Tom Hunt

$3.6m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I'm doing.

Jan 2014.

I'm walking home from a depressing New Year's trip to Oslo with an ex. girlfriend.

It's raining in East London.

I made a decision:

I would replace my management consulting salary (£42,000) by the end of the year.

I had no idea from where, but that was the goal...

I just about hit it and left the corporate world.

And I haven't been back since.

Fast forward a decade and I've:

- Tried and failed with 17 businesses
- Invested in 11
- Learnt a LOT

The one that is finally working is called Fame:

- We have a weird culture (in a good way)
- We start and grow podcasts for B2B businesses
- We are fully remote and have 75 full-time team members

I live for our awesome team at Fame, building businesses and great marketing.

I post about them here 🤗

Founder & CEO

We start and grow the world's most profitable B2B podcasts.

Clients include:

👉 IDEO
👉 Workday
👉 HighRadius
👉 People.ai
👉 Zendesk
👉 Bevy
👉 Circle
👉 Suzy
👉 Mazars
👉 LeanData
👉 CXL
👉 Ramp
👉 Alibaba
👉 Signify
👉 eToro

We don't review CVs.

We don't use an ATS.

We don't ask for cover letters.

And we barely spend money on job ads.


Here's our hiring process:

1. Candidates come inbound
2. We review their LinkedIn profile
3. They do a short test task
4. First interview: competency-based
5. Final interview: values-based

That's it.


No six-round marathons
No "upload your resume then retype it"
No AI scanning for keywords


Just people looking at real work and having conversations.

HR SaaS businesses told everyone that hiring needs to be complex.

It doesn't.


You don't need expensive software to find good people.

Agree?

$4.5m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I’m doing.

No alternative text description for this image

I cancelled a 1-1 with someone on my team.


Why?

- They were thriving
- Their OKRs were progressing well
- I had nothing meaningful to contribute

So why have the meeting?

Why waste their time because I'm insecure about doing my job?


It's called macro-management.

HINT: the opposite of micro-management.


Here’s how it works:

- They work where they want
- You provide the insight, tools and resources
- You remove barriers, blockers and distractions
- They decide the "how"
- You trust them

Put simply:

You enable.
You assist.

Then you stay in your lane...

Not theirs.

Agree?

We hired a project manager for $7 per hour in 2022.

Now he's earning $40K a year.

That's higher than 98% of earners in the Philippines.


We made him a deal:

"Where you are right now limits what we can pay you because you don't generate enough value. But the more problems you can solve for us, the more we can pay you."

E.g. we hired him for what he could become, not what he was.


He got a payrise in year 2, then in year 3, he takes on another role.

Now he's:

- Project manager
- Video editor

Maybe more in the future.


The best hires have the right attitude toward growth.

Skill gaps close with time and effort.

Character gaps rarely close.

No one is clapping when you get the second resignation email of the day.

No one is clapping at 6:37am on a Saturday as you’re combing through the P&L.

No one is clapping when it’s your 17th decision of the day.

No one is clapping when you're the only person around to reply to the angry customer.

No one is clapping when payroll looms and the bank balance isn’t where it should be.

No one is clapping when you can’t think of anything else on a Sunday afternoon.



There’s a lot of hype around starting a business these days…

I’m not sure it’s for everyone.

Most people chase salaries and titles.
Smart people choose who they work with.

Specifically: their manager.

Here's why:

A bad manager...
- Drains your energy
- Protects their position
- Watches your every move

A great manager...
- Explains why things work
- Protects you from politics
- Supports your development


The truth?

You may spend more time with your manager than your spouse.

Choose wisely.

Fame bootstrapped to $4.5M ARR by charging LESS.

Plus we:

- Spend less than 2% of revenue on ads
- Have a 1 person sales team
- Raised $0

How?

By focusing on the one metric everyone ignores...

Retention.


1️⃣ Strong inbound engine

Outbound and ads cost more, both to book a sales call, but also in the skill (and therefore cost) of the person who needs to run the call.

Instead:

- SEO
- Personal brand
- Bottom of the funnel Google Ads


2️⃣ Charge less

E.g. the Amazon model.

The more you charge, the more likely you will be cut when the CFO and CEO review the monthly P&L.


3️⃣ Objective performance metrics

We used to track client happiness, now we track client objectives.

Happy clients churn, successful clients don't.


4️⃣ Build a retention culture

The team laugh everytime I say "retention is the foundation of growth" because I say it so much.

Hire, fire and promote based on retention.



