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Industrial Real Estate Investor and Business Operator

Barrett O'Neill

Andy Mewborn

Distribute

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Founder & Customer Support

Taplio

Co-Founder

Outreach

Enterprise Sales

Sales Engineering Lead

Scaled the early success team to 14 people.

Manager - Customer Success

Early Employee.
Specialties: Data Sync, API, Onboarding, Platform Integrations, Partner Ecosystem

Product 

Start-Up Chile

Our team was selected for Generation 11 of Start-Up Chile (the YC of South America). We provided solar energy services and installed solar power systems.

Gridlee - Co-founder & Sales

Progress Chef

Sales Development Representative

Muhuru Bay Community Microgrid Project

Designed 3kW off-grid power system
Modeled renewable energy resources at remote site
Implemented system in Kenya
Tested and installed 11-channel GSM telemetry system

Electrical Engineer

Seattle City Light

Power Systems Engineer

Distribute.so

I use to be young & cool. Now I do b2b SaaS. 

Husband. Dad. Ironman. Pilot. Taco lover. 

Founder of Distribute // Co-founder of Taplio (acq. by Lemlist) // Early @ Outreach.io.

Creator

A community of over 4,000+ B2B professionals growing together on Linkedin.

• "Brand30 absolutely did wonders for my business." -Maritha Koortzen

• "Brand30 changed the trajectory of my life...To say it’s opening doors for me is an understatement" - Amanda Stern

• "Brand30 provided the group accountability and expert advice I needed to more than double my LinkedIn engagement in just one month" 

🚀 Start Building An Audience Of Potential Buyers On LinkedIn In 30 Days👇

• https://www.brand30.io/

8 months ago, we had 0 users. Today, Distribute.so has 15,000+ users. I’ve helped build a $250M company before, but this feels different.

Building a startup is glamorized on social media. But the reality is messy. Here are the 7 ugly truths about building fast in 2025 that nobody talks about:

1. Hitting a wall is normal 
I've been stuck at revenue plateaus multiple times. It feels terrible. But you can get moving again if you don't freeze.

2. You will mess up 
I've hired the wrong people. I've built the wrong features. I've spent money on things I didn't need. It's part of the game.

3. People will copy you 
We just beat 4 competitors for a deal. They are going to look at our product and copy it. Let them. By the time they copy us, we will be onto the next thing.

4. Saying "No" is painful 
To close those 18 killer logos, we had to say "no" to hundreds of other ideas. It hurts to say no to customers. But if you try to please everyone, you please no one.

5. Cash flow is everything 
It doesn't matter how cool your idea is. If you run out of money, you die. We watch every dollar.

6. It takes longer than you think 
People overestimate what they can do in a year. And underestimate what they can do in a decade. We are playing the long game.

7. Just start 
Every successful founder started with nothing. No revenue. No customers. No audience. The only difference is they didn't quit.

I’m documenting the whole ride here. The wins. The losses. And the lessons.

Follow along if you want to see how we get to the next level. Just keep building.

Andrew Mewborn

Click my profile, get a free taco 🌮 (also I automate your follow-ups)

7 ugly truths about building fast in 2025

Everyone told me I was crazy. "You can't sell to Enterprise logos without a massive sales team." "You can't be Product-Led and Sales-Led at the same time."

I disagreed. We have 15,000+ users on our self-serve app. But we also just closed 18 massive killer logos in 3 months.

Here is the 7-step playbook we used to move upmarket without losing our soul:

1. We stayed lean intentionally 
Most founders hire 10 reps the moment they get traction. We didn't. We used our own product to handle the volume.

2. We looked at our own backyard 
We didn't buy cold lists. We looked at our 15,000 free users. We found the ones who were using the product every day. Then we asked them: "Who is your boss?"

3. We sold the Result, not the Method killer 
Buyers don't care how your tech works. They care about the problem disappearing. We showed them exactly how Distribute would solve their problem in week 1.

4. We gave before we asked 
We didn't try to trap them in long contracts immediately. We let them use the product. We let them see the value. Trust is built by giving, not taking.

