Exly (YC W19)’s Post

It’s taken me a couple weeks to think about how to write this update. The last few years have been ones in which I’ve grown so much personally and professionally and getting to this point is more than just a ‘job update.’ Here it goes. I joined my 2nd startup (Waggl) after a career break, when I met and connected with one of my most favorite people and collaborators, Alex Kinnebrew, at a preschool moms night out. As a mom to two young ones, and a background in film and video and content, I don’t think I knew what to expect. Over more than five years, I received a masters class in marketing. Truly. The breadth and depth of experience I got at Waggl (now Perceptyx) was insane and I’ll always be grateful. I went from being part of a large team to being a sole contributor (but never feeling like one, because AMAZING team and culture) at Prelude (now Calendly). I’ve been part of two acquisitions. I’ve worked across industries and funding structures with international and local teams. I stretched my legs further as a people leader with an awesome team at Integrate.io. And at the beginning of this year I joined a startup with enormous potential and grit, Air Traffic Control. I’ve so enjoyed working with these dudes. Honing in on our ICP, messaging, processes, and product. Leaning into events again, and being part of HubSpot’s INBOUND. I’m enormously grateful for the opportunity to have been their head of marketing. A few weeks ago I also became the fractional CMO for Castle HR. Not surprisingly I love everything about being fractional. I have space for 2-3 more fractional marketing partnerships so please network, share the good word and connect me with any opportunities as you see fit. Let’s do this. #opentofractionalwork #fractionalmarketing #thefutureisfractional

What happened after I announced leaving TalentBee? I received around 70 messages from different people asking about what I want to do next, and I have some quite interesting ideas to consider. So what will I start to do next? I don't know yet, but I have three different categories: ✅ Category 1: doing something just by myself. No co-founder, no employees, etc. This could be something like sales or marketing consulting. If you are, for example, struggling to build your brand or some part of your sales pipeline isn't working as it should, I can help you. Why this option is interesting: I think it would offer customers with different situations (a lot of learnings) and good earning opportunities while giving me a lot of free time. ✅ Category 2: Building a business to find a scalable model. This could be something like a Founder-Led-Content agency or SDR as a service agency. I'm also very interested in SaaS, but I don't understand enough about it to start this from scratch. So, most likely, it would be a service business. Why this option would be interesting? I learned so much about building an agency while running TalentBee, so it would most likely be way easier the second time 😆 ✅ Category 3: Working for someone else (with some equity stake)—I got some quite interesting suggestions from very early-stage SaaS to bigger companies. From a learning perspective, working in a new environment with new people might be an exciting opportunity. If you have some nice ideas to any of these categories, please share them with me 🙌

"You're so rubbish at this marketing business," says ÜberHub, rolling his eyes. 🙄 That's true - I have 101 other things going on at any one time! (see what I did there? 🤭) Anyway I'm finding time to do a bit of that! In between hiring a new delivery manager, supporting the delivery team, delivering training, and doing the last ever altMBA 😢 where I've been connecting with some outstanding people. They are my peers and they are generous and kind and they don't shy away from asking me the hard questions. Since we started last week, we have deep dived into: 🍩Core values - how to create environments that encourages relationships that make impact 💎 🍩Setting goals - both personal and professional, asking deep questions about what reall matters to us and discarding 'tasks' and 'projects' that are checklists 🎯 🍩Business models - omg my team of 5 had to generate 99 business models and micro business plans in 6 hours! We didn't think we could do it but we did! 📃 🍩Decision making - looked at sunk costs and the difference between decisions and outcomes 🍴 🍩Empathy - is the person who disagrees with you irrational? This exercise really made me very uncomfortable as I delved into a personal matter. ❤️ 🍩Design thinking - Who's it for and What's it for? 🤔 As I go through this intense personal journey of growth, I feel so grateful for the people I'm meeting along the way. They ask the tough questions that no one else would - in a way that is generous and kind, with the real intention to help us move forward. Thank you Ghislain Siewe - for not only buying my book, but also for being part of this magical adventure we are on! 🥰 Ok enough reading - go buy my book! (If you haven't already done so!) If you have my book - go tell everyone about it! 😁 That's the marketing action item on my to-do checklist done! ✅ At least that will keep ÜberHub happy for a bit. #OnThePeiroll #PluggingTheBook #SalesforceDiscovery101

