Venture Athlete & International Expansion Expert | Thriving as Generalist in a Specialized Economy

I’m Dominik, founder, athlete, & creator. A proud generalist. This is my story: 

For the last 7 years, I helped bootstrap one startup from 0 to 1M in revenue and built the international business from scratch for one of Europe’s fastest growing EdTech companies (50 -> 240 employees in my three years there).

All while competing at the highest level of the beautiful sport of Lacrosse, including an appearance for the German National Team at the 2022 World Games (the Olympics’ little brother).

While my professional achievements may seem more impressive on paper, representing Germany on an international stage is the feat that I’m most proud of.

I wasn’t very athletic up until my mid-twenties. Very little talent, but a lot of injuries to make up for it.

Until one day, I started working with a personal trainer. He helped me break down the fundamentals I needed to fix.

I worked hard, and I worked consistently. Showed up to every practice, every gym session. Did my recovery & mobility work daily.

4 years later, I made the national team roster.

The potential was in me. But it needed help unlocking.

Throughout my entire career, I’ve also helped humans unlock their potential, just in different ways:

- By teaching people in rural Rwanda and Brazilian homeless shelter how to make glasses for less than $1, and how to build a business around it
- By bringing unemployed nurses from Italy to Germany and teaching them German, opening a completely different career path for them
- By expanding the leading operating system for schools throughout Europe, so that education becomes more digital and thus accessible
- By writing about my experiences online and sharing them with the world

In late 2023, I made the decision to quit my cozy, well-paid, full-time job that fit my profile perfectly.

I'm on a mission to build my own portfolio career - and help others to unlock theirs. Join me on my journey towards building a portfolio of cashflow-positive, impact-driven businesses.

These businesses have one goal: help others unlock their potential. Just like my personal trainer did for me.

I wish that some of the best portfolio company owners turned creators had documented their journey from day 1, and not retrospectively.

So that’s what I’m doing.

I write for generalists like myself, who want to make a living in a specialized economy without specializing themselves. 

You can do more than one thing in your life. 
Let’s design that life together. 

Sign up for my newsletter here: www.dominiknitsch.com/newsletter

Dominik Nitsch

Over the past four weeks, I’ve received 93 applications to Generalyst. Here’s what to avoid if you’re currently applying to jobs: 

(1) Using ChatGPT-generated answers to free-text questions. 

We smell this from a mile away. It sounds good and professional, but tells me absolutely nothing about YOU. I want to see how you, not your AI, think and write. If you’re going to use AI, get so good at prompting that it doesn’t read like generic fluff. Don’t be a politician; be someone with edges. This ain't corporate. 

(2) Say: "I'm a results-driven professional with cross-functional expertise that spearheaded expansion". 

My brother in Christ, I have no idea what you're trying to tell me (besides that you're good at bullshit bingo). What's a "results-driven professional"? Like, would anyone ever describe themselves as an "activity-driven professional"? Why say "spearheading" when you could use a word that one actually uses in their day-to-day life? 

(3) Say: “I’m looking to do strategic work.” 

Instant no. In a startup, even the founder does like 97% operational work. Building a company is about, well, building. Not planning. In order to produce prime strategic work, you have to get your hands dirty first. (If you want to do strategic work, maybe strategy consultancies are your jam.) 

(4) Straight up lie in an interview. 

I never would’ve thought I’d have to say this, but this happened twice now: candidates claimed to have done something that was very easy to invalidate with a few Google searches. 

What else grinds your gears as hiring manager/recruiter?

Founder @ Generalyst | building talent infrastructure for early-stage startups | 1,022 generalists read my newsletter to future-proof their career

Our educational system is (still) broken. Because it conveys THIS as the perfect career: 

- pick a degree that you wanna specialize in
- get a master's that drives you further down specialization 
- start your first job 
- specialize further in one thing 
- do that thing for the next 40 years 

I have two problems with this. 

One, it's incredibly f**king boring. 
Two, it's a terrible way to prepare for the future. 

We don't know what the future holds. Had you told me six years ago that today that in 2025, I'd be able to run any research using a chat interface and get better results than most interns would produce within ten minutes at the price of $20/month, I'd have told you you're insane ... yet here we are. 

However, there's one skill I know is gonna be important: 

Adaptability. 

