing a SaaS.

I'll share a detailed answer later (click that follow button for notification), but a simple answer is: You need to focus on your customers and their experience .

Which is exactly what we found with Aimfox. Our growth is down to a combination of having a good product + giving the users the experience they need. 

And I'm not just talking about the easy-to-use software. But about our users value drivers. In short: You need to meet them where they are, raise the right expectations, the product needs to deliver. 

More in the article below. Save for later or share if you found it useful. Appreciate it.

Happy new year :) If you are like me, you are heavy into 12-hours working days since January 1st and have already forgotten we were on holidays less t

Open article: #18 - THE UX TRUTH: TIME TO VALUE MATTERS MORE THAN... by Andrej Persolja • 3 min read

#18 - THE UX TRUTH: TIME TO VALUE MATTERS MORE THAN...

In 2026, my goal is to "do more cool stuff". (I didn't say "stuff" 😉) But then my Miro notes hit against reality...

I've been reflecting on my own goals for 2026, and the reality is, I'm already pulling 10 hour days. Simply "doing more" isn't the answer.

It got me thinking about past projects and people I've worked with. Many SaaS founders I work with, are in a similar situation, feeling overwhelmed and drowning in meetings. But what's truly behind this constant busyness?

I found busyness often comes from a lack of team alignment.

During "positioning week" - a service I run to help companies figure out their positioning in a week - I have an excercise where you ask your departnment heads 3 questions:
- What's our most important customer segment?
- Why do they buy?
- What's the most important focus for our company for the next 12 months?

If you get 2-3 different answers, this misalignment in the vision typically means you are mostly stuck in endless debates. Decision become based on "who can convince who". It's office politics, counter-productive and utterly exhausting.

That's why I love operating with data. When the company's decisions are based on data, the discussions stop, or, better yet, become productive. 

For example, when you operate with opinions, you might like feature X. The head of marketing likes feature Y. The head of sales likes their own reflection in the mirror. Who wins?

If you have the data (63% of customers say they prefer X as the next feature instead of Y) it's much easier to do the decision to go with feature X. 

In a way, positioning is more of a people management problem than a technical problem. 

Positioning misalignment = days feel long, exhausting, and unproductive.
When people rally around a comon position = every challenge feels "easy".

I recently connected with Anita, who approaches this same problem from a different angle. She helps burnt-out founders rediscover their passion for their business amidst the chaos.

I focus on aligning positioning to improve company performance. She focuses on reclaiming a founder's time and energy... to improve company performance.

Together, we address the core issues that impact both the business and the leader.

**And that sparked an idea.**

We want to tackle this problem live and are offering a "hotseat" kind of an opportunity for a SaaS company dealing with a positioning challenge, led by a CEO who feels like they can't catch a break.

If your marketing efforts aren't resonating...
If sales growth has plateaued...
If you're simply tired of the relentless daily grind...

We want to dive deep into your situation and present a clear, actionable solution during a live event. (Obviously in a way that doesn't expose your data or show you in a bad way to the public)

You in? DM either of us or comment below. And if you know someone that might benefit, do tag them in the comments.

10+ years of experience in marketing taught me something: we’re better off when we stop pretending we have it all figured out and actually start talking about the messier parts of the job with people who get it.

Next week, Oyku and I are hosting a small session for CMOs and growth leaders. 

There are no stages, no slide decks, and definitely no vendor pitches. It’s just a few of us in a room talking about the challenges we are facing, and specifically about how to manage client expectations when your sales numbers are down.

If you’re a CMO or Head of Marketing in SaaS and you’re tired of only hearing about the wins, this is for you.

Intrigued? DM Oyku or me and I’ll send over the details. If you know someone who needs to be in this room, tag them or pass this along.

Helping B Corps turn their subscribers into their biggest F.A.N.s | Ethical email marketing strategist | Pasta person | Nomad, currently: Vietnam

Your email list is a goldmine, but somehow, your subscribers aren't converting as well and as consistently as you hoped.

Most mission-driven B2B and eCommerce brands know email marketing could be a game-changer, but they're stuck copying "best practices" that treat people like walking wallets – tactics that feel completely misaligned with your brand's values.

