SaaStr AI London is Dec 1-2!! See You There!!

Helping, founding, funding, and growing B2B start-ups.  Making it a positive-sum game for everyone involved.  VC checks $500k-$4m @ SaaStrFund.com.  2x founder with nine figures of founder exits.

"Do or do not. There is no try."

Specialties: helping people grow and become their best.  Doing not the impossible, but the unlikely.  Never giving up.

Join 10,000 of us IRL at SaastrAnnual.com May 12-14 in SF Bay!!

FREE Weekly Workshops and Live AMAs, Sign up here -> https://www.saastr.com/workshop-wednesday/

SaaStrFund.com investments include:

- Co-led Series A in Salesloft ($2.3B exit)
- Co-led Seed in Pipedrive ($1.5B exit)
- Led Seed in Algolia ($2.3B)
- First VC in Talkdesk ($10B)
- Led Seed in Gorgias ($800m)
- Led Seed in Owner.com ($1B)
- First Investor in RevenueCat ($500m)
- First VC in Logikcull ($280m exit)
- Proud smaller investor in Greenhouse ($800m exit), Sqreen ($400m exit), Automile ($1B SEK exit), Opus Pro, Higgsfield.ai, and many others!
- and much more

Jason M. Lemkin

The one hire I don't need, and none of my portfolio cos need, is a "Strategist"

I know at certain stage in many folks' career, that's what they want to do

Advise on strategy more than do work themselves

No criticism

But most startups only need a few hours of this at a time

SaaStr AI 2026 is May 12-14 in SF Bay!! See You There!!

My #1 piece of advice for GTM leaders in January 2026: Deploy an AI agent yourself.  Now.  This month.  Don't hire an agency. Don't tell someone on your team to do it.  Do it yourself.  Roll up those sleeves again. 

Deploy an AI agent into production, for real, yourself. with Lenny Rachitsky

And for junior sales & GTM folks? Embrace it. Be the one that embraces every bit of output from AI Agents.

Principal Product Manager at ID.me, focused on devices, phone numbers, and the network trust signals that sit at the core of secure digital identity. My work centers on modeling these signals as first-class resources and shaping the APIs that make authentication simple, intuitive, and fraud-resistant.

Before joining ID.me, I founded CasselRoad Consulting and spent years helping growth-stage and public companies solve high-leverage problems across product strategy, go-to-market, buy-side M&A, and regulatory navigation. Prior to that, I co-founded EZ Texting, one of the early self-serve platforms in business messaging.

I’m also the author of tjthinakaran.blog, where I write about messaging, telecom, identity, and platform strategy.

Highlights:
• Built and scaled a messaging platform to 100K+ business users
• Led commercial and product strategy across global messaging infrastructure
• Advised on enterprise deals, buy-side M&A, and regulated-market compliance
• Published 135,000+ words on messaging, regulation, and monetization strategy

TJ Thinakaran

A great way to start 2026: 80 million Americans with verified identities who can get safe and secure access to any ID.me enabled platform.

#happyNewYear #ownYourIdentity #getVerified

Product @ ID.me | Founder Casselroad | UCI ICS Hall of Fame Inductee | Co Founder & Ex COO EZ Texting

Happy New Year from ID.me! As the new year approaches, more than 80 million Americans have verified their identity to the federal standards for consumer authentication with ID.me! 

📈 This milestone means that 80 million people are headed into 2026 with seamless, secure access to any organization that accepts ID.me. 

🔓 These users no longer need to manage multiple passwords to access services across the 21 federal agencies, 50 state government agencies, and over 70 healthcare organizations that partner with ID.me. 

As fraudsters use increasingly advanced AI tools to steal identities, ID.me is proud to help millions of Americans stay safe online. Verify your identity today: https://lnkd.in/ex7-DJp5

Here’s to a happy and safe 2026!

Open article: Verify Your Identity to Access Government Services | ID.me by id.me

Verify Your Identity to Access Government Services | ID.me

In the first newsletter of the year:
1. Braze’s Q3 2025 results (released December 9)
2. Unpacking South Korea’s new subscriber verification rules

https://lnkd.in/gqM6qkAC

Happy new year!

If writing more in 2026 is your new year's resolution. Here's some motivation from an impacful business author. 

Link to review: https://lnkd.in/gMVVD8sQ

taplio

The Battle

Jason M. Lemkin

TJ Thinakaran

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Performance ScoreJason M. Lemkin's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreTJ Thinakaran's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Jason M. Lemkin

TJ Thinakaran

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Jason M. Lemkin's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreTJ Thinakaran's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJason M. Lemkin's LinkedIn Performance