Turn Advisory Honeymoon Into Catalyst with Early Alignment
Why do most growth advisory engagements fail by Month Two? When a founder brings in an advisor, there is usually a "honeymoon" period. For the first three weeks, the energy is high and the team is open to revisiting assumptions. But then, the novelty fades. If the advisor isn't careful, they stop being the "interesting expert" and start being the person asking an already-overloaded team for more homework. At that point, the advisor becomes a costly distraction, not a catalyst. Elon Musk often describes a company as a collection of vectors. If the vectors point in different directions, they offset each other—no matter how hard everyone is working. The only way to move from distraction to catalyst is to use that 3-week window to solve the Vector Problem. You don’t do it by running playbooks. You do it by creating a shared foundation of facts. I’ve just published a deep dive on how I navigate this "Advisory Honeymoon" and how founders can ensure their next growth engagement actually compounds. In this post, I cover: - The "Distraction Trap" (and how to avoid it). - Why alignment is the biggest unlock for teams over 20 people. - The 3-week window: Building a "Shared Fact Base." Read the full post here: http://bit.ly/3RaFksm Anyone else notice that honeymoon period?
Embrace AEO Now for Upstream Growth Advantage
Twenty years ago, I chose the channel I could measure over the one that could compound. Paid search felt clean. SEO felt messy. Looking back, avoiding SEO early was one of my biggest growth regrets. Today feels similar. AEO is...
Find Growth Alpha by Spotting AI’s Bad Advice
I’ve found a new favorite way to use LLMs: Checking for bad advice. Whenever I'm riffing on growth with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, and I strongly disagree with a premise, I know I’ve struck gold on both content and execution....
Planning Your First Sales Hire? You Don't Need a Performer. You Need a Producer.
In this episode, Garrett Brown explains why early-stage startups should hire a Sales Producer—not a traditional Sales Performer—for their first sales hire. He defines the Producer role as the person who invents the sales playbook, identifies target customers, sets pricing,...
In Early-Scale Growth, the Dominant Cost Is Not CAC. It’s Time.
The episode argues that for early‑scale startups with clear product‑market fit and ample runway, the biggest cost isn’t customer‑acquisition spend but the time lost to slow learning. It explains why obsessing over CAC too early can double burn by extending...
AI Tools Like Gamma Expand Markets, Not Just Replace Incumbents
Great AI solutions do not just replace incumbents. They massively expand the market. Gamma is a great example of this. They remove so much friction from creating an effective presentation that I am now using its preso format to communicate...
The Most Powerful Growth Engine in AI: Freemium Fueled Word of Mouth
Sean Ellis explains that AI product growth hinges on a freemium model that creates an instant "wow" moment, enabling frictionless first use and sparking word‑of‑mouth referrals. He argues AI lacks latent demand, so viral adoption depends on users experiencing powerful...
The First 30 Seconds Matter More Than You Think
The episode explores how the first 30 seconds of a product experience can determine its success, illustrated by the host’s journey from a frustrating start with Beautiful.ai to the instant wow factor of Gamma. It highlights Gamma co‑founder Grant Lee’s...
Hidden Price Hikes Push Customers to Switch via AI
Quick heads-up for anyone using LegalZoom as a registered agent. My annual fee quietly jumped from $299 to $499 this year without any notice. That is already two to three times the cost of other reputable providers. With a quick...