Founder & Partner @ Kanvas | Foster Innovation, Develop Business Strategy, Drive Growth

Katie Nowak

Getting ghosted by partners and investors?? 🤯 
Here’s how to upgrade your outreach -

…but first, some context.

We’ve been working with several first-time business owners.

Each has an amazing product, impressive early traction with customers, but couldn't seem to convert as many investor/partner leads as they’d hoped.

After auditing their pitch deck, financial model, and every other data room item we could think of, I finally made a new request….

…I asked to see their emails! (gasp)

And voila, the problem was identified.

It was the emails!!! The whole time!! 

After 1 week of helping these business owners re-write their emails/LinkedIn requests/Instagram messages, they got immediate responses from potential investors and partners.

Here's the outreach framework we used -

✨ Anchor in their world.

When you’re writing outreach, remember... there’s a real person on the other side!

That person has their own goals, motivations, and context.

So start your message with something specific to them.

It could be a recent win, a piece of content they shared, a portfolio move, or a shared context (event, intro, community).

✨  Make one clear, business-specific ask.

We forbid things like “just reaching out” and “let's connect."

Instead, spell out the concrete outcome you want them to consider.

Complete this sentence to find your target ask:

“If this outreach works, the next concrete business step is ______.”

Then ask for that outcome in one crisp sentence.

✨ Share a credibility snapshot.

This is my favorite secret.

For email - show you’re the real deal with a few concise bullets around your users, revenue, notable customers, or outcomes. Tailor these based on who you're reaching out to.

For LinkedIn - weave one key metric you’re proud of into a connection request. (Let’s be honest, almost no one is reading full InMails.)

You’re not sending the deck in paragraph form…

...you’re simply proving that a reply is worth their time.

✨  Set expectations for a follow-up.

I love offering to follow up at a later date so I don’t feel like I’m hounding anyone.

Plus, it’s a built-in chance to demonstrate follow-through.

Just make sure it doesn’t sound stiff... keep it human and specific (“I’ll bump this in a couple weeks once X is live - we'd love to give you a demo.”).

-

Ta-da! With this framework, your outreach is ready to go.

If you’re looking for a full example email, check out the comments. I drafted a fictional one for you. 😉

What secret tricks do you have for outreach?

If you’re feeling generous, share one in the comments - I'd love to learn from you, too.

See you there 😎

—
I'm Katie Nowak, an investor, innovation leader, and new venture designer sharing examples & lessons weekly. Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned.

Innovation Leader, New Venture Designer, Speaker @ Kanvas || Investor @ Altra Venture Partners

"Entrepreneurship is the most honest mirror you’ll ever look into." 🤯 
Here are 3 places that mirror shows up most clearly -

✨ Your numbers.

Terrified of opening your financial forecast?
...maybe money has always felt stressful and confusing.

Discounting heavily with clients?
…maybe you’re questioning the value you bring to the table.

Numbers don’t just describe your business; they often show where decisions are coming from (fear, habit, or conviction).

Something you can do this week -
+ Notice one place your spending/pricing feels misaligned.
+ Ask - what belief might be driving this decision? 
+ What is one step you could take to challenge that belief?

✨ Your business relationships.

Saying yes to projects you've outgrown?
...maybe you're in scarcity mindset.

Not delegating because it feels easier to do yourself?
...maybe, once upon a time, you had to shoulder a lot of life solo.

These decisions are signals about what safety, value, and control look like to you today… and they directly shape the deals you make and the culture you build.

Something you can do this week -
+ Think of one recent interaction that didn’t feel great.
+ Ask yourself “What might the braver, more grounded version of me done?”
+ Write down one small way you can move closer to that next time.

✨ Your self-care.

Resting only when you're exhasuted?
...maybe you secretly think rest = laziness.

Stressed about investing in coaching or learning?
...maybe you think the money is best spent elsewhere.

When you start seeing your nervous system as a core business asset (not a side project!) it's easier to set a growth pace that is sustainable for all.

That shift alone can change the trajectory of both you and the company.

Something you can do this week - 
+ Scan your calendar.
+ Block one hour for a nap, run, or to rewatch Bad Bunny’s halftime show 5 times. (Just making sure you’re still with me!)

-

If this hits home, pick one of these three areas this week - numbers, relationships, or self-care - and ask:

“What is my business mirroring back to me right now?”

Then, decide one small behavior you’re willing to upgrade.

If you’re brave, share in the comments for accountability. :)

—
I'm Katie Nowak, an investor, innovation leader, and new venture designer sharing examples & lessons weekly. Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned.

Building digital legacies for Founders & CEOs | Founder of CURAT-D

I’m Aurelien, and I help b2b founders turn their personal brands into a revenue-generating machine.

My journey started 7 years ago when, at 15, I launched my first company, STRADA PARIS. I had no experience, but I had a vision. 

Fast forward a few years—while I was still a student in Boston—I made my very first LinkedIn post, and everything changed.

What started as a leap of faith turned into a business that helps founders build their personal brands, drive growth, and generate serious revenue.

In 2022, CURAT—D was born. 

Since then, we’ve partnered with 7-figure founders, signed high-profile clients (including one of Hollywood’s biggest names), and helped our clients close a $4M deal—all by using LinkedIn organic content.

Our mission is simple:

Help founders build brands that stand out and bring results.

At CURAT—D, we take a hands-on approach. We help you:

- Craft your unique story
- Grow your audience
- Build your authority
- Attract high-ticket clients

The best part?

It’s all done through organic LinkedIn strategies—no ads, no gimmicks, just real value.

We capture your authentic voice through simple processes like:

- Content calls
- Voice memos
- Raw thoughts you share, turned into content that drives engagement and results.

Our goal?

To take your brand to the next level and 10x your growth.

Outside of work, I’m always looking for my next challenge. I’ve traveled the world, spoken at events like The Metaverse Summit in Silicon Valley I watch every single Formula One Grandprix, and am always pushing myself to grow.

But my true passion is seeing my clients succeed. 

I’m here to help you turn your LinkedIn profile into more than just a social media account—it can be the key to unlocking your next big opportunity.

Curious to learn how?

Send me a message, and let’s talk about how we can elevate your brand.

Let’s make big things happen together.

Aurelien Scagnolari

This is Samuel. He sold his last company for $450 million. Here's how he builds his personal brand without spending any time on it.

After the exit, he became CEO of Napster MENA and lost all his time for content. 

But he still needed visibility. Stakeholders needed to see his thinking. Future hires needed to understand his vision. Partners needed to know what he stood for.

One hour in a studio, 20 minutes from his office. That's all we asked.

We partnered with the best studio in Dubai. Before Sam walked in, we sent him a tailored onboarding questionnaire. While he filled it out, we audited his entire online presence. 

- Positioning
- Key stories
- Gaps in his narrative

He showed up, sat down, and talked to us for 60 minutes.

2 weeks later, we delivered 48 pieces of content.

22 videos. 18 LinkedIn posts. 8 tweets.

Six weeks of content from one conversation.

All he gave us was one hour.

That's 48 Assets.

The founders who stay invisible lose the best hires to the ones who show up. They lose partnerships. They lose mindshare.

The question isn't whether you need to build a content engine. The question is whether you have a system that respects your time.

We take on 4 clients a month. All the info below. Looking forward to chatting

PS: If you want similar results, let's chat → https://lnkd.in/ePp9UzWe

Founder at CURAT—D & 48 Assets | Distribution is personal now + insights on turning founders into their company’s most valuable distribution channel.

This is the most emotional session I've ever filmed.

Meet Chloe Fabiani, the founder, trying to save 5 million animals from euthanasia.

She built Paaw, a pet adoption platform working with 3,000+ shelters across the US and Europe. Her mission deserves to be heard - but like most founders, visibility isn't her strength.

So she trusted us with it.

We asked for one hour of her time in a studio in SF, right next to her office.

But before she walked in, we did our homework:

→ Sent an onboarding questionnaire tailored to her audience and goals
→ Audited her entire online presence
→ Analyzed what people in her industry were doing

Everything related to her online presence was dissected by my team and I.

Then she walked in and gave us 60 minutes.

In that one hour, we captured everything she needs on her personal channels for the next 3 months.

That's 48 Assets.

For founders like Chloe, time is the constraint. But their stories - the real ones must be told.

This is why we built 48 Assets.

Two years ago, Dil quit his 6-figure job at Amazon. Today, they invite him to their Advertising Educator Program. Here's the backstory on how we helped him build his personal brand:

Dil reached out on LinkedIn. He had deep Amazon expertise but zero visibility. 

He'd been quiet online and didn't know how to start sharing what he knew.

(1) The setup

We started with a full audit of his online presence, competitors in the Amazon space, and what was already being said.

The gap we found: everyone in the Amazon world talks about customer experience. It's all Amazon cares about.

But no one talks about the vendor's experience - the brands getting squeezed by fees, chargebacks, and terms they don't understand.

Dil had lived on both sides. He'd managed L'Oréal's entire Amazon account at 18. He'd worked inside Amazon negotiating with vendors. He knew when Amazon managers were lying. He knew how the system actually worked.

We positioned him as the person who fights for vendors against a system that doesn't care about them. Vendor X - vendor experience.

(2) The content engine

We built his content around four angles:

a) Origin - Dil's path is unconventional. He chose his L'Oréal internship because he thought they had a gym - they didn't. But he'd already secured a Deloitte graduate offer, so he spent the year not caring what anyone thought. That freedom let him take risks, push back on senior people, and actually learn.  When his manager left midway through, L'Oréal handed him their entire Amazon account. An 18-year-old running the biggest beauty vendor on the platform.

b) Vision - Big agencies charge £5K/month with 20-person teams, six-month contracts, and Oxford grads who've never spoken to an Amazon manager. Dil charges much less with 30-day rolling contracts and a money-back guarantee.

c) Proof - He showed me a brand that went from £28K to £200K monthly in 18 months. He negotiated their vendor terms down to 6.67% when typical is 15%. He saved them £16K/month by removing a damage allowance they didn't need. Another brand went from £1.8K to £138K in nine months.

d) POV - Most agencies fight against AI because it threatens their model. Dil leaned in.

We started publishing tactical Vendor Central breakdowns. Case studies with real numbers. His takes on where Amazon is heading and why most agencies are stuck in the past.

Content only he could create - because he'd lived it from the inside.

(3) The Outcome

Dil now has clear positioning, consistent content, and Amazon's recognition through their Advertising Educator Program.

In his words: "I'm happy with where it is now. I probably do want to grow it a bit, but I want to stay humble."

Dil, excited to see where Vendor X goes from here.

PS: If you want similar results, let's chat → https://lnkd.in/e_CVPam9

I just signed an exclusive studio partnership in New York City, and this one is a big deal for us.

New York is the main hub for 48 Assets. Most of the founders and CEOs we work with are based there.

So finding the right studio was probably the most important operational decision I've made for the business this year.

Ask a CEO to share something they've never said publicly, every detail of the environment matters.

That's what I found at Theorist. The space, the lighting, the way their team operates. It's built for the guest experience.

When a founder feels good on camera, they actually will deliver their best selves.

So we made it official. Theorist is now our exclusive studio partner in NYC. Every founder session we run in the city goes through them.

For us it means our clients get a consistent, premium experience every single time. For them it means a growing roster of high-caliber founders coming through their doors as we scale.

Shoutout to Asher Brooks and the entire team at Theorist Studios for building a studio that actually puts the talent first. This is just the start.

If you're a founder in New York and you've been thinking about building your personal brand, let's talk.

I slept in the cockpit of an A380 for four hours when I was a kid. There were no seats left on the plane, so my dad put me on the jump seat for a 14-hour flight to Tokyo. That's the kind of childhood I had.

My dad was a pilot. Since a very young age I was privileged to travel the world. Tahiti three times by seven. Every continent by 14. Peru, Tokyo, South Korea and so on. But more than the travel, what shaped me was what happened when my parents were gone.

When your parents leave for the other side of the world for a few days and you don't have a nanny, you figure things out fast. I had a little sister to take care of. What we were eating, bedtime, how much TV, what activities we were doing. I was a kid raising a kid. And that built something in me that no school ever could. My family was loving and trusting, but they also gave me the space to fail and make stupid mistakes. That combination of freedom and responsibility is everything.

The thing that stuck with me most was what my dad would tell me when he came home. I'd always ask him what happened on his flights because I was obsessed with planes and flying. And 98% of the time the answer was the same. Nothing happened. His crew did everything in their power to make it smooth. Pre-departure, takeoff, 10 hours at cruise, landing. Different airports, different countries, but always the same job done right.

Then there was the 2%. The days where he had to make decisions at 600 miles an hour where every minute is crucial. You lose an engine at 33,000 feet. What do you do? Where do you land? Depending on the country you're above you might not be able to. You have a passenger who needs medical attention. Do you divert and cost the airline tens of thousands of dollars? Or keep going and risk that person's life? Every decision has a consequence.

He would walk me through his decision-making process. How to stay lucid. How to act normal when the adrenaline is screaming. And the lesson he drilled into me more than anything: once you've made the decision, don't look back at it. Look back when everything is over. It might not have been the best decision. But it was your decision, based on everything you knew in that moment. Don't regret it.

I think about that constantly as a founder. The speed is different but the principle is identical. You're making calls every day with incomplete information and real consequences. And the worst thing you can do is freeze or second-guess yourself mid-flight.

Growing up as that kid taught me culture, freedom, and responsibility. But mostly it taught me that the best decision-makers are the ones who commit and move forward.

I never became a pilot. But I run my business the same way my dad flew his planes. Stay calm. Make the call. Don't look back until you've landed.

At 12, he was milking cows. In his 30s, he scaled companies to exits worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Here's how we helped Stu go from invisible online to one of the most credible voices in audience-first media:

When Stu and I started working together, his story immediately stood out.

He landed an interview with Jim Cramer that became his break into media.

From there:

→ TheStreet: Research Associate to VP of Operations & Product Development

→ Business Insider: VP of Audience Development, $400M+ exit

→ WWE: VP of Product Monetization

→ EVP Growth to COO then CBO at Barstool Sports

At Barstool, he helped to scale audiences from 50M to 250M+ and revenue from $25M to $250M. They exited to Penn Interactive for a final valuation of $660M.

One of the best operators (and minds) in media, and nobody knew his story.

When we connected, he was CEO of 10PM Curfew, reaching nearly every woman in America between the ages of 18-45 on a monthly basis across 60+ channels. He needed to attract premium partnerships and build awareness & consideration for the 10PM Curfew brand.

As I listened to his stories, it became clear: Stu is an "Operator First" leader. He sees opportunities others miss by looking past surface judgments and doing unglamorous work.

While others chase vanity metrics, Stu builds for audience-first durability.

We applied our 4-pillar extraction framework:

(1) Origin Stories

The farm discipline. Raising deer for tuition. The Cramer interview. Taking the Barstool bet.

(2) Operator Insights

Tactical lessons from scaling billion-dollar audiences. Like when Barstool generated $40M for small businesses during COV*D.

(3) Contrarian POV

Non-linear paths. Opportunities disguised as risks. Cultural reads over credentials.

(4) Proof points

Multiple exits, $1B+ combined. 10X revenue growth at Barstool. MASSIVE reach today.

The results:

→ Acquisition conversations from prospective buyers who found him on LinkedIn

→ Signed partnership deals directly from his content

→ Individual posts hitting 250K+ impressions and 500+ engagements

→ Positioned as a leading voice in audience-first media

Stu who went from milking cows at 2:15 am to scaling companies that exit for hundreds of millions.

Now the world gets to hear his story.

This is what we do at CURAT—D & 48 Assets. We find founders & CEOs (or they find us) with stories that deserve to be heard and get them out into the world.

The world's most capable people shouldn't stay invisible.

In five years, every Fortune 500 CEO will have their own content channel. Davos just proved it.

Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock (the largest asset manager in the world), interviewed Elon Musk on stage at Davos.

Not CNBC or Bloomberg. 

A CEO interviewing a CEO in front of the world's most powerful audience.

The week before, Fink interviewed Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia. 

Same message: traditional media doesn't serve us anymore.

And he's not alone.

David Rubenstein, founder of Carlyle Group, has his own interview show on Bloomberg. John Collison, co-founder of Stripe, hosts a podcast. OpenAI executives rotate hosting their own long-form content.

Here's what's actually happening.

Traditional media doesn't work for them anymore.

Every quote gets tweaked. Every sentence gets reframed. Every interview becomes a headline they never said. Millions of people form opinions based on 10-second clips taken out of context.

Stock prices drop. Billions of dollars evaporate. CEOs are done with it.

And people don't trust traditional media the way they used to.

When Fink interviewed Musk, he opened by discussing Tesla's stock performance. He encouraged pension funds to invest. When the applause was weak, he literally asked the audience to clap again.

A journalist would never do that.

When you own the medium, you own the message. Podcasts, newsletters, books, video content.

These are direct lines to your audience with no filters

The Fortune 500 figured this out.

Most founders are still waiting for journalists to tell their story. Still hoping for that TechCrunch feature. Still thinking PR is the path to credibility.

Meanwhile, their competitors are building their own audiences.

The founders who wake up to this now will have a five-year head start. The ones who don't will spend 2030 wondering why no one knows who they are.

You don't need to be a Fortune 500 CEO to do this. You just need one hour and something to say.

That's the 48 method.

PS: This is exactly what we do at 48 Assets, extract founder stories and turn them into content that actually sounds like them. We've done this for 40+ founders. Link in bio if you want to see how it work

One of my client's best-performing posts got 324 likes and zero dollars. His worst-performing post got 37 likes and closed a $65k deal.

Most founders post about launches & announcements, hoping they'll blow up.

If every post is a product update you're training your audience to scroll past you. 

So here are the four types that actually drive pipeline, not just impressions.

