Niall Cleaver

Documenting the journey of crafting a timeless coffee cup brand | CEO & Founder of Cupsly

My story isn’t about a polished entrepreneur. My journey hasn’t been traditional. I left school without an English qualification, uncertain of what the future held. 

That failure shaped me, it forced me to think differently, fall into business, and ultimately embrace creativity, resilience, and the belief that change is possible, even when doubted. Fast forward to today, I’m growing and scaling businesses while sharing the real lessons that come from it.

Founder

Are you struggling to grow an engaging community for your business or personal brand.

Stop right there, I think I have you covered ⬇️

This is me (Niall), I'm a 22-year-old who is fascinated by growing communities in the online space. Actual communities that have meaning and purpose. 

The services we provide at Social Library 

➡️ Personal Branding (LinkedIn)

➡️ Guidance & support consulting


Drop me a message to discuss your social media strategy, review how well your current socials/posts are doing, and research how we can build your community and gain you more followers and leads.

or you can email us @

hello@sociallibrary.co.uk

Execution will humble you in more ways than advice ever could.

And this, by far, has been my best realisation.

It's actually scary how much advice is in the world we live in. And normally, it's not the correct advice. The truth is, advice that will improve your business is hard to come by because everyone is sharing an opinion online.  

But there's one thing that beats any advice:

Saying you'll do something and actually doing it.

In my teens, I told myseIf was going to go all in on business, and that meant learning many things I once never knew. How? Real experience.

Less talking, more doing.

I didn't have a background in marketing, I learned.
I didn't have a background in brand, I learned.
I didn't have a background in R&D, I learned.

And here's what I found out...

When you start facing real situations, real problems, and real outcomes, you quickly see who’s telling the truth and who isn’t.

You learn who to trust.

Advice has its place. But execution is what changes things.

Growing @thistlescientific and sharing the lessons while I do

I’ve just landed back from a week in the mountains.

And it reminded me how easy it is to forget what really matters.

I know I talk a lot about business because it's something I'm passionate about, but let's be real, it will never be as important as family. 

Scaling a business takes a lot out of you, early mornings, late nights, and missing certain celebrations. It's honestly brutal sometimes. 

Because it never stops!!!

You always have something that needs implementing, changing or improving, but what I've realised is that time away with your family allows you the space to think, enjoy and realign. Never take this for granted.

Honestly, had the best couple of days... now super exctied to get back and execute on the plan we've set out over the past couple of months.

We did it!!! Thistle is rebrand ready...

Over the past few months, we've completed a full rebrand at Thistle Scientific, one that has pushed, tested, and shaped the new direction we're heading in. These will be the months I'll remember forever, but...

I want to talk about what goes into a rebrand:

The late nights thinking decisions through.
The transition phase throughout the organisation.
The alignment through the internal team and external partners.

They all hit you! But in a good way.

Because eventually, you see all the pieces of the puzzle coming together, and you appreciate all the details and hard work that went into every part of it.

But this whole process got me thinking about one thing, "change", and how so many of us are nervous about it. This is a good feeling to have. 

It means you're pushing yourself.

Take it all in!!!

The most important skill of an entrepreneur is to do the basics first.

I used to fight this idea because it sounded too simple.

Sticking to a routine 
Doing the things you promised.
Being open-minded to the problems. 
Interacting directly with your customers.
Executing the plan you set out with your team.

It really is simple!!! 

At the start of this year, I told some of my closest friends what I was going to do. Less talking and more just focusing on what creates the moment. 

And I can already feel it. It hasn’t been anything out of this world, it's just been staying focused on what matters most in the buisness. And normally, these are the tasks you repeat.

You've got to understand that most people will dislike doing the basics over and over again, becasue it can become boring and not fun. But these are the tasks that create the difference that changes your life and business. 

It may be boring, but it works.

3 years ago, navigating a merger, improving systems, and building a stronger foundation.

Since then, Thistle Scientific has grown year on year, hired across multiple countries, and deliberately focused on scale. Why?

Equipping scientists around the world requires collaboration, obsession, and teamwork. It’s understanding what will help each researcher improve the work they’re doing.

But there’s an even bigger reason…

Scaling allows us to support even more researchers, and the better support they get, the more impact their work can have on the rest of the population.

Any researchers here... would love to chat with you.

One of the best decisions I've made as a 25-year-old growing a biotech business was to... spend time with people who have already done it.

Not people who're trying to sell you something.
Not people who shut down your ideas every five minutes.

But the people who have lived and breathed the problems you are facing.

The real operators. And what I've noticed is that they don't try to sell you online they are heavily focused on real outcomes. They have this credibility where they've been there and done it. You can just feel it!!!

