Darwin Innovation Hub

- Develop and manage the startup ecosystem in Darwin with education and events for founders, students and business owners

- Manage Start NT, BIP 2.0, Graduate StartUp Program and other incubation and acceleration clients in the Darwin Innovation Hub

- Stakeholder engagement with government, private sector, NGOs and strategic partners

- Working with early stage startups on Investment Readiness for government grants and venture capital from the Paspalis Innovation Investment Fund

- Champion business, ideas, growth, industry establishment, company relocation attraction to the Northern Territory and entrepreneurship development in youth, students, women, LGBTIQA+, First Nations and underrepresented groups.

Start NT Manager

Bringing my expertise in digital, entrepreneurship and providing actionable education to businesses and those who aspire to take their businesses to the next level. Providing expertise to the StartNT program, a philanthropic activity of Paspalis.

Expert In Residence

Australian Digital Education & Retail Group Pty Ltd

Sole Director of the Group which includes Clickstarter Education, Speakstarter Education, Dante St James Consulting and St James Regional Retail Holdings.

Managing Director

True Blue

Providing marketing strategy for clients of True Blue through the Australia Small Business Advisory Service - Digital Solutions program and direct clients of True Blue.

Contracted Marketing Strategist

Clickstarter Australia

- 1 of 5 Meta Community Trainers in Australia
- Delivered training modules. in-person across 12 markets in regional Australia
- Part of a team that has delivered training to over 20,000 businesses
- Consistently maintained and exceeded knowledge and study requirements for program

Meta (Facebook) Australia & New Zealand Community Trainer

- Delivered 500+ WordPress, Wix, Joomla & Shopify websites since 2017
- Delivered 100+ Social Media & Marketing Strategies
- Delivered 400+ digital marketing paid campaigns
- Delivered 250 + SEO projects

Founder & Proprietor

Marketing Consultant

Upon handing over ownership of Clickstarter to the new owner, I have stayed on as a digital delivery consultant to assist with connection clients of Clickstarter with the correct products and services.

Digital Delivery Consultant

Speakstarter

Training tomorrow's speakers and today's presenters in a calm, positive and encouraging way that focuses on what you can do rather than what you can't. Teaching confidence, technique and mastery of words to create engaging, compelling speakers for today.

Public Speaking Trainer

Skillaroo - Your Career Partner

Contracted Career Skills Trainer

Contracted Community Trainer AU/NZ

Public Sector Network 

Training specifically in the areas of social media for government and crisis communicaitons.

Contracted Public Sector Trainer

Tech Australia Advocates

The Northern Territory brand of the Australian chapter of the Global Tech Advocates network. We are on a mission to connect Australia’s regional Tech and Innovation ecosystems, providing a National community and voice for the industry.

Regional Lead - Northern Territory

LinkedIn Local -  Darwin

Licensee/Facilitator

Educating future entrepreneurs. Investing in big ideas.

My vision: Help businesses save the world. My mission: To do this through free global online learning, local in-person education and premium private consultation and training in entrepreneurship, digital skills and access to capital.

Dante St James

Denis Acia

Co-Founder at SaasFluence | B2B Influencer Marketing for SaaS Brands

I’m Denis, Co-Founder of SaasFluence

We’re an influencer marketing agency helping B2B tech brands drive demand and visibility by partnering with LinkedIn influencers.

Currently — with over 200 influencers, we manage influencer marketing programs for B2B sales tech companies like Maildoso, Icypeas, Saleshandy, Fowla, and others.

Why We Started SaasFluence

Before SaasFluence, I ran an outbound agency, Applus Leads. Through that experience, we worked with some incredible B2B tech brands — companies with fantastic products and real value to offer. But despite outbound efforts (cold calls and cold emails), they weren’t getting the traction they deserved.

A big reason?

Their LinkedIn presence and engagement were minimal. Most had only a few hundred page followers and very little visibility in the market.

That lack of recognition made it hard to convert cold leads. Without social proof or brand mentions, prospects were hesitant to engage — especially in the highly competitive sales tech space.
What they really needed was a new approach — one that would:

1. Build credibility
2. Earn trust
3. And drive demand by establishing them as trusted solutions in the market.

That’s where SaasFluence comes in.