The formula:

1️⃣ Strong inbound engine
2️⃣ Charge less
3️⃣ Track objective performance metrics
4️⃣ Build a culture of retention

And please, say it after me:

Retention is the foundation of growth.

As soon as I met Cristian and Alexandru in person, I knew I had to go.

They are the first reason I'm hosting a panel at Tekpon AI Summit 2025 in Bucharest.


The second reason is that I've spent the last 5 years working in my bedroom (pretty much).

$4.5m ARR from behind a screen.

It's working.

But now it's time to crawl out of the cave, and into real life.


So if you're in Bucharest on November 25th, come say hi.

Let's talk AI.
Let's talk marketing.
Let's talk LinkedIn.

Just let's actually talk.

Be like Taylor Swift...


At least that's what I told the awesome people at the Turing x SYSTM Growth Summit yesterday.


Why?

She nailed The Fame Formula:

1. Make really good content in a specific niche
2. Be seen around other famous people in the niche

First she did it with country, and now she does it with pop music.


It's also what we need to do in B2B.

B2B buyers are only in the market 3% of the time. We need to get them to know, like and trust us during the other 97% of the time.

How?

Two steps:

1. Content Format
2. Content Positioning


1. Content Format

You've got three options:

Social: Easiest to grow, lowest influence. Great for reach, but people scroll past quickly.

Email/Written: Middle ground. More intimate than social, easier to produce than podcasts.

Podcast: Hardest to grow, highest influence, best for repurposing. One episode can become 20 pieces of content.

If I was to start again, I would pick the social platform that I liked best, and start there.


2. Content Positioning

Two parts:

- The Niche

Be as narrow as possible.

If you sell email marketing software, don't start a marketing podcast, don't event start a email marketing podcast, start the open-rate podcast.

- The Edge

The thing a customer would tell their friends. What makes you different? What's your unique opinion?


That's The Fame Formula:

Pick your format.
Nail your positioning...

And be like Taylor.

If you can’t share an agenda for the meeting, we shouldn’t be meeting.

When Taplio was acquired by lemlist, they got:

- $2m upfront
- Another $6m for hitting growth targets


I asked him if it was time for beach and cocktails...

"Absolutely not."

Tibo starting sourcing young, hungry founders to build more products.

He now runs 5 products, each with difference technical founders, whilst he focuses on their growth and building his personal brand.

Now $6m ARR.


The next exit will be much bigger.

Find out how in this episode of Confessions of a B2B Entrepreneur below 👇

One of our team members' machines was compromised.

And a client found out about it.

Somehow their Slack log in was posted in a data dump, which was flagged to a client's security team.

We immediately took the compromised machine offline for deep cleaning and changed a load of other passwords.

In the end, no breach occurred, but it was a scare.

This would likely not have happened if we were using Keeper Security, Inc. 

It’s the highest-rated password manager in the world for a reason. 

It solves both the security and the productivity problem:

- Zero-Trust Security: Keeper built its entire platform on a zero-trust, zero-knowledge architecture so your business data is encrypted on your device before it ever reaches their servers

- Instant Access: The KeeperFill feature automatically enters usernames and complex passwords for you

Keeper is built to scale with your business (securely) from day one.

Check out their Cyber Week offer linked in the first comment 👇

#ad #keepersecurity #cyberweek

Brand partnership • $4.5m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I’m doing.

FlowGent AI

FlowGent empowers you to create, deploy, and sell Al solutions without coding.

Whitelabel our software and help SMB's adopt practical AI solutions that help their business forward.

Founder

ColdAgency

Advisor

Fastest growing outbound marketing agency in the Dutch market.

Co-founder & CEO

ColdList

TJILP Media

Owner

JEKKO MEDIA B.V.

Co-Owner

Online entrepreneur with extensive experience in B2B lead generation, SaaS and AI Automation.

Currently building FlowGent AI - we enable you to Build & Sell AI solutions quick.

FlowGent gives freelancers and agency owners the ability to whitelabel their own software.

This leads to:
> Smoother onboarding
> Better client experience
> Stickier clients
> Less 'tool juggling' 
> Unique selling factor

Overall it's about delivering a software with a service to enable your clients to use AI effectively.

AI Automation, Build & Sell AI, white label software, Freelancers & Agency Owners.

Always open to DM's - happy to connect 🤝

Jan van Musscher

I grew my agency from 20K to 80K MRR when I cracked this LinkedIn system.

Most founders post content and hope something sticks.

The top 1% run three systems simultaneously:

☑ Content System → Consistent posts that build authority
☑ Engagement System → Strategic interactions that build relationships  
☑ Conversion System → Direct outreach that closes deals

Each system feeds the others.

Your content creates warm leads. Your engagement builds trust. Your outreach converts at 3x the rate.

I used to treat LinkedIn like a posting platform. Now I treat it like a full growth engine.

The difference? I stopped doing random acts of marketing and started running a predictable system.

Every post has a purpose. Every comment has a strategy. Every connection request has context.

That's how you turn LinkedIn from a time sink into your biggest growth channel.

Are you running all three systems or just posting content? Let me know in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost this to help others scale their LinkedIn presence too.

PS. This post was created with Postiv.ai, your LinkedIn AI agent. Our users get thousands of extra impressions in the first week. Try it for 7 days →

Get more high trust clients with Postiv - AI Agent for LinkedIn Content

The 3-System LinkedIn Stack that 4x my agency

LinkedIn is full of the same content.

And it's killing conversion rates.

You know what I'm talking about...

Everyone posting the same tips.
Everyone sharing the same frameworks.
Everyone using the same AI-generated value posts.

Two years ago? That worked.

Post a "how-to" and clients showed up.

Share a process and deals closed.

Not anymore.

Because when everyone has the same information…

↳ Nobody stands out.

- Every founder posts about "scaling."
- Every coach posts about "mindset."
- Every agency posts about "lead generation."

And it all sounds identical.

What actually cuts through now... is unique expertise.

Not tips anyone can Google.

Not frameworks AI can generate.

But insights only YOU have because of what you've built, who you've worked with, and what you've learned the hard way.

If your content could've been written by someone who's never done what you do,

↳ You're competing with 10,000 other people saying the same thing.

The clients worth having don't want generic value.

They want someone who's been there, done that, and can prove it.

That's unique expertise.

And that's what actually converts.

Does your content showcase your unique expertise or generic information? Let me know in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost this to help others differentiate their content too.

PS. This post was created with Postiv.ai, your LinkedIn AI agent that creates content based on your UNIQUE expertise. Our users get thousands of extra impressions in the first week. Try it for 7 days →

LinkedIn is full of the same content

Your weekly AI briefing is here.

The AI giants went absolutely wild this week. Here's what you need to know:

→ Google Wakes Up

Google launched Gemini 3 on November 18 and immediately integrated it into Search. The model is topping industry leaderboards with a 1,501 score on LM Arena, crushing previous benchmarks.

https://lnkd.in/durjqpde

→ Anthropic Drops Claude Opus 4.5

Released November 25 with major upgrades in coding, visual reasoning, and agentic AI. The kicker? New Chrome and Excel integrations that let you automate data analysis directly in spreadsheets.

They also secured access to 1 million Google TPUs worth tens of billions. That's compute power most companies can only dream of.

https://lnkd.in/d9bFGMiY

→ Meta Goes All-In on Infrastructure

Meta announced over $600 billion in US infrastructure investments by 2028 for AI data centers. They're also in talks to spend billions on Google's TPUs starting in 2027.

Translation → Meta is building hardware independence to challenge Nvidia's dominance and reduce reliance on external chip providers.

https://lnkd.in/dparjMDx

→ OpenAI Fighting to Keep Up

Sam Altman sent an internal memo admitting Google's advances could create "rough vibes" for OpenAI in the short term. 

But they're not standing still → ChatGPT Plus is now free for all US servicemembers and veterans. And they're offering "ChatGPT for Teachers" tailored for K-12 educators.

The challenge? Reports show OpenAI needs to raise at least $207 billion by 2030 to sustain operations, with data center costs potentially hitting $1.4 trillion by 2033.

https://lnkd.in/d3BuXRpn

What's your take on the AI infrastructure race? Let me know in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost this to help others stay ahead of AI news too.

PS. This post was created with Postiv.ai, your LinkedIn AI agent. Our users get thousands of extra impressions in the first week. Try it for 7 days →

Carousel

I just read LinkedIn's official guide on social selling. This one stat jumped out:

Salespeople who actively do social selling create 45% more opportunities than those who don't.

If you're running a $100K business, that's $45K left on the table.

But here's what the article made clear → posting alone doesn't cut it.

The 78% of social sellers who crush their quota do this:

☑ They post valuable content
☑ They optimize their profile
☑ They engage authentically
☑ They use those insights in outreach

Before prospects reply to your message, they check your profile.

Empty profile → Delete.
Active profile with insights → I'll read this.

So when I talk about social selling, I'm not talking about choosing between content and outreach.

It's using content to make outreach actually work.

Your prospects are already researching you.
So make sure they find expertise, not empty space.

Read the full breakdown here → https://lnkd.in/dDu4rDwp

What's your take on combining content with sales outreach? Let me know in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost this to help others unlock more sales opportunities too.

PS. This post & carousel was created with Postiv.ai, your LinkedIn AI agent. Our users get thousands of extra impressions in the first week. Try it for 7 days →

LinkedIn just published their official social selling playbook

The most difficult thing about content creation: creating it for the right audience.

Who is your ideal customer?

Not who could use your product. Not who might pay you. Who is the perfect fit that will get the most value and stay the longest.

When I scaled my lead gen agency to 7-figures, defining our ICP changed everything. We stopped chasing everyone and started winning the right people.

Here's how to define yours:

→ Identify your best current customers
Look at who pays on time, gets results, and refers others.

→ Layer in firmographic data
Company size, industry, location, revenue range.

→ Add behavioral traits
Are they active on LinkedIn? Do they attend industry events? What tools do they use?

→ Define their pain points
What keeps them up at night? What problem are you solving?

→ Test and refine
Your ICP isn't static. Revisit it every quarter based on who actually converts and succeeds.

→ Add it to your Postiv AI rules
Go to settings -> writing style. Add your ICP there. Your Postiv AI agent will create content target to your ICP.

A precise ICP turns marketing from guesswork into a system.

Want to attract your ICP consistently? Let me know in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost this to help others nail their ICP too.

PS. This post was created with Postiv.ai, your LinkedIn AI agent. Our users get thousands of extra impressions in the first week. Try it for 7 days →

How to Define Your Perfect ICP: From Guesswork to System

"The algorithm changed!!" Well.. It might have yes. But the algorithm didn't break your content.

LinkedIn's new interest-based system surfaces content that's relevant to each user's professional interests. Not what's trending. Not what gets the most likes. What actually matches what people care about.

This means generic content dies faster than ever.

Here's what still works:

→ Deep expertise over surface-level advice. The algorithm rewards specialized knowledge that serves specific audiences.

→ Consistent engagement with your target audience. LinkedIn tracks whose engagement matters to you. Right audience engagement trains the algorithm correctly.

→ Content built on your unique knowledge. Generic AI content gets generic results. The algorithm detects shallow patterns.

This is why I built systems instead of chasing algorithms.

When I grew my LinkedIn to 17k followers, I wasn't gaming the algorithm. I was serving my audience with content rooted in real expertise from scaling a lead gen agency to 7-figures.

The framework that works:

Knowledge Base → Authentic Content → Target Audience → Consistent Delivery

Build your content around what you actually know. Let AI amplify your expertise, not replace it. The algorithm rewards depth and relevance, not tricks.

What's your experience with the new algorithm changes? Let me know in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost this to help others adapt to algorithm changes too.

PS. This post was created with Postiv.ai, your LinkedIn AI agent. Our users get thousands of extra impressions in the first week. Try it for 7 days →

7 reasons to try Postiv.AI:

I used to pay a ghostwriter $3,000 a month just to stay visible on LinkedIn.

Now I built something better for a fraction of that cost.

7 reasons you need to try Postiv.AI:

☑ You'll see immediate ROI from your content
☑ Saves you 60-90 minutes every single day
☑ The AI agent learns your tone of voice and brand style
☑ Better than any tool I've tested (and I've tested them all)
☑ So good you'll want to share it with your clients
☑ Even if you can't design, you'll create professional carousels
☑ Just chat with your agent to create content and visuals

Postiv.ai isn't just another scheduling tool.

It's your complete LinkedIn content studio.

Get insights on your analytics. Find trending topics. Sync your knowledge from Notion, YouTube, and more.

Your AI agent turns everything into engaging LinkedIn posts and carousels that sound like YOU.

Ready to reclaim 60-90 minutes of your day while growing your LinkedIn presence? Let me know in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost this to help others scale their LinkedIn content too.

PS. This post was created with Postiv.ai, your LinkedIn AI agent. Our users get thousands of extra impressions in the first week. Try it for 7 days →

taplio

The Battle

Tom Hunt

Jan van Musscher

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreTom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJan van Musscher's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Tom Hunt

Jan van Musscher

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);}Tom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJan van Musscher's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreTom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance