Hey 👋 I'm Isaac!

I’m a growth strategist and the founder of Pistachio, a GTM and brand-led growth partner for startups and scaleups. We help teams launch, scale and stand out by turning positioning into pipeline.

Most companies have strong products but fractured go-to-market efforts: sales, marketing and product aren’t aligned. The story isn’t clear. Growth depends too much on short-term tactics. That’s where we step in.

At Pistachio, we combine:
Brand strategy → defining your positioning, narrative, and messaging so you win trust and convert more buyers.
GTM blueprints → ICP definition, value prop, channels, packaging, sequencing.
Content systems → newsletters, CRM, LinkedIn and amplification to operationalise GTM and compound growth.
Growth ops → automation and reporting systems to scale without chaos.

Before founding Pistachio, I led growth at The Daily Aus (scaled to 180,000 subs in 10 months) and Mamamia (grew subscriptions to 30,000+ members and $170k+ MRR). Since then, I’ve worked with teams at BuzzFeed, Clay and many more to build GTM systems that turn brand trust into business results.

I also write Brand Chemistry, a newsletter about building trust and driving compounding growth.

🚀 Ready to align your story, GTM and growth engine? Let’s chat! check out my Featured section to get started.

Isaac Peiris

I came back from my holiday to 47 unread Slack threads.

First thing I did? Asked Notion Agent "what have I missed?"

30 seconds later, I had my answer. Including a client deliverable due in 6 days that was waiting for my review.

That’s something I've been building toward all year.

Systems that work without me manually holding everything together.

I'm building an agency in 2026. We're a team of 3 right now. The goal is to scale to handle 3x the project volume by year end.

That requires different infrastructure. I can't be the bottleneck searching for notes, setting up databases, or catching up on context.

Notion Agent saves me an hour every day on that manual work.

Database setup that used to take hours?
↳ Done in minutes with the right properties and views already configured.

Can't remember where I saved that client brief?
↳ Found instantly across my entire workspace.

Need to understand what happened while I was away?
↳ Searches Notion, Slack, and Gmail to surface what actually matters.

Those lost hours add up. That's time I now get to spend on the work I love most.

Working with our talented team. Solving problems for clients across completely different businesses. Building systems that let us take on bigger challenges.

2026 is about building the foundation that scales. Notion Agent helps me build it faster.

What are you building in 2026?

Try Notion Agent for free at https://lnkd.in/dcFAtkS9

#NotionPartner #NotionNewYear

Founder @ Pistachio | Content-led growth for B2B brands

Nike had Steph Curry.

Then they called him the wrong name.

2013. Curry's contract was up for renewal.

Nike had first right of refusal. They could match any offer and keep him.

Then came their pitch meeting...

They mispronounced his name. Multiple times.
They offered no signature shoe. No real investment.
They left Kevin Durant's name on the presentation deck.

Under Armour's pitch was the opposite.

We see your potential. You'll be the face of our basketball division.

Curry signed with Under Armour for $2.5M.

Today, his shoes outsell every NBA player but Jordan.

That deal became $200M+ with equity and Curry's estimated value to the brand is $14 billion.

Nike had matching rights. They had the relationship.

They lost him in a conference room because the details didn't match the opportunity.

Nike waited for proof. Under Armour bet on potential.

That's the difference between keeping talent and watching them walk.

What's a time you chose to work with someone who believed in you before you had proof?

---

I share #brand and #growth insights daily, follow for more.

Here's what I'm predicting for 2026 in marketing.
Honestly, I think most people aren't ready.

Last year, everyone adopted AI for marketing.
This year, we'll realise why it's not working.

Every cold email is the same. 
Every video uses identical hooks. 
Every landing page follows the exact template.

When 99% of marketers use the same AI tools, nobody has an advantage.

Meanwhile, audiences are actively retreating.

Daily time spent on social media has decreased for the first time ever. We're drowning people in volume while they're literally trying to escape it.

So here is what I'm seeing for this year:

1️⃣ Founder media becomes non-negotiable

More than exec social posting, more leaders will build out deeper media platforms.

Tyler Denk’s newsletter won beehiiv TIME magazine as a customer. Stripe’s co-founder runs a podcast interviewing business leaders.

More will level up from posting on Linkedin and Twitter to building out full media platforms so they can engage audiences more deeply and through owned channels.

2️⃣ Anthropic fills the gap left by Apple

ChatGPT’s first-mover advantage will have diminishing returns as Google steps up their AI roll out.

They’ll keep fighting head to head over being the everyday productivity tool.

But Apple’s absence on AI leaves a market gap for more professional and creative options, which Anthropic is filling.

They’ve already overtaken OpenAI on enterprise LLM usage.

3️⃣ AI amplifies but doesn't replace

I get it. AI makes everything faster and easier.

But when AI commodifies execution it’s your perspective that can't be automated.

Marketing wins this year will use AI to amplify human connection, not replace it.

It seems obvious to say, but most marketers will keep chasing AI efficiency. We’ll get a bunch more content that audiences will increasingly ignore.

Have I nailed it? Am I being delusional?

Keen to hear what you think!

---

I share #growthstrategy insights daily, follow for more.

Founder of Pistachio | Build trust. Drive growth.

La Vieille Ferme spent 50 years as a decent French rosé.

Then the internet started calling it "chicken wine" and everything changed.

The brand didn't create the nickname.

People just saw the chicken on the label and figured "chicken wine" is easier to say than "La Vieille Ferme"...

It became a cultural moment with "chicken wine" trending on TikTok and Instagram.

Sales spiked 300% in some markets. Grocery stores couldn't keep it stocked.

Then La Vieille Ferme launched a limited-edition bottle literally labelled "The Chicken Wine"

They leaned all the way in.

A lot of 50-year-old brands would have worried about their heritage. Especially French wine brands!

But this brand let the internet rewrite their positioning and ran with it.

Sometimes your audience hands you a better story than the one you've been telling.

The best move can just be to roll with it 🤷‍♂️

---

I share #brand and #growth insights daily, follow for more.

La Vieille Ferme rebrands to ‘The Chicken Wine’

Heineken is paying people to stop sending voice notes and meet for a beer instead.

Their new "Could Have Been A Heineken" campaign in Brazil targets people who receive voice notes over 3 minutes long on WhatsApp.

Send the bot your voice note, get a voucher for a free beer and bar recommendations to meet up IRL.

9 billion WhatsApp voice notes are sent daily (up 7% YoY). But 54% of people say their most fulfilling conversations happen in person.

Heineken made their brand the bridge for this gap.

Here’s why this works:

1. Brazil sends 4x more voice notes than anywhere else
The activation is culturally specific, not globally generic.

2. It's consistent with Heineken's broader positioning
They've built a sustained narrative around IRL connections, this isn’t a one-off stunt.

3. It uses a real friction point
Voice notes are more personal than a text, but still not the same a real in-person conversation.

Are you a voice note person? Or do you secretly wish they'd just suggest meeting up instead?

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I share brand strategy insights daily, follow for more.

Everyone in growth obsesses over removing friction.

Decathlon just added more and won.

92% of New Year's fitness resolutions fail by mid-Jan.

So they made one of their bestselling running shoes non-refundable.

No returns. No second thoughts. Buy it, commit to it.

This breaks every conversion playbook. We're trained to make conversion as smooth as possible.

But Decathlon flipped the question.

Instead of asking "how do we make this easier to buy?" they asked "how do we help people stick with what they’re trying to achieve?"

The no-returns policy protects the decision, not the inventory.

Buying shifts from "maybe I'll try running" to "I'm actually committing to doing this".

They reinforced that decision with meaning. Stick with it for 30 days and earn loyalty points.

Not a discount, but a reward for consistency.

This is what happens when marketing stops chasing persuasion and starts designing belief.

We default to frictionless.

Fewer steps. Less resistance. Instant gratification.

But sometimes friction IS the value.

Sometimes your job isn't just getting people to say yes. It's helping them mean it.

Makes me wonder where else we're over-optimising for ease when we should be designing for follow-through.

---

I share #brand and #growth insights daily, follow for more.

Apple just locked in a billion-dollar deal with Google.

This time, it's Gemini powering Siri.

Google pays Apple $20B annually to be the default search engine on iOS. Apple now pays Google $1B to power Siri's intelligence layer.

Some see this as smart strategy. Outsource the intelligence layer, keep control of privacy and UX, maintain optionability.

But Apple’s admitting they can't build competitive AI.

They tested their own models against alternatives.
They delayed Siri's AI upgrade multiple times.
They used ChatGPT when Siri needed to.

Now they’re choosing Gemini to run the whole thing.

It’s a pretty major dependancy for a company built on vertical integration.

Apple used to own the entire stack. Now they're renting the most critical layer from their biggest competitor.

When Google controls both the search layer and the intelligence layer on Apple's devices, the balance of power shifts fundamentally.

Apple's privacy infrastructure is real. But this deal shows they know users won't accept worse AI for better privacy.

Is this pragmatic decision-making, or is Apple falling behind on the technology that will define the next decade?

---

I share #brand and #growth insights daily, follow for more.

What happened in growth and marketing this week?

Here’s your Friday recap:

🔍 B2B buyers are doing their research on Reddit, not brand websites.

New data from HubSpot and Reddit shows most decisions happen before sales contact, and those conversations are now feeding AI search results.

🎮 Luxury brands are returning to gaming as a real channel.

Not experiments, not metaverse hype. Gaming is being used to reach Gen Z where time and attention already exist.

⚠️ Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping brand reputation.

Forum posts and old threads are being summarised as answers, pushing brands to actively monitor and respond where AI pulls its sources.

🎬 Apple launched Creator Studio to compete directly with Adobe.

A lower-priced bundle that gives creators access to pro tools across Mac and iPad, while still offering one-time purchase options.

😂 tl;dv built a $4.5M SaaS business through TikTok comedy.

Three creators, consistent skits, minimal product mentions and more than half of their leads came from social.

👉 Swipe through for the full breakdown.

Want the links to any of the articles?
Comment or DM and I’ll send them through.

This week in growth & marketing #10

First growth & marketing recap of the year
and honestly, it already feels like a big one

Here’s what’s worth knowing this week:

🧠 Kantar’s 2026 trends are clear

AI isn’t just about efficiency anymore. It’s shaping how brands get chosen, recommended, and trusted by people and by machines.

💬 HubSpot says Reddit is becoming impossible to ignore for B2B

As AI search drives fewer clicks, brands need to show up where buyers actually research and where AI models pull their answers from.

📉 2025 quietly killed a lot of old ad industry assumptions

From traditional search and news traffic to realistic social feeds and tidy creative briefs, the old defaults aren’t holding up.

🧴 Unilever’s Vaseline moment shows how “social listening” should work

Watch what people are already doing, validate it, and amplify it without killing the vibe.

📈 And one big theme ties it all together

Growth in 2026 won’t come from more output. It’ll come from relevance, owned distribution, and genuinely human connection.

👉 Swipe to catch up in under a minute.

Want the link to any story?
Drop a comment or DM me.

