I help B2B founders build go-to-market systems that hold up in investor due diligence.

Most startups don’t fail because of product or market, they fail because revenue is fragile, founder-led, or impossible to underwrite.

What investors usually find:

- Sales driven by one person or one channel
- No documented or repeatable GTM motion
- Poor visibility into forecasting and revenue quality
- Growth rented from agencies, not owned internally

That might generate pipeline.
It does not increase valuation.

At AdvancedClient.io, we work with B2B startups and scale-ups preparing to raise or exit.

Instead of running lead generation, we install investor-grade GTM infrastructure inside the business.

Our work focuses on:

- Removing founder dependency from sales
- Designing repeatable, internal GTM motions
- De-risking single-channel acquisition
- Building real revenue visibility and forecasting
- Creating systems the team owns long after we leave

Everything we do is designed by reverse-engineering how VCs and PE firms evaluate revenue, risk, and scalability during diligence.

When we’re done, founders are no longer the bottleneck and investors see a business that can scale without heroics.

If you’re raising or exiting in the next 6–18 months and want your GTM to increase valuation, not just pipeline, that’s the conversation we should be having.

Tom Grainger

GTM right now is being hijacked by nerds who’ve never carried a quota.

let me explain

Every other post I'm seeing at the moment is some ludicrous claude code workflow that requires 15 API's to send an email... 

But who actually needs this?

What real revenue problem does it solve?

And which serious sales org is going to rip out  infrastructure to install some vibe-coded science project that legal will shut down in 48 hours?

(this doesn't apply to new-wave startups)

A lot of these over-engineered workflows are built because they’re intellectually stimulating… not because they move the revenue needle.

The GTM space needs SIMPLICITY. 

Less complexity, less tool sprawl, less admin, less nonsense 

I think AI is going to be game changing for GTM but only when it's delivered in a way that increases simplicity and packaged into a compliant, secure safe UI that reps actually use. 

I wrote about what I think this could look like in post on monday. 

I know this will ruffle some feathers and maybe my gut feeling is wrong but the more I see the more I feel confident I'm right. 

Simplicity and allowing great reps to spend more time on revenue generating activity is the key. 

Someone solve that without claude code pls.

Founder at AdvancedClient.io | Scale your GTM with AI systems

The future of RevOps isn't more reps.

It's fewer, better reps with systems that actually work.

Here's what I'm seeing:

Old model: 15 reps all building their own lists, using different tools, getting wildly different results. No central control. Massive variance. Total chaos.

New model: 3-5 elite reps backed by a centralized AI system that does the heavy lifting.

The shift is simple:

Stop hiring more bodies to throw at the problem. Start building custom systems that let your best people operate at 10x capacity.

What this looks like in practice:

• One AI-enabled RevOps leader managing the entire system (or an agency building it for you in a weekend)
• Everything centralized and connected to your existing tools via Claude code
• Reps work from CRM, Slack, or Teams (wherever they live)
• Max 1-2 platform logins to do their job
• Everything optimized for conversation maxing

The cost to build this used to be insane. Required extreme technical knowledge. Now? Agencies can spin up these systems in weekends and connect them straight to enterprise tools.

The goal isn't complexity. It's simplicity at scale.

Your top reps shouldn't be building lists or wrestling with 8 different tools. They should be having conversations that close deals.

The companies that figure this out will run circles around bloated teams still doing everything manually.

Lean teams. Elite execution. Centralized systems.

That's the play.

Is this a buying signal or am I about to be palantir'd? 

Vector 👻 pls advise

150–300 demos a month. Two people. Zero outbound.

If you’re a sales leader reading that thinking, “Yeah but they must have a big team behind it”…

They don’t.

Three months ago, BirdDog kept popping up on my feed.

So I did what any curious operator would do.

I tried to book a call.

Two weeks booked out.

wtf...

On this week’s podcast, I sat down with Jack Porter to break down how BirdDog actually got here.

Because the story didn’t start as a sales tool.

It started as something completely different.

We unpack:

- The original version of BirdDog and why it had to pivot
- The painful middle stage most startups don’t talk about
- The moment they doubled down on content
- How social ABM became a real acquisition channel.

Their growth wasn’t about posting more but rather attracting the right audience.

Jack Porter talks about why quality of audience on LinkedIn matters more than raw reach, and how one content decision tripled their impressions.

