Shobhit Chugh

Product Manager Career Coach | I help ambitious Product Managers transform into highly respected Product Leaders making 50%+ income in a dream role WITHOUT working more or getting certified | Free Breakthrough Session⬇️

Connect for a breakthrough session:
👉🏼 https://www.intentionalproductmanager.com/apply

If you are:
👉 A Product Manager who is ready to make a bigger impact as a highly respected Product Leader while making what you are worth
👉 Have what it takes to land the dream job in a top tech company while being known as part of the top 1% of Product Managers.
👉 Want to focus on the strategic initiatives that will move your company and career forward.

🔵Our Track Record (having helped 500+ clients like these):
👉Gabor landed his dream role at Google after years of trying on his own
👉Chris got promoted from Senior Product Manager to Director, managing a team of eight people
👉Oana landed her dream role at Meta
👉Ian Swanson went from Director to VP of Product at Lightspeed Systems
👉Sandesh Patil landed his dream role at Amazon

Here's what a few clients have to say:

"Thanks to IPM, my self-framing has changed dramatically. If I was unsure how to position myself on the job market before, now I'm in a job that I love, and I feel like I have the key for future success." - Oana, PM at Meta

"As a result of what I learned, I got a promotion I've been working towards for a long time to Director of Product Management. But, not just that–I was also made Head of Product for all four sister companies and will soon be adding four more people to my team." - Chris Ruhter, Director of Product

"I am a mid-career Product Management professional with an MBA, and a previous Faang experience, so the interview process is not new for me.

I used to do it all by myself and I now realize it’s not necessary and not even sensible.

I’d credit the well-structured approach, a supportive community and the rigor from the coaches as complementary to my own efforts. I started feeling more prepared and the mindset work was invaluable for me.

If you are serious about landing a strong Product management offer, why would you not join this program and learn from the best?" –  Amirtha Raman, Senior Manager of Product Management at Amazon

You can check out these reviews and more at https://www.ipmreviews.com/

ARE YOU READY TO GET STARTED?
Would you like to transform into a highly respected Product Leader making 50%+ income in a dream role without adding more work to your already busy schedule?
If so, message me here on LinkedIn or below to connect for a breakthrough session with my team (free):
👉🏼 https://www.intentionalproductmanager.com/apply?el=linkedin

🔵 𝐂𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐔𝐑𝐋 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 our 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨: ipmworkshop.com/r/a?el=linkedin

Founder and CEO

If you’re still applying online for Product Management roles in 2026, you’re already behind.
Not because you’re unqualified.
But because the strategy you’re using is stuck in 2016.

The best product roles don’t go to the most experienced candidates.
They go to the ones who’ve positioned themselves as the obvious hire — before they even apply.

I’ve now helped over 1,000 product leaders do exactly that.
Not with gimmicks. Not with endless resume tweaks.
But with a strategy that turns your experience into leverage, your story into a signature narrative, and your job search into a career-defining leap.

I thought through about the question - what would I do if I was applying for Product Management roles in 2026?


So I came up with a video where I covered 
-> Why top PMs get ghosted even with the right experience
-> How to stop “applying everywhere” and start creating demand
-> The mindset, skillset, and systems you need to attract roles in AI, Big Tech, or breakout startups
-> What changes when you stop asking for permission — and start leading your search like a product

If you’re ready to stop guessing and start moving with intention, watch this.

To get the video

1. Connect with me (so that I can message you)
2. Comment "2026 Search" and I will send you the video

I help Product Managers transform into respected leaders with $300K–$900K+ roles | Ex-Google Product Leader | 40-50%+ raise in dream roles | $300M+ in client offers | Free Lesson -​> ipmworkshop.com

You know what drives me absolutely batshit crazy?
When a Product Manager tells me they’re struggling to explain a career gap……because they took time off to raise their kids.

Let’s get one thing clear:
That’s not a “career gap.” That’s a damn life choice.

You took time off to raise a human.
You showed up fully for your family.
You prioritized what actually matters.

And now…
Some hiring manager wants you to justify it like you committed a crime?

Own it.
Say it with your chest:
“I chose to take time off to raise my kids. Because that’s the kind of life I want to live.”

Don’t shrink when you get asked that question—expand.
This isn't a liability.
It's one of the most transformative leadership experiences you’ll ever have.

