Founder & Partner @ Kanvas | Foster Innovation, Develop Business Strategy, Drive Growth

Katie Nowak

Here are 3 common growth mistakes I see...
...even in great businesses!

✨ Growth isn’t measured.

If you pay more for a customer than the revenue they generate over the course of working with you... it's not worth it!

(9.9 times out of 10)

As a result, you need to know which channels are actually working for you.

At a minimum, track how much it costs you to acquire one new customer in each channel... and how much they’re worth over time!
​
When you see those side‑by‑side, it gets a lot easier to stop “nice to have” activities and double down on what is actually driving toward your goals.
​
✨  Growth isn’t unique.

Don't copy the same growth playbooks as everyone else! Please!

If you want to acquire customers efficiently (less cost), you usually need to do something a little different (unique growth channel) that you're well-positioned to outperform in (competitive advantage).

Ask yourself:
+ Where do my customers live, work, and play?
+ In what moments are they most likely to make a buying decision?
+ Which of those moments are least crowded by my competitors?
+ In which of these unsaturated moments could we best deliver, based on our strengths?

...that’s where your best growth experiments often live.
​
✨ Growth ideas are too far outside your core competency.

When growth feels slow, it’s tempting to chase whatever’s trendy, like AI, influencers, complex partnerships... the list goes on.

Instead, your best growth bets usually build on the things you already do well!

Example:

Let’s say you run a local landscaping business. You’re excellent with people, building teams, securing new clients, and making yards beautiful. (Maybe you should come by my yard 🤣 )

A “shiny” growth idea might be launching a consumer gardening app. You would need engineers, designers, growth marketers... and probably a new team to help you navigate it all.

More grounded growth ideas might be:
+ Introducing a simple referral program for existing customers
+ Partnering with local realtors or HOAs who already trust you
+ Adding a seasonal package (spring clean‑up + fall prep) 
+ Offering an annual subscription for your best clients

Same ambition (more revenue) but now you’re stacking growth on top of your strengths instead of inventing a whole new business model!

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What resonated most with you across these growth prompts?

What would you add to the list?
 
Drop your thoughts in the comments and let’s chat. 😎 

-

I'm Katie Nowak, an innovation leader, new venture designer and investor sharing examples & lessons weekly.

Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned.

Innovation Leader, New Venture Designer, Speaker @ Kanvas || Investor @ Altra Venture Partners

If nothing on your calendar scares you a little…
… you might be underestimating yourself 🤯 

I’ve always joked that life lives on the perimeter of your comfort zone.

If you’re always outside of your comfort zone, you’ll burn out.

…but if you’re always inside it, you’ll miss out on exciting life experiences!

I often reflect on my comfort zone balance across any given week, month, quarter, or year.

In doing so, I’ve defined 3 levels of ‘good scary’:

✨ Level 1: You can do it today, but you’re nervous.
✨ Level 2: You need help or prep to pull it off.
✨ Level 3: You have no idea how, but you’re committed.

My challenge to you is to pick a Level 1 or a Level 2 ‘good scary’, and give it a try this week.

You can use that momentum to build toward Level 3!

So tell us -

What’s one thing on your list this week that scares you a bit… but you know you’re capable of?

Share in the comments so we can cheer you on.

PS - I’ll be sharing a Level 3 scary of my own, soon! The picture is a hint. :)

—
I'm Katie Nowak, an investor, innovation leader, and new venture designer sharing examples & lessons weekly. Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned.

Building digital legacies for Founders & CEOs | Founder of CURAT-D

I’m Aurelien, and I help b2b founders turn their personal brands into a revenue-generating machine.

My journey started 7 years ago when, at 15, I launched my first company, STRADA PARIS. I had no experience, but I had a vision. 

Fast forward a few years—while I was still a student in Boston—I made my very first LinkedIn post, and everything changed.

What started as a leap of faith turned into a business that helps founders build their personal brands, drive growth, and generate serious revenue.

In 2022, CURAT—D was born. 

Since then, we’ve partnered with 7-figure founders, signed high-profile clients (including one of Hollywood’s biggest names), and helped our clients close a $4M deal—all by using LinkedIn organic content.

Our mission is simple:

Help founders build brands that stand out and bring results.

At CURAT—D, we take a hands-on approach. We help you:

- Craft your unique story
- Grow your audience
- Build your authority
- Attract high-ticket clients

The best part?

