Top Linkedin Trends - updated daily

Consultants who have never built anything giving you startup advice. --- Many years ago, as part of an accelerator, one of my companies got selected to work with 3 consultants from one of the most prestigious consulting companies in the world 🏆. Our hopes were high that their work was going to boost our growth. 1 month after a series of meetings, they came back with a 10+ page report on future market trends in our industry. 😭 What we really needed was a list of potential clients, their names, phone numbers, and emails so we could get in touch with them - today. Don't work with a consulting company just because they have a name. It's best to work with those who know what it is like to run a startup. It's best to work with those who have been in the trenches. #founder #entrepreneur #business #startup

"I really wish they paid more than $100 a blog post," she said. My heart sank. I didn't know what to do. I had just started talking to the writer who would go on to be my accountability buddy for the next decade. And we had started talking about a mutual client and I had just learned that I was making FOUR times the amount she was per post. The easy thing to do would have been to smile and nod and commiserate. But I knew I would want someone to tell me. And I've never been one to take the easy way out. So I took a deep breath and found my 15 seconds of courage. "I don't quite know how to say this but they are paying me $400 a post." I braced for her to lash out at me or shoot the messenger. Or think I was bragging. But she was grateful. And thanked me. She then used that information to make changes in her business that made a huge difference in her income. On my post last week, she even shared how pivotal a moment it was in her own career. You can change another writer's career with a single sentence. It's really that easy. We were taught not talk about how much we earn. But that rule needs to be tossed out in freelancing. The only way we can get fair rates and help each other is by talking about money. Other writers don't know what's possible or standard rate in terms of income if we aren't honest. I am very glad I didn't keep my mouth shut that day. It changed my now accountability buddy's career. And it forged a bond between us - she knew she could trust me and I had her back. I am also positive that I changed my own by not taking the hard way out. Yes, it's hard to tell other writers things like this. Yes, it's hard to share how much you are making. It feels uncomfortable. It feels like you are bragging. But when you do - you are helping other writers not settle for less than they deserve. And odds are high, you will find a great new writing friend by being honest. Are you getting my newsletter GoForth and Freelance for writers, graphic designers, programmers, VAs, translators, transcriptionist and any other kind of digital freelancer. Sign up for the freelance advice, stay for the Weenie (dog) stories https://lnkd.in/gqaUPJ3i

2 stories about my online friends: 1. I was an email copywriter for years. Then a guy came to me, said he was quitting his personal brand growth agency, and offered me 2 of his clients. That agency turned into my all-time top earner. He helped me start it on easy mode. 2. A guy who has a similar offer to be had too many clients. He referred one to me, and that client referred me to 4 more people. That client has also been with me for over a year now. And those are just the most profitable stories. There are dozens of others. I don't have a massive network, but I do have about 20 people I consider acquaintances or friends, and they deliver massive benefits to me regularly. Find your inner circle. Deep, not wide.

Winter Wonderland is this giant, ostentatious temporary fair and market that gets put up in London’s Hyde Park every Christmas. It’s garish. It’s extortionate. It’s carnage. And I love it. I take my kids every year and we play games we rarely win, eat an unreasonable amount of candy floss, consume far too many hot dogs and spend more money that I can afford on absolutely nothing. We all have stressful lives. Mortgages and rent to pay, children to raise, customers, employers, friends and partners to worry about. And right now with what is happening in the world, it can feel incredibly overwhelming. But dance in the street to your music. Do a handstand in the gym. Wear crazy clothes. Spend a stupid amount of money on arcade games you’re rigged to never win… Because it’s FUN. When was the last time you had, real, belly-laughing FUN? Too long ago, I imagine. In a world that is so serious, I cannot stress how important it is to do silly, frivolous things that serve no other purpose than to bring you joy. 💜

It's Apple Xmas ad, and I'm sorry to say, but this one takes the cake of the best of the year (so far, at least). Beautifully crafted, flawless product demo (as always!) and the right amount of sentiment! Just lovely!

Be where your feet are and embrace the magic of Christmas. ❤

You cannot sell unless you believe. And your prospects will not buy unless they believe YOU. Selling is a transference of belief over a bridge of trust. If they knew what you know about the product, they should buy. But If they knew everything and WOULDNT buy, then it makes it a deception process. --- -- - So either sell stuff that helps the prospect, or don’t sell at all.

If I started as an AE tomorrow, I wouldn't bother reading sales books to ramp up. I'd focus on these 5 things to get me ramped up as fast as possible. 1. Study the buyer persona (to learn the pain) 2. Spend 1-2 weeks answering support tickets (to learn the product) 3. Get on sales calls ASAP (to learn how to present) 4. Following up with lower quality leads (to practice) 5. Sitting on sales calls of top performers (to absorb) Getting into the weeds > Getting into the reads

I remember talking to the CEO of a company doing $4M in ARR a few years ago. He was *convinced* he needed to hit $10M in the next year despite having a massive churn problem and no meaningful pipeline. Here's what his Board told him to do: - Move upmarket - Hire 10 enterprise sellers - Give them each $1M quota That way, they said, even if you only had 60% quota attainment, you’d still hit your goal. The CEO spent all of January running around in a panic because he hadn’t hired his enterprise sales team yet and the model had them ramping on a precise timeline to hit the target. This was obviously total insanity. Sometimes we build spreadsheets in an ivory tower without stopping to think of the logical implications of what those spreadsheets actually mean in practice. And when your revenue targets are predicated on a headcount-driven model that adds money as you hire people you are implicitly saying: “My revenue targets are predicated on a bunch of people I don’t know and haven’t met yet caring enough and learning quickly enough to hit my number THIS YEAR.” When you say it out loud like that, hopefully you see how foolish you sound.  

Remote Work Is Future Here are 10 tools that can help you land a Job in 30 days!! Check Them Out!! Follow Vidhi Toshniwal for more such insightful content #remotework #job #hiring #aitools #ai

Leaders, it's time to face a hard truth: If you can't trust your team to work remotely, you're the issue. Here are 9 reasons why: 1. Autonomy isn’t a bonus; it's a basic. Trust your team. 2. Remote work isn’t the future; it’s now. Embrace it. 3. Micromanagement isn’t oversight; it’s distrust. Stop it. 4. Flexibility isn’t a favor; it’s a necessity. Offer it. 5. Productivity isn’t about hours; it’s about output. Measure it. 6. Communication isn’t just talking; it’s mostly listening. Do both. 7. Employee well-being isn’t a trend; it’s essential. Prioritize it. 8. Technology isn’t a solution; it’s a tool. Use it wisely. 9. Trust isn’t given; it’s earned. Start earning. Remember, collaboration doesn’t need an office. It only needs commitment. Your team isn't a set of robots. They're people. Talented. Capable. Trustworthy. Let them prove it. What's your best tip to build trust remotely? P.S. Repost to share this with your network ♻️. And follow Eric Partaker for more posts like this. 📌 Enjoy business, leadership & self-mastery? Try my free newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dF-VwKqi Join 235,000+ receiving weekly tips.

“Remote workers aren’t productive—you have no control over them.” That’s a real response I got from someone dissing my remote-first approach. Dear micromanager, here’s the deal: I don’t need “control” over anyone… Because I only hire people I “click” with. Y’know, folks who get that I only care about quality work done on time— …not how long it takes (or where it happens). This approach gives me a huge competitive edge— Less stress for me… And more focus on what actually matters in my life. But micromanagers? They’re busy making their team’s life miserable. I feel bad for them—being that kind of leader has to be exhausting. So how about we control less, and trust more? It’s good for business—and good for your mental health :)

This is how Cut Media started. Occasionally I have to remind myself. This was me, soaking wet, camera in hand filming a mountain bike race in Scotland. Years ago I used to film and edit a video of events, deliver it with a written race report and then send it to the media. All within 24 hours of the race for £350. Now, over the next 6 weeks the Cut Media team are creating content in South Africa for a product launch, covering the Dakar Rally in Saudi, shooting at home in Scotland for a global brand and are creating one more (absolutely amazing) project I can’t talk about. Not to mention a few other amazing projects in development too. It's exciting and I have loved (almost 👀) all of the journey. From filming solo at that race, to the team and clients we have now. It has all been a vision and a steady process to get there. Which is easily forgotten, especially in the midst of day-to-day challenges of running a business. For many business owners (including me) the last few years has been a wild ride; between covid, Brexit, an economic downturn, and massive highs and lows for some industries (special nod to cycling industry friends where things are so tough right now). I have so much respect for anyone who has been working through it all. As an athlete in training, one of the first lessons you have drummed into you is, ‘trust the process.’ It's an approach I've always taken, but the last few years has brought a renewed belief in it. Create goals, map the pathway to get there, have good honest people around you to support, and then trust the process. *Not often I attempt the Linkedin inspirational chat, will reel it in again now. 😂

I often dreamed about having a documentary made on one of my expeditions. That dream stemmed from my deep connection with the value of the experience of exploring one’s human capacities and the love of the art of documentary film making; the hope being that a documentary could capture that value proposition to a wide audience and elicit enough energy in a segment of its viewers to move them into action towards that what is difficult, challenging or fearful in their lives. I feel it’s a noble outlook to hold - try to use what you have discovered and learned to improve another human’s experience of this precarious, yet magical journey called life. I am happy to say my dream becomes reality tonight at 9.35pm on RTE ONE with the premiere of Man Vs Ocean. If you do tune in I hope you FEEL the HEAVY MAN FILMS team managed to capture the essence of where my dream stemmed from.

Here are three reasons why short-form videos are becoming increasingly popular even in business communication 🎥🌟 #BusinessCommunication #ShortFormVideos #Megadeals #BrandAwareness #SalesCycle #DigitalMarketingTips

I am excited to share insights from a preliminary meeting that for me marks the beginning of COP28 UAE, setting the stage for an unprecedentedly inclusive conference. COP28 is poised to be a landmark event in integrating diverse perspectives, especially emphasizing the crucial role of indigenous voices. For the first time in COP history, an #IndigenousPeoples' Day has been included in the action agenda. This significant step reinforces our commitment to marrying environmental and social justice, recognizing that true progress in climate action necessitates a holistic approach. Over the last seven months, it has been a privilege to collaborate with indigenous groups from the seven socio-cultural regions across the globe. This collaboration has united a diverse array of voices, representing over 4,000 languages, and bringing together both youth and elders in a shared vision for our planet's future. As we approach COP28 in Dubai, we are inspired by the insights and perspectives gained from these preliminary discussions. We look forward to a productive and transformative conference, driving forward our collective mission for a #sustainable and #equitable world.

Today, we launched the Dubai Reef project, one of the world’s largest marine reef developments. Exceeding 400,000 cubic metres in volume and spanning 600 square kilometres of Dubai's waters, the project embodies Dubai’s commitment to preserving the environment and promoting biodiversity. Dubai is strongly dedicated to making substantial contributions to global efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change through initiatives that promote the sustainability of our natural environment, with particular emphasis on coral reefs. We will continue to pursue these strategic goals to ensure a more sustainable future for generations to come. We are committed to generating impactful solutions by initiating innovative projects to overcome challenges emerging from climate change. Dubai is dedicated to playing a positive role in global environmental preservation and supporting the UAE's goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. We appreciate every contribution to our strategic objectives in this vital field.

By 2050, carbon emissions from industry, transport, and energy sectors could increase by more than 30%. To combat these emissions, I announced the Industrial Transition Accelerator alongside COP28 UAE President Dr. Sultan al Jaber, UN Climate Change, and Mark Carney – the largest decarbonization initiative to date. Learn more: bloombg.org/46G01P1

Look, am sorry for a begging post but - please, anyone, I need a contract like. Now. Even if I start working tomorrow, I'm not even sure I can afford to live much longer. This is my rock bottom. I am a hard-worker. I am ready to go. I am SC cleared. I have two decades of experience in "devops", I can do anything from write TF for AWS / Azure, through to architecting entire greenfrield projects and presenting to high-level stakeholders. I just despearately need a break. I'm dealing with divorce, long-term-seperation from my kids, homelessness, I'm beginning to sell of my possessions. I can't even get a loan or something to bridge the gap, because I don't know where the gap will end. Can't *anyone* make use of me / my skillset?! Please?! Edit: Thank you for all the responses so far. I've edited the post to show that I would indeed take Inside IR35, much rather this and business on hold for now than literally nothing! #desperate #opentowork #falling