You think juggling stakeholders is hard?
Try negotiating with a 2-year-old on 3 hours of sleep.

And here’s the truth no one says out loud:
The people who stumble in interviews when asked about this?
It’s not the gap—it’s the self-doubt behind it.

If you’re secretly wondering,
“Did I hurt my career?” Then that uncertainty shows up in the room.

So the work starts here:
Decide that you made the right decision.
That this was a powerful, intentional choice.
And that anyone would be lucky to have you because of it, not in spite of it.

You didn’t step out of the workforce.
You stepped into a new kind of leadership.

Product execs with 10+ years of experience are now applying to Senior PM roles… and not getting interviews.

We analyzed conversations with product managers last quarter.

A VP of Product from a top TV network—10+ years in ad sales tech—applied to a Senior PM role. Exact same work. Zero response. Not even a recruiter screen.

His next idea?
"I'm thinking of using a massive AI auto-applier."
A VP. Considering spam.

An AI PM I spoke to is being pushed into a Program Manager role. After building AI products, he’s now fighting just to stay in product. Not grow—just survive.

Another product leader with 9 years at a FAANG company?
Laid off. Now upskilling in LLM security just to feel "AI enough" for 2026.

These aren’t isolated stories.

Here’s what it points to:

The ladder isn’t broken.
It’s being pulled up while you’re climbing it.

→ VPs can’t get Senior PM interviews.
→ AI PMs are being moved out of product.
→ Microsoft veterans are starting over to stay relevant.

The game changed.
Not you.

If you’re down-leveling, upskilling, or starting to doubt your value, you’re not too old, too expensive, or too specialized.

You’re operating in a new market, under old assumptions.

And you can’t win that way.

You don’t have a job search problem. You have a positioning problem. The market doesn’t need to be fixed—you just need to show up differently in it.

Have you had to down-level or reframe yourself to stay in the game?
I’d love to hear your experience—drop it in the comments. You’re not alone.

Product Managers: One word is killing your interview answers.

And you were taught to use this word all the freakin time.

"We."

"We launched the feature."
"We decided to prioritize mobile."
"We hit our targets."

Every time you say "we," the interviewer is thinking:

"But what did YOU do?"

I've reviewed hundreds of mock interviews. This is one of the most common—and most fixable—mistakes.

Here's the problem:

When you hide behind "we," you sound like a passenger.

When you use "I," you sound like a driver.

The fix is simple:

"We identified the problem and built a solution." becomes
"I identified the root cause by interviewing 15 customers, then partnered with engineering to build the solution."

"We improved conversion by 20%." becomes "I ran three experiments that improved conversion by 20%."

But wait—what about teamwork?

Great question. You can show collaboration AND ownership:

"I led the cross-functional team..."
"I partnered with engineering to..."
"I aligned stakeholders around..."

You're not taking credit for others' work.

You're being clear about YOUR contribution.

Interviewers aren't hiring your team.

They're hiring you.

Make it easy for them to see what you bring.

Want to break into Principal, Group, or Director-level product roles—without playing the tedious job search game?


Most product managers treat their career like a feature factory. Apply to everything. Tweak the resume. Add one more certification. Hope something sticks.

But you’re not everyone. And those tactics? They’re not designed for leaders.

I reviewed lessons from coaching atleast 500 candidates successful in landing those roles, and came up with a step by step platbook

Here’s what it covers:
→ Why resume rewrites are just a distraction from the real problem
→ How to become a magnet for Director+, Principal, and Group PM roles (even if you’ve been overlooked before)
→ The 4-step system our clients use to go from stuck to sought-after—without burnout or job-hopping

This is the same system that’s helped PMs land at Meta, Stripe, Amazon, and Google—with comp lifts of 30–50% and total control of their narrative.

No fluff. Just what works.

The fastest path to your next big role doesn’t start with more applications—it starts with a system that makes you the obvious choice. Want to gain access to the playbook that describes that system?

Just drop "Leadership Playbook" in the comments, and I will send it your way.

Being good at product management doesn’t get you to the next level.
Being perceived as strategic does.

Execution gets you thanked.
Strategic perception gets you chosen.

You can lead sprints, ship features, hit goals—
and still be invisible when it matters.

Because promotions aren’t based on effort.
They’re based on belief.

Belief that you see around corners.
That you drive outcomes, not just output.
That you lead—without being told.

If you’re not shaping that belief, you’re letting someone else define your ceiling.

You don’t need more projects.
You need better positioning.

Stop proving you can do the job.
Start being seen as the only one who should.

If you are a Product Manager struggling to land the next role, the problem is not your resume or your interview answers.

Its something deeper.

And we are going to solve it now.


If you’re a mid-to-senior Product Manager still relying on bullet points, generic intros, and hoping someone “gets it”—that stops now.

On January 21st, Will Lowrey and I are hosting a live, hands-on Signature Narrative Workshop.
You’ll walk away with the single most important document in your job search:
→ A Signature Core Sheet that makes hiring managers say, “We need to talk to this person.”

✅ We’ll extract the patterns behind your strongest work
✅ Craft 2–3 stories that show leadership, not just experience
✅ Build your go-to “positioning line” for LinkedIn, interviews, and intros

This is the same structure our clients have used to land roles at Google, Amazon, Stripe, and top startups—even in this market.

If you’ve been applying cold and hearing crickets, here’s your turning point.

Experience doesn’t get you hired.
Proof, clarity, and narrative do.

Spots are limited to 20 folks and this will sell out.
Comment NARRATIVE, and I will send you a link to register.
Let’s build the story that gets you hired—before you walk in the room. 

P.S., Investment is $97, not because its "low-ticket" but because I want to only have folks who are serious join us.

Good News: AI Won't Replace Product Managers. 
Bad News: PMs Who Use AI In Very Specific Ways Will Replace Those Who Don't. 

I keep hearing: "AI is coming for PM jobs."

It's not.

Here's what's actually happening:

The PMs who learn to leverage AI are getting 10x more done. They're shipping faster, writing better specs, and making decisions with deeper insights.

The PMs who ignore AI are falling behind. Not because AI took their job—but because their peers outpaced them.

Here's how the best PMs I know are using AI right now:

1. Research in minutes, not weeks.
Customer interviews, competitive analysis, market sizing—AI compresses what used to take days into hours. The PM who shows up with deeper insights wins the room.

2. First drafts that don't suck.
PRDs, strategy docs, launch plans. AI gets you to 70% in minutes. You spend your energy on the 30% that actually matters: judgment, trade-offs, and stakeholder nuance.

3. Pressure-testing decisions.
Use AI as a sparring partner. "What's wrong with this strategy?" "What am I missing?" "Argue the other side." It's like having a thought partner on demand.

4. Communicating with precision.
Exec summaries, roadmap narratives, and difficult emails. AI helps you find clarity faster—so your ideas land the first time.

The PMs who treat AI as a threat will get replaced.

But not by AI.

By PMs who embraced it.

Product Managers: your interviewer is bored 30 seconds into the interview.

Here's why: you buried the lead. 

I've listened to hundreds of PM mock interviews.

The most common mistake in behavioral answers?

Candidates start with context. Background. Setup.

By the time they get to the point, the interviewer has already tuned out.

Strong candidates do the opposite:

They lead with the headline.

Instead of:
"So I was working on this project where we had multiple stakeholders, and there were competing priorities and the timeline was tight..."

Try:
"I turned around a failing product launch in 3 weeks by rebuilding trust with engineering."

Then give the context.

Here's why this works:

→ It signals you know what matters
→ It gives the interviewer a mental anchor
→ It shows you can communicate at the executive level

The structure that works:

1. Headline (10 seconds) - The outcome and why it mattered
2. Context (30 seconds) - Just enough to understand the situation
3. Actions (2 minutes) - What you specifically did
4. Result (30 seconds) - Quantified impact

One more thing:

Put your notes away.

If you're reading your story, you don't know your story.

The best answers feel like conversations, not presentations.

Three Product Managers. Same background.
One becomes Director.
Two stay “high performer, high potential” forever.

Here’s what most PMs get wrong:

1. They try to level up alone.
No system. No outside signal. Just brute force.

2. They obsess over output.
More PRDs. More launches. More tickets closed.
While leadership is watching for something else.

3. They stay loyal to an environment that can’t promote them.
And call it patience.

The wild part: The promoted Product Manager didn’t work harder.
They made 3 strategic moves that made promotion feel inevitable.

Want me to break down the moves? Link to full video in the comment section.

If you’re a product manager and your “Tell me about yourself” sounds like a résumé recap…
You’re already behind.

This is a call to get serious about your narrative — because it’s the single most valuable asset in your career.

I’ve coached over 1,000 product managers.

The ones who stand out?
They don’t always have the most experience.
Or the perfect background.
Or the big brand names.

But they always have one thing in common:
A crystal-clear narrative that does the heavy lifting for them.

Their story says:
→ This is who I am.
→ This is the problem I solve.
→ This is why I’m the obvious choice.

And they stay consistent with it.
Not 15 stories. Not a different pitch every interview.
Just 2–3 high-impact stories they sharpened like a blade — and used everywhere.

Let me give you 3 examples:

Nora was getting interviews, but couldn’t get past the final round.
She stopped obsessing over frameworks and started clarifying her narrative.
Together, we built three tight stories — each framed around business impact, not responsibilities.
She started walking into interviews with a clear through-line: “This is who I am. This is what I do. This is why it works.”
A few weeks later? Final rounds turned into offers — and she closed on a staff product manager role despite a previous title of senior product manager.

Akash had years of experience, but the market was brutal.
He wasn’t even getting callbacks.
Once we sharpened his positioning around one thing, everything changed.
He used three proof stories across his resume, LinkedIn, and networking messages.
That alone got him 6–8 interviews a week. He landed a principal role at Convera.

Tommy was chasing product roles across multiple industries — but no one knew what he stood for.
We cut the noise.
We built one clear narrative.
He owned that story, backed it with three examples, and made it the through-line of every conversation.
He went from getting ghosted to passing 90%+ of his interviews.


Your narrative isn’t just an intro.
It’s your differentiator.
It builds trust before the first call, aligns interviews around your strengths, and frames you as the solution — not just a candidate.

---


If you haven’t built a leadership-level narrative yet, now’s the time.

1. Connect with me (so that I can message you) 
2. Comment NARRATIVE and I’ll send you a breakdown of how our clients use theirs to land top roles — without rewriting their resume or applying to every job in sight.

Most Product Managers think the key to landing their dream role is consistency and hard work. I would rather they "be lazy."

I’ve helped PMs land $300K–$900K roles at Google, Amazon, Meta—without sending hundreds of resumes or chasing pointless certifications.

The mistake most PMs make?
They treat job search like a numbers game instead of a positioning game.

Here’s what happens when you get positioning right:
→ Companies that ghosted you start calling you back
→ You negotiate 35–45% higher compensation
→ You land roles that fit your goals and your lifestyle
→ You walk into interviews with the confidence of a leader

And you do it without:
– Settling for a small pay increase
– Pretending career gaps don’t exist
– Applying for jobs you don’t actually want

This isn’t about luck or timing.
It’s about showing up as the obvious choice for the roles you want—and knowing exactly how to make that happen in any market.

It’s not a job search problem.
It’s a positioning problem.
And the right system can solve it in weeks, not months.

Want the exact system my clients use to land high-paying PM roles? 
1. Connect with me (so that I can message you)
2. Like this post and Comment “System” and I’ll send it over.

Product Managers, stop FOMOing your way into becoming AI engineers.

You weren’t hired to out-code the tech team.

You were hired to lead.

But I get it. In this AI-obsessed world, it’s easy to feel like you’re falling behind. You see peers diving into LLMs, prompting, and building GPT wrappers — and you start wondering if you’re doing enough.

But here’s the truth:
The fastest way to stall your career is by chasing technical credibility instead of owning your actual superpower.

What great product leaders actually do:

Obsess over the customer
Not just their problems. Their tradeoffs, their fears, their next move. You become dangerous when you understand the whole person, not just the backlog.

Craft a clear, compelling narrative
AI is noisy. Clarity cuts through. If your vision doesn’t move people to action, it’s just another dashboard. Leaders align teams through story, not specs.

Speak tech, but don’t drown in it
You need just enough technical fluency to ask sharp questions — not to refactor code. Respect the engineers, but stop trying to be one.

Drive decisions, fast
Your job isn’t to be in every meeting. Your job is to remove the blockers, resolve the ambiguity, and give people the confidence to move.