So, if you're going to surround yourself with successful people:

Do your due diligence
Ask the important questions
Don't waste your time and especially theirs.

That's where real change is created.

Evean, now I've got so much to learn and it's so important to remember that the moment you think you've understood it all will be the moment you stop making progress.

We had a chance to showcase our new design in Thailand.

I pulled it... You only get one first impression.

We had an opportunity to move fast on some new design work. It would've lined up perfectly for our ASIA distributor meeting in Thailand next month, so I pushed for it. 

I thought it would be:

Great to share the new innovation.
Great to share the new Thistle identity.
Great to share our new direction with them.

But I was chasing speed over execution.

The lesson wasn't "slow down". I still believe in moving fast.
The lesson was "speed" without clarity is just expensive.

Coming straight out of a rebrand, it’s easy to chase momentum. But when you do that, you can lose the bigger picture and that costs you.

Growth never happens when you move without clarity. You only get one chance at a first impression, so we are making sure ours is worth it.

"TEST THE LIMIT"  that's what our rebrand was built on.

When we started to plan our rebrand, we didn't view ourselves as successful. We saw ourselves as a challenger brand. A brand that wanted to do things differently from others in our industry.

This was our starting point.

From the first conversations I had with our team, they were all open-minded to it and wanted to be aligned on the bigger picture, but there was something I noticed more special. 

They all wanted to be a part of it.  Contributing, debating, and just being fully curious. Through my years of learning business, I've noticed that one of the best traits in any business is the team being curious. They like to get stuck in. And here's what I've seen:

They adapt quickly to problems and solutions.
They build better products and services.
They spot opportunities others ignore.
They make better decisions.

Being curious is lethal (in a good way)

There's something special about being around an open-minded team. A team that wants to play an even bigger part in this journey. It's pretty cool.

Very proud to announce the next chapter of Thistle Scientific.

Thistle has expanded a lot over the years as a team, company and scientific partner.

Today, we’re updating our entire visual system to convey a clearer, bolder expression of who we are and the purpose we stand behind. Now the time feels right to step into our next chapter and announce the rebrand of Thistle Scientific.

One that will demonstrate the connection and deeper understanding we have for researchers and global organisations who are changing the world for good.  

Just like research, brands must evolve too. We must listen, adapt and strengthen. That's what we're here to do. Committed to the direction we're heading, and that's to equip scientists to be relentless in changing the world for good. 

One hypothesis at a time. 

Welcome to Thistle 2.0

Because science is never done. So, neither are we.

Luke Shalom

CEO @ Grow Solo I help the C-suite turn industry expertise into predictable pipeline

There are two ways agency founders try to turn LinkedIn into a reliable source of clients.



One is by guessing. Posting when there is time. Relying on referrals and hoping the next month is a good one.



The other is by building a system that creates steady conversations, even when client work gets busy.



Our clients choose the second.



→ Joya Dass (Founder, Women’s Leadership Lab)



The problem:



- She spent hours in the DMs to book a few calls.

- Content happened on weekends.

- When delivery picked up, sales stopped.



Some months were strong. Others were quiet.



Even in good months, there was stress about where the next client would come from.



What we did:



We built a simple LinkedIn content system she could run in house. No ghostwriter or agency retainer dependency.



We shifted her content from generic how to posts to insight driven thinking.



That changed the conversations. People in her network showed up aligned and ready to buy.



We added a content led outbound system powered by a setter we hited and trained. The system kept working while she focused on delivery.



Results:



- Revenue grew from $150k to $300k.

- Sales became predictable.

- The pressure eased.



→ Jonathan Crowder (Founder, Founders Ally)



The problem:



- No time for content.

- Unpredictable sales calls.

- Leads with no budget.

- No sales background. A 10 percent close rate.



What we did:



We removed Jonathan as the bottleneck. 



We built a content system using AI supported by his real thinking. It sounded like him, not software.



Trust was built before the call. Outbound went from 10% to 40% response rates.



We focused prospecting on real buying moments, like recent funding to catch buyers at the right time.



We simplified his sales process. Clear outcomes. Clear cost of inaction was communicated to his buyers.



Results:



- Meetings went from 3-5 a month to 10-15 sales qualifed leads a month.

- A visible pipeline. Increase to a 25 percent close rate.

- $300k in pipeline in 60 days.

- $30k in new revenue closed.



→ Brian Dukes (COO, Exit Wise)



The problem



- Ovelry dependent on referrals.

- No LinkedIn playbook.

- No time to write.



What we did



- We clarified positioning.

- Simplified the offer.

- Built a content engine.



Then we added outbound from the founder profile.



Everything was owned and run internally.



Results:



- Consistent posting machine.

- 500 to 6500 ICP followers.

- $740,000 in LinkedIn-driven revenue over two years.



We have helped 100+ founder led agencies replace unpredictable growth with systems they understand and control.



If this feels familiar send me a DM with "Grow", we should talk.

We help executives to build and monetize their brand on linkedin by scaling your content and turning it into leads, authority and thought leadership.

How?

Engagement + DM flows = Qualified meetings. 

Done with you. Done for you.

I close 50% of my discovery calls with 5-figure clients. Here's the exact founder profile funnel that does it:
 
Most agency founders are stuck in "random acts of growth".
 
They post and hear crickets.
They buy expensive tools.
They hire an agency and blow there marketing budget.

Nothing works.
 
So pipeline stays unpredictable.

Referrals dry up.
 
And LinkedIn gets written off as something that "doesn't work for our industry."
 
It's not the channel. It's the absence of a system.
 
The founders winning right now have stopped chasing tactics and built a Founder-Led Demand System.
 
One engine where content, trust, and outbound compound together.
 
Here's exactly how mine works.
 
TOP OF FUNNEL
 
Tools: LinkedIn, Perplexity, Claude
 
My founder brand on LinkedIn is the engine.
 
Every month it pulls the right people in. Follows, likes, connections, profile views from founders who match my ICP exactly.

By the time they reach out, they already know me. They already trust me.
 
That means every call I take is with someone already in consideration. I'm not selling to strangers.
 
But that only happens when your positioning is locked in and your content is engineered to take someone from skeptical to ready to buy.
 
Most founders post randomly and wonder why nothing converts.
 
MIDDLE OF FUNNEL
 
Tools: YouTube
 
LinkedIn gets them in the door. YouTube closes the trust gap.
 
I've never gone viral. My videos are lucky to get 500 views.
 
But every single client I've signed in the last 6 months said YouTube was one of the main reasons they hired me.
 
Why? Facetime. There's nothing that builds trust faster than watching someone think out loud on camera for 20 minutes.
 
Every video is built around a buying objection I hear on calls. I post once a week and drive LinkedIn traffic to it. Our setter uses videos in the DMs before calls, between discovery and close, and when leads go cold.
 
It's the best sales tool for trust building I have.
 
BOTTOM OF FUNNEL
 
Tools: Valley AI
 
This is where most agencies leave money on the table. They generate interest and have no system to convert it.
 
We run warm outbound to every ICP founder who engages with content. Likes, comments, profile views, lead magnet requests. All of it.
 
A human is in the loop at every stage. We qualify hard before anything hits the calendar.

That's why close rate is 50%.
 
Interested in building this out for your Agency? DM me "grow" and I'll show you the gaps stopping you from turning LinkedIn into  7 figure channel.

Founder at Atticus | Predictable LinkedIn pipeline using a founder-led sales system I 100+ clients scaled | Be the next 👉 atticusagency.com

Stop sending DMs that get ignored. I booked 1,000+ sales calls from LinkedIn and made $1.3M doing. Steal the exact script ↓

Comment and I'll send it to you.

I used to spend hours crafting the "perfect" DM. Tweaking. Rewriting. Getting ghosted anyway and following up like a desperate ex.

Now I use a 5-message sequence I've tested for 3 years straight. Instead of 18 rejections out of 20, we are booking 20-40 calls a month.

Every conversation feels like it came from them.

Here's what's inside:

- DM 1: Open with context, not a pitch
- DM 2: Follow up without sounding desperate
- DM 3: Uncover their pain in natural conversation
- DM 4: Transition to a call without it feeling forced
- DM 5: Make it stupid easy to book the meeting
- The complete walkthrough...  all 5 messages in action
- 5 mistakes that kill your DM conversion rate
- How to customise the script for your ICP

BONUS: DM Personalisation Framework that gets 80% response rates.
It took me 2 years and 1,000+ DMs to build. Takes you 60 seconds to steal.

Stop using LinkedIn DMs like a cold email channel. 

Start using them like a trust-building machine.

How to get it: 

1/ Connect with me 2/ Comment below and I'll DM you everything

♻️ Repost to skip the queue. 

P.S. We must be connected... otherwise LinkedIn blocks the message.

P.SS The perplexity lead magnet will be coming over today/ tomorrow... keep those eyes peeled!

taplio

The Battle

Niall Cleaver

Luke Shalom

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The Battle

Niall Cleaver

Luke Shalom

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);}Niall Cleaver's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreNiall Cleaver's LinkedIn Performance