We also went deep on:

- Why they shifted from outbound-heavy to inbound-led
- How they think about signal-based selling
- Where AI and automation actually fit inside a sales org
- The human layer that AI can’t replace
- The volume vs depth debate in outbound

If you’re running GTM right now, this is a real look at what modern pipeline can look like when content, signals, and sales are aligned.

Episode’s live now.

Links in the comments...

Clay just launched Clay Ads and it's a game-changer for syncing revops, ads, and sales.

Here's why this matters:

You start with proper ad structure on LinkedIn. Top, middle, and bottom funnel. 

Then you bring in elite revops to build the engine:

• Build killer tables in Clay
• Get high match rates on your target audiences
• Pull the best emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn profiles

Now here's where Clay Ads changes everything:

You can push enriched lookalike audiences directly to LinkedIn and Meta. Dynamic exclusion lists that sync with your CRM so you're not wasting budget on existing customers or closed deals.

Retargeting based on actual product usage data and lead scores. Not just "visited the website." Real behavioral triggers.

Clay's own results are mental:

• Up to 95% match rate on LinkedIn and 65% on Meta by enriching contacts with personal emails, job titles, and location data.

• Dynamic exclusion alone prevents wasting 50% of your ad budget. Auto-exclude customers and employees. Keep lists synced as channels expand.

• Target based on real behavioral triggers like job changes, social mentions, pricing page visits, and product usage data from high-intent accounts.

Push everything to landing pages where your sales team can act immediately.

But here's where it gets powerful:

Your cold leads are getting hit by ads while your reps are calling them. Your pipeline deals are being absolutely swarmed by ads. Your reps close deals 2-3 weeks faster because prospects have already seen your brand 8+ times.

Even your customers are seeing ads post-close to prevent churn and drive upsells.

And you can compound all of this by posting organic content on LinkedIn. Your founder voice + paid ads = even more touchpoints.

Your sales team isn't working alone anymore. They're backed by ads hitting prospects at every stage.

This is how you scale without burning out your reps or betting everything on one channel.

Most companies are doing ads OR sales. The winners are doing both in sync.

BirdDog kept showing up in my feed.

Every post getting serious engagement.

So I tried to book a call with Jack Porter.

2 weeks booked out.

That's when I knew something was working.

Here's what caught my attention:

They've nailed PMF and paired it with a social ABM strategy that actually works.

It's the perfect combo for a small, lean, profitable team.

No massive sales org. No bloated tech stack. Just a tight motion that converts.

I wanted to understand how they built it, so I got Jack on the pod.

We talked about:

• How they use social to create pipeline
• Why their booking calendar stays full
• The GTM motion behind their growth
• What this means for B2B teams trying to scale lean

This is one of the better conversations I've had about modern GTM.

Watch the teaser.

Full episode link in the comments.

So I might have been wrong about claude code.

Last week I posted about GTM being hijacked by nerds who've never carried quota. 25k impressions, 268 likes, 97 comments, proper marmite reaction. Some loved it, some hated it. 

Then I spent the weekend actually trying it.

Built a slack bot in a few hours that acts as a knowledge base for reps. They can ask questions about product, pricing, objection handling, whatever without bugging their manager or feeling stupid.

It was... surprisingly easy?

New reps ramp faster. Managers spend less time answering the same questions. Reps get answers at 11pm when they're prepping for tomorrow's call.

Here's what I got wrong: I lumped all AI workflows into the same bucket of over-engineered nonsense.

Here's what I still think I'm right about: most of what I see on LinkedIn is still intellectual masturbation that doesn't move revenue.

The difference? This bot increases simplicity. It removes friction. It lets reps spend more time selling.

I built this in a weekend. It works. But now I'm wondering... would any serious org actually adopt something like this? If it's this easy, why would they pay for a solution instead of just building it themselves?

Full transparency: I'm not a coder or software designer. I don't know shit about compliance, security, or what it actually takes to deploy this at scale.

Maybe that's the real opportunity.

Proper orgs still need that compliance layer, the security infrastructure, the support when things break. They're not running their sales org on a weekend project.

But for small teams, solo operators, entrepreneurs? This stuff is game changing. You can solve real problems without waiting for procurement or budgets or vendor approvals.

Sales admin was eating my week.

So I spent half a day building 3 flows in Claude co-work. No code. Just simple natural language automations.

