Luke Tobin

Founder of Unusualgroup.com | Follow for posts on Business, Marketing, Investing & AI

Commercial and speaking: sponsorship@luketobin.com

3 exits, different industries, each one bigger than the last. Turned a £100 investment, into an eight-figure agency exit in 5 years. 

I help founders turn self-doubt into leverage, and leverage into exits.

My last business started with £100 and a lot of imposter syndrome. No funding. No safety net. Just a laptop, a tiny runway and lots of grit. Five years later, we sold for eight figures. It was one of the fastest growth-to-exit stories in the UK at that level.

That was exit number three. Before that, I built and sold a hospitality business and an e-commerce brand. Different industries, same scale-to-exit playbook. Build lean. Price for profit. Systemise delivery. Think like a buyer long before you ever meet one.

Now I back other founders and work on fixing what is broken in the agency world.

Current work:

Unusual Group (Founder)
We take minority stakes in agencies and plug them into the capital, infrastructure and operator support they need to grow margins and become exit-ready.

Tobin Capital (Owner) 
I invest in more than 25 brands, including SpaceX, Atom Bank, and Honest Mobile. When I invest, you do not just get capital. You get an operator in your corner on pricing, operations, hiring and exits.

A-Frame Venture Studio (Partner)
We build consumer brands from scratch. Our first brand, Mirth Water, is now live in the United States at drinkmirth.com.

The Success Method Newsletter
Every week, more than 100,000 founders get my breakdown of how to turn self-doubt into an advantage in their business. I share how I structure deals and exits, the pricing moves and margin levers that work in practice.

Book (Q2 2026)
My first book, on how founders can turn doubt into an asset rather than a drag on growth, is coming in Q2 2026 from a major publisher.

In total, I have started seven businesses. Two failed. Three exited. Two, I am still building. The failures taught me more than the exits. Self-doubt never went away. I learned how to use it as a filter to make better decisions in hiring, pricing, partners, and exits. That is what I teach and invest around now.

Today, I share what actually works with more than 800,000 founders across my channels. The playbooks, the red flags, the live deals and the parts of the mental game most people never talk about.

If you are an agency owner or founder who wants to raise, exit or fix your margins in the next 12 to 36 months, send me a DM.

Newsletter (100K plus subscribers): www.luketobin.com/newsletter

DM me about: investments, agency exits, speaking

Investor

The next‑generation personalization AI for e‑commerce.

Success that burns through your mental bandwidth isn’t success.

It’s mismanagement disguised as commitment.

Early in my career, I thought being available meant being valuable.
Every ping got a reply.
Every meeting got a “yes.”
Every spare minute became a catch-up slot.

On paper, it looked like momentum.
In reality, it was erosion.

High performance isn’t about being always on.
It’s about knowing when to switch off so your decisions stay sharp.

These are the boundaries that keep my focus intact:

1. Control inputs.
No phone before strategy, no Slack before thinking.

2. Batch reactions.
Email and messages twice a day, everything else waits.

3. Protect transitions.
Five minutes between calls to reset the brain.

4. Create unreachable hours.
Evenings or weekends when nobody gets access.

5. Guard energy like capital.
Spend it where it compounds, not where it’s wasted.

This isn’t self-care.
It’s self-leadership.

Because success that costs your sanity will eventually cost your results.

Which boundary protects your focus the most?

♻️ Repost to help more leaders build sustainable success.
🔔 Follow Luke Tobin for more personal growth insights.

cc Dr. Carolyn Frost (shout out for the image and powerful message)

3x Exited Founder | Follow me for posts on Business, Marketing, M&A & Success Psychology

Most people are chasing the wrong luxuries.

And it’s costing them the ones that matter most.

The truth is… it’s not about how much money you make, or the brand you wear.

The real luxuries are simple.

These aren’t handed to you.
You have to create them. Protect them.

Because in the end,
it won’t be the title,
the money,
or the status that matters.

It’ll be whether you had peace in your heart,
purpose in your work,
and people to share it all with.

That’s the real richness.

That’s the life worth building.
♻️ Repost to help inspire others.
🔔 Follow Luke Tobin for more mindful tips.

cc Scott Caputo (shout out for the image and the powerful reminder)

We are often told to "play it safe".

But, safety doesn't help you grow.

Here's what does:
1. Taking chances on the dreams that scare you.
2. Betting on yourself when no one else will.
3. Choosing courage over comfort, every single time.
4. Believing in the vision only you can see.
5. Acting on what feels like destiny, even if you're unsure.

The truth is:
Every bold move looks unrealistic until someone makes it real.