It’s all done through organic LinkedIn strategies—no ads, no gimmicks, just real value.

We capture your authentic voice through simple processes like:

- Content calls
- Voice memos
- Raw thoughts you share, turned into content that drives engagement and results.

Our goal?

To take your brand to the next level and 10x your growth.

Outside of work, I’m always looking for my next challenge. I’ve traveled the world, spoken at events like The Metaverse Summit in Silicon Valley I watch every single Formula One Grandprix, and am always pushing myself to grow.

But my true passion is seeing my clients succeed. 

I’m here to help you turn your LinkedIn profile into more than just a social media account—it can be the key to unlocking your next big opportunity.

Curious to learn how?

Send me a message, and let’s talk about how we can elevate your brand.

Let’s make big things happen together.

Aurelien Scagnolari

This is the most emotional session I've ever filmed.

Meet Chloe Fabiani, the founder, trying to save 5 million animals from euthanasia.

She built Paaw, a pet adoption platform working with 3,000+ shelters across the US and Europe. Her mission deserves to be heard - but like most founders, visibility isn't her strength.

So she trusted us with it.

We asked for one hour of her time in a studio in SF, right next to her office.

But before she walked in, we did our homework:

→ Sent an onboarding questionnaire tailored to her audience and goals
→ Audited her entire online presence
→ Analyzed what people in her industry were doing

Everything related to her online presence was dissected by my team and I.

Then she walked in and gave us 60 minutes.

In that one hour, we captured everything she needs on her personal channels for the next 3 months.

That's 48 Assets.

For founders like Chloe, time is the constraint. But their stories - the real ones must be told.

This is why we built 48 Assets.

Founder at CURAT—D & 48 Assets | Distribution is personal now + insights on turning founders into their company’s most valuable distribution channel.

I just signed an exclusive studio partnership in New York City, and this one is a big deal for us.

New York is the main hub for 48 Assets. Most of the founders and CEOs we work with are based there.

So finding the right studio was probably the most important operational decision I've made for the business this year.

Ask a CEO to share something they've never said publicly, every detail of the environment matters.

That's what I found at Theorist. The space, the lighting, the way their team operates. It's built for the guest experience.

When a founder feels good on camera, they actually will deliver their best selves.

So we made it official. Theorist is now our exclusive studio partner in NYC. Every founder session we run in the city goes through them.

For us it means our clients get a consistent, premium experience every single time. For them it means a growing roster of high-caliber founders coming through their doors as we scale.

Shoutout to Asher Brooks and the entire team at Theorist Studios for building a studio that actually puts the talent first. This is just the start.

If you're a founder in New York and you've been thinking about building your personal brand, let's talk.

I slept in the cockpit of an A380 for four hours when I was a kid. There were no seats left on the plane, so my dad put me on the jump seat for a 14-hour flight to Tokyo. That's the kind of childhood I had.

My dad was a pilot. Since a very young age I was privileged to travel the world. Tahiti three times by seven. Every continent by 14. Peru, Tokyo, South Korea and so on. But more than the travel, what shaped me was what happened when my parents were gone.

When your parents leave for the other side of the world for a few days and you don't have a nanny, you figure things out fast. I had a little sister to take care of. What we were eating, bedtime, how much TV, what activities we were doing. I was a kid raising a kid. And that built something in me that no school ever could. My family was loving and trusting, but they also gave me the space to fail and make stupid mistakes. That combination of freedom and responsibility is everything.

The thing that stuck with me most was what my dad would tell me when he came home. I'd always ask him what happened on his flights because I was obsessed with planes and flying. And 98% of the time the answer was the same. Nothing happened. His crew did everything in their power to make it smooth. Pre-departure, takeoff, 10 hours at cruise, landing. Different airports, different countries, but always the same job done right.

Then there was the 2%. The days where he had to make decisions at 600 miles an hour where every minute is crucial. You lose an engine at 33,000 feet. What do you do? Where do you land? Depending on the country you're above you might not be able to. You have a passenger who needs medical attention. Do you divert and cost the airline tens of thousands of dollars? Or keep going and risk that person's life? Every decision has a consequence.

He would walk me through his decision-making process. How to stay lucid. How to act normal when the adrenaline is screaming. And the lesson he drilled into me more than anything: once you've made the decision, don't look back at it. Look back when everything is over. It might not have been the best decision. But it was your decision, based on everything you knew in that moment. Don't regret it.

