Ferenc Fekete

Helping non-tech Founders transform Ideas into SaaS products @ VeryCreatives | Product Agency, SaaS & MVP Development | Startups

I've watched many startup founders fail at the same exact point: turning their validated idea into actual software.

They waste months (or even years):
→ Trying to hire the right developers
→ Burning cash on poor planning and execution
→ Second-guessing every technical decision along the way

Meanwhile, competitors move faster, investors demand traction, and the pressure to deliver keeps building more and more.

After watching this pattern destroy countless promising startups, we built VeryCreatives to fix it.

But here's what makes us different:

We don't just build your MVP and disappear. We're product people who think like founders, not just developers who code to spec.

👉 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵: We start by pressure-testing your assumptions before writing a single line of code. If the market doesn't want it, we'll tell you straight.

👉 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲: We build like it's our own startup, obsessing over user experience, scalability, and investor readiness from the first sprint.

👉 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱: Whether you're at napkin sketch or Series B, we've been there. We've helped founders go from zero to acquisition, and we stick around for the entire journey.

For the past 14 years, we've built products for venture-backed startups, fast-growing scale-ups, and globally recognized brands like Red Bull, Nestlé, and Philips.

The startups we work with have:
✅ Launched investor-ready MVPs in under 90 days
✅ Secured funding from top-tier investors and VCs
✅ Scaled from first users to thousands of paying customers
✅ Successfully exited to strategic acquirers

Got a SaaS idea that's been sitting in your head for months? 
Let's map out your 90-day path to launch → https://verycreatives.com/book-a-call

Co-Founder

At VeryCreatives, we are a team of expert developers who create powerful SaaS apps that solve problems and drive growth for founders with initial funding. We believe in empowering our clients with innovative software that helps them achieve their goals and stand out in their industry.

Our audience consists of driven and ambitious founders who have just received initial funding for their startup. They are looking for a software development partner who understands their vision, can help bring their ideas to life, and deliver results that will help them achieve their business goals.

Founders with initial funding have a pressing need to build their product quickly and efficiently to maximize their chances of success. At VeryCreatives, we understand this need and are dedicated to creating high-quality SaaS apps that not only meet their requirements but also exceed their expectations. We are committed to delivering value and results that help our clients succeed.

VeryCreatives stands out in the market for our ability to deliver high-quality, innovative solutions that meet the needs of our clients. Our unique approach to software development, coupled with our expertise and commitment to excellence, is what drives us to provide outstanding results to our clients.

Industries our clients operate in, using the SaaS products we've built: 
- Digital marketing, Event marketing & Influencer marketing SaaS
- Foodtech & Delivery 
- Fintech, Banking & Investments
- 2-sided marketplace platforms
- Agriculture & Livestock management
- Packaging compliance & Waste

Markets we cover: UAE, EU, UK, US.

The UK is shipping world-class SaaS 🇬🇧

Here's 20 UK startups and the core feature that makes each one worth watching:

Attio (Nicolas Sharp) → AI-native CRM that auto-enriches contacts in real time. ARR quadrupling YoY.

Synthesia (Victor Riparbelli) → Text-to-video with 230+ AI avatars in 140+ languages. $180M Series D.

PolyAI (Nikola Mrkšić) → Voice AI that handles live customer calls in 45 languages. Backed by Nvidia.

Xelix (Paul Roiter) → AI agents for Accounts Payable. Processes 115M+ invoices per year.

Granola (Christopher Pedregal) → AI meeting notepad. Auto-generates structured notes and action items from calls.

Vertice (Eldar Tuvey) → SaaS spend platform that auto-negotiates your renewals. 437% growth rate.

Signal AI (David Benigson) → Real-time monitoring across millions of sources for reputation and regulatory risk.

Plain (Simon Rohrbach) → API-first support where AI agents resolve tickets autonomously. Used by Vercel and Cursor.

Griffin (David Jarvis) → UK's first full-stack Banking-as-a-Service with a full banking license.

Primer (@Paul Anthony) → Single API connecting 100+ payment processors with no-code routing.

hyperexponential (​Amrit Santhirasenan) → No-code pricing models for commercial insurers. Backed by a16z.

Raycast (Thomas Paul Mann) → Keyboard-first productivity launcher. 800+ app integrations with built-in AI.

StackOne (Romain Sestier) → One API to connect 200+ enterprise SaaS integrations. Built for AI agents.

