Oliver Meakings

I'm the founder of Senja.io, a bootstrapped SaaS that helps you collect, manage and share customer testimonials. 

Senja helps you collect testimonials using automations, and share them as images, widgets, popups, Walls of Love, links and videos.

I'd love you to try it: Senja.io

Co-Founder

Co-founder of Senja.io. Collect, manage and share your testimonials.

Olly Meakings

I want to spend $120,000 on marketing

$20,000/month over six months

This will be my biggest ever marketing bet at Senja

But I want to scale from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 ARR and need to take bigger bets

My brain is telling me to try and scale something measurable - meta ads, Google Ads, cold outbound

But my gut thinks I should focus on the hard work of building relationships with power-users and influencers of our ICP

Less measurable, slower to ramp-up, but a genuine opportunity to find and persuade the right people to use Senja, and get to success

This work would then act as the foundation of future marketing activity

So I'm torn

What would you do #BuildInPublic?

Building a bootstrapped SaaS in public, without the BS

I got roasted by 250 people

I knew my post would be controversial, but I had no idea it would also totally change my thinking

I thought people would focus on the measurable vs unmeasurable marketing question, or discuss head versus heart when making strategic decisions

Instead some very smart people focused on me fixing fundamental issues with the product and our product-led growth (now) before sequencing in paid (later)

Senja is product-led but I've drifted way from this over time because our churn and TOF sign ups have met and I have been looking to throw money at the problem

I'm starting to realise that paid will compound existing issues, whereas (unmeasurable?!) relationship building will not only drive TOF but assist throughout the funnel -> activation -> retention -> referral -> churn

We help our customers collect and share video testimonials and stories, and tell them this is how to grow, so it's critical that this is the foundation of our own marketing

Finally I need to look again at our product growth loops as we're uniquely positioned to grow from them IF enough news customers are getting to success

Our tool creates (awesome) assets for our customers that can drive awareness and TOF but only if they are being shared

Thanks to everyone who commented and especially to Olya Grovel 👩🏼‍🔬 who challenged my key assumptions

This is exactly why I LOVE #buildinpublic

I’m hiring my first marketer for Senja

Where should I look?

I'm hiring at Senja!!

Let's start 2026 getting the world's best creator educators on Senja!

I'm looking for someone to manage concierge migrations.

You will lead our efforts to find the best creator educators, tell them about Senja, migrate them to our platform, and ensure they get to success.

If you’re interested, application in comments below.

Your annual reminder that #buildinpublic is for this:

→ Accountability
→ Reflection
→ Helping others through sharing
→ Building community
→ Hiring

Not this
→ Getting rich quick
→ Doing marketing
→ Getting likes on X

The most rewarding part of sharing my journey has been having a ritual to reflect on my progress.

And then sharing it in a way that can help others.

I know a lot of people see #buildinpublic as a way to market their business, and that's a nice second-order effect.

But fundamentally it's about sharing, helping and democratising information.

I'm particularly inspired by those who continue to do it at scale, like Joel Gascoigne at Buffer ✨

I have $12,000 to spend on Meta ads

I want to run 3 cycles of $4,000 of ad spend

Who should I talk to about Meta ads for SaaS?

Most testimonials are filler

Not because they're bad, but because they're untested and unmeasured

You collect them, edit them, and share them on your sales pages

But you have no idea if they're actually helping buyers to make a decision

What if your leads could tell you which testimonials were most helpful?

And you could use that information to show more of the most helpful proof in your marketing?

Over time, you could discover
→ Which stories resonate
→ Which formats work
→ Which proof belongs above the fold

And which testimonials should be hidden

This is something I've been exploring at Senja in our widget playground

Visitors can actually upvote the proof that was useful to them

What do you think?

Would visitors actually leave feedback on a testimonial? 

#buildinpublic

Kicking off 26 with some great news - another native integration live!!!

You can now find Senja inside Umso

Instantly add your customer testimonial widgets to your Umso landing pages

This type of integration Senja's customers get to success in other tools

And it increases the discoverability of Senja across the web

Plus, it's amazing to see Senja inside tools I love and use

B2B Influencer Marketing @OBVIOUS

I help SaaS build awareness and generate leads through B2B Influence.