I think about that constantly as a founder. The speed is different but the principle is identical. You're making calls every day with incomplete information and real consequences. And the worst thing you can do is freeze or second-guess yourself mid-flight.

Growing up as that kid taught me culture, freedom, and responsibility. But mostly it taught me that the best decision-makers are the ones who commit and move forward.

I never became a pilot. But I run my business the same way my dad flew his planes. Stay calm. Make the call. Don't look back until you've landed.

At 12, he was milking cows. In his 30s, he scaled companies to exits worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Here's how we helped Stu go from invisible online to one of the most credible voices in audience-first media:

When Stu and I started working together, his story immediately stood out.

He landed an interview with Jim Cramer that became his break into media.

From there:

→ TheStreet: Research Associate to VP of Operations & Product Development

→ Business Insider: VP of Audience Development, $400M+ exit

→ WWE: VP of Product Monetization

→ EVP Growth to COO then CBO at Barstool Sports

At Barstool, he helped to scale audiences from 50M to 250M+ and revenue from $25M to $250M. They exited to Penn Interactive for a final valuation of $660M.

One of the best operators (and minds) in media, and nobody knew his story.

When we connected, he was CEO of 10PM Curfew, reaching nearly every woman in America between the ages of 18-45 on a monthly basis across 60+ channels. He needed to attract premium partnerships and build awareness & consideration for the 10PM Curfew brand.

As I listened to his stories, it became clear: Stu is an "Operator First" leader. He sees opportunities others miss by looking past surface judgments and doing unglamorous work.

While others chase vanity metrics, Stu builds for audience-first durability.

We applied our 4-pillar extraction framework:

(1) Origin Stories

The farm discipline. Raising deer for tuition. The Cramer interview. Taking the Barstool bet.

(2) Operator Insights

Tactical lessons from scaling billion-dollar audiences. Like when Barstool generated $40M for small businesses during COV*D.

(3) Contrarian POV

Non-linear paths. Opportunities disguised as risks. Cultural reads over credentials.

(4) Proof points

Multiple exits, $1B+ combined. 10X revenue growth at Barstool. MASSIVE reach today.

The results:

→ Acquisition conversations from prospective buyers who found him on LinkedIn

→ Signed partnership deals directly from his content

→ Individual posts hitting 250K+ impressions and 500+ engagements

→ Positioned as a leading voice in audience-first media

Stu who went from milking cows at 2:15 am to scaling companies that exit for hundreds of millions.

Now the world gets to hear his story.

This is what we do at CURAT—D & 48 Assets. We find founders & CEOs (or they find us) with stories that deserve to be heard and get them out into the world.

The world's most capable people shouldn't stay invisible.

One of my client's best-performing posts got 324 likes and zero dollars. His worst-performing post got 37 likes and closed a $65k deal.

Most founders post about launches & announcements, hoping they'll blow up.

If every post is a product update you're training your audience to scroll past you. 

So here are the four types that actually drive pipeline, not just impressions.

(1) POV. Your contrarian takes. Beliefs that come from lived experience, not from reading the same article everyone else read. A real point of view filters. It attracts the right people and repels the wrong ones. I believe any business that takes personal branding seriously can make it their number one growth channel. Above paid ads. Above cold outbound. Above everything. A lot of people disagree. Good. That disagreement is what makes it a point of view and not a platitude.

(2) Origin. Your story. The one thing that cannot be replicated. Your tech can be copied. Your pricing can be undercut. But nobody else grew up the way you did, failed the way you did, had the specific combination of experiences that led you to build this company. Origin content requires vulnerability. Going back to moments that weren't glamorous. But when it's specific, detailed, and honest it creates a connection no amount of product marketing can match.

(3) Vision. Where you see things heading that nobody's talking about yet. What shifts are you noticing that the market hasn't priced in? When a CEO talks about the future of their industry, people listen differently. It's not commentary, it's a signal. And a vision post from six months ago that turned out to be right? That compounds into credibility no product announcement could ever build.

(4) Proof. Case studies, client wins, specific results. This is the one you can't post solo. If all you share is proof you become the guy at the party who only talks about himself. But balanced with the other three, proof becomes the closer. A proof post might get 30 likes. Low engagement by vanity metrics. But it books calls. 30 people see it, 3 reach out, 1 closes. That post just generated real revenue. I'll take that over 500 likes and zero pipeline every time.