Your team is stretched thin, stumbling through campaigns without strategic understanding. You can't confidently show stakeholders how email contributes to revenue because you're tracking opens and clicks instead of revenue attribution.

Here's what's actually possible: systematic email marketing that respects your audience while generating six-figure results. 

After helping brands generate $203K from a previously neglected list in less than two months, and increase event sales by 39.65% with one simple email strategy, the pattern is clear – 

You don't have to choose between authentic relationships and revenue.

The missing piece? 

Someone with deep email expertise who can step into your business and take strategic ownership of this channel while understanding that mission-driven brands need different approaches.

Your email marketing doesn't have to feel pushy or compromise your values. 

When you have the right strategic foundation, your existing audience can transform into a consistent source of qualified prospects who are genuinely excited for sales conversations, or repeat customers eager to use your products.

If you are ready to turn your email marketing into a revenue-generating asset that actually aligns with your mission - send me a message. I'd love to connect.

Yuval Ackerman

Email marketing can feel pretty isolating these days, especially when you're trying to do it thoughtfully.

So I'm starting a monthly call for email marketers - consultants, in-house folks, freelance strategists - who want to talk shop with people who get it.

This month, we're discussing what's worth paying attention to in 2026, what's just noise, and how to approach email marketing this year without getting sucked into every shiny new tactic that shows up in your feed.

Share what you're dealing with, hear what others are trying, and connect with peers who understand the work.

First one's January 22nd at 6pm GMT / 12pm EST. Limited to 10 people.

RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/ev5s8BvK

P.S. CMOs and CEOs at purpose-driven B2B companies - I run a different monthly roundtable for you! 

January's focus is turning that "improve email marketing" line in your 2026 plan into concrete execution, before another quarter passes and email stays in the same spot. Join my newsletter, and the invite will get to your inbox tomorrow: ethicalemails.co/subscribe

Helping marketing teams find the 6-figure revenue in their email list | Ethical email strategist & consultant for B2B and eCommerce B Corps, 1% for the Planet & mission-driven brands | International speaker | Pasta fan🍝

Every so often, I get a project inquiry that looks amazing on paper… until it absolutely doesn’t.

The brief is solid.

The budget is generous.

The potential is huge.

And then the client casually drops a line that makes my stomach turn:

“Yeah, we’ve added people to our list without permission.”

Unfortunately 1: I hear this from both eCommerce and B2B brands.

Unfortunately 2: I’m not surprised anymore.

Unfortunately 3: It’s still deeply disappointing.

Because apart from being illegal in most parts of the world, adding people to your list without their consent is one of the stupidest tactics a brand can use.

As consumers, everyone hates it. They report it as spam. They talk about it publicly. They remember who did it.

And from a business perspective:

Spam complaints tank domain reputation. Domain reputation controls deliverability. And when deliverability drops, even your happy, willing, eager subscribers stop seeing your emails.

So yes, the damage is real, expensive, and slow to fix.

Which is why, when these inquiries come in, I ask one simple question:

“How do you plan to grow your list from now on?”

If someone wants to do better, amazing. We move forward.

But if their answers are evasive, vague, or “we’ll see”… That’s all the information I need.

And that’s when I say (gently, but firmly): I’m not the right partner for you.

Not because I’m on a moral high horse. Not because I think every business can afford to say no. And not because I’m pretending to be perfect.

But because Ethical Emails has red lines I won’t cross, and consent is one of them.

To me, saying “no” to such projects and inquiries is part of being a solution in an industry with far too many problems.

And honestly, it’s easier to hold these boundaries when I’m surrounded by clients who actually give a damn.

They don’t just talk about their values, they document them. They publish them. They hold themselves accountable to them.

So last year, I followed their example and finally published EE’s long-overdue manifesto: my commitments, boundaries, and uncrossable lines.

Because the question that keeps coming back to me is:

What do you want to be known for when this is all said and done?

Not just what you achieved, but how you achieved it.

The businesses that will be remembered aren’t ones that took the fastest shortcut, but that stood for something and actually lived it.

If you’re curious about the boundaries I hold (for myself and for the brands I partner with), you can read the full manifesto here:

https://lnkd.in/gdDRG_B3

Your 2026 marketing strategy says *something* about email:

Improve conversions, get consistent with it, or finally figure out what you're doing with it.

The first monthly roundtable of the year is about that gap: the distance between the line in your marketing plan and actual execution.

One hour with fellow CEOs and founders at purpose-driven B2B companies, talking about turning email plans into work that moves the needle.

January 22nd, 4pm GMT / 11am EST. 

Only 10 spots available.

Join my email list to get an invite: ethicalemails.co/subscribe

This is the harsh truth about monthly newsletters…

Most B2Bs send one newsletter a month and call it a strategy.

But if the average person gets 121 emails a day (that’s 3,630 a month), your one lonely newsletter is fighting a LOT of inbox noise.

And if your subscriber sees your brand name only 12 times a year… the likelihood they are going to remember or recommend you is ridiculously low.

They won’t click.

And they definitely won’t buy.

People don’t think about your brand nearly as much as you think about your brand.

You might remember 10 brands that consistently show up with something relevant or valuable in your inbox.

What about sender names you don’t recognize?

You unsubscribe from their list because you don’t even remember who they are.

And no, the answer isn’t “send more emails.”

It's: “send smarter emails, more consistently.”

So if you’re serious about growing your revenue and impact with this channel, stop sending only one email a month.

Start showing up like you actually want to be remembered.

If your email strategy is “send to everyone,” you’re wasting money, momentum, and carbon.

Every email has a cost - in deliverability, in attention, and even in environmental impact.

So when my clients say, “Let’s email the whole list,” I always ask:

• Who really needs to see this?
• What’s in it for them?
• Does this email actually move your goals forward, or is it just noise?

That’s exactly what I did with my clients’ annual event promotion strategy.

When we stopped emailing everyone and started being intentional, they hit record highs:

• +39.65% more ticket sales
• +16.28% higher attendance
• Fewer emails sent. Less carbon. More impact.

Email marketing is about reaching the right people, with the right message, at the right time.

If you want to see real ROI from your emails this year, book a no-obligation disco call https://lnkd.in/gUTyunWE

The hidden cost of "sending emails to everyone"

If I were a CEO of an Email Service Provider in 2026, this is what I would’ve invested in to make my company way ahead of the competition:



Many people ask me about my favorite ESP or for a recommendation.

The truth is, this is a near-impossible question to answer.

Because none of them are perfect.

This is also why you haven’t seen me sharing any ESP-sponsored posts (although never say never, and no shade to my excellent, excellent colleagues who do that!).

In fact, I think that most ESPs are investing in all the wrong places... Either to please shareholders who have shiny object syndrome, or to make their users slightly and temporarily happier.

• Releasing more AI features, like subject line checkers and image generation tools
• Developing more pre-built email templates and automated flows
• Giving more options to communicate with subscribers via SMS

When the reality is, these are only band-aids, while a lot of ESPs don’t have super basic functionalities figured out.

(I’m looking at you, ESPs that still can’t automatically tag/segment subscribers when they click on links in emails!)

With the AI hype refusing to dwindle, competition breathing down their neck, and inbox providers making their requirements harder, ESPs' CEOs are under a lot of pressure. 

Which brings me to what I believe would be a game-changer for any ESP that takes both acquisition and retention seriously in 2026 and beyond.

I would love to see an ESP develop a native AI tool that would produce a trustworthy periodic deliverability report (not just “delivery”), and give users real recommendations on what they could improve - and how. 

Because if you can’t even reach the inboxes of your subscribers, all those bells and whistles don’t mean a damn thing.

Deliverability is something I doubled down on in 2025, and I will continue to expand my knowledge of it this year - because my clients deserve the best. And it’s a topic many good brands out there need more guidance on.

But I don’t see any ESPs taking the lead on such a thing when they’re still making their users believe that open rates are as important as 10 years ago...

I would love to be wrong, though.

What are you doubling down on with your email marketing in 2026?

After a year of hosting monthly email-marketing roundtables, a pattern emerged:

The “new challenges” people kept naming… weren’t new at all.

They were the same systemic issues, repeating across dozens of businesses, and are the most common problems that all businesses face now (and have faced for a while).

2026 will include more conversations that will give you additional perspectives, support you, and reshape the way you think about email in the best way.

Want to join these conversations this year? Sign up for my email list - only my subscribers get an invite: 

ethicalemails.co/subscribe

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The Battle

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