Timothy Armoo's Linkedin Analytics

I'm not a Black entrepreneur. I'm an entrepreneur who happens to be Black. There's a difference. Because sometimes, the more you lead with a label, the more you box yourself in. You start to see yourself through it. So does everyone else. I've never built businesses through the lens of identity. I've built them by solving problems people are willing to pay for. That's it. Now, don't get me wrong, I get why the label exists. Representation matters. Visibility matters. And for a long time, we didn't have it. But I've always believed this: → If the product solves a real problem → If the service delivers undeniable value → If the business is built with intention and excellence Then people won't care what you look like. They'll care what you deliver. That mindset got me through the doors investors said were closed. It helped me navigate rooms where I was the "only one." It enabled me to build something I'm proud of. And it's the same mindset I now share with other founders. The market doesn't see colour, it sees solutions. Your unique perspective shapes how you solve problems, but it doesn't define what problems you can solve. Identity can be part of the story, but it doesn't have to be the whole story. Let your work speak first. Because ultimately, great businesses transcend labels.

To every single person building something right now, without the followers, without the funding, without the cheerleaders… This one’s for you. You're not crazy. You're not behind. You're just building something only you can see, and that’s exactly how it starts. You don’t need louder hype. You need clearer strategy, deeper conviction, and people who get it. That’s why I write CheatCode, the weekly newsletter for founders navigating the fog, the silence, and the doubt. Drop ‘FOG’ in the comments and I’ll send you the link. Let’s build what they said wouldn’t work.

He immigrated to America with just $500. And then built a $1B brand, with no investors, no hype. Meet Manoj Bhargava. By 40, he'd collected more failures than wins. But everything changed at a trade show in Thailand. While others overlooked it, he spotted the real insight: Workers weren’t chugging Red Bulls. They weren’t reaching for sugar-packed sodas. They were grabbing tiny, concentrated energy shots, quick bursts to survive brutal shifts in the heat. And that's when he had the idea for 5-Hour Energy. He didn’t compete with Red Bull and Monster. He invented an entirely new category: ➡️ The energy shot. 2 ounces. No sugar. No crash. Just clean, fast energy. In 2004, with zero marketing experience, he launched 5-Hour Energy by: ➡️ Stacking bottles near gas station registers ➡️ Paying clerks $5 to recommend it And he made a bold, counterintuitive move: He intentionally made it taste bad. Not because he couldn’t make it better. But because he didn’t want people to sip it slowly like a soda. He wanted them to shoot it fast, feel the effect immediately, and get back to work. Because he understood what most founders miss: People don’t want a beverage. They want an effect. By 2011, 5-Hour Energy had crossed $1B in sales. Bhargava owned 90% of the company. No investors. No debt. Just brilliant positioning. Today, even with endless competition, 5-Hour Energy still dominates the energy shot market. A case study in spotting real demand and building around it.

Why do you doubt your potential? You trust others to succeed yet hesitate when it comes to your own future. What makes you think you’re different? They had doubts. So do you. They faced obstacles. So will you. They weren’t “ready.” Neither are you, but they took action. Greats like Steve Jobs and Sara Blakely proved that when you have a vision, you go for it, no matter how crazy it might seem. Speaking of crazy, here are some “crazy” trends that seem alien now, but are set to EXPLODE in the next 2 years: ➡️ TikTok Shop Hypergrowth: TikTok Shop is the new frontier for eCommerce, much like Amazon Sellers were 15 years ago. The discovery potential here is massive, making it a must-play for eCommerce stores. ➡️ Pet Wellness: Consumer spending on pets is rising. Pet supplements, wellness products, and accessories are thriving, and only getting bigger. ➡️ Creator-Led Businesses: Creators are partnering with growth operators to handle business operations while they focus on marketing rapidly building cash-flow-heavy, distributable businesses. ➡️ Fractional Hiring Boom: Freelance CMOs, CFOs, and other specialists are becoming the norm. If you’re a skilled professional, now is the perfect time to step up and lead as a director. These trends are the future and today is the best time to start taking action on them. On the topic of trends, I’m breaking all of this down at SXSW London alongside incredible speakers and performers like Idris Elba and Tems.SXSW London is where the innovators, leading entrepreneurs and thought leaders all come together to break down trends, business opportunities and future innovations - so it really is the place to be. To come see me, click the link below to grab your tickets now. For 20% off passes, use ‘timothy20’ at checkout #sxswlondon #ad Ticket link: https://bit.ly/4iQm6RR