New technologies emerge daily. You can either fight them, or adapt to their existence, learn how to use them, and move forward. 

The best way to build out this skill: becoming a generalist. 

→ build out your set of meta skills
→ then, build a broad foundation in your field.
→ once you have this, go deeper on a few topics

I believe the future belongs to generalist. 
To the ones that adapt, learn new things, see intersections between different technologies. 

The days where being a "jack-of-all-trades" was a disadvantage are over.

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Applicants, I hate to break it to you, but: 

Nobody reads your CV in full. 

If you take a look at the number of applications for any given job here on LinkedIn, you get a feeling for how many CVs hiring managers sift through on a daily basis. 

Given that they also have other things to do, you can't assume they'll spend >5min reading your CV. So while it may be tempting to put EVERYTHING on there ... please don't. 

When I screen CVs for Generalyst, I look at it for 20-30 secs before forming a snap judgment. Pretty sure others operate similarly. 

Use this to your advantage: 
→ make your CV as short and concise as possible, less is more
→ outline the most important factors that make you stand out
→ write a brief 2-3 sentence summary (and for the love of God, DON'T let AI write it)

The job of a CV isn't to get you a job, it's to get you a first interview.

I'm currently building my second service business. Success comes down to 3 things (imo): 

Strong branding, relentless execution, and aligned incentives. 

A brand only becomes strong when external perception matches internal intention. If at Generalyst, we say we have top candidates for early-stage startups, but founders disagree, the brand breaks. When founders consistently confirm that our candidates are exceptional, the brand compounds.

That external pressure forces us to deliver every time.

I learned this during my first startup, Linguedo. We taught Italian nurses German in-house and put in far more effort than was strictly necessary. The course was so intense it would've become prohibitively expensive for most people. 

Once they passed their German exam, we placed them in local hospitals. 

The result: every single hospital was a (or at least, wanted to) become a repeat customers. Turns out, we did a much better job teaching German than any other language school. 

Underneath it all is one principle: value creation and value capture must live in the same place.

- We only earn money when a candidate signs.
- Candidates never pay.
- Companies pay for a successful hire.

Everyone wins when the match is right.

Building a great service business isn’t art. It’s just a craft. 

Do the basics better than most, do them longer than most, and let people talk about it.
That's it.

One hour from now, my 100th newsletter is gonna go out to 1,031 subscribers. Inside: 

→ how a single email I sent out on Dec 31st, 2022 lead to a fledgling portfolio career
→ how I'm currently designing said portfolio career
→ what the plan for the future is 

You can still subscribe to get those insights delivered into your inbox. Click the link below my name and it's gonna take you there. :)

(and to everyone reading all these newsletters – thank you!)

No one: 

People on LinkedIn: "after raising 120M, finally got that corner office" 

(just kidding, this is a WeWork - views are nice though)

A misconception that drives me nuts: young employees work harder than old employees. 

Dude yeah, of course a 20-year old needs to work harder than a 40-year old:
- they haven't figured out yet how to be ridiculously productive
- they lack the experience to understand what's important 
- they don't have the tools yet to get stuff done quickly 

I'm 100% convinced that: the candidate with ten years of experience will generate more output in six hours than the recent graduate will in twelve. 

Case in point: the most productive people I've ever seen are parents with several children. 

If they gotta go pick up the kids at 15:00, you can rest assured that whatever they needed to get done WILL be done by 15:00. They might say no to useless meetings, maybe skip lunch break, not respond to low-priority emails. 

But they will get it done. 

And isn't that what you want in an employee? 

We don't need more "productivity porn" where people simply sit at their desk all day. 

Output is what matters.

“The difference between greatness and mediocrity isn’t in the spectacular moments but rather in avoiding critical errors.” — Shane Parrish

Warren Buffett's first rule of investing? Never lose money. His second rule? Never forget rule one. 

This isn't clever wordplay - it's the mathematics of success. A 50% loss demands a 100% gain to break even. Or look at elite athletes: while average quarterbacks mix brilliant throws with costly interceptions, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes protect the ball first.

For Lacrosse defenders, fans look for the hard hits, fancy takeaway checks, and high-risk double teams. 

Coaches look for: 
→ accurate positioning
→ loud, constant communication
→ rock-solid footwork 
→ proper passing & groundball technique 

The best defense is the one that makes no critical mistakes, not the one that makes fancy plays. 

In business, most people look for high funding rounds, quick hacks, and eccentric founders.

Whereas most successful businesses have: 
→ solid profit margins
→ a legitimate problem that they solve well 
→ people who genuinely enjoy going to work 
→ a hiring process that avoids mis-hires 

Let’s wrap it up with another quote from Shane: 

“Excellence isn’t about occasional brilliance – it’s about consistent execution.”

Photo cred: Rebecca Fällenbacher

Motif

Founder

beehiiv

Ambassador

Perspective

Rapyd

Demand Generation Specialist

For-Sight

Campaign Marketing Executive

Reforge

Marketing Strategy Cohort Member

Cooper Cottages

Marketing Strategist & Creative Assistant

Marketing And Business Development Intern

Siabann 

Digital Marketing Intern

I write newsletters for a living • I also share my thoughts on self-improvement, creativity & philosophy • 5+ years in marketing

Your companies newsletter goes out to 1000s of people every month, yet nobody owns it and nobody knows if it's doing its job. 

Marketing sends it out - company updates, product announcements, the occasional thought piece that took six rounds of approval.

Sales doesn't use it. 

Leadership keeps asking "what's the ROI on this?" 

Nobody has an answer.

Meanwhile, you've got thousands of contacts in your database and no systematic way to keep them engaged between "showed interest" and "ready to buy."

Your marketing team is busy with campaigns, events, and content that needs to go out this week. 

The newsletter is nobody's priority because nobody knows what it's supposed to do.

So it sits there. Generic. Inconsistent. Ignored.

But it could be keeping thousands of prospects warm during 6-12 month sales cycles. 

Positioning your company as the obvious choice. 

Generating inbound conversations that make your sales team's job a hell of a lot easier.

If you partner with Motif, I take ownership of your newsletter and turn it into an asset that works for both marketing and sales.

My focus is making sure your companies email newsletter keeps your prospects engaged between "interested" and "ready to buy" - so your sales team spends more time closing warm conversations and less time chasing cold ones (and appreciates your marketing team just a little more).

__

About me: 

I’m Harrison.  

I've spent the last 7+ years in marketing, with a focus on demand generation for both early and late-stage startups, including work at a $15B fintech unicorn. 

I now run Motif, a solo venture that manages newsletters for creators with over 60 million followers, Sunday Times bestselling authors, Solopreneurs with a combined LinkedIn audience of over 500K and 7-8 figure B2B companies. 

My approach is straightforward - understand your audience, write emails that sound like you, and let the results speak for themselves.

If you want to learn how I recently helped a B2B service company generate 7-figures in potential pipeline revenue, DM me the word "INFO".

Harrison McIntyre-Miller

I just wrapped up a 4-week consulting sprint with Michael Lovegrove, Founder at Snowballn'. 

Michael's in that spot so many founders find themselves in - great social presence, solid reputation, highly engaged audience... but no way to confidently turn that into an owned email list. 

So, with Michaels permission of course, I’m going to breakdown for you what we built over the last month:

Spoiler: He's almost doubled subscribers in one month (after having this live for a year)

-

Week 1: Offer Suite & Lead Magnets

Most people's lead magnets are like trying to read War and Peace on your phone.

Too big + too overwhelming = never even gets used. 

If your lead magnet sits in someone's downloads folder gathering dust, you've lost the entire point in creating one - fixing a problem fast and creating positive brand association.

We audited everything Michael already had (content, workshop recordings, templates) and turned it into 2-3 stupidly simple lead magnets people can consume in minutes.

We followed the same routine to develop an entry level offer that he can promote to new subscribers.

-

Week 2: High Performing Opt-in Page 

To rotate and promote these lead magnets, you need a landing page that works on mobile and doesn't require a PhD to edit.

I use Perspective for this. 

Without question the highest performing and most user-friendly landing page builder I've worked with.

I have a proven template that converts at 30-40%+ that I can duplicate straight into a client's account, customised to their needs.

Michael also got a 30-day free trial instead of 14 with my link. Win-win.

-

Week 3: Authority Sequence (Welcome Sequence)

This is where most completely miss the opportunity.