Managed +100 campaigns in 2024.

Impressions: 6.4M
Clics: +16K
Leads: +4K
CPM (Average): $32
CPC (Average): $5.4
CPL (Average): $37

Marc Richard

OBVIOUS went from €150K ARR to €1M ARR in 2025.

We started the year as a one-man show.
€150K ARR.
Just execution.

Then we built.

First Account Managers.
Then a Client Director.
Then a real team.

Today:

🌐 7 Account Managers, a Client Director and me.
🌐 ~30 clients across Europe & the US
🌐 400+ creators activated in 2025

In 2025, OBVIOUS delivered:

- 8M impressions
- 60K likes
- 70K comments
- 100K clics/website visits
- 3500 leads
- 35M€ Pipeline
- 5M€ Revenue for our clients

⏭️ 2026 target: €3M ARR.

Same focus.

- Deliver for existing clients.
- Add new strategic accounts.
- Structure marketing.
- Structure sales.
- Keep scaling performance via our Creator Led Growth motion 

Creator-led growth is taking off in B2B.

Leads 2–3x cheaper than traditional acquisition channels.
Plus trust.
Plus credibility.
Plus long-term impact.

If you want to know how to generate leads in 2026 with a creator-led growth motion.

Comment “CLG”

We’re just getting started. 🚀

We did it again.
13 meetings booked. €561K pipeline. From 1 creator post.

EDIT: check it out here -> https://lnkd.in/eHScce4g


In November, at OBVIOUS we partnered with 10+ creators our target audience already trusts.

Including Quentin Le Gall (Hexa).

His first post delivered:

- 32K impressions
- 657 clicks (2.05% CTR)
- 15 leads (2.3% click → lead)
- €648K pipeline
- €143K ARR

So, 2 days ago, we published a second post.
To break down the performance of the first one.

And here we are 👇

- 18K impressions
- 434 clicks (2.4% CTR)
- 13 leads (3% click to lead)
- €561K pipeline
- Potential €140K ARR (25% win rate)

Next step?

1️⃣ Amplify the post with Thought Leadership Ads
So the right audience keeps seeing it.
Generate leads at scale, while keeping CPL under control.

2️⃣ Warm outbound on engaged people
380 people liked or commented.
→ 20–50% in our ICP
→ 25% reply rate
→ 3–5% conversion from contact to meeting

Creator-led growth works.
When it’s structured, measured, and distributed properly — it becomes predictable.

👉 Want to know how we make creator-led growth predictable?

💬  Comment “CLG”

🤯 275 demos booked from a single LinkedIn post.
This wasn’t luck. Here’s why.

• We activated a creator trusted by the client’s ICP
• One specific use case, not the full product
• The goal: engagement and intent
• Warm traffic sent to a dedicated landing page

Organic results:
→ 94K impressions
→ 1,500 clicks
→ 167 demos booked
→ CPL: €5.16

Once organic proved the conversion,
we simply kept showing the same post to the right audience.

Using Thought Leader Ads.

TLA results:
→ €4,028 spend
→ ~60K additional impressions
→ ~108 extra demos
→ CPL: ~€37
(3–4× lower than their best acquisition channel)

Same post.
Same creator.
More volume.

That’s Creator-Led Growth.

If you want to know how to generate leads this way
and see the exact post we used:

💬 Comment “CLG”

We turned 6K€ into 1.9M€ pipeline and 324K€ ARR 
With our own creator led growth motion 

In November, after running Creator led growth campaigns for our +80 SaaS customers for the past 2 years.

We’ve finally did our OWN campaign at OBVIOUS.