Your POV will make you respected. Your Origin will make you trustworthy. Your Vision will get attention. Your Proof will make you money. Stack all four, and you have a real content engine.

One of my clients closed a $4M deal from a LinkedIn post. The story behind had been sitting in him for 15 years. He just didn't know it.

I've spent 2.5 years extracting stories from 40+ founders and CEOs. And every single time the same thing happens. These founders can pitch you their company at dinner and you're hooked. Magnetic in person. But ask them about a failure that rewired their brain or a moment that changed their trajectory and they freeze. Not because the stories aren't there. But because no one has ever asked them the right way.

I think about my own story. My dad used to travel to the US for work and every time he came back he'd say "that place is full of opportunities, full of ambitious people." At 14 I convinced my parents to let me spend a year in Denver, Colorado. That year changed everything. I discovered entrepreneurship, started devouring books and content about building something from nothing. Came back to France a different person. But for the longest time that wasn't a "story" to me. It was just something that happened. It took other people pointing it out for me to realize it was my origin story.

Most founders have a version of that. A moment that redirected everything. And they're sitting on it without knowing. Because when you're sending emails at 2 AM and waking up stressed about what happened overnight with US clients while you were asleep in Europe, the last thing on your mind is "what's my best story?" Your job is to keep the machine running.

And that's exactly why the world's most capable founders stay invisible. Their best stories stay trapped in their heads while generic content speaks on their behalf. Less qualified voices dominate. And that's not just a content problem. That's a trust problem. Stakeholders, investors, customers never actually know who they're trusting.

The best content creators online all share one trait. They've done the storytelling work. They've sat with their experiences and turned their failures into narratives and their weird childhood moments into connection points. Content becomes effortless for them because they can pull from a library of lived experience at any moment. Most founders haven't done that work. Not because they can't. Because they're busy building.

The work is simple. Sit across from a founder, go deep, push back, and say "wait, go back, tell me more about that." When it's done right they walk away saying "I didn't even know that story was in me."

Someone Googled you before your last meeting. Your LinkedIn loaded first. They made a decision about you in seconds. You have no idea what it told them.

Most founders have no idea what their LinkedIn is saying about them right now. They haven't looked at it through the eyes of someone who doesn't know them. They see it as a profile. Everyone else sees it as a first impression.

Think about it from every angle. You're an investor with 30 companies on your desk this month. You check the founder's LinkedIn. Is there a point of view? Evidence of thought leadership? People engaging with their ideas? Or is it a profile photo from 2019, a headline that says "CEO at [Company Name]," and the last post was eight months ago congratulating someone on a work anniversary? That tells you this founder doesn't take visibility seriously. And if they don't take their own visibility seriously, what does that say about how they'll position the company?

Same with hires. The best talent researches the founder before they apply. They're not just evaluating the role. They're evaluating you. Does this person think deeply about their industry? Do they have a vision worth joining? In a competitive market your personal brand is either a recruiting advantage or a recruiting liability.

Same with buyers. Most B2B purchases involve trust that goes beyond the product. The buyer isn't just buying your software. They're buying you. And before that conversation starts they've already formed an opinion based on what they've seen online.

I think about someone like Greg Eisenberg. He shares incredible thinking around AI and startups consistently. If tomorrow he sells a service I'm looking for, I'm going to him first. Not because he's cheapest. Not because he's technically the most qualified on paper. Because I trust the guy. I've been following his thinking. I know how he sees the world. And that familiarity is the most powerful thing in business.

That's the whole game. Sales is trust. The product matters. The price matters. But none of it matters if the trust isn't there first. And trust isn't built in a sales call. It's built over time through showing up and sharing your thinking before you ever ask for anything in return.

The founders who treat their LinkedIn as a living representation of how they think have an unfair advantage no amount of ad spend can replicate. And the founders who don't? They're losing deals every day. Not because competitors are better. Because competitors showed up. Were visible. Were known. Were trusted.

Your LinkedIn profile communicates whether you're someone worth trusting. You're either building that on purpose or losing it by default.

Happy to judge your profile if want, put it below ;)

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The Battle

Katie Nowak

Aurelien Scagnolari

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The Battle

Katie Nowak

Aurelien Scagnolari

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);}Katie Nowak's LinkedIn Performance

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Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreKatie Nowak's LinkedIn Performance