Here's what they do:

1. Post-discovery call
- Pulls transcript from Attio
- Drafts follow-up email directly in Gmail
- Updates deal stage from discovery to book demo
- Fills out prospect and company fields from the call
- Adds specific follow-up tasks
- Books the demo in Google Calendar and sends the invite

2. Pre-demo
- Extracts the transcript
- Builds a custom deck in Gamma
- Flags it for my approval before anything goes out

3. Post-demo
- Creates a shareable deck link
- Drafts the follow-up email with it included
- Moves deal stage to decision
- Adds tasks based on what we actually discussed
- Runs a risk analysis and confidence score
- Updates every relevant deal field and drops a note in the CRM

All the stuff reps hate doing. Done automatically.

The specificity is what makes it work. It's not generic automation. It's pulling from real conversations and building outputs that are actually useful.

And I built all of this without writing a single line of code.

If you're still doing this stuff manually after every call, you're burning time you don't have.

I’ve audited hundreds of Linkedin ad accounts so far this year

70% of marketing teams aren’t running this crucial ad type 

Thought leader ads…

Here's why you should be using them...

1) People trust faces more than logos

Most people scroll past corporate ads.

But they’ll stop for a person.

A real name with a face

It feels like content (which it is) and not advertising.

That trust changes everything - especially in B2B sales


2) You can test content for free

Post organically first.

See what actually resonates.

- Which posts get comments.
- Which ones get saves.
- Which ones start conversations.

Then boost the winners.

You’re putting spend behind proven content.

It’s creative testing for FREE


3) You can act directly on engagement

- Someone comments.
- Someone likes the post.
- Someone views the profile.

All of that is a signal. (IF they are ICP fit)

Track with Trigify.io - push to Clay for qualification and ICP check

Then push to sales

Your team can engage immediately.

—-

If your team already posts content,

Start boosting the posts that take off.

If not,

Start posting today.

I just recorded a podcast with Ajinkya from Trellus (YC W22)

And he said something that made me stop the recording.

"Most B2B SaaS companies are building the wrong way."

Ajinkya has been running Trellus (YC W22) for 4+ years without taking a single dollar of VC money.

While everyone else is burning cash chasing vanity metrics and praying for an exit that'll never come, he's been quietly building a profitable dialing platform that integrates directly into tools like Outreach, HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio etc

The VC playbook is broken.

Raise millions. Hire fast. Scale faster. Burn harder.

Then watch 90% of funded companies flame out because they optimized for the next funding round instead of actual customers.

Ajinkya did the opposite and built something people actually pay for.

Here's what we covered:

• Why he spent 8 months with no product idea (and why that was crucial)
• The platform risk strategy that VCs hate but customers love
• Why profitability beats hypergrowth in B2B SaaS
• How embedding with users revealed what they actually need
• The cyclical nature of cold calling (and what's coming next)

This isn't your typical founder story.

No investor telling him what to build. No scrambling for runway. No throwing out the roadmap because funding dried up.

Just a founder who ignored Silicon Valley's bullshit and won because of it.

The SaaS world worships growth at all costs.

But growth without profit is just expensive failure in slow motion.

If you're tired of the venture-backed circus and want to see how real builders operate, this conversation will hit different.

Link to the full episode in the comments.

Founder @ Kennedy Creative | Helping B2B leaders dominate their category on LinkedIn and convert influence into revenue through content and outbound

Most executives treat LinkedIn like a resume.

I treat it like a revenue engine.

I work with enterprise B2B executives and founders in the 7–9 figure range to turn authority into measurable growth.

Through The Creative Catalyst Method — a system built on content + outbound — my clients transform visibility into deal flow, building 7+ figure pipelines in as little as 6 months.

And the results speak for themselves:
	
• 30+ MQLs generated in less than 60 days
• Clients getting 3+ leads every week with content + outbound
• A 5-figure deal closed by an agency in under 60 days
• $100K pipeline built in less than 90 days for a SaaS company

What makes this possible isn’t just content.

It’s the combination of strategic positioning, executive voice, and consistent outbound touchpoints that makes your brand unforgettable — and turns authority into revenue.

If you’re an executive ready to move from authority → pipeline → growth, let’s talk.

👉 Book a call or connect with me here on LinkedIn.

Doug Kennedy

When I first started posting on LinkedIn, I was afraid of what people would think.

I’m not talking about strangers. 

I was worried about people I actually knew.

- Old friends. 
- Former coworkers. 
- People I’d see at networking events. 

But I did it anyway.

My fears were realized almost immediately.

“This isn’t really how you’re supposed to use LinkedIn.”

“People laugh at your LinkedIn posts at networking events.”

“Your beard is the worst.”

(Okay I didn’t actually get that last one) 

You start replaying it in your head.

Are they screenshotting it?
Are they mocking it?
Do I look stupid?

For a second, you want to delete everything and go back to being invisible.

But here’s what I learned:

The moment you step into the arena, you become a mirror.

• Your consistency makes other people uncomfortable.
• Your courage highlights their hesitation.
• Your action exposes their excuses.

It’s easier to critique the person posting than to become the person posting.

So they say “no one cares.”

But that’s not true.

If no one cared, they wouldn’t be talking about it.

If no one cared, they wouldn’t be laughing.

If no one cared, they wouldn’t feel the need to comment on it at all.

People start to care when you refuse to stop.

And here’s the funny part.

The same people who questioned it…
The same people who laughed…

Eventually start asking:

“How did you grow like that?”
“How are you getting inbound?”
“How are you turning content into clients?”

Funny how that works.

If you’re building something, expect resistance.

Push through.

The version of you on the other side of consistency will thank you.

Founder @ Kennedy Creative | Executive Authority Architect for Growth-Stage B2B Companies | Turning Leadership Visibility into Pipeline

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The other day I got a cold DM from a college kid.

It was clear he never looked at my profile.

(also had strong automation energy)

If you’re doing outreach, your first message has one job:

Build trust in 2–3 sentences.

Here’s what actually works:

1. Prove you looked

Reference something specific.

- A recent post.
- A podcast they were on.
- A project they launched.

“Hey, saw your post about repositioning your business around revenue impact. The point about roadmap prioritization stood out.”

Now I know you paid attention.

2. Add personality

Sound human.

- A light joke.
- A relatable comment.
- A quick shared experience.

“Fellow dad trying to build online while kids are jumping on the couch over here.”

Now you feel real.

3. Make it about them

Curiosity > pitch.
- Ask a thoughtful question.
- Invite perspective.
- Open a loop.

Now we’re in conversation, not combat.

And here are 3 things not to do. I know from experience:

• Don’t lead with a Calendly link
• Don’t write a 7-paragraph essay
• Don’t pretend you “love what we’re doing” if you clearly don’t know

Outreach works. I’ve closed great clients from DMs.

But only when it feels like one person talking to another.

If you want a simple framework for writing trust-first DMs, comment “DM” and I’ll send you what I use.

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

Almost every time I edit or coach someone on their LinkedIn content, the same 3 things need to change.

When we fix them, their content stops “looking good” and starts driving inbound conversations.

Here they are:

1. The Hook

The purpose of the hook is simple: Earn the next line.

Most people start with a platitude.

“Consistency is key.”
“Personal branding matters.”
“Mindset is everything.”

That doesn’t stop the reader.

Instead, use hooks that create tension, clarity, or curiosity.

3 quick hook formulas:

• The Pattern Interrupt
I almost quit posting on LinkedIn last year.

• The Contrarian Take
You don’t have a content problem. You have a positioning problem.

• The Specific Result
One small tweak to this post turned into an inbound lead in 48 hours.

Hooks are not introductions.
They are doorways.
	
2. The Flow

Most posts don’t stick to one coherent idea.

• Writers drift.
• They stack thoughts.
• They introduce side topics that dilute the main point.

I’ve been there…

A strong post:

• Has one core idea
• Builds logically from sentence to sentence
• Removes anything unrelated
• Uses spacing, bullets, or numbers to guide the eye

If it feels messy to read, it feels risky to trust.

Clarity builds authority. Authority builds demand.

3. The CTA

This is the quiet killer few talk about. 

People are afraid to tell others what to do next.

The other day I tweaked one client’s CTA.

Result? Inbound lead.

Strong CTAs that work:

• Conversation CTA
Comment “PLAN” and I’ll send you the framework.

• Soft Authority CTA
Follow me if you’re building your brand this year. I break this down weekly.

• Direct Pipeline CTA
If you want help building this for your business, DM me “Catalyst.”

If you don’t direct the next step, the reader leaves.

Most content doesn’t fail because the creator lacks talent.

It fails because it lacks structure.

Your content stops being boring and starts becoming pipeline.

If you want to rebuild your content engine the right way, my 1:1 Creator Catalyst program is where we do it.

DM me “Catalyst” and let’s talk.

In 10th grade, my dream of becoming a chemical engineer for DuPont was obliterated.

I’d wanted to be a chemist ever since I saw  The Absent-Minded Professor as a kid. 

Then I took trigonometry.

I hated it.

But I realized that my love for science had been replaced by a love of ideas. 

I became obsessed with politics and philosophy. 

That’s when I started noticing something: Formulas solve problems, but ideas move people.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized that people move markets.

That was the shift.

99.9% of founders I talk to think they’re in the product business.

They’re not.

They’re in the idea business.

- The idea behind the product.
- The idea behind the company.
- The idea behind the future they’re selling.

If the idea isn’t clear, the market doesn’t respond.

Writing is leverage. 

It’s how you scale belief.

When a founder realizes their ideas can shape markets, not just conversations… everything changes.

Here’s the real question:

When did you realize your thinking had more power than your technical skill?

Picture: My dad helping me my chemistry set in 3rd grade.

The force that pulls you into Lord of the Rings, the Bible, and an Apple keynote is the same force most founders never learn to use.

It’s metanarrative.

A metanarrative is the overarching explanation of how the world works.

It answers:

• What’s fundamentally broken
• Who the real villain is
• What the future should look like
• What kind of person thrives in that future
• And why now is the turning point

That’s why Tolkien and C.S. Lewis grip you.

There’s a corrupting force.
There’s a small band of unlikely heroes.
There’s sacrifice.
There’s destiny.
There’s restoration.

The Bible does the same on a cosmic scale: creation, fall, redemption, restoration.

Now look at business.

Steve Jobs didn’t sell devices.

He built a metanarrative around creative rebellion. Technology is liberation. The individual is up against the gray corporate machine.

Elon Musk’s metanarrative is that humanity survives by advancing and it looks like:

Multi-planetary life. 
Sustainable energy. 
Relentless innovation.

You don’t have to agree with them. But you know the story they’re telling.

Most $10M+ founders never define theirs.

- They post tactics.
- They explain services.
- They chase engagement.

But they never articulate:

→ What era is ending.
→ What era is emerging.
→ Why their company is built for the new one.

A metanarrative gives your content gravity.
Without it, you have posts.

With it, you have positioning.

If you want to develop one, start here:

1. Identify the dominant belief in your industry.
2. Define why it’s incomplete or outdated.
3. Articulate the shift that’s happening.
4. Define the type of leader who thrives in this new landscape.
5. Position your company as an instrument of that shift.

Repeat that worldview consistently.

Over time, the market begins to see through your lens.

That’s how industries move.

Not through louder messaging, but through clearer meaning.

Reading this and realizing this is what your executive brand is missing? Send me a DM.

When you’re building something, everyone talks about finding the right partners.

- Creators.
- Editors.
- Designers.
- Other founders.

That stuff matters. I love that part.

But there’s another side nobody posts about.

The numbers.

→ invoices scattered across tools
→ subscriptions you forgot existed
→ tax season quietly approaching

For a while my finances lived in a category called: “I’ll organize that later.”

Later never came.

Working with We Got Your Books changed that.

They took a jumbled mess and turned it into clean reports. My accountant was thrilled…always a good sign.

More importantly:

• I know exactly where things stand
• I stopped guessing month to month
• I actually sleep better

Sometimes the most valuable partner isn’t the one who helps you grow faster.

It’s the one who helps you breathe easier.

If you need someone to help clean up your books, reach out to Emma Smith. They’ll take great care of you!

I’ve talked to too many founders with 10,000+ followers and no pipeline.

Strong engagement.
Consistent posting.
Thoughtful ideas.

Still no qualified inbound!

That’s not an algorithm problem. It’s a positioning problem.

In the first issue of The Creative Catalyst, I break down:

→ Why attention and authority are not the same thing
→ The “invisible buyer” most founders ignore
→ Why publishing consistently doesn’t equal positioning
→ The shift I make with clients that changes inbound in 60–90 days
→ A simple test to see if your profile is building leverage or just audience

Most founders don’t need more content.

They need more clarity.

If you’re posting regularly but your pipeline doesn’t reflect it, this one’s for you.

(Subscribe to the LinkedIn newsletter to read more.)

I’ve spoken with this type of founder more times than I can count. They’ve built a respectable audience, they post consistently, and their engagement 

Open article: The Founder With 10,000 Followers and No Pipeline by Doug Kennedy • 3 min read

The Founder With 10,000 Followers and No Pipeline

If your personal brand isn’t driving pipeline on LinkedIn….

You don’t need more content. 

You need a reset. 

Here’s my 7-day authority reset to help you start getting leads on LinkedIn:

taplio

The Battle

Tom Grainger

Doug Kennedy

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The Battle

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Doug Kennedy

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