5. We stopped chasing shortcuts 
We didn't use clever tricks. We just focused on making the product 1% better every day. Word of mouth is the only growth strategy that lasts.

6. We kept the team tiny 
We are doing millions in revenue potential with a team that fits in a minivan. This keeps us profitable. And it keeps us hungry.

7. We worked in public 
I shared the wins and the losses on LinkedIn. This built trust with buyers before we ever spoke to them. They felt like they knew us.

TAKEAWAY: You don't need to follow the Silicon Valley rules. You don't need to raise $100M. You don't need a fancy office. You just need a product that people love. And the guts to do it your way.

They said you can't sell Enterprise without a suit.

I helped build Outreach to $250M in revenue. I helped over 4,000 people grow on LinkedIn. Now, I have 15,000+ users on my new company, Distribute.so

I have seen the movie before. And I can tell you that the sequel is very different from the original.

Back in 2015, the playbook was simple: Force the sale. Hire an army of BDRs. Buy a massive list of emails. Send thousands of messages a day. It worked then. It doesn't work now.

Here are the 6 things that have changed in the last 10 years:

1. Buyers ignore the noise 
Email open rates have tanked. Sending more messages doesn't work anymore. You have to earn their attention, not demand it.

2. Don't push, attract 
You can't force a sale anymore. You have to create interest through content and brand. Then you capture that interest when they are ready.

3. Small teams are winning 
We closed 18 killer deals with a tiny team. You don't need 50 reps. You need a few seniors who know what they are doing.

4. Reputation is the new advantage 
Features get copied in a week. But they can't copy who you are. Your personal brand is the most efficient sales channel that exists.

5. Easy beats Powerful 
killer software used to be clunky and expensive. Now, the best tools feel like consumer apps. If it feels like work, they won't use it.

6. Speed over Forecasts 
We don't try to predict every dollar. We try to move fast. We launch, we test, we fix. Speed is the only advantage a startup really has.

TAKEAWAY: If you are still running the 2015 playbook, you are working too hard. The game has changed. You can either complain about it, or you can adapt. We chose to adapt. And it's working.

I helped build Outreach.io to $250M in revenue

I just beat 4 competitors to win a killer contract. We didn't have the most features. We didn't have the biggest sales team. But we have 15,000+ users and just closed our 18th killer logo in 3 months.

How did we do it? We realized that the old way of selling software is broken. Most founders try to build everything for everyone. They add buttons, settings, and complex workflows. They think "more features" equals "more value."

They are wrong. In 2025, buyers are overwhelmed. They don't want another tool they have to learn. They want something that just works.

Here is the 7-step playbook we used to win on Simplicity:

1. Go where the big fish swim 
We didn't wait for them to come to us. We found where they were hanging out and showed up.

2. Prove it, don't pitch it 
Our competitors sent 40-page slide decks. We sent a link to the product. If you have to explain how it works, it's too complicated.

3. The "Zero-Training" Standard 
We built Distribute so a 5th grader could use it. If a user needs a certification to use your tool, you have already lost. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

4. Escape the "Feature Trap" 
Customers will ask for a million things. We said "no" to 90% of them. We only built the things that made the core product faster and easier.

5. Sell it yourself 
I didn't hire a VP of Sales to figure this out. I did it myself. Founders should sell until at least $500K ARR because nobody knows the product like you do.

6. Find the "Aha!" instantly 
We found the one specific thing that made users say "wow." Then we made that experience happen in under 60 seconds.

7. Let the product drive the deal 
When the product is simple, the champion can sell it internally for you. They don't need you to fly in for a demo. They just show their boss, and the boss gets it.

TAKEAWAY: Startups are hard. But in 2025, complex startups are impossible. Stop building more. Start building simpler. That is how you win.

I just beat 4 competitors to win a killer contract

intern: "should I add my phone number to my email signature?"

CEO: "absolutely, we're accessible"

intern: "what about my LinkedIn?"

CEO: "yes, we're modern"

intern: "calendar booking link?"

CEO: "of course, we're efficient"

intern: "headshot?"

CEO: "why not, we're human"

intern sends first email

signature is 47 lines long

includes:

• 3 phone numbers
• 4 social media links
• calendar link
• company tagline
• legal disclaimer
• "Sent from my iPhone"
• sustainability notice about not printing emails
• AI-generated motivational quote

the actual email says "sounds good"

we promoted them to Head of Email Excellence

I spent 3 hours on a crap ton of follow-ups at Outreach while we scaled to $250M. Now our 15,000+ Distribute users do better follow-ups in 30 seconds. After closing 18 deals in the past few months, I learned something most founders miss: complexity kills deals, simplicity closes them.

Here's why the best salespeople are deleting tools, not adding them:

1// YOUR BUYERS DON’T WANT YOUR 55-SLIDE DECK

They want one page with what you discussed, the ROI, and next steps.

We tracked 10,000+ deals.

Average time on slide decks? 47 seconds.

Average time on simple deal pages? 8 minutes.


2// YOUR CHAMPION CAN’T SELL INTERNALLY WITH MEETING NOTES

They need a business case, ROI calculator, and executive summary.

Not a transcript.

When we switched from sending 27 attachments to one link, deal velocity increased MUCHO.


3// EVERY TOOL YOU ADD CREATES ANOTHER PLACE TO LOSE

The average rep uses 10+ tools for follow-ups.

Fathom for notes. Loom for demos. Google Docs for emails. Canva for slides.

The winners? They use one tool that does it all.


4// SIMPLICITY SPREADS FASTER THAN FEATURES

When we made Distribute dead simple, word-of-mouth exploded.

No training needed. No change management.

Just send your follow-up in 30 seconds and move on.


TAKEAWAY:

I watched Outreach grow because it simplified prospecting.

Now I'm watching Distribute grow because it simplifies follow-ups.

The pattern is clear.

Simplicity isn't just a feature.

It's a moat.

We beat 4 competitors  with 90% fewer features

prospect: "tell me about your product"

me: "what if I told you that you could save 20 hours per week?"

prospect: "how?"

me: "great question. let me share my screen. can you see this?"

prospect: "yes"

me: "perfect. so imagine your current workflow..."

**proceeds to spend 40 minutes describing their own job back to them**

me: "...and that's where we come in"

prospect: "what does your product actually do?"

me: "I'm going to send over some case studies and let's reconnect next week"

booked the follow-up

still haven't answered what we do

this is sales

Step by step ↓

Let me tell you what's really going on…

When a prospect says "we don't have budget"…

They're not broke.

They just spent $47 on DoorDash last night. They've got budget for a new CRM. Budget for that conference in Miami.

What they DON'T have?

A reason to fight for YOUR deal.

See… right now, they're sitting in some internal meeting. Your proposal is open on their screen. And their CFO asks:

"Why do we need this?"

And your prospect?

They freeze.

They fumble.

They can't remember what you said. Can't articulate the ROI. Can't justify the spend.

So the deal dies. Not because of "budget." Because you made THEM do the selling.

That's on you.

Here's the fix:

Send them a Deal Summary BEFORE they go dark.

One page. One link. Everything they need to sell this deal internally:

→ The bleeding-neck problem you're solving 
→ The cost of doing NOTHING (this is the killer) 
→ Exactly what you're proposing 
→ What happens next

You do the selling. They just forward the link.

Takes 2 minutes. Saves you from chasing ghosts for 3 weeks.

💬 Comment "TACO"

I'll send you the exact Deal Summary template I use to close deals without begging for follow-ups.

💬 Comment "TACO"

Last week I asked 4,000+ sellers how long they spend on follow-ups. 73% said 2-3 hours. That's 750 hours per year writing emails nobody reads. I helped build Outreach to $250M, and even we were wasting time on follow-ups.

Here's the math that'll make you sick:

Let's say you close 20 deals per year. Each deal takes 5 calls. Each call needs a 3-hour follow-up. That's 300 hours. Or 37.5 work days. You're spending 2 months per year on admin work.

**screams at sky***

While you write follow-ups, your competitors are on their next call.

Here's what actually works in 2025:

1// Stop crafting. Start automating.

AI can write better follow-ups than you.
It remembers everything. Never forgets the ROI discussion.
Includes the right case studies.
Our 15,000 users proved this.

2// Stop sending files. Send experiences.

PDFs get lost.
Attachments get ignored.
But a personalized page? That gets shared with the CFO.
We see 3x higher engagement on deal pages vs traditional follow-ups.

3// Stop hoping. Start tracking.

You need to know when the CFO views pricing. When legal downloads the contract. When your deal goes cold.

Email can't tell you this. 

The sellers crushing quota aren't working harder.

They're working different.

They turned 3-hour follow-ups into 30 seconds.

And their buyers actually engage.

Holy sh*t, right?

You waste 37.5 days per year on follow-ups

I helped scale Outreach to $250M. Then I started my own company and made every mistake I swore I never would. Here are the 6 dumbest things I did building Distribute to 15,000 users:

1// I spent 3 months building features nobody asked for

We had a roadmap. It was beautiful. Customers wanted something else entirely. I should have talked to 50 more people before writing a single line of code.


2// I chased logos instead of problems

Early on, I got excited when big names showed interest. I bent the product to fit them. They churned anyway. The customers who stayed were the ones whose problem we actually solved.


3// I wrote follow-up copy like a robot

I'm embarrassed to show you our early emails. Corporate garbage. The moment I started writing like a human, reply rates doubled.


4// I ignored my own LinkedIn audience for 6 months

I had built a following. I knew how to create content. But I thought "real companies" needed paid ads and SDR teams. Wrong. My posts still drive more pipeline than anything else.


5// I hired before I had a repeatable process

Brought on help too early. They failed. It wasn't their fault. I didn't have a playbook to hand them yet.


6// I thought the product would sell itself

It doesn't. Nothing does. Even great products need someone to explain why they matter.


TAKEAWAY:

Building a startup is just a series of mistakes.

The winners aren't the ones who avoid them.

They're the ones who make them faster and don't repeat them.

I'm still making mistakes every week.

But at least they're new ones.

I made every mistake I swore I never would

spent all morning analyzing our competitors

Competitor A: raised $50M, has 200 employees, beautiful website
Competitor B: raised $30M, has enterprise clients, won industry awards
Competitor C: bootstrapped to $10M ARR, profitable, amazing product

Us: 1 founders, $a couple mil raised, website built on Webflow template, LinkedIn is our entire marketing strategy

but here's the thing...

we respond to customer emails in under 5 minutes

our competitors take 3 business days

we shipped 12 features last month

they shipped a new font

we're not better funded

we're not better positioned

we're just more desperate

and in B2B SaaS, desperation scales

We just won a deal against 4 established competitors. They had 10X the funding, bigger brands, and fancier demos. But we won all 4 times. After helping 4,000+ people grow on LinkedIn and scaling Outreach to $250M, I knew exactly why: buyers don't want more tools, they want less work.

Here's how we beat everyone:

Competitor 1: 55 features, 3-hour onboarding
Us: 3 features that actually matter, 5-minute setup

Competitor 2: "AI-powered intelligence platform"
Us: "Your follow-up in 30 seconds"

Competitor 3: 47-page implementation guide
Us: Chrome extension. Click. Done.

Competitor 4: $500/month per user
Us: $49/month. Everything included.

**drops mic**

Here's what I learned closing our first big deals:

1// FEATURES ARE A TAX ON YOUR BUYERS

Every feature needs explaining.
Every option needs deciding.
Every setting needs configuring.
We do one thing perfect instead of 50 things okay.

2// COMPLEXITY IS WHERE DEALS GO TO DIE

The moment a buyer says "let me check with IT," you lost.
The moment they need training, you lost.
Make it so simple they can start now.

3// YOUR CHAMPION NEEDS TO LOOK SMART

They don't win by showing a complex tool.
They win by solving a problem fast.
Give them a quick win, not a science project.

We have 15,000+ users not because we're the best.

But because we're the simplest.

And in 2025, simple beats everything.

Every. Single. Time. YALL.