I'm 30. At 21, I learned something that felt a bit… controversial: Individual talent means nothing. You might be an incredible salesperson, but you can only sell for 8 hours a day, max. You might deeply understand your customer’s pain points, but there are only so many people you can speak to in a day. And so on. Individual talent gets you from 0 to £100,000. But to go from £100,000 to £10 million? You need systems. Otherwise, you'll crash hard, burn out, and scaling will remain a mystery. I’ve worked with hundreds of incredibly talented founders with exceptional individual ability, but the ones who really won were the ones who: Built a sales system that scaled without them Built a hiring system that attracted and nurtured A-players, without hand-holding And now you can do the same. I’m sharing the exact docs and templates I used to scale my business and exit for eight figures. Join the waitlist and get access to The Vault: https://lnkd.in/ewg3BMwH It has everything you need to scale your business.

If you’re doing £50K/month but stuck working 60+ hours a week. Here’s what won’t fix it: ❌ Hiring a VA with no plan for delegation ❌ Brute-forcing everything yourself ❌ Guessing your next hire to escape the overwhelm Here’s what actually works: ✅ Prioritising roles based on revenue impact ✅ Identifying which tasks only you should be doing ✅ Building a roadmap where every hire drives profit That’s exactly what The Vault helps you do. Inside, you’ll get the complete toolkit I used to scale Fanbytes to 8 figures: 📈 Sales Scorecard – See exactly who’s driving revenue 🧠 Client Retention Framework – Keep clients longer (and happier) 🚀 Hiring Prioritisation Sheet – Know your next hire based on ROI 📋 SOP Templates – Delegate without micromanaging 📊 Reporting Dashboards – Track what actually drives growth 💡 Plug-and-play Playbooks – From onboarding to offboarding These are the actual systems I used to build and scale. AND the waitlist closes in 24 hours so you have to be quick. Join now to get early access + a bonus Founder Ops Masterclass: https://lnkd.in/ewg3BMwH

Brands are quietly hiring meme makers with £60k+ salaries. Titles like “Meme Creator,” “Content Reactor,” “Cultural Strategist.” But give it six months..you’ll see “Chief Meme Officer” on the C-suite slide. Memes are no longer “just for fun.” They’ve become a full-blown distribution strategy. Top brands (from Duolingo to Ryanair to Liquid Death) are doing one thing better than anyone else: They speak the internet’s native language. And that language? It’s memes. Let’s be real, people aren’t reading long ads. They scroll. They skim. They laugh. Then they buy. And memes are doing what billion-dollar ad budgets can’t: ✅ Going viral organically ✅ Driving cultural relevance ✅ Humanising the brand A single meme now outperforms a thousand-dollar media buy. We’ve entered the culture economy, where brand value = how well you can ride the wave of attention. And memes are the surfboard. If you’re not building cultural fluency into your strategy in 2025, you’re invisible.

Dear Entrepreneur, No one really warns you about this part. The part where your idea actually works. You gain traction. Revenue starts flowing. And with success… comes the weight. The team that believes in you. The salaries, the mortgages, the families behind every paycheck. You're no longer just carrying your vision, You're carrying their trust. Their time. Their futures. The stakes rise. And suddenly, the fear shifts from "What if I fail?" to "What if I fail them?" That pressure you feel? It’s not weakness. It’s leadership. This is the invisible cost of growth no one talks about. So if you’re feeling the weight right now, here’s your reminder: It means you're doing it right. It means you care.

Let’s talk about comparison. You open your feed, and suddenly everyone’s winning. Funding rounds. Product launches. Big milestones. Meanwhile, you’re in the messy middle. Wondering if you’re behind. If you’re enough. But I promise you're not... You’re not late. You’re not lacking. You’re not them, and that’s the point. Your path is yours. The real work happens where no one’s watching. So stay in your lane. Build with integrity. Move at your pace. Success isn’t a race. It’s a commitment.

Most people aren't bad at business. They're just allergic to being bad at anything. If you're willing to suck at something for 100 days straight, you will beat 99% of your competition. Because the bar isn't "excellence" anymore. The bar is not quitting when it gets uncomfortable. Most founders tap out at the first setback. Not because they're incapable, but because they've never trained themselves to sit inside the discomfort of growth. If you can stomach the awkward reps...the messy beginnings...the days when it feels like you're failing publicly...

Imposter syndrome. We all feel it, but no one talks about it. It’s a word we’re all quietly running from. But what is it, really? To me, imposter syndrome is… something every entrepreneur experiences at some stage of the journey. It’s that gnawing self-doubt. The fear that at any moment, someone’s going to tap you on the shoulder and say: “You don’t belong here.” My first brush with it? For me, it hit when we crossed £1M in revenue. I should’ve felt proud. I should’ve felt pumped. But I didn’t. All I felt was panic. Not excitement. Not joy. Just a deep, sinking fear that I’d somehow faked my way here,  and now the mask was about to slip. That sinking feeling that maybe I’d faked my way here. No Stanford degree. No Y Combinator badge. Just hustle, trial, error, and somehow, fast growth. But I realised: Hustle got us to £1M. It wouldn’t get us to £10M. I didn’t need more grind. I needed systems. The kind that let me: • Lead with clarity • Hire smarter • Build a business that ran without me That shift, from operator to architect, changed everything. That’s what The Vault is: The exact systems we used to go from £1M to £15M+ at Fanbytes. Now it’s yours: 👉🏾 Join the waitlist before it’s too late. https://lnkd.in/e7Q9VPCB

There’s a quiet revolution happening in business right now. It’s not AI. It’s not crypto. It’s not even SaaS. It’s what I call the faceification of boring businesses. Let me explain. A friend of a friend recently bought 5 struggling dental practices. → No venture capital → Just old-school businesses run by retiring owners He didn’t reinvent the wheel. He cleaned it. → Rebranded the practices → Added simple systems → Paid the sellers over time (no money down) → Put a face on the brand. → Started creating content Today? It’s a £50M systemised business. But here’s what really moved the needle: He put a face to the brand. Made it human. Made it visible. Started created content across different platforms. Educating people on hygiene. Turned a dusty business into a content engine. This is happening everywhere: → A chip shop girl goes viral on TikTok with day-in-the-life videos → A laundromat owner builds a following off customer confessions → A dry cleaner becomes a local celeb just by being on camera These aren’t “influencers.” They’re smart operators playing the visibility game. The cheat code? Don’t build in stealth. Build in public. You don’t need to be a genius in a genius market. You need to bring life to the businesses no one’s watching. That’s the real arbitrage.

Dean went from homeless and £70,000 in debt to doing €2B+ deals. I went from council estate kid to an 8-figure exit. So, it was only right we team up and give back. Last week, we hosted a room full of ambitious entrepreneurs, early-stage and established, for a real conversation about what it actually takes to scale. And then… 👀 We surprised 10 founders who had the courage to stand up and pitch themselves with a private dinner. Because starting a business is easy. Scaling it? That’s where most people break. And if I can pay it forward, by giving a founder cheatcodes that moves the needle, I’m in! Here’s what I had to remind the room (and maybe you need to hear it too): There’s no such thing as self-made. You need help. You need systems. You need to hire experts, because you’ll never be one in everything. And you definitely need the right people in your corner. Don’t let anyone lie to you, no one does it alone.

“Just quit your job and start a business, you won’t regret it.” I see that advice a lot. And honestly? It’s misleading. As someone who failed 7 businesses before finally making it on my 8th, let me tell you the truth. It’s hard. Really hard. You give up 10 times a day. And then somehow, you keep going. You sacrifice more than most people know. You miss out on things your friends get to enjoy. You question yourself, constantly. But you also grow in ways you never imagined. You build resilience. You discover what you’re made of. And if you keep showing up, you just might build something that changes your life, and others’. Also, not everyone needs to quit their job to start a business. So, in short yes start the business, just don’t expect it to be easy because even the most talented and brilliant minds faced SERIOUS set backs. But expect it to be worth it.

The best hires are hiding in plain sight. You're overlooking them because: – They don’t have polished resumes – They didn’t go to Oxford – They aren’t loud on LinkedIn (yet) But they’re outbuilding, outlearning, and outposting everyone. To find them, stop relying on HR filters. Start looking at: → ProductHunt → IndieHackers → Twitter replies → GitHub commits → Substack essays There’s a whole world outside of LinkedIn with great potential. The best talent isn't waiting to be found. They're already showing you what they can do.

Stop micromanaging your team. You know the saying: “It’s not you, it’s me”? In this case, it’s not your team. It’s you. You don’t have a team problem. You have a “you’re still doing everything” problem. I hear this all the time: “My team just doesn’t get it.” “They can’t figure things out without me.” But if you’re still the one solving every problem, closing every deal, checking every task… You haven’t built a team. You’ve built a dependency. So let’s fix it: Framework: Diagnose → Shift → Build Diagnose the bottlenecks → What are people constantly coming to you for? → Where are you still the decision-maker by default? Shift your mindset → Stop measuring your value by how much you do. → Start measuring it by how little the team needs you to do. Build the system → Create documentation for repeatable processes → Set clear ownership for key roles → Define what success looks like without you in the room Scaling gets easier when your business doesn’t run on your brainpower alone. Before you “fix the team,” fix the system they’re working inside.

Most founders don’t fail because of bad products. They fail because they refuse to let go. I’ve been coaching founders for years now, And if there’s one pattern I see again and again? They’re still doing everything. Writing copy. Managing the team. Approving every design. Overseeing every funnel. Why do they do this? Because when you’ve built something from scratch, letting go feels like a risk. But the reality is not letting go is the bigger one. I always remind my clients of a founder I coached last year: He was doing £100K/month, and still running his ad campaigns manually. When I asked why, he said: “Because no one else will care as much as I do.” I told him: “No one needs to. They just need to know what ‘great’ looks like. And that starts with you training them.” We systemised, hired, delegated, and upskilled the team. Six months later, the business doubled, and he finally took a holiday. The reality is if your business breaks without you in it, You haven’t built a business, you’ve built a bottleneck. So ask yourself: What’s the one thing you’re still holding onto that someone else should be owning? Letting go isn’t giving up control. It’s choosing a better role. Want to scale yourself out of the day-to-day? Sign up for Tactical Tuesdays, my weekly email where I share the exact systems, hiring frameworks, and mindset shifts that helped me (and my founder friends) build businesses that run without us. Yes, that includes how to hire people so good, you finally feel safe handing things over.

Every setback was a setup for a stronger comeback. I’ve made tough calls. Felt the pressure. And learned the hard way what it really takes to scale. But through it all, I stayed focused on one thing: Building something that lasts. Not just a business, But a system that could grow without chaos. That’s why I created The Vault: The exact tools that helped me scale Fanbytes to 8 figures. 📈 Sales Scorecard – Predictable revenue, no guesswork 🧠 Hiring Scorecard – A-players only, filtered by data 🚀 Prioritisation Sheet – Hire what actually moves the needle These aren’t just templates. They’re the systems that built the business. Now, I’m sharing them with you. Like and comment THE VAULT and i'll drop you a DM with the access link or use this link: https://lnkd.in/ewg3BMwH

If you’re an entrepreneur, you need to read this. (This is the best advice I could ever give you) Never underestimate the power of staying a student. I’ve seen it time and time again, the founders who win aren’t always the most talented or best connected WIN. Why? They’re the ones who never stop learning. They treat business like a craft. They study industry reports. They deeply analyse their numbers. They ask: “What’s working? What’s not?”, and they don’t wait for someone else to answer it for them. That mindset is what separates good founders from great founders. So to help great founders become truly exceptional founders (and sell their businesses for life changing amounts) I created The Vault,  a tool for founders who are obsessed with getting better. It contains: - Sales Scorecard – Pinpoint what’s blocking your deals and sharpen your sales game. - Hiring Scorecard – Hire smarter with a clear, objective way to assess candidates. - Hiring Prioritisation – Know exactly who to hire next to unlock growth. Join the waitlist now before it closes : https://lnkd.in/ewg3BMwH

No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.