Our mission;
To help B2B tech brands leverage influencer marketing to drive demand, increase sales, and grow.

How We Can Help

☑ If you’re a B2B tech founder or business leader with an influencer marketing budget of at least $10K/month,
 ☑ And you don’t have the time to run campaigns or manage influencer partnerships,
We’ll handle it for you.

We’ve launched thousands of LinkedIn-sponsored campaigns, and our clients are seeing exceptional ROI.

If you’re curious, DM me and I’ll share a few of our client case studies so you can learn more about our systems and results.

Or, visit our website to explore further:
 👉 www.saasfluence.co

Lead Generation Partner - Outbound

Here are 5 Linkedin comment frameworks I use to get more profile clicks:

(You won't like these if you think LinkedIn is a resume)

1. "Yes And"

Don't just agree - agree and add one smart thing.

Example: "Fr! And I think people also forget that you need to fix your offer first. Good point."

2. "Friendly Fight"

Disagreement gets attention but don't be rude. Be nice about it.

Example: "Hmmm I see where you are coming from. But in my experience small creators convert better than big ones. 

Maybe it depends on the niche?"

3. "Mirror"

Tell them a quick story about how this happened to you.

Example: "Lol this happened to me last week. I sent the wrong link to a client and I wanted to disappear haha!”

4. "Specific Hype"

If you want to compliment, point out exactly what you liked.

Example: "Thisssss 💯. Especially the part about the onboarding email that is genius man!"

5. "Curious Cat"

Ask a question that shows you read the whole thing. The creator will answer you.

Example: "Wait… does this strategy work if you have zero budget? Or do you need ads?"

Do you notice something? These 5 templates all have one thing in common:

They are human.

Which style do you use the most?

Commenting Frameworks

I stalk my prospects after I send them a proposal…

(but not in a creepy way)

Sending a file attached to an email is the worst feeling in sales because you are just throwing your PDF into a black hole.

You never know if they opened it or if they hated the price and deleted it immediately…

So I started using send.co

It gives me a specific link I can share with a specific prospect. 

And I get a notification on my phone the exact second they open it.

Maybe I see they spent 30 seconds on the 'Offer' page but they spent 5 minutes staring at the 'Pricing' page.

“Hmm… they like the offer but they are worried about the money.”

Now, I do not call them and say "Hey I saw you looking at the price!"

That is weird, don't do that.

I just wait a day or two and I send an email asking if they have any questions about the budget.

It helps me know who is serious and who is just window shopping.

Do you track your proposals or hope for the best?

I visited a SaaS website today and I instantly got a headache. 

It said: 

“Empowering teams to elevate operational excellence through intelligent workflows.”

I read the headline and I stared at my screen for a full minute trying to figure it out.

What does that even mean?

Do you sell a project management tool? Do you sell a chat app? A CRM?

I have zero clue.

It hurts to watch because I know this company spends thousands of dollars on ads and influencers. They send humans to this page every single day.

And I'm pretty sure most people leave in five seconds because nobody has time to solve a riddle.

Of course I am not an A-list copywriter. 

But you don't have to be an expert to see why this is killing their business.

Now compare that to the website headline from Aimfox.

"Supercharge Your LinkedIn Pipeline. At Scale."

And then the subhead says:

"Reach thousands of leads per day with an end-to-end tool that gives you access to unlimited LinkedIn profiles for scale."

You read that and you instantly understand what you get.

The #1 rule of marketing is that you need to be understood.

Did AI make us forget that?

Please don't replace yourself with AI if you care about your followers.

(I see people do this every day…)

They go to ChatGPT and ask it to "write a post on 5 ways to boost email reply rates."

And the AI spits out the same generic advice that thousands of other people have already posted.

So here is how I use a tool called MagicPost without repeating the same redundant ideas.

1. I hunt for the winning topic.

I go into the "Inspiration" tab in MagicPost. Maybe I see that a post about "Why Cold Emails Fail" is going viral.

I don't do cold email. I do LinkedIn.

So I think "Okay, I will write about Why LinkedIn DMs Fail." The logic is the same.