Here are the results

Phase 1 - Organic: 

- 11 creators activated over 3 weeks
- 247K impressions 
- 45 meetings booked organically

Phase 2 - Thought Leadership Ads

- 2 of the top performing posts amplified with TLA
- 1300€ invested 
- 17K impressions
- 11 leads
- CPL <150€ for a +40K€ ACV

Phase 3 - Outbound

- Reached out to 500 ICP people that have engaged with creators’ posts (out of the 2000+)
- 27% reply rate
- 15 additional meetings 

If you want to know more, just comment “CLG” ;)

EDIT: check it out here https://lnkd.in/eHScce4g

🔥 94,000 impressions. €1.7M in pipeline. From a single creator post.

Most B2B brands will NEVER see results like this. Here’s why:

Not because creator-led growth doesn’t work.
But because they don’t have the right approach to select creators.

Here’s how we do it today 👇

1️⃣ Start where the signal already exists

We identify creators who are ALREADY talking about:
- the client’s brand
- or their direct competitors on LinkedIn.

If they talk about the problem, they can talk about the solution.

2️⃣  Build lookalikes

From these profiles, we generate lookalikes:

- same topics
- same audience
- same positioning

Then we progressively expand the pool.

3️⃣  Enrich performance data (automated)

For every creator, we enrich what actually matters:

- Average impressions per post
- Engagement quality

This gives us a realistic view of expected reach, before anything goes live.

Result?
We work with creators who are:

- ultra-relevant
- aligned with the topic
- and whose performance we can estimate with confidence

Some posts will overperform.
Some will underperform.
But globally, we land in the impression volume we planned.

And because we know our averages:

- ~1.3% CTR
- ~20% conversion on top-funnel (ebooks, resources)
- ~3.5% conversion on bottom-funnel

We can estimate:

- traffic
- leads
- and pipeline impact
   
BEFORE LAUNCHING 🔥 

That’s how creator-led growth becomes predictable.

If you want to know which creators would make sense for YOUR brand, and what kind of results you could expect.

Comment “CREATORS”

The biggest mistake you can make when working with LinkedIn influencers is this:


👉 Not knowing how much to pay a creator.

After running 2,000+ sponsored LinkedIn posts at OBVIOUS, we know exactly what we’re aiming for to get performance.

Our benchmarks are simple:

• Max €/$50 CPM
• ~1.3% CTR
• ~3.5% of clicks convert into leads (BOFU)

So let’s take a concrete example 👇
If we pay a creator €500 flat, we expect at least 10,000 impressions.

That should generate:
→ ~130 clicks
→ ~4 leads

Which means the math works.

To keep control on performance, we do 2 things before activating a creator:

1. Use a tool to estimate their average impressions per post.
If they usually do 2–3–4K impressions, they’re simply not a fit.

2. Ask for a screenshot of impressions from recent posts to confirm the average.

This way, we massively reduce risk.

Of course, some posts won’t work.
That’s normal.

But when you activate 10–20 creators over a 2–3 week window:

• Some will underperform
• Some will outperform
• And most of the time, we end up with multiple posts under €10 CPM.

Influencer marketing isn’t gambling.

It’s just math + volume + control.

Hope this helps if you’re running (or planning) LinkedIn creator-led growth 🚀

One sponsored post → 47 meetings booked and €564K in pipeline
Another one → 2 meetings booked and €24K in pipeline. 
Here’s the difference ⬇️

The main reason B2B brands fail to generate performance with LinkedIn creators is simple:

They suck at selecting them.

Some brands we talk to at OBVIOUS tried creator-led growth by themselves before.

When we ask how they selected creators, the answer is almost always the same:

- XXXK followers
- XXX engagements

It feels reassuring.
It looks good on paper.

But it doesn’t convert.

High engagement ≠ qualified traffic.

What actually matters is:

- who the creator talks to
- what they consistently talk about
- and what they’re known for.

That’s why we source creators on LinkedIn based on:

- their job title
- the topics they consistently talk about
- the audience they attract (not the size of it)

Once we’ve identified relevant creators, we go one step further.

We focus on the ones that will actually drive performance.
We enrich the data and look at one key metric first:
average impressions per post — not followers.

This tells us how much we’re willing to invest.

Our rule is simple:
👉 We don’t want to go above $50 CPM

So:
Avg views = 20K
Max budget = $1,000 per post

If you’re curious to know which creators would be relevant AND drive leads for you 👇

💬 Comment “CREATORS”

CLAUDE didn’t book meetings on autopilot for me.
Creators did.