Why? 
Because the world has always been shaped by people who were willing to look a little “crazy” in pursuit of something bigger.

The innovators. 
The builders. 
The dreamers.

Fear will tell you to wait.
Doubt will tell you you’re not ready.
But growth only happens when you decide to move anyway.

Reminders when chasing your dreams:
If it feels impossible → it’s probably worth the risk.
If people doubt you → you’re likely onto something powerful.
If it feels like destiny → that’s your sign to leap.

At the end of the day, I've learnt that regret weighs heavier than failure.

And the world needs more people who are brave enough,
to follow the dream that feels like destiny.

♻️Repost to help inspire someone in your network.
🔔Follow Luke Tobin for more personal growth tips.

cc Codie A. Sanchez (shout out for the image and powerful reminder!)

Nothing kills you faster than your own mind.

Don't stress over things that are out of your control.

Most people are losing the game before they even start. 
Why? 
Because they’re obsessed with the "noise." 

Which means that you're wasting your most valuable asset: Your Energy.

If you want to scale, whether it's your business or your life, you need to be ruthless with your focus. 

You have a finite amount of mental capacity every day. 
Stop spending it on things where you have zero leverage.

If you’re ready to stop being a passenger in your own life, start here:

1. Audit Your Inputs: 
- Guard your first 60 minutes of awake-time like your business or life depends on it.

2. The "So What?" Test:
- Next time you’re stressed, ask: "Can I influence this in the next 5 minutes?" If the answer is no, move on. If it’s yes, do it. 

3. Set Non-Negotiable Boundaries: 
- Define when you are "on" and when you are "off." High performance requires high-quality recovery.

4. Master Your Self-Talk: 
- Stop saying things to yourself that you wouldn't let a stranger say to your best friend. 

5. Focus on Output, Not Optics: 
- Stop worrying about how the "brand" looks and start worrying about what the "work" is. 

A gentle reality check: 
Everything out of your control is a distraction designed to keep you average.

High performers don't have "easier" lives. 
They just have a tighter filter. 

They double down on their attitude, their boundaries, and their execution.

♻️Found this helpful? Share it with your network.
🔔Follow Luke Tobin for more on cultivating a growth mindset.

Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a month

and underestimate what they can build in a year.

Progress rarely looks exciting while it’s happening.

It’s not dramatic.
It’s repetition, refined.

The truth is, nothing meaningful scales overnight.
It compounds quietly, in systems, skills, and relationships.

In business and in life, I’ve learned:
Momentum isn’t a spark.
It’s friction mastered.

The days that feel slow, repetitive, or unnoticed are usually the ones where foundations are forming.

When growth stalls, I don’t double the effort, I double the focus.

I look for the one action that will compound over time,
not the ten that just make me feel busy.

Because high performance isn’t about speed.

It’s about stamina.
Anyone can start fast.

Few stay consistent long enough for the results to catch up.

💭 What’s one thing you’re quietly building that will pay off next year?

♻️ Repost to remind someone that slow isn’t failure, it’s formation.
🔔 Follow Luke Tobin for more insights on focus and sustainable growth.

cc Justin Wright (shout out for the image and essential reminder!)

The action you're most scared to take is usually the right one.

Deep down, you know what you need to do.

You've been thinking about it for weeks. 

Trying to convince yourself that you need more time, maybe more information, or just a better moment to make that particular move.

But that moment isn't coming.

Some of the best things I've done in business felt completely wrong at the time. 

And there was always a reason; it was too early or felt too risky.  

That feeling of unease is just part of it.

So whatever you've been putting off, make the move.

♻️ Repost if you needed to hear this today. 
🔔 Follow Luke Tobin for more.

cc Justin Welsh (Shout out for the powerful reminder!)

Most founders start the sale process in the wrong place.

Before you think about valuation, you need to answer three questions. 

1. Can someone quickly understand your business? 
2. Are your clients likely to stick around?
3. And if you stepped back, would it still run without you?

If any of those questions make you feel uncomfortable, it's worth paying more attention to that area.

Succeed helps founders get ready, find the right buyer, and manage the whole process, without getting messed around.

Take our free exit assessment:
https://lnkd.in/ey8-zd9G

♻️Repost and save to help other founders in your network.
🔔Follow Luke Tobin for more on agency growth and exit planning.

🚨 Struggling to build your software product? You're not alone.