2. I copy the structure.

I click "Generate Draft" based on that topic… but I don't post what it gives me. I look at the structure. It uses a list of 3 examples? Good structure.

3. I inject "pain."

The AI writes: "Don't be too salesy in your message."

I delete that immediately.

I replace it with: "I sent 500 DMs last month. The ones where I pitched in the first line got X replies. The ones where I asked a question got a X reply rate."

That is how you use these tools. 

You let them build the skeleton because they are fast but you have to put the meat on the bones.

If you want to try this workflow, magicpost.in has a free trial.

Replace yourself or clone yourself?

We said no to a prospect with a $5k marketing budget…

If you are a sensible human, you know it feels weird to turn away money.

But I looked at the math and it did not make sense.

If they pay our agency fee, they have almost nothing left for the creators. 

They would be paying us to manage a tiny budget and that is a bad deal for them.

So I told them to keep the money and run it in-house.

At $5k you can manage a few creators yourself using a spreadsheet. You do not need us yet. It is easy enough for you to handle.

I told them to come back when they are ready to spend $10k…

Because that’s when you need a team to manage the madness.

They were shocked we turned them away but they thanked us for the advice.

This is how B2B agencies work. We help you win even if it means we do not get paid today.

Honest advice or a quick sale?

I think most SaaS marketing teams are sitting on a goldmine and they don't even know it.

I see marketing teams locked in a room trying to brainstorm the perfect headline for their next campaign.

Meanwhile, down the hall, your sales team is on a Zoom call and they are hearing the exact words your customers use to talk about their problems.

They hear:

→ Honest frustrations. 
→ Honest objections.
→ Moments when a prospect goes from confused to "aha, now I get it."

And yes, I know an AI can give you a summary of the call. But it cannot grasp the excitement when they finally understand your solution.

Give your marketing people the headphones and let them listen to one call a week.

The angles they will find are a thousand times more valuable than anything they could brainstorm on their own.

Now, would you rather guess what your customers are thinking or hear from them?

You are the most valuable asset on LinkedIn if you fit this description.

We call this the "Golden Creator."

Brands are desperate to find people who look exactly like this:

1. You held a job title in the industry.

A former VP of Sales with 8,000 followers is gold to us. A generic "business coach" with 200,000 followers is often a gamble.

The VP speaks the specific language of the buyer while the coach usually shares general advice that appeals to everyone. There is a big difference in trust.

2. You teach specifics instead of motivation.

We love creators who teach. They share how-to guides and specific playbooks on how to solve a problem.

3. Your comment section is full of buyers

If the comments are full of random fans saying "Great!" that is okay.

But the Golden Creator has comments from potential buyers. You see other VPs asking specific questions about the tool.

4. You post enough to be part of a daily routine.

Posting once a month is not enough to build a relationship. They show up 3 or 4 times a week and become part of their audience's daily routine.

Which one of these is the hardest to build?

SaaS founders… please stop trying to turn a creator into your sales rep.

(I see this happen in so many campaigns.)

As a founder you probably love your product so much. I get it. You spent a lot of money on the dashboard and the reporting and the mobile app.

So you want the creator to mention all ten features in a sixty-second video.

But this kills the campaign.

It makes the post feel like a sales demo…

And nobody goes to TikTok or LinkedIn to watch a sales demo.

Here is how I look at this:

Maybe your software has Feature X and Feature Y. And maybe you love Feature Y because a lot of effort was put into it.

But the creator runs their whole business using Feature X. They use it every single day. They don't even touch the other one.

And that is okay!

If you force them to talk about Feature Y, they will sound fake. They will look like they are reading a script. 

But if you let them just talk about Feature X…

They will speak with passion. They will show how it saved them time. They will sound like a friend recommending a tool they love.

It is better to be remembered for one thing than forgotten for ten things.

Explain everything or the “relevant” thing?

If you are building a following on Linkedin, don't build your house on rented land.

This is the most important rule for any creator on LinkedIn.

The algorithm can change tomorrow. And all your hard work, all your followers can disappear overnight. You have to protect yourself.

Here are the 3 rules I tell every creator for future-proofing their business.