Last week, I booked 50+ meetings.

• 40 came inbound in a single week
• +10 more the week after

Not because of automation.
Not because of AI magic.

But because creators created demand first.

Here’s how it actually works 👇

Creators give me something automation never will:
trust.

They warm up the market.
They talk about the problems.
They make people curious.

So when prospects see my name,
I’m not a stranger.

Then, and only then, automation makes sense.

I run outbound only on people who already interacted:
• liked the post
• commented

That’s why my outbound runs on autopilot without killing reply rates.

Results:
• +25% reply rate (consistently)
• Qualified conversations
• Meetings that actually show up

AI alone doesn’t book meetings.

But creator-led growth + smart outbound does.

Creators create demand.
AI captures it.

If you’re still doing cold outreach to people who don’t know you,
you’re playing the hardest version of the game.

Want the exact system?

💬 Comment “CREATOR”

If you run a B2B service company, this is for you.


Marketing agency.
Recruitment firm.
Consulting service.

Your market is crowded.
Your offer is solid.
But differentiation is getting harder every year.

So what happens?

You end up:
- Fighting competitors on price
- Explaining why you’re “better” on every sales call
- Discounting to close deals

After 2 years running OBVIOUS,
we’ve run Creator Led growth motion for 80+ SaaS companies 
like Pipedrive, Replit, Notion, Collective, Amplemarket, Rows, Folk, Fygr, Peec.

But recently, something changed.
Lot of our inbound now comes from traditional B2B service companies.

Why?

Because they all face the same problem:
👉 No brand preference. Only comparison.

Now imagine this instead 👇

When a prospect thinks:

“I need a Meta Ads agency / a recruitment firm / a consultant”

They don’t Google.
They don’t compare decks.

They remember what trusted voices in their market keep saying.

The people they already follow.
The experts they respect.
The creators shaping opinions in your ecosystem.

And they all point to you.

Publicly.
Consistently.
Without you selling anything.

So when the call happens:
- Trust is already there
- Authority is established
- Price is no longer the main discussion

That’s what Creator-Led Growth creates:
- Strong inbound pipelines
- Higher close rates
- Real pricing power

If you are looking to growth your B2B service company.

Creator-Led Growth is one of your best levers for 2026.

Want to know how to do it?

Comment “CLG”

Creator-led growth looks easy.

Until you actually try to run it. Here's what you'll need to do:

Creator-led growth on LinkedIn isn’t pay → post → leads.
It’s a full-stack growth motion.

Here’s what you actually need to run it properly 👇

 1. Source creators
 2. Outreach 5–10x more than needed
 3. Follow up multiple times
 4. Negotiate fees
 5. Create and send contracts
 6. Create a brief
 7. Define post intentions
 8. Review and validate content
 9. Create tracked links
 10. Set up attribution
 11. Dozens of back and forth with each creator to align
 12. Make sure the post is published
 13. Ensure creators are engaged in the comments
 14. Collect post performance a few days later
 15. Build a reporting doc (Notion / Sheets / CRM)
 16. Track impressions, clicks, leads, MQL, SQL
 17. Analyze what actually converted
 18. Ask top-performing creators to whitelist their posts
 19. Create or update your audiences
 20. Launch Thought Leadership Ads
 21. Optimize over time
 22. Extract people who engaged with creators’ posts
 23. Filter ICP leads
 24. Write outbound sequences
 25. Launch outbound

Or you can let us handle the entire creator-led growth motion at OBVIOUS 🫡

Strategy, creators, content, attribution, paid and outbound.
Without burning 100+ internal hours per month.

Creator-led growth delivers 2–3x cheaper CPL than any other B2B channel.

But it’s not a random act..

taplio

The Battle

Olly Meakings

Marc Richard

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreOlly Meakings's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMarc Richard's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Olly Meakings

Marc Richard

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);}Olly Meakings's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMarc Richard's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreOlly Meakings's LinkedIn Performance