The Microsoft UK 2024 Apprentice Program is now OPEN for applications 🙌 I'm so excited to share the awesome opportunity for people to come and join us on our mission as an apprentice. 👩‍💻 Next week I will deep dive on our opportunities, but in the meantime be curious, take a look and think about who in your networks would love the opportunity of an apprenticeship with Microsoft❔ Hannah Sharon Clare Claire Derrick Nick Cara Zephaniah Alan Zane Mark Charles Harry Madeleine Daniel Simon Jo Ivy Ivy Melissa https://lnkd.in/eJQy2pXh

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗨𝗡 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 🌐  No need to search one by one or get lost again! 🚀 1️⃣ UN Secretariat & Economic and Social Council: https://lnkd.in/eS2QXJj3 Funds and Programmes 2️⃣ UNDP: https://lnkd.in/eagbrK3H  3️⃣ United Nations Volunteers: ibit.ly/XCkjA 4️⃣ UNCDF: https://lnkd.in/g8AAjmDb 5️⃣ UN Environment Programme: ​​https://lnkd.in/eS2QXJj3 6️⃣ United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA): https://www.unfpa.org/jobs  7️⃣ UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme): https://lnkd.in/eryTbE5J 8️⃣ UNICEF: https://lnkd.in/e7XcETde  9️⃣ World Food Programme: https://lnkd.in/e8-wzhUe Training and Research   🔟 UNIDIR — UN Institute for Disarmament Research: https://lnkd.in/ekiHM9eq 1️⃣1️⃣ United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR): https://lnkd.in/e-qrcw6k 1️⃣2️⃣ United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC): https://lnkd.in/eqXVRZ3f  1️⃣3️⃣ United Nations University: https://unu.edu/about/hr  Other Entities   1️⃣4️⃣ UNAIDS: https://lnkd.in/e5hmqmE2  1️⃣5️⃣ UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency: https://lnkd.in/erv6xEK2  1️⃣6️⃣ UNOPS: https://jobs.unops.org/  1️⃣7️⃣ UNRWA: https://lnkd.in/eSAKv3WN 1️⃣8️⃣ UN Women: https://lnkd.in/eYUvPkSP  1️⃣9️⃣ ITC: https://lnkd.in/exN-Rt-E  Specialized Agencies   2️⃣0️⃣ FAO: https://lnkd.in/e3qar9mj  2️⃣1️⃣ International Civil Aviation Organization: https://lnkd.in/eTndY3aa  2️⃣2️⃣ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): https://lnkd.in/enUW6ztu  2️⃣3️⃣ International Labour Organization: https://lnkd.in/e8XRV6gG  2️⃣4️⃣ International Monetary Fund: https://lnkd.in/emCStKMx  2️⃣5️⃣ IMO: https://lnkd.in/eKW9Qbtz  2️⃣6️⃣ International Telecommunication Union: https://jobs.itu.int/  2️⃣7️⃣ UNESCO: https://lnkd.in/eGr8sNjc  2️⃣8️⃣ World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): https://lnkd.in/e6gHW2E9  2️⃣9️⃣ UPU: https://lnkd.in/e66A9RpB  3️⃣0️⃣ World Health Organization https://lnkd.in/e5V9TCXy  3️⃣1️⃣ World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO: https://lnkd.in/eXJNVQjH  3️⃣2️⃣ WMO: https://lnkd.in/eEAWWkqP  3️⃣3️⃣ The World Bank: https://lnkd.in/ehjYAWNz  Related Organizations   3️⃣4️⃣ Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization - CTBTO: https://lnkd.in/ep9N6KW4  3️⃣5️⃣ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): https://lnkd.in/e33-Kc7i  3️⃣6️⃣ IOM - UN Migration: https://lnkd.in/eUZ6RTBv  3️⃣7️⃣ OPCW: https://lnkd.in/e6xtPn9P  3️⃣8️⃣ World Food Programme Trade Organization: https://lnkd.in/eR2vdjNJ  3️⃣9️⃣ International Criminal Court: ibit.ly/\_ky3Y  4️⃣0️⃣ ISA: ibit.ly/Uc5zH  4️⃣1️⃣ ITLOS: ibit.ly/nJup7  Additional   4️⃣2️⃣ United Nations Global Compact: https://bit.ly/47Jgrbb  4️⃣3️⃣ UNICC: ibit.ly/6wINt  4️⃣4️⃣ IPCC: ibit.ly/aZ809  4️⃣5️⃣ UN Climate Change: ibit.ly/JySUU --   🔄 Share with your friends 📝Note: No payment is required during the UN application #career  #uncareers #un #unjobs #internship #sdgs #unitednations #socialimpact #peacebuilding #youthempowerment #ngo