Someone opts in. You send them the lead magnet. Then... nothing for weeks.

We built Michael a 14-day authority sequence using his own voice (captured through the Data Suite and Claude project training) that:

- welcomes new subscribers properly
- builds trust through story, not teaching 
- sells his entry offer from week 1

The goal isn't to "nurture for 6 months" before asking for money. The goal is to turn subscribers into customers immediately, then ascend them over time.

-

Week 4: Ongoing Email Routine

Gave Michael a simple routine, prompt bank, and question framework to generate 2-3 emails per week from micro/macro stories in his business and life.

These go to everyone who completes the authority sequence and keep converting them toward larger offers.

No need to stare at a blank page wondering what to write. 

-

And that's it. 4 weeks. 

Email ready to grow and monetise from day one.

Michael's just putting the finishing touches on everything now, but you can read what he had to say in the pic below 👇

-

P.S. 
If you like the sound of a mobile-first landing page that gives you 40%+ opt-in rates and want to give Perspective Funnels a go, you can try it for 30 days here: https://lnkd.in/ecurmSAx

Newsletter Ghostwriting & Management Partner for Creator-led Brands | Founder @ Motif

Most people hear "free work" and think you're getting taken advantage of. 

They're wrong.

Free work isn't charity. It's not exploitation. It's not "working for exposure."

It's the fastest way to compress years of trial and error into a few months of results.

-

When you do free work for the right person, you're not working for £0.

You're getting paid in:

- credibility you can't buy 
- experience that only comes from real projects
- confidence that no course can teach 
- access to advantageous networks 
- relationships that may turn into referrals

All of which convert to actual cold hard cash much faster than you think.

When you’re just getting started as a freelancer or business owner, people don't trust you with money until you've proven you can deliver.

That's just reality.

It’s called being sensible with where you send your hard earned money. 

Until someone sees you actually solve their problem, you're just another stranger asking for cash.

Free work can remove that barrier completely.

It flips the entire dynamic from "Will this person be worth the money?" to "Holy s**t, this person just delivered insane value for nothing."

And when you create that kind of goodwill, people can't help but tell others about you.

Let's say you do brilliant free work for someone with a decent network.

They love what you did. Maybe they tell their newsletter. They tag you in posts. They send you referrals.

Suddenly you've got inbound interest from people who already trust you because someone they trust vouched for you.

That's how one free project turns into £5K, then £10K, then maybe - a fully booked calendar.

-

Now, caveat: not all free work is equal.

The right way: 

Targets people with networks you want access to, solves a specific problem that showcases your best skills, has a clear end point (not open-ended "help me with everything") and positions you as an expert giving value, not a desperate beginner. 

Desperate free work: 

Will do it for anyone who asks, vague "I'll do whatever you need", no boundaries or scope, positions you as cheap labour.

The difference matters.

Oh, and you also have to be somewhat good at what you do or this doesn't work (for obvious reasons). 

-

I got to where I am through being smart with free projects and I stand by them to this day. 

It gets a bad stigma, but no one is above it in my opinion. 

For the right lead/network, I still do it to this day - and I expect to continue doing it. 

P.S. 

Would love to hear your thoughts if you disagree/have had a different experience.

My biggest struggle as an email copywriter used to be getting clients to provide the right data. That was until I worked with someone who had every single one of their sales calls recorded…

Story time: 

I brought on a client who runs a successful paid community last month. 

They needed help writing automated sequences that drive new revenue and collect lost sales. 

I usually work on retainer writing weekly newsletters, but to be honest? I love these fast-paced one-time engagements where you've got one clear goal and pure focus. 

What the client provided:

- recordings of all sales calls (lost and won)
- recordings of workshops
- an onboarding form and strategy call
- recordings of all client 1:1 coaching calls

I sourced their LinkedIn, YouTube, offer pages, and other past content myself.

This client was a particular pleasure to work with for the simple reason that they had past sales calls recorded and organised. 

That's one of the most valuable data points a copywriter can have. 

Hearing clients who both closed and didn't close speak about their pains, fears, desires, objections, etc is just invaluable.

You can't fake that kind of insight. It's the difference between writing copy that sounds good and copy that actually converts because it mirrors the exact language your prospects use when they're deciding whether to buy.

With that data in hand, I spent the past couple weeks writing 7 automated flows. 

Let me break them all down for you: 

-

(1) Revamped welcome flow 

Fresh eyes on how new subscribers get introduced and moved toward an offer.

(2) Upsell flow for low-ticket buyers/call bookings 

Someone buys the <$200 thing, this flow pushes them to book a call.

(3) Upsell flow for current customers on new offer 

Existing customers get a targeted push on something new that makes sense for them.

(4) Re-engagement for keyword responders who ghost 

They reply to a CTA with a keyword, we follow up 1:1, then... nothing. This flow brings them back.

(5) Classic abandoned cart flow 

Low-ticket browsers or people who started booking a call but didn't finish.

(6) Watched 80%+ of VSL but didn't book follow-up 

They were interested enough to watch most of the video. This nudges them over the line.

(7) Filled out majority of form but didn't book 

Got halfway through booking a call, then bailed. This closes that gap.

-

Now a lot of this requires some pretty complex tracking on the backend. 

But when you get it working properly, each one of these flows has the potential to drive new sales without any manual input (outside of actually taking the calls of course).

We just approved and launched these so I'll come back with an update on how they've performed across the next 2-3 months! 

-

P.S. Got sales call recordings? Client onboarding calls? Workshop content? That's all I need to build you a system like this. Shoot me a message if you want to chat about it.

You absolutely love to see it...

In less than 1 month of setting up a: 

1. simple lead magnet
2. opt-in page 
3. entry offer 

We've already doubled this client's total email subscribers. 

If we consistently rotate new simple lead magnets and double down on high performers - I estimate in 3 months he'll easily have a list of over 3K.

With each subscriber being a new opportunity to ascend through his offer suite. 

Will update here with the results in 3 months time 🫡

I believe founder-driven newsletters are the most underused growth channel in service, SaaS & ecom right now.

And Poppy AI is the perfect example of a company that could benefit from this. 

Quick context: 

Poppy is one of the only AI products that feels like it was designed for creators in mind. 

Instead of a linear chat, it’s built as a canvas / whiteboard where you can drag in: YouTube videos/podcasts, TikToks, Reels, Shorts, PDFs, Voice notes & Images. 

And they’re killing it across their UGC and social content. 

I’ve personally been a user for a number of months now. 

But…

I’ve never received any nurturing emails from them. 

HUGE missed opportunity. 

Founder-led newsletters collapse the distance between the person building the thing and the people using it.

With a product like Poppy, people might be asking:

Who’s steering this thing?

Do they understand the game I’m playing?

Will this product still make sense in 12–24 months?

A founder showing up in your inbox every week narrating trade-offs, owning mistakes & showing receipts (what’s working, what’s not) builds far more trust than “here’s our latest feature” from a logo.

The email becomes: “Come build with me”, not “We’d like to update our privacy policy.”

Plus, if the founder is the ideal power user (which they often are with tools like Poppy), then emails from them can do the heavy lifting on:

Activation 
– showing “this is how I use the tool”

Retention 
– keeping people engaged with constant small “aha” moments + workflows.

Expansion 
– naturally showcasing advanced use-cases that make upgrades feel obvious.

All of this continuously renews the customer’s excitement, understanding, and belief in the product - which (you guessed it) enormously reduces churn. 

Which for any subscription model, should be priority no.1

Anyway, I believe in a show, don’t tell model. 

So, I wrote an example newsletter in their co-founder (Rafeh Qazi) style and sent it to them.

Not paid, not commissioned, just me exploring their voice and how I’d evolve the newsletter if I were running it.

In my humble opinion, I think I nailed his:

- storytelling patterns
- energy
- metaphor stacking

But with retention, logic, and deeper reader psychology baked in of course. 

Plus, I annotated the whole thing to show my own thought process behind the copy. 

Because in my opinion, email for creator-led brands has to do 3 things to perform well over a long period of time: 

1/
Make the founder the content

2/
Make the story the delivery system

3/
Make the newsletter a weekly dopamine hit people look forward to 

If you hit those 3 points, you might just be onto a winner. 

As I said, I sent it to them team already but if you want to read what I put together...

...to maybe get some inspiration for your own founder-led newsletter strategy then comment “POPPY” and I’ll send it to you.

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