I'm building two digital businesses, growing an audience to 200K+ with 140M+ impressions, and partnering with founders and creators - generating millions in revenue.

How I got here:

2015: Graduated with no connections, no network and no one who looked like me in the rooms I wanted to be in.

2017: Joined BT (£20bn company) as a graduate. One of 200 selected from 26,000 applicants.

2019: Started posting on LinkedIn. Built Gradvance on the side. Began placing graduates at Google, TikTok, Amazon and more.

2023: Moved into BT's innovation team. Launched first in-house digital marketing agency. Scaled start-ups and SaaS businesses with Meta Ads and Google Ads (£100K+/month paid media spend).

2024: Became Chair of BT's Ethnic Diversity Network. Won multiple awards for DE&I and leadership across a business of 100,000+ people. 

2025: Left corporate to go all in. Co-founded Launchpad Creators and scaled fast.

And on the 1st January 2026, I welcomed my first-born son into the world. A very special time.

What I've built:

Gradvance is a UK leading graduate career academy. 450+ placements, £12.4M+ in salary outcomes. (6 figures)

Launchpad Creators is a growth marketing partner for founders and creators. Full funnels, paid ads, creative execution and everything in between. Partners include some of the world's leading founders and creators. (7 figures) 

🚀 Interested in partnering with us? Visit launchpadcreators.com

If you want to learn more or you're building something of your own, I'm documenting the full journey in my newsletter - growing a personal brand, running paid ads without burning cash, operating and scaling digital businesses. The lessons, failures, frameworks and insights. 

And if you're not ready for any of that yet, welcome anyway. I share actionable tips on entrepreneurship, marketing, leadership, careers and personal growth 🌱

📩 Subscribe to my newsletter: dan-mian.com

📩 For sponsorships or brand partnerships: dan@dan-mian.com

Dan Mian

Employers look for “the perfect candidate.”

Flawless CV.
Top university.
Years of industry experience.

But this is short-sighted.
Incredible talent is overlooked.

Some of the best performers I’ve ever met didn’t tick every box.

But they showed:

→ Hunger
→ Growth mindset
→ Coachability
→ Curiosity
→ Genuine drive to get better

You can teach skills.
But you can’t teach attitude.

Here’s what great employers do differently:

1️⃣ Hire for mindset
↳ Ambition beats a perfect CV every time.

2️⃣ Look beyond industry experience
↳ New ideas and perspectives are valuable

3️⃣ Invest in development
↳ Great training can nurture top talent. 

4️⃣ Encourage failure early
↳ Growth happens when failure is encouraged.

5️⃣ Build trust fast
↳ Give people ownership and autonomy.

Perfection is a myth.
Hire for potential too.

♻️ Repost this if you agree
👋 Follow Dan Mian for more on careers + leadership

Founder of Launchpad Creators & Gradvance | Building digital businesses | Marketing partner to founders who want to scale | 2x LinkedIn Top Voice | Follow for posts on business, marketing, leadership & personal growth

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Most people don’t fail because they lack talent. 

They just stop too early.

I’ve seen people quit when: 

– They get rejected
– Their effort isn’t recognised
– The honeymoon period wears off
– Business had a bad month (list goes on)

Social media will have you believe that everyone is an overnight success, and it will look easy. 

But the truth is, growth isn’t easy. 
It isn’t glamorous, or super exciting.

Most of the time:

It’s boring
It’s repetitive 
It’s discipline

It’s doing the same small things, over and over again.

The gym when you don’t feel like it.
The applications after another rejection.
The content when engagement is low.
The business work when sales are quiet.

Overtime, those small actions compound.
Ultimately, it’s a game of endurance.

So to be successful and achieve your goals: 

1. concentrate on your own journey
2. and just keep showing up

♻️ Repost if this resonates

Young people are being exploited.

I’m part of the first generation the government ran this experiment on.

University fees went from £3,000 to £9,000 in 2012 (Plan 2).

I’ve worked consistently since graduating, progressed my career, started 2 businesses, and made monthly student loan payments. 

And I owe significantly more now than I did when I left university…

This system is designed to grow balances through interest while telling young people it’s “manageable”.

In 2024–25 alone, graduates repaid £4.8bn.
And £15.2bn of interest was added to balances.

That’s not “education policy". 
That’s profit extracted from grads at scale.

And now the government wants to freeze the Plan 2 repayment threshold at £29,385 until 2030.

So more people in low-mid paying jobs get pulled into re-payments (tax for life).

And it’s even worse for new graduates today (Plan 5)

- Plan 2 repayment threshold is £29,385
- Plan 5 repayment threshold is £25,000

- Plan 2 is written off after 30 years 
- Plan 5 is written off after 40 years 

It’s ridiculous. It's exploitation.

Here’s why the system is damaging to UK economy:

1️⃣ Broken Promises - Profiting From Young People
 ↳ This was sold as “invest in your future and you’ll be better off”. But they lied - increasing interest, changing / freezing threshold. Lower-mid income graduates will suffer most.

2️⃣ Cost-Of-Living Not Considered
 ↳ Rent, bills, food all cost more. Wages haven’t kept up. Freezing the threshold means graduates pay more in real terms at exactly the worst time.

3️⃣It Kills Life Milestones, Ambition & Mobility
 ↳ Saving for a deposit, taking career risks, moving for better jobs, starting a business — all so much harder when a chunk of income is permanently siphoned off and the balance is growing.

4️⃣ It Widens Inequality
 ↳ If your parents can help, you’re fine. If they can’t, you’re screwed. They’re piling more debt on a young person who is already struggling to afford life.

5️⃣ The Degree Doesn’t Guarantee Opportunity Anymore
 ↳ Job market is brutal - entry-level hiring is down, and a degree is less valuable than it used to be, yet the price (and interest) keeps rising.

The UK student loan system is not only unfair — it’s immoral.

Policies have been set to make entire generations suffer.

With youth unemployment the highest in a decade. 

And the median home in England (£290,000) costing 7.7x median full-time earnings (£37,600).

Seriously... 

What kind of future are we building for?
How do we expect the UK economy to thrive?
How are young people meant to build wealth and prosperity?

If this resonate with you please repost ♻️ to raise awareness
And comment below with your thoughts ⬇️

Deloitte

Specialising in the recruitment process for talented and passionate Vacationers, Undergraduates and Graduates for the Tax and Legal space.

Consultant | Graduate Talent Acquisition

Cyber Academy Coordinator | Talent

High volume recruitment support in experienced hire for Enabling Areas and the Tax and Legal team.

Talent Acquisition Coordinator

Retailworld Resourcing

High volume recruiting in agency recruitment involving building relationships and liaising with both candidates and clients. 

Tasks involved taking job briefs, sourcing, job adverts, screening, interviewing candidates, presenting candidates to clients, prepping candidates for client interviews, reference checks, and making offers and placements. 

Achievements include hitting sales targets and great candidate + client feedbacks.

Account Manager

St John Ambulance Australia (NSW)

•	Started at SJA as a volunteer/ intern for 4 weeks then offered a full-time position as a PPC administrator on a 3-month contract.

People, Performance and Culture Administrator - TEMP CONTRACT

MECCA Brands

Host

Wittner Shoes Australia

My Role Included: Managing employees, selling and upselling, problem-solving, providing employee motivation tactics to drive sales, performance management, training  and development, wages to sales ratios and rostering, visual merchandising, stock-take, theft management, recruitment, and much more.

Store Manager

Main Role Included: Providing excellent customer service experiences, selling, and upselling.

Fashion Consultant

McDonald's

Cashier

Not a Recruiter but a Talent Acquisition Specialist! 
Over 3 years experience in client and candidate management, building relationships and trust, strategic sourcing and screening, finding the right fit, and more. 
Currently in early careers and love what I do. 
Let’s connect! 


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