Brian Lischer

Follow me for daily tips on branding | Founder of Ignyte | Helping businesses grow with branding services, training & coaching

I studied in psychology in college, but being a shrink wasn’t for me.

So I became a marketer instead.

After a decade of working with nearly every type of business, I noticed a pattern…

Most of their problems weren't about marketing.

They were about positioning.

→ Slow growth
→ Hiring struggles
→ Price sensitivity
→ Investor skepticism
→ High customer churn
→ Low conversion rates
→ No real differentiation

Every single one of these stems from poor positioning.

Once I saw that, I couldn't unsee it.

So, I made the leap from marketing to branding.

I interviewed at every branding agency I could find.

But they all said the same thing: "You don’t have the right experience." 

So, I said screw it—and started my own.

Since then, I’ve built that agency into a multi-million-dollar business, spoken to thousands about the power of branding, and written for publications like Forbes, Inc., and Entrepreneur. 

Here's what I've learned: 

A better business starts with better positioning.

And improving your positioning? It's easier than you think.

You don’t need a huge budget. 

You don't need an MBA.

You simply need the right framework—and a little guidance.

Want to position your business for growth?

Here’s how I can help:

𝟭. 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 & 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿.

Get actionable tips for building a better brand and deep dives on improving your positioning.

🔗 Subscribe → https://ignytebrands.com/better-branding

𝟮. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝟭:𝟭 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹

Gain the clarity you need to sharpen your positioning and move your brand forward—fast. Limited spots available.

🔗 Schedule → https://www.ignytebrands.com/brand-coaching

𝟯. 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆.

Find out how Ignyte can help you grow—whether you need a brand audit, a rebrand, or something in between.

🔗 Explore → https://ignytebrands.com

Founder & CEO

Everything you need to build a brand that’s impossible to ignore: 

• Brand Services
• Brand Training
• Brand Coaching

17+ years in the industry and 100M+ users across the businesses I’ve worked with.

But that’s not my story.

Those are the results of years of learning, but my story is way more complicated.

My story is one of perseverance, honesty, and adaptation.
I’ve scaled startups organically to a 9-figure user base in a short time.

I believe marketing is not vague; it’s an honest conversation.
And how you “hack” growth is through understanding user psychology.
That leads to disruptive marketing and successful products.
That’s what I love to do.

Here’s a quick rundown of my journey into marketing & product growth:

Remember a dating app that blew up with a crazy name?
Bang with Friends!

I co-founded it and organically grew it to over 6M+ users before selling it.
(Trust me, I could fill a book with the wild stories from starting that app)

I’ve served on the board of a Silicon Valley social media company,
pulling in $200M+ in annual revenue, advising their marketing & product strategies.

As Chief Growth Officer, I led data-driven growth initiatives for 17Live,
Asia’s top live-streaming app, and launched its U.S. platform as LiveAF’s CEO.

Then, I bought back my dating app, now named DOWN, raised it from the dead, and grew it to the top 5 in the U.S.

I’m all about sharing my lessons and growing - both myself and others.
Whether it’s through writing, speaking at events, or working with startups,
I love passing on insights and learning from the amazing people I meet.

When I’m not working, you can usually find me exploring new cultures
and practicing new languages. I believe every conversation has the potential to spark something big.

If you’re into entrepreneurship, disruptive marketing, or growth hacking and want to connect, hit me up.
Let’s create something awesome together.

Colin Hodge

​​Giving is better than receiving. True story or woo-woo BS?

Read to the end and decide for yourself.

Most founders would say "BS" when they’re staring at a dwindling runway. I’ve been there, too. But while writing my book, I had to relearn the importance of "giving" the hard way.

Imposter syndrome isn’t just self-doubt - it’s a traitor. It sabotages you.

The moment I sat down to turn years of experiments, wins, and failures into a framework, that imposter voice got loud:

“Who are you to teach growth?” 

That noise only quiets when you stop obsessing over your "credibility" and start obsessing over your usefulness.

🤯 The antidote to imposter syndrome is giving.

Less “Will this make me look like a guru?” and more, “How can I actually help people grow?”

Then, like Ozempic for my anxiety, the imposter syndrome just… melted away. It’s not about me anymore. It’s about being useful.

Today, I’m revealing the cover of Outrageous Startup Growth.

I’m not sharing this to prove anything. I’m sharing it because it’s a true glimpse into who I am and how this stuff can help you. Of course, I’m proud of the sweat that went into it, but I also know this methodology works.

And the cover itself actually shows that.

Most publishers, including Wiley, usually keep the back cover pretty standard and aligned with the front. So I had to fight to do something different - and they were game to try!

If you look closely, the back cover actually highlights the same psychological effects the book teaches. 

The endorsements (from Nir Eyal, Roger Dooley, Shn Juay, Andrew Lee Miller, 🚀 Mark Brooks, and more) serve as social proof and authority. Even the book price uses a tactic: prestige pricing. If you're curious, check the first comments, that's where I'm sharing the cover images.

It’s a small meta moment. The framework in action before you even open the book.

Consider it the first example of giving before asking for anything in return.

And I mean it when I say giving > receiving, so I’m walking the talk here.

The Goods 🎁
If you like this post and comment “GIVE”, I’m sending you:

➕The 7-Day Growth Course (FREE): A focused deep dive into growing your company faster by mastering user psychology. 🧠

You’ll also be entered into the raffle. In one week, I’m picking 13 names (since the book comes out Apr 13):

12 Winners: Get a free hardcover copy of the book (Value $29)* 📖

1 Grand Prize: The 1-on-1 Growth Health Check-Up. This is a private 60-minute session with me where we dismantle your current strategy to find the one "unobvious" idea that pivots your company's trajectory. Plus, a book. Valued at $5,029 (and yes, you can gift the session to someone else you love)** 🚀

How to get it:

✔️Connect with me (let's actually be humans, I’ll DM you)

✔️Comment “GIVE”

✔️Like this post

🎉 Get 3 extra raffle entries: ♻️ Repost this and share your own take on imposter syndrome!

P.S. I hope you like the cover. But more importantly, I hope you use the framework.

I Help Entrepreneurs & Startup Founders Boost Growth: 100M+ Users | Founder @ DOWN (17M+ Users) | Creator of The Outrageous Growth Method | Follow me for Growth Marketing Insights

Writing is cheaper than therapy. And sometimes just as brutal.

I didn’t expect that.

I thought writing was about clarity. Strategy. Structure.

It turns out it is also about facing things you have been quietly avoiding.

At one point, I had to write about losing my mom to cancer when I was young. 

I assumed I had already processed it. I had not. Putting it into words forced me to slow down and sit with memories I usually move past. That was emotional work.

Then came a different kind of pain.

Trying to organize dozens of ideas on psychology and growth into something simple. Something useful. Something that does not overwhelm the reader.

That was mental work.

Cutting pages. Connecting dots. Killing ideas I liked for the sake of clarity.

Some days I was more drained from structuring thoughts than from revisiting personal ones.

Writing is not just self expression.

It is self confrontation.

If you have ever tried to explain what you really believe, you know this. The page does not let you hide.

If you’re feeling stuck today, ask yourself what you're really avoiding confronting.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

We say that.

But we don’t live that.

We judge wine by the label.
We judge products by the landing page.
We judge movies by the poster.

First impressions aren’t simply shallow. They’re signals.
So when it came time to design the cover for Outrageous Startup Growth, I felt the weight of that.

For a long time, this wasn’t “a book.”
It was late-night notes in Google Docs.
Stories I rewrote three times because they felt too raw.
Lessons I learned the hard way.

Then I had a cover idea that felt so clear, so connected to the message, that I asked the publisher and their design team if we could explore it, even though it meant going a little off script.

Especially because the idea involved the back cover, and authors rarely push into that territory. There’s usually a conventional structure for it.

But I’ve never let what’s typical stop a burning idea from coming out.
They said yes.

Months later and lots of nagging from me, we finally landed it.

The cover is the moment this stops being a private document and starts becoming something you can hold. 
It’s the first signal of what kind of journey you’re about to step into.

On March 2, I’ll share the full cover and the story behind it.
[Update: I'm going to hold this for a bit longer while things settle down (at least a little). I'll link to the post from here once it's out, though!]

For now, just this:
Some books you actually can judge by the cover.

“Our growth is stuck.”

If you’ve ever said this, you probably weren’t looking for philosophy. You were looking for a tactic. A new channel. A better funnel. Something that would move the numbers fast.

That makes sense. When things stall, the instinct is to add. 
Add activity, experiments and complexity.

But most of the time, growth isn’t stuck because you need more tactics. 
It’s stuck because you’re not clear on what actually needs to grow.

“Revenue” sounds clear. “Users” sounds ambitious. But those are outcomes, not levers.

Underneath them is usually something more specific. Retention. Activation. Engagement. Trust.
One thing that matters more than the rest right now.

And here’s the uncomfortable part.
You probably already know what it is.

You’ve seen the weak onboarding. 
The drop-off point. 
The confused users. 
The messaging that doesn’t quite land.

It’s easier to chase a new strategy than to face the real constraint.

But growth starts moving the moment you focus on the right problem.
Not when you add another tactic.
When you get honest about what actually needs to change.

So if growth feels stuck, ask yourself:
What is the one thing, if it improved, that would change everything?

17M users. Almost all organic traffic. How?

Hear the psychology behind growing a top app with millions in revenue 👇

We’re thrilled to welcome Colin Hodge, Founder of DOWN Dating & Social Apps, to the App Growth Summit® NYC stage on March 26! 🔥 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗯 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/gN8FcGDQ

With millions of users worldwide, Colin has built one of the most talked-about social apps in dating, and now he’s bringing that perspective to AGS NYC. His talk is still in the works, but expect a conversation that challenges how we think about connection, growth, and the evolving role of social apps in people’s lives.

You’ll walk away seeing product growth in a whole new light. Make sure you’re there for this one 😌

Stay tuned for more details, including the after party deets! 👀

📅 March 26 | 📍 Midtown Loft & Terrace, NYC
🎫 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵! 𝘍𝘙𝘌𝘌 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘱 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘴. 👉🏻 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆: https://lnkd.in/gN8FcGDQ

#AppGrowthSummitNYC2026 #AppGrowth #AppGrowthSummit #ProductGrowth #MobileApps

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Brian Lischer

Colin Hodge

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The Battle

Brian Lischer

Colin Hodge

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);}Colin Hodge's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreColin Hodge's LinkedIn Performance