1. The Email Rule.

You do not own your LinkedIn followers. LinkedIn owns them. You are just borrowing them for a little while. Your email list is the only audience you truly own. 

You should always be moving your audience from LinkedIn to your own list. That is the only safe house.

2. The Format Rule.

If you only do text posts, you are in trouble. If LinkedIn decides tomorrow that video is the only thing that gets seen, you have to learn a whole new skill very fast. 

You need to practice videos, carousels, infographics, etc. You must be able to change what you do quickly.

3. The Two-Source Rule.

Do not let brand partnerships be your only money. That is a dangerous way to live. You should be selling something else too. 

Your brand partnerships should be extra money, not all of it. This gives you the power to say "no" to the bad deals.

What is one thing you sell that is not a brand deal?

Futureproof your business

I want to tell you why sending a PDF as a lead magnet is a mistake in 2025…

I see so many people doing this. A prospect asks for your guide or your case study.

And you attach a PDF to the email or you send a generic Google Drive link.

Here's what happens:

The prospect opens it on their phone. The text is too small. They have to pinch and zoom. They get annoyed. They close it and they forget about you forever.

We stopped doing that. Now we use a tool called Flowla.

It lets us create a "Deal Room" which is basically a personalized webpage for that one prospect.

Here is exactly how we do it when a SaaS founder asks for our list of top influencers:

→ We go into Flowla and duplicate our template.

→ We change the room name. We name it "Influencer List For [Company Name]."

→ We customize the list. If they sell a sales tool we filter our database and only put sales-focused creators in there.

→ We add our simple process next to the list so they see how we work.

→ We put our Cal.com, Inc. booking page inside the same window.

They open a single link. They see a list made exactly for them. 

And if they like what they see, they can book a meeting with us without even closing the tab.

We give this away for free.

Maybe they take the list and run the campaign themselves. That is fine.

Maybe they see how organized we are and they hire us. That is also fine.

But we never send a PDF anymore.

Send a file or send an experience?

4 reasons why your LinkedIn DMs might not be booking meetings…

(I am not going to say it's because you are too salesy)

I have sent over 5,000 LinkedIn DMs and I booked I don't know how many meetings. But it is a lot.

Here are the 4 biggest lessons I have learned…

1. Don't try to be their friend.

They know why you are in their inbox. You know why you are there. They don’t want to hear empty compliments.

Can you help them? Can they help you? Good. Just say what you offer.

2. I book meetings months after the first message.

People who say you should disappear after 3 follow-ups aren't booking any meetings. 

Send a few follow-ups. If you don't hear back, set a reminder for a few months from now. 

Then follow up respectfully. 

A lot of prospects are too busy or the timing is off. They don't want you to give up on them.

3. Stop sending 100% AI messages.

This is cliche but it has gotten so bad. People just want to chat with other people here without talking to robots. 

Everyone has used so much AI that they can spot a bot instantly.

You can use AI for help, but please edit your message so you look like a human at least.

4. Use multiple touch points.

Don't just reach out to a single person in the company. Reach out to several of them. 

Even non decision makers because they will direct you to the right person. 

It is common sense but the more people you reach out to the higher your chances of booking a call.

What is your #1 linkedin advice? Tell us below 👇

Linkedin DM tips

If you want a brand to never want to fire you, keep shuffling between these 4 content formats…

1. "My Problem" Story

→ You talk about a struggle you had.
→ You do not talk about the tool yet.
→ You make the reader feel the pain.
→ The tool is the happy ending.

2. Screen Share

→ Record your screen.
→ Show exactly how you do one specific task.
→ Do not just talk about features.
→ Show the work happening.
→ This builds massive trust.

3. The Old Way vs The New Way

→ Show how hard you worked before.
→ Show how fast it is now.
→ Put them side by side.
→ People love to see the difference.

4. The Trojan Horse

→ You give a piece of amazing advice.
→ The tool is just the vehicle for the advice.
→ Example: "How to write better emails."
→ You show your strategy using the tool.
→ This gets the most shares.

Try one of these next time.

Which format do you like to use the most?

Content Formats

I hope you make a mistake today.

I seriously do.

Because that means you took action.

All smart founders want to be right before they move. They sit in a room and they look at data and they plan for weeks.

They want to be 100% sure.

But it is 2026 (almost). You cannot afford to think this much.

The gap between having an idea and shipping it needs to be zero.

If you wait until you are sure, you are already too late. Your competitor already shipped it. They learned from it. They fixed it. And now they are winning.

While you are still looking at your plan.

When people die, the biggest regret is not that they messed up but that they did not take action.

Look at failing as feedback.

You try something. It breaks. You look at why it broke. You fix it. You go again.

So please stop looking for the perfect strategy because it does not exist.

Just start.

If you are a LinkedIn creator, can I ask you something?

I see a creator's list of past brand deals and sometimes it makes me a little sad.

They show us this long, long list of all the brands they've worked with and it is impressive.

Then I look closer at the list and I see their audience is full of sales leaders. 

But they did a post for a tool that helps Shopify stores. Or a post for some crypto thing.

And this is the part that breaks my heart a little bit.

Because I know the best creators protect their audience like a fortress. 

They know their audience's trust is the only thing they have and it’s not surprising…

I think you would agree that a single bad recommendation can burn down years of work.

So when a creator who has only ever worked with sales tools for a sales audience... it tells me they have a deep understanding of one world.

And I’m 100% sure their followers trust them with their recommendations.

What's the one red flag that makes you run from a brand deal?

Why I scroll past 4K videos but watch the guy recording in his car on Linkedin…

I noticed something while scrolling my feed today. There are these creators who have a perfect studio setup. 

They have nice lights and an expensive microphone and the video is so crisp.

But I catch myself scrolling past them often.

It is not their fault. But my brain has this weird filter. In fact most of our brains have this filter…

When I see a video that looks too perfect, my brain immediately thinks "This is a commercial."

Unfortunately, we have been trained to think professional quality = corporate marketing. 

And nobody comes to Linkedin because they want to watch a commercial.

We try to avoid ads.

But then I see a creator recording a video in his car. The lighting is bad and the camera is shaking a little bit.

And I stop to watch and I can’t help it. It feels like he just Facetimed me to tell me an idea he had lol.

If you are Toyota or Apple, sure. It would be weird if a car company filmed a commercial on an old iphone.

But for the rest of us here, studio quality is just building a wall between you and the person watching.

Imperfection builds trust because it shows you are not hiding behind an edit.

Do you prefer watching studio videos or raw phone videos?

JSESSIONID

li_at

LinkedIn

Should SaaS companies pause their influencer campaigns for the holidays?

I have been thinking about this a lot today…

A lot of people say B2B slows down now. They say decision makers are on vacation or they locked their budget until next year.

And they are right.

If you need to close a deal this week, December is tough. It is hard to get a sign when the CFO is skiing.

But think about what happens when work slows down.

People have more time. They scroll on LinkedIn and watch cat videos.

They are paying attention more because their boss is not bothering them every five minutes.

So here’s what I think:

Do not run a campaign if you need immediate revenue right now. You will be disappointed.

But if you want to be the first product they call in Jan/Feb... then you should definitely keep going.

Basically you are preparing for Q1.

What is your plan for this month? Pause or push?

Are you a SaaS founder who looks at an influencer campaign and only counts the demos?

I think you are missing the whole point.

You are staring at the tip of the iceberg while the massive value is sitting right under the water.

Let me show you 4 other ways you are getting paid from a single post.

1. You probably pay a studio $5,000 to make a polished video for your ads. A creator does that for you. And you can run their video as an ad for the next six months. 

It usually converts cheaper than expensive ones because it looks like a human made it.

2. People see the post and they often don't click the link. They go to Google and search your name. This spikes your organic traffic. You get an SEO boost.

3. Go read the comments section of the post. It is a goldmine. People are in there complaining about competitors or what features they look for.

4. When A-players see your brand being talked about by smart people, they apply for your open roles. You save money on recruiters because the talent comes to you.

Which hidden benefit do you value the most?

taplio

The Battle

Dante St James

Denis Acia

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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taplio

The Battle

Dante St James

Denis Acia

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);}Denis Acia's LinkedIn Performance

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