Today, we launched Gemini – Google’s largest and most capable AI model. It was built from the ground up to be multimodal, which means it can generalize and seamlessly understand, operate across, and combine different types of information including text, code, audio, image and video. Built with responsibility and safety at the core, Gemini has the most comprehensive safety evaluations of any Google AI model to date, including for bias and toxicity. We’ve conducted new research into potential risk areas, applied Google Research’s best-in-class adversarial testing techniques to help identify critical safety issues in advance of Gemini’s deployment, and are working with a diverse group of external experts and partners to stress-test our models across a range of issues. In this new era, Gemini will help people be more creative, learn more, and advance science itself. This is a major milestone. Congrats to all the teams that made today happen. Read more about Gemini and its availability here: https://lnkd.in/e-ZWDdDS #GoogleDeepMind #GeminiAI #AI

BREAKING: Google just released its ChatGPT Killer It's called Gemini and here's everything you need to know: • It's Google's biggest and most powerful AI model • It can take inputs in text, code, audio, image and video  • It comes in 3 sizes: Ultra Pro and Nano to function across a broad range of devices including smartphones • It looks like it could potentially beat OpenAI's GPT-4 and ChatGPT as it tops 30 of 32 AI AI model performance benchmarks Watch the video below to get a sense of how awesome it is. I'll be digging deep into Gemini and posting in depth tutorials in Superhuman - my AI newsletter with 500,000+ readers. Sign up here to get free access: https://lnkd.in/d2ZcidKG

Microsoft, Google, Harvard University, DeepLearning.AI, LinkedIn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University have all released free courses on AI 👨‍🎓 Here are the top 15 free courses I'd recommend to learn AI in 2023: 1. Foundations of Prompt Engineering This course introduces the basics of prompt engineering and progresses to advanced prompt techniques. ✔ https://lnkd.in/dyEt4DGt 2. ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers A free course on ChatGPT prompt engineering by DeepLearning AI and OpenAI. ✔https://lnkd.in/eiRtk-6q 3. Google's Introduction to Generative AI Aimed at explaining what Gen is, how it is used, and how it differs from traditional machine learning methods. ✔https://lnkd.in/eBQXfBe9 4. Harvard's Introduction to AI with Python Learn to use machine learning in Python in this introductory course on artificial intelligence. ✔ https://lnkd.in/eu4mZaAG 5. Microsoft's 'What Is Generative AI?' The basics of Gen AI, with topics including what it is, how it works, how to create your own content, different types of models, future predictions, and ethics. ✔ https://lnkd.in/eYNWzXUX 6. Learn Prompting A comprehensive course in prompt engineering with over 60 content modules. Takes you from beginner to advanced in the art of prompt engineering. ✔ https://lnkd.in/eNi_YNSe 7. Google's Introduction to Responsible AI Learn what Responsible AI is, why it’s essential, and how Google implements it in its products. ✔ https://lnkd.in/eTrwSU89 8. Harvard's Data Science: Machine Learning Learn about training data and how to use a set of data to discover potentially predictive relationships. You'll also learn how to build a movie recommendation system and data science techniques. ✔ https://lnkd.in/eX28syMJ 9. LangChain for LLM Application Development Gain essential skills in expanding the use cases and capabilities of language models in application development using LangChain. ✔ https://lnkd.in/evZVJbNy 10. Microsoft's Streamlining Your Work with Microsoft Bing Chat Learn how Bing Chat can perform a wide variety of tasks and help you streamline your entire workflow, from generating ideas and summarizing data to solving common work problems. ✔ https://lnkd.in/ejN-qrVy 11. How to build LLM apps that can see Heart Speak! ✔ https://bit.ly/46ACTS8 12. Microsoft's AI Fundamentals: Generative AI Understand how gen AI applications, such as copilots, support efficiencies. Describe how prompts and responses can be fine-tuned ✔ https://lnkd.in/dqjnzcCD 13. Amazon's Gen AI Learning Plan for Decision Makers ✔ https://lnkd.in/dFhmsvZC 14. Generative AI for Everyone. Get an overview of AI tools, and learn from real-world examples of generative AI in use today. ✔ https://lnkd.in/eFx7zCz7 15. AWS's Gen AI with Large Language Models Gain foundational knowledge, practical skills, and a functional understanding of how gen AI works ✔ https://lnkd.in/dEjN9PRm #artificialintelligence

