Partnerships @ Nift | 3X Founder (8-figures, 7-figures, and a dud) | Investor. Advisor. Bourbon Lover | Exploring the tactics and stories from the best entrepreneurs on the planet

Daily insights on business building.

Sales & Marketing Leader with 10+ years selling high-value solutions as a player/coach to meet customer needs. 

Creative and curious mindset, with a track record of leveraging problem-solving skills to uncover new revenue opportunities and drive business growth. 

Unquestioned ethics and a strong commitment to doing what is right for customers, co-workers, and the company.

EQ > IQ

Some highlight from across my career:

- Responsible for more than $100M in advertising budgets

- Scaled startups $0 to 8-figures, then again from $0 to 7-figures

- Built an outsourced SDR Team that produced 11X ROI on net new logos

- Trained more than 50 sellers to systematically attain quota through repeatable process

- Sold into and built marketing programs for some of the best companies on the planet. 

I'm excited to create something amazing with you.

💪🏻 Let's work together

Mark Borum

The expansion continues. Welcome to the team, John.

New year. New market. More thank-yous. 🇦🇺 🌏 

We’re welcoming John McNerney as General Manager, APAC, to lead our launch and growth across Australia and the broader region.

John brings deep experience across advertising, data, and commerce platforms and a shared belief that growth is strongest when it’s built on real thank-you moments.

Australia, we’re glad to be here. 💛 

//https://lnkd.in/g5VX6fHk

Open article: Nift Hires Ex-Yahoo Boss John McNerney To Lead APAC by bandt.com.au

Nift Hires Ex-Yahoo Boss John McNerney To Lead APAC

Helping entrepreneurs use public speaking to build their brand | Public Speaking Coach | Author of Make It Count | Former COO and TEDxClapham Founder

Why is it, that some people get away with breaking every public speaking rule in the book, yet we still want to listen to what they’ve got to say? 

If there’s one thing I've learned working with some of the most successful leaders of our generation, it’s that there is a big difference between having an idea and being able to communicate it.

That is what turns big thinkers into thought leaders.

As a leader, speaking is an important part of your life. You’ve got to cast a vision, inspire your team, and influence stakeholders. Yet, so many have never paid any attention to the one tool that has the power to unlock even more. 

Your voice.

---

I've spent the last 10 years helping people like you unlock the true potential of your ideas so they get the credibility and respect they deserve.

Public speaking isn't something that's come naturally to me. I've had to hard work at it and have seen first-hand the power of being able to communicate ideas well. 

I've used public speaking to build a business from 4-250 people. Then I founded TEDxClapham and the talks I've worked on since have turned those who delivered them into the go-to people for their subject matter.

⚡️ 15 million views and counting 
⚡️ £310m+ raised  
⚡️ Government legislation changed

I'm brought in by organisations like Adobe, Bloomberg, WeTransfer, Mastercard and Amazon to do the same for them.

Your work is only as good as your ability to communicate it. The earlier you can start, the more impact you'll have.

---

Ways to work with me:   
🚀 Scale-up Founders (£20m+ valuation): Work with me 121
🎤 Solopreneurs, thought leaders and keynote speakers: Apply to join MicDrop
🧠 Organisations: Book me to deliver a workshop or keynote for your team

Enquire here: https://calendly.com/d/cp53-tkn-tm3

Alex Merry

I'll be posting less on LinkedIn in 2026.

Because if I'm being honest...👇

What's got me through a big proportion of 2025 was recycling previous content of mine that's done well in the past.

Nothing wrong with reposting the good stuff, but to do it at the level I have been is somewhat a canary in the coal mine. 

Prioritising quantity over quality.

When I look at the thought leaders I admire the most on this platform, they're almost exclusively NOT posting daily.

I want to become one of them.

---

That means going back to the basics: 

1. Challenging conventional wisdom 🧠.

2. Having one person in mind for every post 👤.

3. Only creating content about things that excite me ❤️‍🔥.  

4. Researching world class examples to drive my message home 🕵️‍♀️.

And perhaps most importantly... 

5. Not letting an algorithm dictate my mindset 🤖.

---

Speaking into the void is part of the work.
It's a condition of entry. 

When we use platforms to:

✅ Find our voice
✅ Hone our point of view
✅ Build our body of thought leadership

We cannot lose.

---

There is a lot to be said for being scrappy on this platform. 

Spelling mistakes, untidy screenshots, shit selfies and YOUR take on the world is what's going to help us all find and connect with an audience at scale. 

As Matt Lerner said in one of his recent emails (highly recommend):
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.'

---

None of us need nearly as many followers as we think we do to get this platform working for us. 

Quality over quantity doesn't just apply to posts, it applies to follower count too.

Overrated mindset 🧠: I need a bigger audience.

Underrated Mindset 🧠: Be more useful to the audience I already have. 

As far as North Stars go thought leaders in 2026, 
you can't go too far wrong with that.

---

MicDrop is my community for thought leaders who speak. We'll be opening our doors to a very small number of members in February. Head to my bio to join the waitlist.

Everything you need to know about how to open a talk. 

In just 128 seconds...👇

I stumbled on Matt Clifford's address at @LFG on Friday and it stopped me in my tracks.

It oozed optimism, 
without ever feeling fluffy.

[An emotion I feel is desperately lacking in how most leaders are communicating these days]

---

Here's how he did it (so you can too):

Part 1: Set the tone in your very first sentence ⚡️

💬 "What I want to talk about tonight, what this event is about, is saving the country."

Why: 
✅ To establish a purpose
✅ Build curiosity
✅ Establish a knowledge gap

---

Part 2: Show credibility in 3 sentences 🧠

💬 "I've had the privilege to work in number 10..."

Why:
✅ To build trust quickly
✅ Increase the gravitas of your message 
✅ To show what makes your perspective unique

---

Part 3: Capture the mood 😕

💬 "I think it's easy, when you're not in a crowd like this, to lose faith..."

Why?
✅ To address the elephant in the room
✅ To create emotional contrast
✅ To ground his optimism in reality

---

Part 4: Set the direction with an ambitious headline 🎯

💬 "I've thought hard about how we would frame that in a sentence... our goal should be to make the UK rich again."

---
 
Why?
✅ Unite the room 
✅ To create curiosity
✅ Give the audience permission to think big

---

If you're a Founder, CEO, head of department or thought leader, you could do a lot worse than using this structure to open your next talk. 

What follows Matt's opener is a talk that is so full of optimism, I spent the weekend analysing it for my Founder to Thought Leader newsletter.

In it, I share: 
1. The exact narrative that creates credible (not fluffy) optimism
2. A 'fill in the blank' framework for 'The Optimism Opener'
3. A question that get you communicating differently in 2026

It comes out at 12:47 today - head to my bio.

---

♻️ Repost if you agree and follow Alex Merry for tips on how to think and communicate BIG.

This clip is a masterclass in how to be a captivating podcast guest (and how to sit on a chair 🤭)...👇

Let's talk about energy first:

✅ Sitting up straight 📏
✅ Chair close into the table 🪑
✅ Hands on show, telling the story 🤲
✅ Facial expression changing to match the tone 🤭 

The result? Watchable even on mute 🍿
[Always a good acid test]

---

But more interesting to me are the techniques he's using to land his message.

Notice how he: 

1. Starts with a metaphor to challenge the status quo
↳ 'I'm going to put all this stuff on my plate..'

[Bonus points for articulating it from the perspective of your audience]

2. Anchors his message before delivering it (ears prick up)👂
↳ 'So [pause], first rule...'

3. Pause

4. Uses contrast to land message 🎯
↳ 'In order to pick something up, you must first put it down.'

5. Pause
 
6. Creates tension through comparison ⚡️
↳ The trap vs The opportunity

7. Repeats his message again (so we remember it) 🧠
↳ Top and tail.

--

I share this, not just because it’s timely, but because it showcases exactly what great thought leaders do. They ask themselves:

1. Where is everyone being pulled? 
2. What is everyone missing?

Getting clear on your answers to these questions will help you set the direction for your own thought leadership in 2026.

---

♻️ Repost if you found this useful and follow Alex Merry for tips on how to speak like a thought leader.

Benjamin Franklin once said:

"Either write something worth reading, or...👇
Do something worth writing about."

I think this might be my mantra for 2026!

---

My first attempt at the former is heading to inboxes at 12:47. 

It's about:
1. Outlier thinking, 
2. Gravitational pulls, and 
3. Finding your voice in 2026

If you're taking thought leadership seriously this year, I hope it gives you a nudge in the right direction.

Link in bio.

Happy New Year!

I don’t know about you, but it feels to me like the way the world communicates is converging...👇 

LLMs and algorithms are attempting (successfully) to drag us into a sea of noise, and rid us of all personality and original thought.

❌ TEDx talks have become parodies of themselves. 
❌ LinkedInLunatics, a Reddit dedicated to ‘sharing ‘insufferable’ LinkedIn posts now has 930k followers. 

[I wonder if I'm on it 🤔!]

It's no surprise to me that 'Slop' was the undisputed word of 2025.

---

And yet...

Amongst all this noise, there's a minority of people who's work I could read, watch, listen to all day.

They teach me, challenge me, entertain me, frustrate me, inspire me. They deepen my understanding of their world and ultimately, they help me grow.

Outliers.

While everyone else is being sucked into the middle; they’ve found a way to create their own gravitational pull - one that draws people in and with it some wonderful opportunities.

---

What sets them apart from the everyone else?  
 
1. They're experts in idea promotion, not self promotion 💡
↳ ✅ 'Look at this' vs ❌ 'Look at me'

2. Their POV attracts their people, repel the rest 🧲
↳ POV = What you stand for + What you stand against

3. They communicate creatively 🎨
↳ Great ideas live or die on their examples

But perhaps the most important skill they've mastered is relevance. 

Our ideas aren’t static. 

Their place in the world shifts. 
The conversations around our subjects evolve.
And so do we. 

It's why their content always feels fresh, yet familiar.
(And why the best opportunities gravitate to them). 

---

This is exactly what we're designing for inside MicDrop in 2026. 

The goal? To create an environment that helps our members turn their ideas into the very thing they become sought-after for. Most embark on this journey alone. If you don't want to, we'll be welcoming a very small group of members in February. Head to my bio to join the waitlist.

taplio

The Battle

Mark Borum

Alex Merry

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreMark Borum's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAlex Merry's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Mark Borum

Alex Merry

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);}Mark Borum's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAlex Merry's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreMark Borum's LinkedIn Performance