Ask the question no one else will
"Can you translate that into plain English?"
Most powerful sentence in the room. Because when you simplify the complex, you de-risk the entire product.

In a world where everyone’s chasing the next AI certification or prompt engineering course, the leaders who win will be the ones who can:

→ See around corners
→ Set the vision
→ And create momentum through clarity

So if you’re feeling the pressure to become the most technical person in the room—pause.

Lead the room instead.

“You don’t understand, Shobhit. I work in a very complex industry.”

I’ve heard this phrase more times than I can count.

And I get it.

At the executive level, especially in industries like healthcare, fintech, or enterprise platforms — your work is complex.
Your scope is wide. Your impact is layered.
Your success often comes from cross-functional orchestration, not clean metrics.

But here’s the problem:
The job market doesn’t reward nuance.

It rewards clarity.
Confidence.
Signal.

One of our executive clients had been leading org-wide transformations in a deeply technical space.
But when she described her work?
She sounded vague. Generic. Hard to place.

We helped her distill her narrative into something tight, sharp, and unmistakably executive.

→ Clear proof of leadership
→ Strategic framing of outcomes
→ Stories that translated across industries

She went from being misunderstood… to in demand.

If your story is too complex to explain, it’s too complex to convert.

Your impact is real.
But the market can’t reward it if it can’t see it.

What’s one part of your experience that feels hard to explain?
Drop it below — I’ll help you reframe it.

Matt Barker

I make posting on LinkedIn fast, easy and fun. $3M+ revenue driven. 75M+ impressions. 250k+ followers.

I help you grow on LinkedIn using fast, easy and fun to write posts.

Results:

- 50+ clients helped since January 2022
- 2,500+ customers served
- £70k 4 day course launch (The Digital Copywriter)
- 2 x £100k+ digital products launched
- $3M+ in new client revenue driven
- 75M+ organic social views earned
- 200k+ LinkedIn followers gained
- 10,000+ LinkedIn posts created
- 13,000+ email subscribers driven

If you'd like to work together on growing:

- Your LinkedIn profile
- Your team's LinkedIn profile
- Your brand's LinkedIn profile

And growing in a way that is fast, easy and fun to do?

Just DM me so we can discuss how I can help you do that.

Writer

Join 11,000+ readers who get daily tips on attracting dream clients online with digital copywriting.

This is what every day as a LinkedIn influencer with 188,000 followers feels like.

I open the app and it’s cameras everywhere. 

Notifications. DMs. Judgment.

One wrong post and boom. Headlines.

Fame changes you. 

I miss my privacy. 

And the worst part? I can’t even have a thought without it becoming content.

It's a curse.

Anyway.

If you’re not ready for this level of pressure:

Stick to a normal life.

It's not for everyone.

Matt Barker 

I teach Fast, Easy & Fun LinkedIn Writing. Taught 3,602 people to write on LinkedIn. Investor @ MagicPost.

In 2 months I'll become a first time dad. I'm excited and scared all at once. I can't wait to teach a brand new human about the world. But I'm scared about this:

Keeping a brand new human alive 😂

I've always wanted to be a dad. 

But weirdly the more I've become a teacher over the last 4 years, teaching people how to write on LinkedIn, the more I've become excited about TEACHING my child.

And the idea of being the first man in her life:

That's a BIG deal that I am not overlooking for one second.

It's already giving me a new purpose and new set of "rules" for me to be following internally. And she isn't even born yet.

Not that I was being a rascal or doing mad shit or being a lousy guy. But it makes me think even more about what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, why I'm doing things in certain ways and how that will impact her perception of, not just me, but men in general.

Business wise, I've made some changes and I've been planning.

I'll be taking a break from working 1-1 with clients from March to June. I'm doing this so I can free up my calendar while I figure this whole first time dad thing out. Super blessed to be in the position to do this.

Extra focus will be going into my scalable products. 

Community, products, group teaching.

I've planned my 2026 in business out and it's looking pretty cool.

Excited to see how I can execute to that and make it even more successful than I plan, AND make all the time in the world to watch my daughter grow every day.

Excited to write to you more about this whole journey too.

✌️

Dads: what's your weirdest dad-ing advice?

Ladies: how do I be the best dad / male role model possible?

I teach Fast, Easy & Fun LinkedIn Writing. Taught 3,602 people to write on LinkedIn. Investor @ MagicPost. Click ‘Books, Courses + Trainings’ below to get my free books on LinkedIn Writing.

My life looks boring:

No swanky office. Barely any meetings. Calendar usually empty. Amateur photography for content.

And most of my days look the same:

Coffee time with my wife.
Write some posts.
Audit / feedback my client's posts.
Comment and DM people on linkedin.
Run / gym / walk. 
Eat. Watch TV. Think.

I'm on at 9/10 and done by 6 normally.

But my life is anything but accidental.

I built a business from writing. I turned writing into leverage. I make money without being on calls all day. I help people build reputations that open doors. I wake up without that intense feeling of dread. I stop working when I’m done not just to clock in the hours.

While everyone else is enjoying saying how busy they are.

I'm over here enjoying saying how not busy I am.

Why is my way not the norm??

All my LinkedIn writing books, courses and trainings here: https://lnkd.in/eWRj-pd9

I teach Fast, Easy & Fun LinkedIn Writing. Taught 3,602 people to write on LinkedIn. Click ‘Books, Courses + Trainings’ below to get my free books on LinkedIn Writing.

Today, I've got 188,402 followers on LinkedIn. 

But if I search my name on ChatGPT:

I’m STILL pretty much invisible.

Can ya believe it? I’ve put the effort in:

- 4 years of consistent posting
- Published 2,578 posts
- Gotten 59.5M impressions

And my personal brand is STILL not strong enough to be the first name when someone searches for “linkedin writing experts” or “best copywriters to follow on linkedin” or “who to follow to learn copywriting”.

So, simple question:

How do my competitors appear in AI overviews / searches over me?

I am absolutely clueless with this kinda thing.

But here’s what I’m gonna do:

1. Sign up to the Ahrefs​ AI Brand Radar
2. See where + how my competitors show up over me
3. Create a plan to make my personal brand more visible
4. Quickly gain more visibility in AI search and start winning

It’s ridiculous to be putting in years of effort:

- growing my personal brand
- attracting more followers
- spending hours every week on LinkedIn

Only to be completely invisible to anyone searching.

If you’re growing your personal brand, check out the AI Brand Radar: https://lnkd.in/ePqpedcW

(don’t even need an Ahrefs​ subscription account btw. totally separate which is cool)

Time to become more visible ✌️

#ad

No alternative text description for this image

January was a MONTH:

- $42k in business revenue
- 3 new 1-1 clients signed
- 2 previous 1-1 clients re-signed
- exchanged on our new house!
- one brand collab with Ahrefs​
- appeared in LinkedIn Lunatics on Reddit 😍
- was called a clown and a "so called LinkedIn guru" 😂
- wicked new features on MagicPost​
- planned my 2026 out including a 2 month break

(becoming a first time dad in March 👶)

- 3 x armenian language lessons
- 1 x padel lesson + 2 x matches played (i'm still shit)
- 6 x PT sessions (rebuilding strength again)
- ran a sub 24:30 5km race

But it's not been all good:

- got the flu + basically spent a week in bed
- still feeling it a bit 2 weeks later, sucks
- had a week where i was SUPER stressed
- multiple family members in and out of hospital
- only ran 5 times. lowest in months.
- rescheduled calls cus of illness (hate doing this)
- paid a LOT of bills. feels annoying. but tax szn. hmph.
- seeing my wife in discomfort growing a baby is tough!

It's all ups and downs, folks.

Feb's gonna be cool, tho:

- last full month working with 1-1 clients before break
- continuing to work with some absolute legends
- levelling up my email marketing even MORE with Alex Thompson
​- more padel, gym and armenian lessons

What was your January like?​

P.S. Do you want to improve your writing on LinkedIn?

I've been teaching LinkedIn writing for 4 years.

Here's how I'll teach you next: linktr.ee/mattjbarker

The ONLY way to become rich:

- Meditate every morning at 4am
- Become a digital nomad
- Never drink a drop of alcohol
- Take ONLY cold showers
- Hire 1,000 VAs to delegate work to
- Read 12 books per week
- Block out every friend from your life
- Never talk to your family ever again
- Get 14 hours sleep every single day
- Listen to Brain FM or Hans Zimmer
- Ignore ALL social media apps
- Use AI to automate EVERYTHING
- Get sunlight IMMEDIATELY when you wake up
- NEVER use phone within 1 hour of sleeping
- MUST do 70 minutes stretching
- 6 hours of DEEP, FOCUSSED work daily

And whatever you do:

Don’t have kids.

They’re a waste of money and time!

The ultimate productivity NO NO.

Think of all the sales calls, outbound messages and pitch decks you could be sending instead of building a family that support you and love you forever.

You’re welcome.

I’ve spoken to 1,000s of LinkedIn users about how much they network on LinkedIn. I was surprised, because:

If you’re using LinkedIn to grow your career or business, networking isn’t a good to do. It’s a must do. ESPECIALLY in your early stages.

The worst bit? 

Most people don’t know how to begin networking.

Here’s the ridiculously simple (and tbh, obvious) 5 step LinkedIn networking process I used to find interesting people to network with (and connect with them):

1. Go to the search bar (it’s free guys)
2. Type “{target audience}” eg “founder”
3. Hit search
4. Filter by “People” (to remove company pages)
5. Filter by “Industry” (to niche down)

By now, you have filtered a search down to 10,000s from 10,000,000s.

After that it’s a case of:

- Scroll down your list
- Click on profiles 
- Check them over quickly
- Send a connection request with this note:

“Hey name,

I do {service} for {type of clients}.

I post every {frequency} at roughly {time}. 

Hope it’s useful for you!

Cheers, Matt”

If they accept - great, on their radar.
If they reject - no bother.

10 of these 5 x a week (do 20 if you can).
That’s 200 a month.
2,400 a year.

Even if 20% connect, that’s 480 new connections.

More than the 0 most people are doing.

Simple networking like this can hold back your network growth, post engagement and follower growth MASSIVELY.

If you’re using LinkedIn to grow your career or business, are you networking here?

P.S. this is the exact process I used to grow my profile here - Matt Barker​ btw.

I've written 31,570,917 comments in 3 years (without AI).

But most people use AI to write comments.

Here's why they're wasting their time:

Firstly, I was lying in the hook.

I haven't written 31,570,917 comments. I have no idea how many I've written. I'm sorry. I lied.

(but it is probably in the 100,000s)

Secondly, there's 3 reasons why you should leave a comment on someone's post:

1. To get their attention
2. To start a conversation
3. To build a relationship

After you build a relationship, that person could be useful in many ways:

- A long term friend
- A referral partner
- A mentor
- A lover (JOKING)

That's quite amazing, just from a comment on someone's post.

Now, imagine if every comment you posted was:

- Really easy to ignore
- Lacking any personality
- Shared nothing valuable at all

You probably won't start many conversations or build many relationships.

And you won't build a very valuable network.

(btw: every successful person I know says their network is the most important asset they have. after 4 years running my business, i agree.)

TL;DR:

You won't get far if you don't network well on here.

And to network well, it starts with making writing fast, easy and fun.

Before 2022, in my eyes, there was nothing more lame than LinkedIn.  It was the ultimate brown nosing hot spot. A place I would come to do one thing:

Lazily apply for 100s of jobs to feel like I was pushing my career as a marketer forward.

(surprise, i wasn't)

But in 2020, I met a girl.

I went out with that girl for one year. And in 2021, we convinced each other it would be a good idea to:

- quit our jobs (earning about $80k between us)
- leave london (lived in kensington like poshos)
- move to cyprus (an island next to lebanon)

We did it.

By October 2021 I was living in a country where I knew no one, with a girl I knew for just 12 months, where I couldn't speak the language and I didn't have a job.

My only signal of hope for making money:

I REALLY enjoyed writing.

I knew I wanted to make money doing that somehow. Just didn't know how exactly that would happen.

3 months later in January 2022, I started posting on LinkedIn.

THAT is the moment LinkedIn became cool to me.

Because I had a platform to build a network, a business, write and express myself creatively and see if anyone liked it.

Now in January 2026, I have:

- 188,400 followers
- Done over $1M+ revenue as a writer
- 1,000s people reading my posts daily
- Worked with and met countless multi-millionaires

Absolutely nothing lame about that, I tell ya!

If you're on the fence about writing / posting here:

You gotta give it a go.

I know it feels lame. I know it feels scary. I know it feels kinda pointless.

But it's what you make of it.

Happy writing ✌️

p.s. this was us over 4 years ago on the flight to cyprus from london, arriving in the early hours in our rental car at the flat we would live in.

p.p.s i'll teach you how i get 1,000s people reading my posts daily here: copybuilders.carrd.co

4 weeks ago, Jacob and I booked 60 minutes at a recording studio. Neither of us prepared ANYTHING. Ridiculous. But it was brilliant because:

We just...chatted.

You're probably thinking:

"Matt. Why the fuck would you spend time and money to go and chat to someone without preparing anything?"

Well, reader. That's a great question.

And the answer is surprisingly simple:

Because we wanted to.

I know. SHOCK. How dare we do something, that costs us money just because we wanted to?

Today all you'll see online is shit about how everything you do has to have a clear ROI or everything you do has to play into a strategy.

We obviously didn't do this for literally no reason.

Outside of "because we wanted to", a big reason was this:

In 2025 me and jacob started very intentionally sharing insights and nuggets from what we both do in our businesses. What's working, what isn't working. And it helped us both have amazing years in our business. Not just from a revenue POV but from a overall quality of life POV.

We get a lot of enjoyment out of these back and forths.

So we wanted to see if we can translate that to a recorded conversation.

THAT's why we booked 60 minutes at a studio.

Did it work?

Well we ended up going over the 60 minutes by a whole hour.

And we accidentally recorded a 2 hour month by month breakdown of what went well and what went wrong in our businesses in 2025.

(it's here by the way: https://lnkd.in/e9Zwxh99)

We both had such a good time.

And we're doing it again.

My advice for you:

Do stuff you enjoy.

Not because it makes money or anything.

But because you enjoy it and it makes you happy.

Can't be more simple.

✌️

If you have 5 minutes every day:

1. Put a timer for 5 minutes
2. Randomly type whatever comes to mind
3. Stop when the timer hits 5 minutes

I’m always surprised what comes out.

This works great to:

- Process thoughts
- Create unexpected content ideas
- Find out what’s really top of mind

This isn’t easy, but if you can remove that mental blockage from your writing it becomes a lot easier than you think.

Write to clarify your thinking.

This is my exact follower growth strategy for 2026.

I grew 54,477 followers in 2025. I'll do it again in 2026.

No, follower growth on LinkedIn isn't "dead".

It's all in WHAT you write and HOW you write it.

Here's the 5 step approach (use this on your next post):

1. Start by framing why the advice matters now

If the education isn’t framed to a real lived experience, people won’t value it enough to save.

2. Teach something that helps someone do something later

Posts get saved when readers think: “I’ll need this again.”

3. Use at least one of these formats in every educational post:

- Step-by-step actions
- A concrete example from your own work
- A reusable template or framework

4. Make the education specific enough to reuse

If it feels generic, it feels replaceable and replaceable content doesn’t get saved.

5. Write the post so it stands on its own without you

If someone came back to it in 30 days, would it still make sense and be useful?

There ya have it.

The exact approach behind my growing 54k followers in 2025 and my biggest follower spikes from January 2026.

And it’s repeatable.

(this hasn't changed for FOUR YEARS btw)

Do your posts get polite "nice post" engagement?

And plenty of likes, but your audience isn't growing?

I created a 14 minute FREE training showing you how to grow your LinkedIn followers faster & what to optimise for (not likes).

Get it free here: https://lnkd.in/d29V4rih

Enjoy ✌️

93% of growing followers faster is:

Being "saveable".

- give step-by-step actions to do something
- show real examples from your own work
- share templates or frameworks you actually use
- frame why the education matters first
- teach from what you've tested yourself

Then write posts that demonstrate:

- the exact process you follow
- the real outcome it drove for you
- the visual proof it works
- the context behind why it's needed
- the steps someone can replicate today

You ARE the education.

It's true, I grew 54,477 followers last year doing this: https://lnkd.in/d29V4rih

Don't just educate. Demonstrate.

Fastest, most consistent way to grow followers.

🤘

taplio

The Battle

Shobhit Chugh

Matt Barker

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreShobhit Chugh's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMatt Barker's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Shobhit Chugh

Matt Barker

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);}Shobhit Chugh's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMatt Barker's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreShobhit Chugh's LinkedIn Performance