Most of my clients had one or more of these problems:

1. Hard to find reliable software engineers
2. Poor communication with their dev team
3. No clear product plan or execution
4. Projects not delivered as promised

🛠 I help founders fix them with this action plan:

1. Ask the right questions to clarify your product vision

2. Give a free audit of your PRD, UI, and prototypes

3. Provide an instant team tailored to your needs (Product advisor, Designer, Developers)

✅ Here’s what you get with us:

- Full transparency
- Smooth communication
- You control 100%  of the tech from day one

🌟 See what clients say about us on Clutch: 

https://clutch.co/profile/politetech-software

🎁 Free Gift: Grab my FREE guides to build Prototypes/MVPs by yourself (link in my Featured section).

🚀 Need an instant team to build or scale your product? Connect and DM me anytime.

Anh Nguyen

I hired an engineer who hates vibe-coding. He was my best hire last year.

While many people trust AI to do the work, he sees it as a junior consultant.

“My colleague vibe-coded and broke the whole architecture” he said.

When we face a problem, he doesn’t jump straight to prompts.

Instead, he asks clarifying questions.

Maps constraints.

Thinks about business impact.

Explains trade-offs.

And only asks AI for ideas when he’s stuck.

What I like the most is:

He teaches younger developers the right mindset.

Checking every line of codes,

Testing all edge cases before delivering,

Building for maintainability.

After 4 months, he earned our trust.

Now he's leading a team of 3 developers and 2 major projects.

This kind of mindset is rare in the age of vibe-coding.

It should be protected.

I helped 50+ founders build & scale apps/platforms. Co-Founder at Politetech. Need instant developers to build software? Let’s chat | Grab FREE tools in my Featured.

A founder shared he vibe-coded 3 apps in 4 months and spent $6k on tokens but none of them passed $100 MRR.

The first one is an pitch deck maker tool.

The second is a productivity app.

The last one is a content app.

He thought he was moving fast with codes generated in minutes.

It was just a fake progress.

Because he never validated his ideas.

He built to catch the trends.

All three apps were easy to build with AI.

They looked cool in demos.

But they didn’t stand out while the competition was brutal.

This is the new trap for founders.

Vibe-coding makes you feel the cost of code is lower.

But the cost of wrong assumptions is always expensive.

Always start with validation first no matter how you build.

I just heard a non-tech founder shared his vibe-coding experience over the last 6 months.

He jumped between Cursor, Loveable, Replit, and Claude thinking he’d never need a real engineer.

The initial progress was promising:

Built 3 different MVPs in 2 months.

Acquired some early users.

Got a quick momentum.

Until he faced the roadblocks.

First MVP crashed with 10 users.

Second one had security issues.

Third one became unmaintainable.

The more he hit “Fix it”.

The newer problems appear.

What he got from AI when he knew nothing about coding was:

- Messy codebase

- Weak architecture

- Unprotected endpoints

- Random crashes

- Memory leaks

- Database bottlenecks

- Zero scalability

AI coding is a perfect productivity tool for engineers.

But still a maze for non-tech people trying to build commercial products.

My friend launched a vibe-coded app and got a good number of sign-ups but lost 80% users after 3 days.

He said “It still works for me. I don’t know what’s wrong”.

I looked at his app. It seemed production-ready enough:

- Authentication.
- A real database.
- Sleek interface.
- Payment gate connected.

But when I used it longer, I found many issues:

- User flow was confusing.
- Unnecessary navigation steps.
- Payment failed twice for me.
- A random crash when I entered a wrong input.

Nothing too critical but enough inconvenient to kill my experience.

That's what made users leave and not return. 

I told him:
“You should hire an experience engineer to fix it”

Vibe-coding can only take you this far if you’re non-tech”

Because AI hasn’t surpassed humans at:

- Edge cases.
- UX polish.
- Testing scenarios where features meet.

Building software needs real expertise, coding is only a tool.

A founder asked me to build for equity as he was so confident with his idea. I answered: Okay if you passed my audit.

After my 15 mins, he realized he was missing 5 critical areas.

1, Vision misalignment
No clear user problem defined

2, Incomplete PRD
Undefined core flows

3, Design gaps
No user testing done
No responsive layouts

4, Market blindspots
No unique differentiation

5, Customer validation
No user interviews

After seeing the results, he withdrew his request.

So, I’m sharing my product audit checklist to help founders:

Identify critical gaps.

Fix foundation issues.

Build with confidence.

Each section gives you:

- Clear assessment criteria
- Action items to improve
- Success indicators

Want to audit your building progress?

Comment "audit". I'll share in DM.

taplio

The Battle

Luke Tobin

Anh Nguyen

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreLuke Tobin's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAnh Nguyen's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Luke Tobin

Anh Nguyen

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);}Luke Tobin's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAnh Nguyen's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreLuke Tobin's LinkedIn Performance