Life hack: Get in rooms where your dreams are others' realities. ↓ ↓ ↓ Underrated and wildly important step on the path to wealth. Walk with the people who are doing what you want to do, who are making the kind of money you want to make. Read more about the no-BS path to generational wealth here → https://lnkd.in/ePUqkjHf

I don't want to be a billionaire. I don't really want to have dinner with billionaires. I don't like traveling for work. I don't like being away from my family. I don't like meetings. I don't like networking. I'm not good at small talk. I'd like to build a small, profitable business. I'd like to be the anonymous rich guy at all of my kids school events and games and no one knows what I do or how I got there. That sounds more appealing to me. *** Follow me here Dave Gerhardt for more wealth building tips. *** Edit: On the topic of dinner with billionaires ... Unless it was Jay-Z. I would take the dinner with Jay-Z vs. the $500k.

McDonald's is worth $185 Billion dollars today. But back in the day, it was an impossible dream in Ray Croc’s mind He mortgaged his house at AGE 52 and risked losing EVERYTHING. Here is his fascinating story: Ray Kroc never saw much success. He lived paycheck to paycheck most of his life. Working as a musical director, pianist, real estate, paper cup, and kitchen appliance salesman he had tried everything. At age 50 he was selling milkshake mixers, door to door. A regular restaurant could do with 1 mixer. Ray got an absurdly large order of 8 mixers for a single location. Why would someone need to mix 40 milkshakes at a time? He HAD to see the place himself. He flew cross country to California. He saw the first Mcdonald's and was confused. • Only burgers, fries, and shakes on the menu • No plates served and no waiters to serve Yet, the place had a massive waiting line. McDonald's made its food on a supply belt and delivered it in 2 minutes. The store owners called it the 'Speedee System'. Ray sensed an opportunity and pushed the founders to adopt a franchise model. The owners - the McDonald's brothers -were living a comfortable life buying new Cadillacs as their pockets filled. Neither had the ambition nor the vision to spread their success far and wide. Ray convinced them and immediately got to work • He mortgaged his house at the age of 52 to take a loan • Opened 18 new outlets in the very first year - a fantastic start But the McDonald's brothers had made an unfair deal with Ray, leaving him with less than 2% of profits. Money started rolling in but the McDonald's brothers were not happy with Ray's aggressive scaling (and Ray was still broke). So Ray borrowed money and bought them out for $2.7 Million. Now, he was in 100% control Fast Forward >> McDonald's today - • Serves 2.3 Billion burgers a year • 39,000 restaurants across 120 countries • 4th largest employer in the world • The largest toy distributor in the world (accidentally) This is my favorite quote from his movie - The Founder: "How does a barely surviving, 52-year-old, milkshake salesman build the most iconic business of the 20th century?" "Persistence" "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence." "Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. " "Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. " "Education will not; the world is full of educated fools." "Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Be persistent. Anything is possible. Goodluck! === Hope this is helpful. If you enjoyed this: ⭐️Please share this post with your network ⭐️Follow me for more on investing and business buying