Lindus Health (Meri Beckwith) → Runs full clinical trials 3x faster than traditional CROs.

Metaview (Siadhal Magos) → Auto-generates structured interview notes from live conversations. Used by Sony and Brex.

Sylvera (Allister Furey) → Satellite imagery and ML to rate the actual quality of carbon credits.

Robin AI (Richard Robinson) → LLM trained on 2M+ contracts. Reviews and negotiates legal docs for UBS and Pfizer.

BVNK (Jesse Hemson-Struthers) → Stablecoin payment infrastructure for cross-border business transactions.

Shop Circle (Luca Cartechini) → AI-powered suite for Shopify merchants. Inventory, SEO, analytics in one dashboard.

Tessl (Guy Podjarny) → Forces AI coding agents to write specs before generating code. Prevents hallucinations.

Every one of these started with a sharp product decision: solve one problem exceptionally well, then expand.

What UK startup has caught your eye recently?

Launch products customers love, then exit | 5x exits, $100M ARR created for founders

"The project will cost $50k." - Developer
 
3 months later: $120k. Sh*t. What happened?

Every non-technical founder has heard this: "It will take longer than expected."

But you can prevent it (with some high-school math)

Here's how to build an accurate cost forecast:

Step 1: Break it down absurdly small

Not "user authentication: $5k"

But:

→ Login page design: $500
→ Login backend: $1k
→ Password reset flow: $1.5k
→ OAuth integration: $2k
→ Security testing: $500


Step 2: Add complexity multipliers

→ Simple feature: 1x
→ Medium complexity: 1.5x
→ Complex/uncertain: 2x
→ Integration with third parties: 2.5x


Step 3: Add the "unknown unknowns" buffer

→ New team: +30%
→ Existing team, new domain: +20%
→ Experienced team, known domain: +10%


Step 4: Phase the budget

→ Phase 1: Core features (40% of budget)
→ Phase 2: Secondary features (30% of budget)
→ Phase 3: Polish and optimization (20% of budget)
→ Buffer: (10% of budget)


Step 5: Define cut points

If Phase 1 goes over, what do you cut from Phase 2?

Decide BEFORE you're in crisis mode.


The rule:

If you haven't scoped it in detail, you haven't scoped it.

And if you haven't scoped it, any number is a guess.

So…

Maybe pause that developer project.

I run a 28-person agency. I used to feel guilty about an ‘empty calendar’ on a Monday. Now I try cancel all of my meetings:

And it’s helped us grow revenue 30%+.

Previously I was in every delivery meeting, every project review, every standup at VeryCreatives.

I thought I had to be in the room for things to run.

Now, our fantastic Head of Delivery meets with the PMs directly. 

And an ‘empty calendar’ means brain space to strategise on growth.

Here's what my Monday looks like now:

1. Strategy session with my co-founder Mate
→ Previous week, pipeline, finances, what's planned
→ Keeps us both aligned so neither of us needs to check in again all week

2. Sales sync
→ New leads, who handles what, timing

3. Afternoon: wide open
→ This is the whole point
→ We use that time to plan new internal tools, shape future services, figure out where we're going next

By lunchtime, the operational part of my day is done.

Everything after that is thinking time.

What's one meeting you could delete from your Monday to create space?

Clay is one of the only companies I’ve seen do this 🔥

When you open the dashboard:

→ There's an AI chat text box.
→ It asks: "What do you want to build?"
→ You type your goal. It takes you to a chat screen. 
→ Then their AI (Sculptor) builds the workflow for you.

I think this solves three problems at once:


1. The blank canvas problem

Clay is powerful but notoriously hard to start with (lot’s of features).

Beginner users will open it, see an empty table, and don't know where to begin.

This prompt box removes that moment. 


2. Slow learning curve

A lot of tools teach you their features via an onboarding. 

But then over a few years they launch 10+ other features you have no clue how to use.

This Clay feature speeds up the learning curve:

→ You describe the outcome
→ The product figures out which features to use
→ You learn by watching it build


3. HUGE time and cost savings. 

For a lot of large products such as Clay, there are off shoots of service based agencies that build with the product for you.

Now you literally do not need to hire an agency.

The product builds what you need for you.

Making it more fun to use.

-

Have you seen other tools do this?

Why US innovation labs pay $500K for what Hungarian teams build for $100K (and get better results):

I just watched an enterprise innovation lab spend $500K on a product that never saw a single real user.

Then in same quarter, we shipped a similar concept for a German client. 

It took six weeks, it cost much less…. and in the end was live and taking payments vs the US one (zero payments).

The problem is US labs have been trained to solve every problem with a 20-person team.

Think about what happens when you have a massive budget:

→ You hire a product manager.
→ You hire three designers.
→ You hire a scrum master.
→ You hire eight developers.
→ You hire two QA engineers
→ And a DevOps team.

Everyone needs to justify their role. So they build. And build. And build.

👉 The PM adds features to show progress
👉 Designers polish screens nobody asked for
👉 Developers architect for scale you don't have
👉 QA tests edge cases that won't exist for years

Six months later, you have a beautiful product that solves nothing particularly well.

OR-

With that same $500k budget, you could run 10 separate validation sprints at $50k each. Even if 8 fail completely, you still walk away with 2 validated concepts to scale.

Compare that to putting the budget on one product that takes six months to discover nobody wants.

Agree or disagree?

Fireflies.ai hit a $1B valuation.

How to copy their MVP strategy:

Founders Sam Udotong and Krish Ramineni would dial into calls as "Fred from Fireflies.ai", sit silently, take notes by hand, and send them 10 minutes later.

They did 100+ meetings like this. Completely manual. 🤯

→ Zero development cost to validate
→ Learned exactly what users needed (by doing the job themselves)
→ Proved people would pay $100/month BEFORE investing in code
→ Only automated after hitting $750/month revenue

What I take from this:

Before you scope features, before you wireframe, before you hire anyone:

Can you deliver the core value manually? Without hiring any developers?

If yes, do that first. Talk to those customers. Understand the problem deeply.

Then build.

-

P.s.

We use Fireflies.ai at VeryCreatives.

We switched from Fathom because it felt more complete and could even log our internal calls in Hungarian. 🇭🇺

Could you imagine Fred joining your call to take notes?

What's stopping you from delivering your product's value manually this week?

The fastest way to make $100k MRR with SaaS 

Copy all of your competitors features:

No, seriously.

But only once you take this into account.

Your competitor has 50 features. 
They’re proven over 5+ years.
They’re clearly making revenue.

Just copy them all right?

Here's the problem:

Your competitor built those 50 features over 5 years.

They added most of them because:

→ A big customer asked for it
→ Someone on the team thought it was cool
→ They were trying to justify a price increase

They probably regret half of them.

What to do instead:

1. Identify their core value proposition (usually 2-3 features)
2. Find which features their customers actually use (check G2 reviews, Reddit, support forums)
3. Identify what they do poorly (read 1-star reviews)
4. Build that. Better.

Don't compete on feature count. 

You'll lose.

Compete on solving one problem exceptionally well.

What's the one thing your competitor does that you could do 10x better?

Has Claude Code killed your SaaS dreams?

I keep reading this headline:

“The SaaSpocalypse is here!!”

→ HubSpot has lost over half its value.
→ Adobe has dropped 40% on AI fears.
→ ServiceNow dropped 11% in a single day.
→ Asana is down 92% from its all-time high.
→ Docusign is down 54% from its 1-year high.
→ Salesforce is down 40% from its 2025 high.
→ Atlassian has lost 76% of its value in the last year.
→ Workday just hit a 52-week low down 39% this year.

All the major SaaS companies stock prices are falling off a cliff in the last 6 months.

Everyone is calling it the SaaS apocalypse.

People believe AI can do everything immediately and the whole industry is going down the sinkhole.

I don't buy it.

What I do think is that the way we use these products is about to change completely. And the SaaS companies that survive will have these 4 things in common:

1. Ecosystem lock-in

You cannot code your own Google Docs integration, Gmail integration, Fireflies integration, and all the other tools your team runs on. Your company and your client's company are connected through shared Slack channels. Try building that from scratch. You can't.

By keeping your current software, you get access to an ecosystem of plugins and connections to other companies that would take years and a load of money to replicate.


2. Proprietary data

If a SaaS product has been collecting and structuring your industry data for 10 years, that data becomes the product. AI needs data to be useful. The platforms sitting on the best data win.


3. Distribution

Casey Hill wrote about this recently and he's right. Having millions of users already on your platform is a moat no startup can copy on day one. That's why Salesforce isn't going anywhere. 


4. Outcome-based pricing

This is where things get interesting. Companies might not pay for seats anymore. They might pay for number of invoices submitted, accountancy submissions per year, or tasks completed by agents.

The actual value will shift from the interface and people doing the work to letting agents do the work with the best workflows possible. SaaS products in the future will open themselves up for agents, becoming MCP services.

And here's what people forget about building their own...

You have to own maintenance, support, handling technical difficulties, and scaling. I don't think companies will build their own software for accounting, finances, or managing people in HR. 

TDLR;
- The moats are ecosystem, data, distribution, and pricing flexibility
- The winners will be platforms that open up for AI agents
- Building your own still costs more than people think

What's your take on the SaaS shakeout? Are the public market movements justified?

Wispr Flow is blowing up right now 🔥

Their onboarding is why:

→ It’s a Voice-to-text app valued at $700M.
→ They are currently growing 50%+ month-on-month.
→ In 2025, they 10x’d customers in 5 months.

During onboarding, you speak to configure your settings. 

By the time setup is done, you've already used the core feature without realizing it. 

Brilliant!

After 13 years of building products, the biggest onboarding mistake I see is separating setup from usage. 

Founders build welcome sequences with videos and walkthroughs. But then… The customer finishes onboarding having never done the one thing the product exists for.

Wispr Flow makes setup and the core action the same thing.

The whole point of onboarding is getting the customer from zero to value fast. 

If your product needs 10 steps before a user sees value, think about what you can cut. 

The best V1 products I've worked on put the core experience first and build everything else around it.

How fast does your product get a new user to the thing they signed up for?

Wispr Flow Has The Best Onboarding:

ChatGPT 5.4 won’t give you your next SaaS idea.

These 6 places will:

After 20 years building software products for founders, here are the 6 most common places they said they found their idea.

1. G2 reviews (1-2 stars specifically)

Go to any established SaaS category. Filter by lowest ratings. Read the complaints.

→ "We switched because the reporting was unusable"
→ "Integration with X broke every update"
→ "Support took 3 weeks to respond"

These are real customers spending real money, telling you exactly what they wish existed. That gap between what they paid for and what they got? That is your product.


2. Reddit, Inc. and niche communities

Search subreddits like r/SaaS, r/startups, r/smallbusiness for "I wish there was" or "looking for alternative to."

→ Real pain, described in the customer's own words
→ Free market research that most founders ignore completely


3. Job boards

This one surprises people. Look at what roles companies are hiring for. If 40 fintech companies are all hiring "compliance automation engineers," there is a gap in the tooling. Companies hire when software fails them.


4. Crunchbase and funding announcements

What is getting funded tells you what investors have already validated. You do not need to copy them. But if 12 companies raised seed rounds in the same space in the last 6 months, the market is real.


5. Product Hunt trending categories

Not for copying what launched yesterday. For spotting which categories keep producing new entries. Repeated launches in one space means the existing solutions are not good enough.


6. Google Trends comparison

Take 4-5 tools in any category. Compare their search volume over 2 years. One declining while the category grows? Their customers are looking for something else. That something else could be you.


The pattern across all 6 is the same….

Find people who already have them and are already paying someone else to solve them badly.

I have seen founders burn through 50k, 100k building products nobody asked for. And I have seen others spend two weeks doing this research and walk into our workshop with an idea that had paying customers within 90 days.

Where do you look for product ideas before building? 
Which one did I miss?

6 Websites SaaS Founders Find Product Ideas

McKinsey & Company just released the best markets for 2026.

$100B+ is flowing into ONLY 5 sectors:

1. Healthcare and clinical tech
→ $15B+ in private investment last year according to McKinsey
→ Regulatory barriers keep vibe coders out 
→ We've built in this space and watched one get acquired within 18 months
→ Aging populations in the EU and US guarantee demand for another decade

2. Open banking and embedded finance
→ PSD3 in Europe is forcing banks to open up even more data
→ Every fintech needs compliant infrastructure that actually works
→ The products that win here are boring on the surface but deeply technical underneath
→ We've shipped open banking platforms that are still running 4+ years later

3. Legal tech
→ One of the most underdigitized professional services globally
→ McKinsey & Company estimates legal operations spending on tech will double by 2027
→ Contract automation, compliance workflows, case management... the backlog of things to build is massive

4. AI-native B2B tools 
→ $70B+ in generative AI investment in the last 18 months
→ The wrapper era is ending. Investors want products with real data moats
→ Best opportunities: vertical AI for specific industries (farm-tech, logistics, insurance)
→ If you're building a thin ChatGPT layer on top of a spreadsheet, you're already behind

5. Marketplace platforms for fragmented industries
→ Logistics, construction, agriculture, skilled trades
→ These sectors run on phone calls and spreadsheets
→ Building a marketplace here is harder than people think (chicken-and-egg, trust, payments)
→ But the ones that crack it become acquisition targets fast

What I tell founders who ask me where to build:

- Pick a market with regulatory friction. It protects you.
- Talk to 20 people in the industry before you scope anything.
- If a freelancer on Fiver could build your V1, the market is already too crowded.
- The best exits we've seen came from products solving boring, complex problems in industries that move slowly.

Where are you seeing the most opportunity right now?

P.s.

I couldn’t fit all the details in this post (It’s 100+ pages). Comment ‘report’ below if you’d like the full 100+ page PDF report this is from and I’ll send it over.

Plain is the only company I've seen do this 🔥

They show you what you can achieve in 5, 15, and 29 minutes on their landing page.

Instead of a feature list or pricing table, you get a timeline of outcomes.

Plain is an API-first support platform used by Vercel and Cursor. 

It’s the kind of tool where you'd normally expect a "book a demo" button and a 3-week onboarding process.

But their landing page breaks it down simply:

5 minutes

→ Connect Slack, Teams, Discord, and email
→ Connect your CRM and issue tracker
→ Respond to your first ticket


15 minutes

→ Deploy an AI agent across all channels
→ Define SLAs, business hours, and customer tiers
→ Automate queries with workflows


29 minutes

→ Generate AI insights from support requests
→ Deploy a knowledge base from your support messages
→ Let customers self-serve with Ask AI

I've been building software for 20 years and I've seen hundreds of product pages. Almost none of them answer the question every buyer is silently asking: "How long until this actually works for me?"

Plain answers it before you even sign up.

If you're building a SaaS product that takes real effort to integrate, here's what you can take from this:

1. Show buyers how fast they'll see results instead of listing what your product does.
2. If your product is complex, break the complexity into small wins. Give people a reason to start.
3. Time-based milestones beat feature lists. Nobody cares about your 47 integrations. They care about "5 minutes to first ticket resolved."

Map your onboarding into time blocks and put it on your landing page. It de-risks the decision for your buyer and I think more SaaS companies should be doing this.

Have you seen other companies do something similar?

How to hire 10/10 SaaS employees

Depending on your rev and growth stage:

Some founders rush hiring and burn cash with nothing to show for it. 

Here's how to know what you actually need:

1. Hire a sprint team when you're going from 0 to MVP
→ You've identified a real problem and want to validate fast
→ You need people who've done the grunt work before, like user journey mapping and usability-first development
→ These short focused sprints typically take 6-10 weeks from idea to working MVP

2. Hire freelancers when you have a team and a working product
→ You're growing and already have a roadmap
→ You need temporary help to ship a feature or tackle a backlog item
→ They're great for that specific integration before a big demo, but don't expect long-term commitment or strategic input

3. Hire an internal team when you're playing the long game
→ You have the time and budget to hire and retain top talent
→ You have someone in-house to lead the team and set priorities
→ You've already built infrastructure like HR, PM, dev ops, and internal comms
→ Expect 3-4 months to hire senior devs, plus another 1-3 months to get them productive

For most early-stage teams, an internal team isn't the best starting point unless you're going deep tech or building something highly complex.

Match your hiring strategy to your actual stage.

P.S.

Here's the catch though… if you're launching in a regulated industry… Or one that's underutilized in tech, where the product team has to dive deep into the niche and understand its inner mechanics before they write a single line of code.

Stuff like legal tech, Farm-tech SaaS or Healthcare platforms.

Freelancers won't cut it here. 

They don't have the domain knowledge or the patience to build it up.

These are the cases where you go with an experienced product team. One that already has the processes, workflows, and strategy to navigate complexity from day one.

I've developed products for 5x exits.

Ask your product partner these 4 questions.

When a non-technical founder sits down with a developer for the first time, they usually talk about their vision, their timeline, and their budget.

Wrong approach…. You should be interviewing them.

After 13 years of building SaaS products, here are four questions that separate great developers from expensive mistakes:

1. "What would you NOT build for V1?"

A good developer gives you a specific list of things to cut. A bad one says "we can build all of it." If they don't push back on your feature list, they'll build everything you mention and invoice you for every hour.


2. "Can you walk me through something similar you've built?"

You want specifics. Screenshots, architecture decisions, trade-offs they made. If the answer is "yeah we can do that" without showing proof, keep looking.


3. "What happens if a feature takes twice as long as estimated?"

You want a plan, not a promise. Good developers talk about scope adjustments and priorities. Bad ones say "it won't happen." It will.


4. "How would you help me figure out what to build first?"

The best answer involves user research, validation, and customer conversations. If they jump straight to "what tech stack do you want?" they're builders, not product thinkers. You need both.


These four questions cost you nothing and save you $15-20k per month in building the wrong thing with the wrong partner.

The best product partners you'll ever work with will tell you what NOT to build.

Save this before building your v1.

Chase Dimond

Top Ecommerce Email Marketer & Agency Owner | We’ve sent over 1 billion emails for our clients resulting in $200+ million in email attributable revenue.

I help brands make more money with email marketing.

I’m a Co-Founder of Structured, an ecommerce email marketing agency. Since launching in 2018, our team has helped brands send billions of emails and generate over $200M in email-attributable revenue.

We’re a top agency partner for platforms like Omnisend and Klaviyo.

Shopify featured me as a top email marketing influencer. I’ve also received LinkedIn’s Top Voice Award for Email Marketing, and Favikon has ranked me as the top email marketer across social media.

Some of the brands we’ve worked with include:

Poo~Pourri
Eight Sleep
Health-Ade
Mixtiles
Vessi

If you’re looking to hire an experienced email marketing agency, you can reach me here:

chase@chasedimond.com

——

Outside my agency, I run a number of other fast-growing businesses. I’m fortunate to have over 750,000+ followers and subscribers across my social channels and email newsletter.

I’ve worked with companies including:

LinkedIn
Amazon
TikTok
Gamma
Alibaba
Zapier
ClickUp

I work with a small number of paid sponsors and partners each year.

If you’re interested in exploring a potential fit, please email me with details:

chase@chasedimond.com

Founder

My newsletter is your no BS guide into what's working in email marketing - I'll give you the latest tips + tactics to help you drive more revenue from your email marketing channel. 

Sign up (it's free) here: https://chasedimond.com/chase-email-newsletter

Leadership isn't climbing the ladder. 

It's pulling others up with you.

But here's what most managers get backwards:

They serve upward, not downward. 
They protect their own reputation, not their team's. 
They take credit for wins and deflect blame for losses.

The best leaders flip this entirely.

Here's how to lead from beside, not above:

1️⃣ Share the risk, not just the reward 
↳ Put your reputation on the line for their ideas 
↳ Take accountability when experiments fail

2️⃣ Learn in public alongside your team 
↳ Admit when you don't know something 
↳ Show growth happens at every level

3️⃣ Fight battles together, not for them 
↳ Teach them to advocate for themselves 
↳ Stand shoulder-to-shoulder in tough conversations

4️⃣ Celebrate their wins as team victories 
↳ Amplify their voices in leadership meetings 
↳ Make their success the team's success

5️⃣ Build their confidence, not dependence 
↳ Ask "What do you think?" before giving answers 
↳ Help them trust their own judgment

Great leaders don't just reach the top.

They clear the path for their team to get there too.

Defend your people. Develop your legacy.

♻️ Repost to inspire someone 

Сredit: Carmen Morin ( go follow her )

Top Ecommerce Email Marketer | $200M+ Generated via Email

Take the risk.

Because here’s the math:

If it works → Happiness.
If it fails → Wisdom.

If you do nothing → Stagnation.

Why smart founders take bets:

• Action produces data
• Data reduces fear
• Experience builds judgment
• Judgment compounds

Example:

Apply for the stretch role.
Pitch the bigger client.
Ship the imperfect version.

Worst case?
You gain feedback most people never see.

Best case?
You change your trajectory.

Risk is a teacher.

Silence is not.

Next time you hesitate, ask:

What do I gain if I try?

Credit: TheArtidote on Twitter/X

Most people quit right before it works.

Because effort and reward do not move at the same speed.

Years 1 to 2:

You are bad.
You know it.
Everyone else knows it.

Good.

You are building muscle.

Year 3:

You are decent.
Still invisible.
Doubt gets louder.

This is the danger zone.
Most people exit here.

Year 4:

Your skill is real.
Your voice is clear.
Your network trusts you.

Now one catalyst matters.

A post.
A partnership.
A product launch.

And it looks sudden.

But here’s what really happened:

You compressed 4 years of learning into 30 days of output.

Example:

Builder ships 50 small tools over 4 years.
None break 1k users.

Tool #51 solves the right pain at the right time.
Hits 100k users in 2 months.

People call it overnight.

They did not see the first 50.

The playbook:

1. Treat early years as paid training.
2. Ship in public.
3. Build assets, not moments.
4. Stay until the math flips.

The lag is the price.

Pay it.

If you are in year 2 or 3, this is your sign to keep going.

Great leaders don’t need fans. 
They need challengers.
Fans protect ego. Challengers protect future.

(Credit: Mike Leber)
(Image credit: Eric Partaker)

Early in my leadership journey,
I mistook quiet rooms for strong alignment.

No pushback.
No friction.
Nodding heads.

I thought I was leading well.
I wasn’t.

People weren’t aligned.
They were careful.

And careful teams don’t build bold companies.

If no one challenges you,
you might not be respected.
You might be avoided.

That’s not leadership.
That’s authority on paper.

The higher you rise,
the less truth you automatically hear.

People filter.
They soften.
They protect ego instead of mission.

And slowly ...
you start believing your own narrative.

That’s how smart leaders become stagnant.
And confident leaders become fragile.

Strong leaders design for challenge 👇

1. Seek truth, not comfort
→ Surround yourself with thinkers, not echo chambers.

2. Ask open questions
→ “What am I missing?” is a power move.

3. Stay curious, not defensive
→ Curiosity signals strength. Ego signals fear.

4. Reward dissent
→ Publicly thank the person who challenges you.

5. Model vulnerability
→ Admit mistakes. It opens the door for honesty.

6. Celebrate better ideas
→ Especially when they replace yours.

7. Promote the brave, not the agreeable
→ Advance the voice that risks friction for progress.

8. Hire for courage
→ Skills matter. So does backbone.

9. Put data above hierarchy
→ Let evidence outrank seniority.

Policies shape culture.
But your reaction reveals it.

Here’s the real test:

When someone challenges you,
does your body tense ...
or does your curiosity rise?

Great leadership isn’t about agreement.

It’s about being brave enough to be wrong.
And smart enough to grow from it.

If no one challenges you, 
you’re not leading. 
you’re just managing an echo.

Be the leader who can handle the truth.
And build teams brave enough to offer it.

Perfection is just fear in a nice outfit.

Make it exist first.
Make it better later.

Image credit: itsme_urstruly on Twitter/X

Most of what you fear will never happen.

And what does happen is survivable.

Break fear down:

Fear of death
Out of your control.

Fear of shame
People forget fast. They move on to their own lives.

Fear of losing everything
You rebuild. Humans are wired to adapt.

Here is the 3 Step Fear Audit:

1. Define the worst case clearly
Not vaguely. Specifically.

2. Ask, can I recover?
In most business and career decisions, yes.

3. Calculate the cost of inaction
Regret compounds. Avoidance compounds.

Example:

Launch the idea.

Worst case
Low traction. Public flop.

Reality
You gain feedback. Improve. Try again.

Fear says permanent damage.

Reality says temporary discomfort.

Keep climbing.

Most ceilings are mental.

Image credit: iamfearlesssoul on Twitter/X

A fake caring culture is worse than a toxic one.
At least with toxicity, you know where you stand.

Fake caring hides behind smiles.
It says "we care", but means "please don’t make this uncomfortable".
It praises your work in meetings...then ignores your feedback after.

It’s leadership with empathy in words,
and apathy in action.

Here’s how fake caring shows up at work:

1️⃣ "We hear you" → but nothing changes.
2️⃣ "We’re like a family" → until KPIs drop.
3️⃣ "We value feedback" → unless it’s critical.

The result?
Distrust. Burnout. Quiet quitting.

Because pretending to care kills trust faster than open conflict ever could.

Real care isn’t a slogan.
It’s honesty, follow-through, and doing the right thing even when it’s inconvenient.

What’s one small action leaders can take this week to show they genuinely care? 👇


Image credit: Lorenzo D.

Sometimes we underestimate the quiet power within us.

We look at challenges and think
this might be too much.
Too difficult.
Too far beyond what we can handle.

But often the real limit is not the challenge.

It is the story we tell ourselves about what we are capable of.

(Credit: Christian Kampf)

Courage rarely arrives as a loud moment of strength.

More often it is something quieter.
A small inner voice that says
try one more time.
take one more step.
keep going.

And step by step we discover something remarkable.

We are far more resilient.
Far more capable.
Far stronger than we ever believed.

Sometimes courage is simply the decision to believe in that possibility.

Can I share something uncomfortable?

Doubt is louder than effort.

I’ve seen talented people stall
because they kept second-guessing every move.

And I’ve seen average ideas succeed
because the person behind them believed hard enough to execute fully.

Belief doesn’t guarantee results.

But hesitation guarantees small ones.

Here’s the shift:

Stop asking, “What if it fails?”
Start asking, “How would I move if it succeeds?”

Because you make different choices from belief:

• You follow up.
• You raise your rates.
• You apply anyway.
• You speak up in the room.

Momentum favors the committed.

Not the cautious.

You don’t need blind faith.

You need aligned action.

Are you building from belief…
or protecting yourself from disappointment?

Quote Credit: Leadersonlyco

The most influential leaders aren’t the loudest in the room.

They’re the ones who make others feel seen and respected.

Your communication style, empathy, and respect for others don't just shape your reputation.

They build bridges, foster collaboration, and create a positive work environment for everyone.

Active listening makes others feel valued.
Constructive feedback shows you care about growth.
Kindness and respect build trust and rapport.

It’s in the words you choose and the way you treat people.

That’s where real influence starts.

Quick thought:

The dream isn’t the hard part.

The discipline is.

Anyone can imagine the outcome.

Few commit to the inputs.

Big results are built quietly.

Early mornings.
Tight standards.
Consistent reps.

And humility?

That’s the anchor.

It keeps you learning.
It keeps you improving.
It keeps you coachable.

Ego stalls growth.

Humility accelerates it.

Dream big.

But work in silence.

Image credit: Daily__wisdom_ on Twitter/X

Most ads fail for one simple reason:

They focus on the product instead of the person.

Great copywriting flips that.

It’s not about sounding clever.
It’s about making people feel understood.

Here are a few timeless copywriting principles that still drive results today:

1️⃣ Sell what people want. Deliver what they need.
People buy the promise first.
But they stay for the real value.

2️⃣ Features tell. Stories sell. Emotion closes.
Listing features informs people.
Stories help them see themselves using it.

3️⃣ Every word should connect to the customer’s problem.
Your product isn’t the hero.
Your customer is.

4️⃣ Good copy pulls, it doesn’t push.
Curiosity is one of the most powerful marketing tools.
Make people want to keep reading.

5️⃣ Your CTA should feel like a reward.
Instead of: “Submit form.”
Try: “Get your free strategy.”

6️⃣ People don’t read ads.
They read what interests them.
Your job is to make the message about them.

There are also proven frameworks that simplify writing:

• AIDA – Attention → Interest → Desire → Action
• PAS – Problem → Agitate → Solution
• FAB – Features → Advantages → Benefits
• 4Cs – Clear, Concise, Compelling, Credible

You don’t need to reinvent marketing.

You just need to understand how people think and decide.

Because the best copy doesn’t feel like marketing.

It feels like someone finally understood your problem.

👉 Which copywriting framework do you use most often?

Most people treat Claude like a writing partner.

I’ve started treating it like a proposal team.

Once Gamma is connected, you can build full presentations without leaving the conversation.

Here’s the flow I’m running:
• connect Gamma
• connect Gmail
• connect Notion

Then prompt:

“Pull the discovery call. Grab the project brief. Create a campaign proposal.”

Claude finds the context.

Gamma outputs the deck.

Budget, milestones, deliverables. All there.

If I refine the strategy in chat, the slides will evolve as well.

No copy-pasting.
No version chaos.
No losing momentum between idea and output.

One more thing that makes a big difference:

Set up your brand style in Gamma and tell Claude to use it.

Now, everything generated is already client-ready.

This is what AI should feel like.
You think, it builds.

Give Gamma a spin inside Claude. 

https://lnkd.in/eUJ-Skh3

Brand partnership • Top Ecommerce Email Marketer | $200M+ Generated via Email

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ferenc Fekete's LinkedIn Performance

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