#SoftwareDevAgency #MVP #EntrepreneurJourney #AskMeAnything Hey everyone! 👋 I'm excited to share my journey of building a software development agency here in India. It’s been a wild ride since I quit my job and committed to this venture full-time about 8 months ago. In the beginning, I faced the typical struggle of finding leads and juggling sales. Honestly, transitioning from developer to salesperson has been one of my biggest challenges! But, guess what? After a couple of months, I landed my first deal to develop an MVP! 🎉 The founder was a bit hesitant at first, so we started with a small trial. Once we nailed that, he was convinced and signed on for the whole project! Now, we’ve signed multiple projects and I’d love to share just a few highlights: Copy.ai Clone MVP: This was our debut project, and it turned out to be a hit! Our GenAI engineering team did an amazing job, cutting down the response costs significantly. We went from just an idea to a functional V1 in about 3-4 m... How Did I Transition from Developer to Successful Agency Founder? Answers: https://lnkd.in/gqUXK43m

130,482 people got laid off this year so far (conservative est.) 254 startups shut down in Q1 2024 on Carta alone Nearly 60,000 jobs have been cut in tech Look, it's 2024 and everybody's getting the short end of the stick. Here is what's absolutely clear: 1. It's not gonna get any better, any time soon 2. No one knows what's going to be in-demand in the future 3. We are all at the mercy of OpenAI I've been warning people for a while to start investing in things that will endure. Namely, your personal brand. Because, come what may, as long as you are not a nobody, you'll manage to get something. Closed mouths don't get fed. Now I'm taking things in my own hand. I'm starting a Personal Branding Cohort. 3 months. 10 people only. All free. I share all of our systems, resources, and give you 1-on-1 coaching to make sure you nail it. The catch: If you don't post at least 3 times a week, I will kick you out and let somebody else in. No hard feelings, just tough love. Want in? Leave a comment here: https://lnkd.in/d8bs33-Q Or DM me with who you are and what you want to achieve. --- UPDATE: To sign up, please go to this page: https://lnkd.in/deugJEPW Even if you don't make the cut, we'll find a way to share our recorded sessions with you so you still find value.

👋Meet Owner.com’s founders Adam Guild and Dean Bloembergen👋 Owner is a #restaurant-software startup utilized by independent restaurant owners to craft websites featuring online-ordering capabilities, alongside managing marketing endeavors and enhancing online search result rankings. The Wall Street Journal describes Adam Guild as a "work-obsessed 24-year-old who never finished high school" but recently spearheaded Owner.com to secure new financing at a $200 million valuation. Guild shared, "I believe startups are the Olympics of business. And I believe if I want to win in the Olympics, I have to show up." Owner boasts tens of millions of dollars in annualized revenue, initially reporting $15 million in annualized revenue in a job posting several months ago. The company says it has since been growing at a rate of 30% month-over-month. 🧑🍳Ready to say “Yes Chef” and join Owner’s team? Well good news! They’re currently #hiring for positions across #BusinessOperations, #DataScientists, #ProductDesign, and more! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dDDkby-r 

This insight from Kyle Poyar on Lenny Rachitsky 's newsletter about your first 90 days as a #productmanager is a great foundation to build things like: -an onboarding process for new Product Managers at your organization (tweak the examples to make them relevant to your organization) -a gamified approach for getting up to speed on Product Management: turn this into a quest and collect all the badges! -a fun training experience (maybe even an AI-based simulation) for Jr Product Managers. For a low-tech effort one, convert this into a "Choose your own adventure" learning journey. Or a board game. How would you use it?

25 super practical quick wins to make an impact:

Your first 90 days at a new job have an outsize impact on your next one to two years. It’s your chance to establish trust, influence, and build a reputation within the org. To do this well, you want to show quick wins: low-effort, high-impact changes that create a sense of “Holy shit, this person is amazing.” Lenny Rachitsky and I asked the sharpest tech operators we know about their most effective early quick wins. These operators have a track record of significant impact and rave reviews from their colleagues, at well-loved brands like Asana, Calendly, Canva, Dropbox, Linktree, Ramp, and Wiz. Even if you’re not starting a new job, most of these ideas can be implemented anytime. Here are 25 quick wins to make an impact: https://lnkd.in/ee-JfpS7 HUGE thank you 🙏🙏 to the folks who shared their 🔥 insights. They’re tagged in the comments. #startup #career #growth #newhire

Your first 90 days in a job, whether at a startup or a large company, are the most crucial. If your hiring manager hears from others about what a great hire you are, then you are set for at least 1-2 years. Both you and your manager must take charge and co-own the design of these 90 days and not random walk it. Here are tips from Kyle Poyar on what you can do.