Year 1: "we're pre-product-market fit, iterating rapidly"
Translation: nobody wants this

Year 2: "we're finding early signals of PMF"
Translation: 2 customers didn't churn

Year 3: "we've achieved strong product-market fit"
Translation: we stopped pivoting because we're tired

Year 4: "we're scaling past PMF into market domination"
Translation: we hired a VP of Sales who convinced us we're doing great

Year 5: "we're exploring strategic alternatives"
Translation: acquisition talks because we never actually found PMF

Year 6: got acquired for $8M by a company that will shut us down in 9 months

called it a "successful exit"

changed LinkedIn title to "Founder & CEO (Exited)"

already working on the next one

"Just wanted to follow up…"
"Circling back on this…"
"Do you have 15 minutes this week?"

Trash. Trash. Trash.

Your hottest prospect isn't ghosting you because they're "busy."

They're ghosting you because your follow-up looks EXACTLY like the 47 other desperate emails rotting in their inbox.

Same template. Same energy. Same trash folder.

Here's what nobody tells you:

That prospect DOES remember you. They're just not compelled to respond.
Because you're making it about YOU.

They don't care about your calendar. They care about their PROBLEMS.

So flip it.

Send them a personalized page that says:

"I remember what you told me. Here's why it matters. Here's exactly how I can help."

→ Their name on it 
→ Their problem front and center 
→ The cost of ignoring it 
→ A clear next step

One link. Takes 10 minutes to build.

Lands completely different than everything else in their inbox.

High effort signal = high response rate.

Especially for enterprise prospects who've gone dark.

💬 Comment "FOLLOWUP"

I'll send you the exact template I use to resurrect dead deals and get responses from prospects who've been ghosting for weeks.

💬 Comment "FOLLOWUP"

muchas gracias,
Andrew

customer: "can you add dark mode?"
us: "it's on the roadmap"

customer: "can you fix this bug?"
us: "it's on the roadmap"

customer: "can you add SSO?"
us: "it's on the roadmap"

customer: "can we see the roadmap?"
us: "that's on the roadmap"

our roadmap is a Google Doc titled "stuff_we_might_do_idk.doc"

it hasn't been updated since 2023

we closed $2M ARR this year

turns out "it's on the roadmap" is enterprise software for "leave me alone"

Sellers

What’s more dangerous for sales teams: bad managers or bad AI tools?

A) Bad managers – morale killer
B) Bad AI – data chaos
C) Both – one demotivates, the other misleads
D) Neither – blame the process, not the tools

P.S. - My AI handles 90% of my sales process now—prospecting, follow-ups, closing. Set it up in 90 seconds: https://lnkd.in/eNYQ3DeQ

What’s more dangerous for sales teams: bad managers or bad AI tools?

Sellers

Biggest time waster for sellers?

A) Internal meetings
B) CRM updates
C) Chasing bad-fit deals
D) Waiting on legal/procurement

P.S. - If your follow-ups take longer than 60 seconds, you're doing it wrong. Take the quiz: https://lnkd.in/eNYQ3DeQ

Sellers

Would you take feedback from an AI “sales coach”?

A) Yes – No bias, just data
B) Maybe – Only if it knows context
C) No – You can’t coach without empathy
D) I already do — ChatGPT’s my therapist

P.S. - My AI handles 90% of my sales process now—prospecting, follow-ups, closing. Set it up in 90 seconds: www.distribute.so/quiz

How Top 1% Sellers Run Discovery Calls That Close Deals Before The Demo Even Happens

Subject: Q3 Investor Update - Momentum Building! 🚀

"we're seeing incredible traction"
(3 people signed up for free trial)

"pipeline is robust"
(47 cold emails scheduled to send)

"team is executing flawlessly"
(nobody quit this month)

"burn is under control"
(we switched to cheaper office coffee)

"expanding into enterprise"
(cold called a company with 51 employees)

"product velocity is increasing"
(intern fixed a typo on the homepage)

"positioned for breakout growth in Q4"
(we're desperate and running out of money)

investors replied: "great progress, keep it up!"

they definitely didn't read it

next fundraise starts Monday

taplio

The Battle

Barrett O'Neill

Andy Mewborn

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taplio

The Battle

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Andy Mewborn

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Engagements

Likes

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