Michael Houck

85,000+ founders read my free weekly newsletter. Follow me to learn about startups and venture capital.

I didn't know what a startup was until after college. I wasn't lucky with connections or mentors.

But within a few years my startup raised $23 million from a16z + other investors.

Along the way I:
· Cold emailed my way into an early role at Uber Eats
· Got laid off by Airbnb during COVID
· Built an audience of ~100K across LinkedIn and X
· Started a coliving residency for startup founders in Tulum
· Co-founded a venture fund and made over 50+ early stage investments (incl. Figure and Beehiiv)

More recently I've bootstrapped my personal holdco from $0 to $100K MRR in under 2 years. We help founders through content, connections, capital, and services:

· megaphonestudio.com → let my content agency build your newsletter or social media audience
· megaphone.network → partner with big creators in your niche

· join.foundingjourney.com → get my weekly playbooks and advice alongside 75k founders (for free)
· upgrade.foundingjourney.com → get ~100 fundraising case studies from founders I interviewed
· go.foundingjourney.com/fundraising → get connected with investors (including me)

I'm also building a new YouTube channel. Here's a recent video on the history of Silicon Valley: youtu.be/alUQxEldEMM

Founder

A weekly newsletter designed to help you build, grow, and raise capital for your startup.

Daniel Markovits

Creators + Community + Sports @ LinkedIn | Venture Scout | I help CEOs, execs, VCs, athletes & brands stand out and build authority

I’m a community builder and strategist obsessed with how people - founders, execs, athletes, creators - show up online and build trust at scale.Today, as CCO at Shake, I help B2B founders turn their ideas, experiences, and point of view into a content engine that drives authority, credibility, and long-term organic demand. We call it founder-led marketing: using the founder’s voice as the most powerful acquisition channel a business has. When done right, it makes sales easier, trust faster, and brand-building more human.Before Shake, I spent years at LinkedIn shaping how top leaders show up on the platform. I worked across editorial, product, and creator partnerships. Onboarding world-class talent like Lewis Hamilton, helping executives communicate with clarity and personality, and launching scaled video programs that grew community engagement across markets. I’ve supported 500+ high-impact members, from CEOs to rising operators, helping them grow their audience, sharpen their story, and build influence that actually moves people.My path has never been linear.. I’ve simply followed what made me curious: how communities form, how stories spread, and how the right piece of content can unlock opportunities for people. That curiosity has taken me from Tel Aviv to London and through roles that mix editorial instinct, product thinking, and deep talent partnership.At the core, my work has stayed the same:I help people communicate with more clarity, more confidence, and more humanity - so they can build the kind of presence that opens doors.If you care about founder-led marketing, storytelling, or the future of how leaders build trust online, we’re already speaking the same language.

Co-Founder

Club created to serve as a continuous bond between the diaspora community and the State of Israel.

• Successful crowdfunding campaign & world wide media coverage
• 150+ players from 25 different countries 
• Currently in Liga Gimel (5th division) of the Israeli Football League

Dani Markovits

MARCH UPDATES 🚨

A lot of people are asking what’s going on with LinkedIn right now. 

Reach feels different. Certain posts are flying. Others are disappearing.

I'll do my best to explain this in simple terms. 

LinkedIn changed fundamentally in February 2026. 
(and  in my opinion..  it’s a good thing)

The new algorithm doesn't count your likes anymore - it reads your post and decides if you actually know what you're talking about. 

The old LinkedIn algorithm was simple: more likes, comments and shares meant more reach. The new one - called 360Brew - actually reads your post. 

Here's what that means in practice: 
1) Your About section and Headline are now 'context tags'. If what you post doesn’t match your stated expertise, distribution is limited. The algorithm isn’t just evaluating a post.. it is also evaluating YOU. 

2) Comments are now 15x more valuable than likes. A good comment means someone actually stopped, thought, and responded. 

3) 'Dwell time' is now a ranking factor. Saves, sends, and time spent reading matter more than how quickly something gets a thumbs up. 

4) Relevance beats recency. Good content reaches people interested in your topic - well beyond your first-degree network. 

My biggest TAKEAWAY: Stop writing posts that could have been written by anyone. 

Personal experience > generic advice

CCO @ Shake Content | Ex LinkedIn | I help CEOs, execs, VCs & brands stand out and build authority on LinkedIn

A big milestone for Shake Content.

A bigger one for me personally.

A few months ago, we started working with Thomas Hitzlsperger.

He’s our first athlete / football client (but certainly not the last).

When I was at LinkedIn, I spent a lot of time trying to make sport a real focus on the platform. It wasn’t straightforward.

There was a genuine question around whether sports personalities “belonged” on LinkedIn. Whether the audience would care. Whether it made sense beyond the obvious PR posts.

But I believed there was something deeper there.

Elite sport is leadership.
It’s decision-making under pressure.
It’s culture, reinvention and second careers.

Over time, we built momentum. More athletes came on. More stories were told properly.

Now, at Shake, we get to work closely with Thomas on shaping his voice: not just as a former player, but as an executive and leader building the next chapter of his career.

That feels full circle.

We’re only a few months in, but the response has been strong. And the conversations happening behind the scenes are even stronger.

There’s serious opportunity for sports personalities on LinkedIn.. if it’s done with intention.

We’re just getting started.

Hot take: the most viral posts are often the least useful.

Usefulness requires specificity.. and specificity limits virality.

The posts that actually change your thinking rarely spread widely.

They’re too niche, too honest, too practical.

But they’re the ones founders get clients from.
They’re the ones executives build authority with.
They’re the ones that lead to real conversations.

Virality gets you attention - usefulness gets you outcomes.

You can optimise for both.

But if you have to choose, usefulness wins every time.

My 4-year-old daughter asked me what I do for work.

I had no IDEA what to say

Which got me thinking

What if I create the first LinkedIn Kids Glossary?

A very 'serious' book that explains LinkedIn in terms a 4-year-old would understand.

For example:

1) Recruiters
Kid definition: People who call you right after you’ve eaten lunch and ask if you “have a moment.”

2) Sales Navigator
Kid definition: A treasure map for finding people who definitely don’t want to talk to you.

3) Thought Leader
Kid definition: Someone with lots of thoughts. And makes sure you hear them.

I’m half joking.
Half… not.

Would you read this? 

Or should I figure out how to explain my job before she runs off again? 😆

The one you’ve all been waiting for…

The What Just Happened Ep.1 blooper reel.

Mostly serious LinkedIn analysis. Mostly.

Also… a surprising amount of 'Dani, Dani… Dani.'

And an unexpected Danny Zuko cameo (out of nowhere). 

Episode 2 coming soon 🍿 

#WhatJustHappened

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The Battle

Michael Houck

Dani Markovits

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The Battle

Michael Houck

Dani Markovits

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);}Dani Markovits's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreDani Markovits's LinkedIn Performance