6 lessons I've learned in my 6 years of SaaS: 1/ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞. Cliche, yes. But what made you successful last quarter, won't necessarily make you successful next. Market dynamics move extremely fast. Competitive landscape is always shifting. Buyers have changed how they buy. Lean hard into change and trust your enablement + leaders. 2/ 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡, 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐰. I've finished quarters at 309%. I've also missed my quarterly quota and hit 75%. The highs and lows in sales are real and it's important to try and stay even keeled. Don't let one great quarter allow you to take your foot of the petal. And don't let one bad quarter derail your confidence. 3/ 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞. The 'mecca' for every deal for me is when I'm at a point where I feel I understand their challenges and can more concisely articulate their problems can, than some of their internal stakeholders. This is not accomplished on the discovery call. Or by talking to one person. It's accomplished through ongoing discovery, with as many people as possible. 4/ 𝐏𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬. You're not you when you're hungry. You're also not you when you're desperate for a deal. Buyers can feel that quota breath and it has a way of making things much worse. Always having a surplus of pipeline makes everything better, always. 5/ 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐒 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. I've had many buyers buy from me multiple times now. If you give a raving fan experience, when they change jobs, they will remember both your company and you. UserGems 💎 makes this super easy to track. Conversely, poor experiences hurt more than just that customer. 6/ 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲. When I was an SDR I couldn't wait for AE. When I was an AE I couldn't wait for Senior AE. When I was a Senior AE I couldn't wait to get to Mid-

Big news at Sastrify! We're excited to announce our acquisition of Amsterdam-based Pengu, along with an extension to our Series B funding led by REIMANN INVESTORS. Integrating Pengu's technology and dataset into our ecosystem will accelerate innovation and strengthen our position in the SaaS procurement market. And with the increased funding, Sastrify’s fully equipped to amplify customer success and product development initiatives, ensuring we continue to lead the way in delivering exceptional procurement solutions. Thank you to our customers, investors, and Sastronauts for the continued support — here’s to seeing through a great 2023! Check the comments to see the full update. 👇🏼

10 things I didn’t know before that make bootstrapping a SaaS startup incredibly hard: 😰 1. The less they pay, the higher the churn. We learned that the lower the price, the more price-sensitive and demanding the user. Low prices made it easier for people to try us but they needed the most support and left faster. 2. Support is a b*tch. When you spend years working your a$$ off only to have strangers be unnecessarily condescending, rude, and even cruel - all your effort feels like a thankless job. Digital aggression is real. 3. Scaling problems are unpredictable. We couldn't have known that 1k attendees joining a webinar would crash the system. Or that chat would lag when 2k attendees sent messages at the same time. We only knew where to improve as problems surfaced. 4. Content is the root of all success. All demand generation starts with content. But nobody on our team had marketing experience before. We had to learn everything from scratch, from SEO to social selling. Now, outside of the dev team, 90% of our time is spent creating content. 5. Most marketing doesn’t move the needle. Things we thought would make a huge impact did not. Even though 9/10 things we do probably won’t work very well, we do them anyway because one thing might and collectively, everything helps a little. 6. Best customers can churn for things out of our control. Product champions leaving without a successor, change in corporate strategy, end of a launch - these things have caused our highest paying customers to cancel even when they loved our product. 7. Problem solving never stops. I once thought if only we had $40k MRR, we’d be able to afford everyone we need. As the business grew, new problems arose which required new expertise. I upped that number to $60k, then $80k, and now it’s $150k. We're always making concessions because we’re never at the “comfortable number”. 8. ICPs can love your solution but not feel the pain. This was the biggest shock and disappointment of all. Ideal customers we designed our product for can understand the problem we’re solving, love how we’re solving it, but still not feel the pain enough to sign up. 9. Compliance is $ but necessary. As we grew, bigger companies with compliance requirements like GDPR/SOC2 started to find us. We were delaying this because it's expensive and require significant work. After getting requests over and over, we realized it was an obstacle for revenue. 10. First $1M is not the hardest. You may have heard that the first million is the hardest. For us, it's not. Growth started to stagnate just after we hit that goal. Conversions decreased, churn increased. For the first time, we feel stuck and need to come up with new tricks. I finally understand why SaaS companies are worth 10x multiple. Mine of course, is worth at least 100x. 😂 If you're interested, we’re offering 10% discount at 90x revenue. DM me. ___ I'm Melissa Kwan, 3x bootstrapper sharing lessons weekly. Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned