Houston Golden

I’LL MAKE YOU A LINKEDIN INFLUENCER. 🔥 𝗕𝗔𝗠𝗙.𝗰𝗼𝗺 🔥 LinkedIn’s Golden Child. Half billion views. Forbes Top 12 Innovators. Author of The LinkedIn Bible. My kids say I’m hilarious.

🔥 Do YOU want to become a LinkedIn Influencer with an engaged audience of ideal prospects ready to work with you? (𝑦𝑒𝑠, 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜)

🛑 Get in touch 👉 b͟a͟m͟f͟.͟c͟o͟m 

—

Houston Golden is the founder and CEO of BAMF.com — a growth marketing agency based in Venice Beach, CA.

BAMF is known as the world's leading LinkedIn marketing agency for a reason— they get results. 

With over half a billion organic LinkedIn views, our clients are the most viewed people on LinkedIn. If you’ve spent any time at all on LinkedIn, you’ve seen their posts.

They are the masterminds behind some of LinkedIn’s top influencers and entrepreneurs, including Russell Brunson, Rob Dyrdek, Prince Ea, Mark Manson, Jay Shetty, and dozens more.

But, beyond that, Houston is most passionate about helping smaller entrepreneurs make it big, whether it’s by turning them into industry influencers and lead generation machines, or putting them in a position to hit massive growth.

Houston has authored 5 books on the subject of LinkedIn, known as The LinkedIn Bible Collection, been featured in countless high-profile publications, consulted for Fortune 500 companies, and still remains to be an avid surfer and all-around family man. 

He does all of this because he, too, started out as a struggling entrepreneur before turning $0 in seed capital into a business that’s worth millions of dollars.

From bootstrapping to being recognized as one of Forbes’ Top 12 Innovative Founders. It’s been a wild journey for him.


——

Do you want to attract more leads and supercharge your sales?


Let us implement our exact proven system to get you more leads with less effort by using content to elevate your personal brand and build trust with key decision-makers at companies you want to land as clients.

Learn more here 👉  grow.bamf.com

Founder & CEO

Surprisingly effective growth marketing for badass business owners.
10X your brand with the world’s finest LinkedIn influencer marketing services.

A few of the companies we've helped...

Pioneer, Compass, NERD, Mindvalley, Tenzo Tea, Loft, O-Live & Co, Unicorn Snot, FCTRY, Deputy, Wine Access, BEAR Powerfoods, Newchip, Pininfarina, Foursixty, KlientBoost, Data Science Dream Job, and many many more... 

We’ve driven pretty badass results
Our clients have amassed over 350 million organic views to date, and have generated over tens of millions in new revenue with our help.

Because, really… helping business owners is what I’m all about.

I started BAMF to help others achieve the same results I enjoyed from my own personal LinkedIn efforts.

In fact, I was so successful at generating organic interest on LinkedIn that I’ve been profiled in publications such as Forbes, BuzzFeed, Entrepreneur, Bloomberg, and more.

Our innovative approach to LinkedIn content creation has been so effective, it’s practically put our lead generation on autopilot.

BAMF grew into a multi-million dollar agency in a matter of months, using little more than the same LinkedIn growth hacks you can learn for free in my LinkedIn Bible guide.

Whether it’s done-for-you or do-it-yourself...

The BAMF system executes proven LinkedIn growth processes, transforming our clients into influencers and their businesses into growth engines.

I’ve used it myself. I’ve used it to help hundreds of other entrepreneurs. 

Now I’d like to help you, too.

Just reach out to me and we can get started.

Drop me a note 👉 houston@bamf.com

Jonathan Shroyer

🌟 Visionary Entrepreneur, Leader & Unstoppable Trailblazer 🌟

I am a bold, passionate innovator who dares to dream big and relentlessly pursues the impossible. As a 2x founder and Gaming, AI, and EComm visionary, I lead by example, embracing Nelson Mandela's "win or learn" philosophy and constantly pushing boundaries to shape the future.

🏆 Esteemed Industry Accolades 🏆

• UK Parliament – Mahatma Gandhi Medal of Honour
• Wall Street Journal – Lifetime Achievement Award
• Forbes.com – Esteemed Contributor and Author
• Forbes & Fortune USA – Top CX Professionals of 2022
• Forbes India – Top 10 Visionary Business Leaders of 2022
• Fortune India – Super 40 Companies & 40 Unstoppable Brightest Minds
• Exeleon – 2022 Trailblazing CEOs
• CIO Today – 2022 Futuristic Business Visionaries
• TIM – Top 10 Unstoppable Business Innovators of 2022
• Outlook India – 2021 Inspirational Business Pioneers
• Industry Era – Top 10 Transformative CEOs to Watch for 2021
• The Silicon Review – Top 50 Game-Changing Companies of 2021
• CIO Bulletin – 50 Best Companies on the Cutting Edge

🥇 Prestigious Industry Awards 🥇

• CCW – Outstanding Customer Experience in Remote Contact Center Strategy
• World Series, Global Customer Centricity – Best-in-Class Customer Experience Strategy
• North American Customer Centricity – Best CX Strategy Winner & Top 3 in Customer Centric Culture, Business Change or Transformation, Employee Experience
• IXCA 21 – Finalist for CX Visionary of the Year, Best CX Transformation, Best CX Strategy
• Peer Awards – Innovating Customer Engagement with Technology, Masterful Customer Engagement Strategy
• Frost and Sullivan – Exceptional CX Strategy & Coveted Mary Poppins Award
• International Resilience Awards – Unparalleled Culture of Excellence

Chief CX Officer and MD of Gaming

I run Arise Gaming and Consulting services verticals that operate on a digital platform providing on demand services for Game Testing, Community Management & Moderation, along with Player Support. They have a global network and can meet price points and language requirements as needed. They are providing these services today for AAA, Web 2 & 3 and Indie publishers and developers.

I see a lot of teams still treating LiveOps like a calendar problem.
​
That mindset is already outdated.
​
In 2026, LiveOps isn’t about pushing more events.
​
It’s about delivering live value.
​
The shift I’m seeing across strong studios is clear:
​
From scheduled updates → to real-time decisions
From broad segments → to player-level responses
From “What do we ship Friday?” → to “What signal did this player just send?”
​
Modern LiveOps is no longer content-first.
​
It’s signal-first.
​
Every action, pause, drop-off, or spike in engagement is feedback.
​
The question isn’t how often you launch.
​
It’s how fast and intelligently you respond.

Jonathan  Shroyer

Gaming at iQor | Foresite Inventor | 3X Exit Founder, 20X Investor Return | Keynote Speaker, 100+ stages

Most product failures aren’t engineering failures.

They’re empathy failures.

Teams ship what they think customers want…
…and then wonder why adoption stalls, churn climbs, and the roadmap turns into a graveyard of “nice features.”

Here’s the shift that changes everything:

Customer-centric design isn’t a UX phase — it’s an operating system.
It means building around real user needs, behaviors, and outcomes (not internal opinions).

And in the last few years, AI has raised the bar:

Customers expect relevance and ease (not generic journeys)
Personalization is now table-stakes — but trust is fragile
The winners will be the teams who pair speed with human-centered design
The customer-centric loop (that actually works)

1) Learn deeply
Talk to customers weekly. Mine tickets, reviews, churn reasons, behavior data.

2) Map reality
Personas + journeys that expose friction, emotion, and drop-off points.

3) Design for outcomes
Less effort. More clarity. Better defaults. Faster “time to value.”

4) Prototype + test fast
Small tests beat big debates.

5) Measure + iterate
Track experience and behavior (activation, retention, task success, effort).
Where AI fits (and where it breaks)

Use AI to accelerate:

Synthesizing feedback
Finding patterns
Generating variations and prototypes

But design AI like a relationship:
Set expectations
Provide controls (“undo,” preferences, corrections)
Fail gracefully
Escalate when confidence is low

Customer-centric design is the advantage that compounds.
Because when you build what people truly need, growth stops being a fight.
Question: What’s one customer insight you learned recently that changed how you build?

iQor we take customer centric design to the next level  with InsightsIQ, hit me up with questions.

#CustomerExperience #ProductManagement #UXDesign #ProductDesign #AI #HumanCenteredDesign #Leadership

In hyper-competitive markets, product success rarely comes down to “more features” or “better tech.” It comes down to whether you truly understand the

Open article: Customer-Centric Design in the AI Era: Build What People Actually Want
 by Jonathan Shroyer • 4 min read

Customer-Centric Design in the AI Era: Build What People Actually Want

I don’t think automation killed empathy.
​
I think leadership did.
​
I’ve seen AI rolled out in the name of efficiency and used as cover to stop listening.
​
Chatbots as shields.
​
Automation as avoidance.
​
AI didn’t choose that.
Leaders did.
​
AI only amplifies what’s already there.
​
If speed matters more than care, empathy disappears.
If leaders avoid hard decisions, AI becomes the excuse.
​
Used correctly, AI does the opposite.
​
It handles repetition so humans can handle judgment.
​
It removes noise so empathy shows up where it matters most.
​
If customers feel less heard after automation, don’t blame the technology.
​
Look at the leadership choices around it.

This is a solid blueprint for rebuilding stronger after a restructure:


Disciplined execution (clarity + accountability)


Culture-first leadership (talent density wins)


Strategic expansion across nearshore/offshore


Smart M&A to deepen capability and resilience at scale


Chris Crowley lays it out well, and the OP360 move makes a lot of sense in that context. If you’re leading CX transformation, this is worth bookmarking.
#CX #CustomerExperience #Leadership #BPO

What does it take to rebuild a global CXBPO and come back stronger?

In a recent Q&A with Nearshore Americas, iQor CXBPO™ President and CEO Chris Crowley shares how the company has rebuilt and repositioned the business following restructuring and why the acquisition of OP360 (OfficePartners360) represents a pivotal next chapter in our growth journey.

The conversation explores iQor’s focus on disciplined execution, culture-first leadership, and strategic expansion across nearshore and offshore markets. Chris also discusses how the OP360 acquisition strengthens our capabilities, deepens our talent base, and enhances our ability to deliver smarter, more resilient CX solutions at scale.

Read the interview to learn how iQor is shaping the future of CX through intentional growth, aligned cultures, and a clear long-term vision:
https://lnkd.in/ggHRU2zu

#iQorCXBPO #OP360 #NearshoreAmericas #CXLeadership #CustomerExperience #BPO #GrowthStrategy

Open article: Q/A: iQor CEO Chris Crowley on Rebuilding the BPO and Buying OP360 - Nearshore Americas by go.iqor.com

Q/A: iQor CEO Chris Crowley on Rebuilding the BPO and Buying OP360 - Nearshore Americas

Customers don’t “leave” because your product is bad.

They leave because the journey is exhausting.

In a world of endless choices + sky-high expectations, the winning CX move is turning friction into flow—across every touchpoint (ads → site → checkout → onboarding → support → renewal).

Here are the 10 biggest friction points I see (and how the best teams fix them):

In today's fast-paced business landscape, where customers have abundant choices and high expectations, ensuring a seamless and frictionless customer j

Open article: From Friction to Flow with AI by Jonathan Shroyer • 4 min read

Today I learned something simple that’s easy to forget:

Be the fan of others.

Not the critic. Not the competitor. The fan.

Because the real competition isn’t “me vs. you.”
 It’s me vs. yesterday.

Here’s what hit me today:

You don’t lose—you either win or you learn.

Everyone is carrying a journey. Behind every “great” is a story of obstacles they didn’t post about.

Winning is a team sport. You don’t build momentum as a loner—you build it with people who are bought in, aligned, and committed.

Delivery creates belief. Momentum isn’t a mindset. It’s a byproduct of doing the work and stacking the wins.

And when you’re in a room with 150 people locked in on the same mission, vision, and values?

 It’s not just energizing—it’s breathtaking. It reminds you what’s possible in a year when alignment meets action.

#Leadership #Teamwork #GrowthMindset #Momentum #Culture #Community #PersonalDevelopment

If you don't have AI in your business:

1. You will never create a moat
2. You will soon be out of business
3.  While customers might not care about it, you should

Wonderful chat with the folks at EE.

View company: Entrepreneurial Excellence Podcast

Some founders are treating AI like a feature.
Jonathan Shroyer treats it like a pressure test.

Customers don’t buy “AI,” they buy outcomes. AI just changes what’s possible, faster cycles, better decisions, stronger offers, and products that feel like a real step up, not a small upgrade.

He also challenges the comfortable middle. If a company is building at normal speed while competitors use AI daily to ship and learn faster, the gap doesn’t stay small. 

It widens.

👉 Jonathan Shroyer's episode is now live. Catch it here:

📺 YouTube: https://bit.ly/4sRWw4l
🎧 Spotify: https://bit.ly/3NE7Fp9
🍎 Apple: https://bit.ly/46gJm77
💻 Amazon: https://bit.ly/49Ift1T

#AI #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #FounderMindset #Innovation

100. No interruptions please, every second counts.  Getting players back to the game is what iQor does and better than anyone else.

Celeste Roberts thank you for this amazing post about how gamers love their games and why they need the best CXBPO to get them back to playing and fast!

Content Marketing Manager at iQor | Co-Editor of READ ONLY MAGAZINE | If words are escaping you, I’ll find the right ones.

Nothing is worse than interrupted gameplay!

When I think about customer experience, I don’t see a department.
​
I see a portfolio.
​
Because CX isn’t one thing.
​
It’s made up of multiple investments, each with different risks, timelines, and returns.
​
Some actions pay off fast:
​
→ A fix to reduce support wait time
→ Better post-purchase comms
→ A checkout flow that loads 2 seconds faster
​
Others take longer:
​
→ Rebuilding identity resolution
→ Training AI on high-signal data
→ Aligning support tone with brand tone across all channels
​
If you treat CX like a single unit, you’ll chase short-term wins and miss the long compounding moves.
​
You’ll also kill innovation too early because the ROI isn’t instant.
​
At Quimbi, we manage CX decisions like an investor would:
​
→ Quick wins fund longer plays
→ Risk is balanced across systems, not just metrics
→ Testing is constant, but not reactive
→ Every move connects to long-term retention and LTV
​
That mindset changes how you prioritize.
​
It also changes what success looks like.
​
Not every CX move needs to “reduce AHT.”
​
Some should create lift in 6 months.
​
Some should protect trust over 2 years.
​
That’s how you build durable growth.

In game design, everything that touches the player is treated with care.
​
UI, animation, audio cues, reward loops, every detail is tuned to shape behavior.
​
Except payments.
​
For some reason, that part gets handed off.
​
To legal.
To finance.
To the “checkout vendor.”
​
It’s treated like plumbing, something to install and forget.
​
But 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲.
​
The moment someone goes to spend, the experience doesn’t pause.
​
They’re still playing.
​
They’re still reacting to friction, flow, and feedback, just like in combat, progression, or quests.
​
So when the payment journey is clunky, slow, or inconsistent across platforms, it breaks immersion.
​
At Quimbi, we work with studios that care deeply about lifetime value, not just install spikes.
​
And we’ve seen this play out over and over again:
​
→ Players abandon purchases because the checkout page doesn’t match the game’s look and feel
→ Conversion drops on console vs mobile because the flows weren’t optimized together
→ CTV users try to spend, and hit a wall because identity isn’t synced
→ Frustrated players open support tickets instead of completing an order
​
These aren’t edge cases. 
​
They’re repeated, preventable drop-offs.
​
And they’re not just UX problems.
​
They’re revenue leaks.
​
When payments are treated like a design surface, not just infrastructure, everything changes:
​
- Spend becomes part of the experience, not a break from it
- Offers feel more contextual, more earned
- Player trust increases because every part of the game feels connected
​
So no, payments aren’t plumbing.
​
They’re a core mechanic.
​
And they deserve to be built like one.

I thought pressure reveals leaders.
​
Automation proved me wrong.
​
Crises create noise.
Noise creates cover.
​
Automation removes both.
​
When systems run cleanly, decisions are exposed.
​
Priorities become obvious.
​
Judgment is visible at scale.
​
→ If intent is unclear, automation amplifies the mess.
→ If accountability is weak, systems surface it instantly.
→ If judgment is poor, the machine executes it perfectly.
​
Automation doesn’t break leadership.
​
It reflects it.
​
Strong leaders design clarity into systems before they run.
​
Weak leaders rely on activity to hide decisions.
​
That’s why automation exposes leadership faster than any crisis.

Patience
The best things take time — and the time is teaching you how to receive them.
#WorthTheWait #PatienceAndPeace

I used to obsess over DAU, retention, and session length.
​
They matter.
​
They’re not the lever.
​
The real live-ops metric most studios ignore is time-to-next-meaningful-moment.
​
Not time spent.
Not total sessions.
​
The time between now and the next reason to return.
​
Strong live-ops teams design this on purpose.
​
A timed event.
A progression unlock.
A social trigger.
​
Weak systems leave it open-ended:
​
“Whenever they come back.”
​
That’s not engagement.
That’s luck.
​
Great studios don’t chase longer sessions.
​
They shorten the gap between meaningful moments.
​
If you can’t answer:
​
What’s the next meaningful moment, and when does it happen?
​
You don’t have a live-ops strategy.
​
You have content.

Indeed what a decade...iQor 

If your Voice of the Customer program still relies on surveys + sampling, you’re flying blind.

What I like about iQor’s Insights iQ is the shift from static reporting to real-time intelligence—mining signals from 100% of customer interactions (voice, chat, SMS, social) so leaders can finally see the why behind the KPI.

A few things that stand out:

No lag, no samples → every conversation becomes usable insight

LLM-powered analysis → find sentiment, churn risk, unmet needs, and buying signals fast

Insights → action → recommendations tied to operational changes, not just dashboards

Curious: What’s the #1 KPI in your org where you still don’t know the “why”?

#CX #VoiceOfCustomer #ContactCenter #AI #CustomerExperience #Analytics

In 2016, CX moved at a different pace.

Surveys guided feedback, insights were analyzed after interactions, and improvements followed over time.

That was the industry standard 10 years ago.

Looking back shows how much CX has evolved and how customer expectations have shifted.

Are you stuck in the past? See how modern CX operates in 2026: https://lnkd.in/gpMKZDpm

#iQorCXBPO #CXThenAndNow #CustomerExperience #2016trend #FlashbackFriday

Most SaaS retention teams focus on churn too late.
​
Game designers don’t.
​
They design for return before drop-off.
​
Games create progression.
​
You always know what you’ve done, what’s next, and what unlocks if you keep going.
​
Most SaaS products don’t.
​
Same dashboard.
Same workflows.
No sense of movement.
​
What SaaS teams should steal from game design:
​
Progression over features.
Users need visible forward motion.
​
Streaks over reminders.
Consistency matters when it’s visible.
​
Earned rewards over discounts.
Effort beats incentives.
​
The goal isn’t to make SaaS “fun.”
​
It’s to make progress obvious.
​
When momentum is clear, retention follows.

I see teams obsess over first impressions.
​
And then they wonder why customers leave.
​
UX gets people in the door.
CX decides if they stay.
​
UX is an interaction.
CX is a relationship.
​
Most companies design for entry.
​
Very few design for continuity.
​
What happens after week one?
​
Does the product remember context?
Do conversations carry forward?
Do customers feel recognized or reset every time?
​
This is where experience breaks.
​
The best companies don’t just remove friction.
​
They connect moments.
​
Every touchpoint feels aware of the last one.
Every issue feels understood, not re-explained.
Every customer feels remembered.
​
Loyalty isn’t built at signup.
​
It’s built in what happens next.
​
Design the relationship, not just the interface.

Thank you Lisa Nichols for the amazing leadership chat.

Influence beats command — and I learned that long before I ever led a team.
In a recent conversation, I shared the journey that shaped how I lead and build: growing up in a massive family taught me that the real leverage isn’t authority… it’s influence. 

That lesson pushed me to intentionally master emotional intelligence — because in business (and life), how you make people feel is often the difference between compliance and commitment.

A few takeaways we dug into:

“Bi-directional value” wins. The best relationships create value for customers and for talent—at the same time.

Data is the secret weapon. Not the product. Not the pitch. The companies that win are the ones who learn fastest.

Customer service can be a profit engine. When you blend agentic AI with human-centered design, CX stops being a cost center and becomes a growth lever.

Hope is a strategy. It’s the fuel that lets you reverse-engineer the future instead of reacting to it.

And my favorite “something extra” line from the episode:
“Every great leader needs a therapist… you gotta put people around you that are really incentivized to help you.”

If you’re building in AI, gaming, ecommerce, or leading through change, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

#Leadership #CustomerExperience #AgenticAI #EmotionalIntelligence #DataStrategy #Ecommerce #Gaming #Founders

Open article: Episode 362: Unlocking Bi-Directional Value with Jonathan Shroyer by technologypartners.net

Episode 362: Unlocking Bi-Directional Value with Jonathan Shroyer

I don’t think the future of customer experience is another tool.
​
It’s a decision layer.
​
Most CX stacks are bloated because they show data instead of driving decisions.
​
One tool tracks sentiment.
Another flags churn.
Another suggests actions.
None of them actually decide.
​
So teams review dashboards while customers wait.
​
What’s changing isn’t AI features.
​
It’s orchestration.
​
The winning CX systems collapse insight, context, and action into one layer:
​
— Who is this customer right now?
— What matters in this moment?
— What’s the next best move?
​
That’s the stack.
​
Not more visibility.
​
Fewer decisions pushed onto humans.

I’ve seen more AI CX initiatives die at month six than succeed.
​
The tech didn’t fail.
​
The organization did.
​
Here’s why it breaks.
​
The pilot works.
The demo shines.
Early metrics improve.
​
Then ownership disappears.
​
Ops owns workflows.
IT owns data.
CX owns KPIs.
No one owns outcomes.
​
Every change becomes a debate.
​
Momentum dies.
​
Incentives make it worse.
​
AI is built to reduce handle time.
​
Managers are rewarded for staffing stability.
​
Insights surface.
No one is measured on acting.
​
So behavior stays the same.
​
Then data drifts.
​
The model learns yesterday’s business.
​
Today has already changed.
​
That’s the six-month cliff.
​
AI CX doesn’t fail because the tech isn’t ready.
​
It fails because no one has authority, incentives, or ownership.
​
If AI doesn’t change decisions, it will fade quietly.
​
That’s the real failure.

I’ve seen teams blame technology for burnout and disengagement.
​
That’s the wrong diagnosis.
​
Technology doesn’t dehumanize work.
​
Poor design does.
​
Every tool is a leadership decision.
​
If your systems:
​
- interrupt constantly
- optimize speed over clarity
- measure output and ignore judgment
​
That’s not an AI problem.
​
That’s a values problem.
​
Good design removes friction.
It lowers cognitive load.
It gives people room to think and decide.
​
Bad design turns people into workflow glue.
​
Good design turns technology into leverage.
​
Your tech stack reflects what leadership actually values.
​
Design it on purpose.

taplio

The Battle

Houston Golden

Jonathan Shroyer

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taplio

The Battle

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Jonathan Shroyer

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Engagements

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