This week in growth & marketing #8

Versent

Set up a talent scout model for Versent as part of the newly structured TA team
Responsible for stakeholder management, talent mapping, sourcing, screening and scheduling interviews for technical roles across all business practices ie. software engineering, cloud, data, security & identity
Partnering cross functionally to deliver on key projects to uplift the recruitment function
Conducting recruitment marketing campaigns and events to represent Versent's brand across Sydney
Built a robust talent pooling system from scratch on Workday to futureproof hiring demand
End to end recruiting for IC roles

Senior Talent Scout

Atlassian

Note - Role was impacted by the latest round of redundancies #Atlassian500
Responsible for hiring Senior Backend and Frontend Engineers in ANZ
Partnering with senior stakeholders in the business & engineering teams to address hiring needs
Building & managing top funnel of the pipeline upto Management interviews
Sourcing, screening and preparing candidates through the technical rounds
Collaborating with wider teams on various projects to build efficiency into the recruitment process

Senior Talent Sourcer

Thoughtworks

Leading sourcing efforts for Thoughtworks Spain, Germany, Italy, Romania, Finland, Netherlands and UK
Driving large scale data driven outcomes by end to end pipeline management and recruitment channels review across Thoughtworks Europe
Building and managing top funnel via outbound channels
Partnering with Senior stakeholders to fill critical hiring demands
Advising and delivering training for sourcing strategies and best practices
Filled an average of 15 roles per quarter with a 70% offer to hire conversion rate
Tools & platforms used: LinkedIn recruiter, LI Talent insights, Github, Stackoverflow, Xing, Kaggle, Angelist, Meetup, Gitlab, Hackerrank, Dockerhub, Hiretual, Sourcewhale, Gem, AmazingHiring etc.

Senior Talent Sourcer - Europe & UK

Supporting Thoughtworks Global Recruitment function as a talent sourcer across multiple geographies including North America, EMEA, APAC and LATAM in sourcing and engaging talented technologists
Roles worked on: Fullstack/Backend/Frontend Developer, DevOps Engineer, Data Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, Business Analyst, Project Manager, Product Manager, UX Designer

Global Talent Sourcer

Randstad RiseSmart

Leading operations for the India team
Handling and resolving internal/external escalations
Coordinating with US and Europe teams on streamlining and documenting process
Handling internal recruitment, sourcing and resource management for key positions/projects
Client management and POC for India clients
Maintaining and analyzing weekly, monthly and yearly client reports
Analyzing data and addressing gaps in the process to the respective teams
Setting new processes and creating SOPs
Troubleshooting ad-hoc technical issues in RS tools by collaborating with the technical teams

Operations Lead

Reverse sourcing jobs to align candidates with opportunities available in the market as part of the outplacement sourcing team
Placing candidates displaced due to restructuring internally via Randstad for technical & non technical roles across multiple geographies
Hiring for internal non tech positions such as sourcers, CV writers and career coaches

JCR/Sourcing Specialist

iPlace

As an International Recruiter, I conduct in-depth technical and non-technical interviews for positions from startups to Fortune 500 corporations nationwide.

Work on job orders from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Source candidates using Internet-based sourcing techniques: job boards, web crawlers, search engines, social networking tools, university alumni sites, blogs, local organizations websites, discussion groups, and public and proprietary resume databases.
Full lifecycle recruiting including conducting professional assessment and verification for skills, experience, availability, compensation, willingness to travel/relocate and overall suitability for the position.
Thorough knowledge of recruiting process from sourcing to recruiting for different employment types including W2, Corp-to-Corp, 1099 for U.S. Citizens, GC, H1-B, TN-1, and EAD holders.
Hands-on experience with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) including Bullhorn, JobDiva, and Sendouts.
Hands-on experience with Vendor Management Systems (VMS portals) such as Fieldglass, IQ Navigator, WAND, Peoplefluent, and eTemp.
Communicate with candidates throughout the hiring process.
Maintain daily and weekly client reports.

Roles hired for: Java and .Net Developers

Recruiter

Talent acquisition specialist with 9+ years of experience in building engineering teams & hiring across EMEA, NORAM, APAC, LATAM regions. Speaker at SOSU 2021

Google Geek | Diversity & Inclusion Enthusiast | Data Driven Decision maker | Stakeholder management

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