(1) POV. Your contrarian takes. Beliefs that come from lived experience, not from reading the same article everyone else read. A real point of view filters. It attracts the right people and repels the wrong ones. I believe any business that takes personal branding seriously can make it their number one growth channel. Above paid ads. Above cold outbound. Above everything. A lot of people disagree. Good. That disagreement is what makes it a point of view and not a platitude.

(2) Origin. Your story. The one thing that cannot be replicated. Your tech can be copied. Your pricing can be undercut. But nobody else grew up the way you did, failed the way you did, had the specific combination of experiences that led you to build this company. Origin content requires vulnerability. Going back to moments that weren't glamorous. But when it's specific, detailed, and honest it creates a connection no amount of product marketing can match.

(3) Vision. Where you see things heading that nobody's talking about yet. What shifts are you noticing that the market hasn't priced in? When a CEO talks about the future of their industry, people listen differently. It's not commentary, it's a signal. And a vision post from six months ago that turned out to be right? That compounds into credibility no product announcement could ever build.

(4) Proof. Case studies, client wins, specific results. This is the one you can't post solo. If all you share is proof you become the guy at the party who only talks about himself. But balanced with the other three, proof becomes the closer. A proof post might get 30 likes. Low engagement by vanity metrics. But it books calls. 30 people see it, 3 reach out, 1 closes. That post just generated real revenue. I'll take that over 500 likes and zero pipeline every time.

Your POV will make you respected. Your Origin will make you trustworthy. Your Vision will get attention. Your Proof will make you money. Stack all four, and you have a real content engine.

One of my clients closed a $4M deal from a LinkedIn post. The story behind had been sitting in him for 15 years. He just didn't know it.

I've spent 2.5 years extracting stories from 40+ founders and CEOs. And every single time the same thing happens. These founders can pitch you their company at dinner and you're hooked. Magnetic in person. But ask them about a failure that rewired their brain or a moment that changed their trajectory and they freeze. Not because the stories aren't there. But because no one has ever asked them the right way.

I think about my own story. My dad used to travel to the US for work and every time he came back he'd say "that place is full of opportunities, full of ambitious people." At 14 I convinced my parents to let me spend a year in Denver, Colorado. That year changed everything. I discovered entrepreneurship, started devouring books and content about building something from nothing. Came back to France a different person. But for the longest time that wasn't a "story" to me. It was just something that happened. It took other people pointing it out for me to realize it was my origin story.

Most founders have a version of that. A moment that redirected everything. And they're sitting on it without knowing. Because when you're sending emails at 2 AM and waking up stressed about what happened overnight with US clients while you were asleep in Europe, the last thing on your mind is "what's my best story?" Your job is to keep the machine running.

And that's exactly why the world's most capable founders stay invisible. Their best stories stay trapped in their heads while generic content speaks on their behalf. Less qualified voices dominate. And that's not just a content problem. That's a trust problem. Stakeholders, investors, customers never actually know who they're trusting.

The best content creators online all share one trait. They've done the storytelling work. They've sat with their experiences and turned their failures into narratives and their weird childhood moments into connection points. Content becomes effortless for them because they can pull from a library of lived experience at any moment. Most founders haven't done that work. Not because they can't. Because they're busy building.

The work is simple. Sit across from a founder, go deep, push back, and say "wait, go back, tell me more about that." When it's done right they walk away saying "I didn't even know that story was in me."

Someone Googled you before your last meeting. Your LinkedIn loaded first. They made a decision about you in seconds. You have no idea what it told them.

Most founders have no idea what their LinkedIn is saying about them right now. They haven't looked at it through the eyes of someone who doesn't know them. They see it as a profile. Everyone else sees it as a first impression.

Think about it from every angle. You're an investor with 30 companies on your desk this month. You check the founder's LinkedIn. Is there a point of view? Evidence of thought leadership? People engaging with their ideas? Or is it a profile photo from 2019, a headline that says "CEO at [Company Name]," and the last post was eight months ago congratulating someone on a work anniversary? That tells you this founder doesn't take visibility seriously. And if they don't take their own visibility seriously, what does that say about how they'll position the company?

Same with hires. The best talent researches the founder before they apply. They're not just evaluating the role. They're evaluating you. Does this person think deeply about their industry? Do they have a vision worth joining? In a competitive market your personal brand is either a recruiting advantage or a recruiting liability.

Same with buyers. Most B2B purchases involve trust that goes beyond the product. The buyer isn't just buying your software. They're buying you. And before that conversation starts they've already formed an opinion based on what they've seen online.

I think about someone like Greg Eisenberg. He shares incredible thinking around AI and startups consistently. If tomorrow he sells a service I'm looking for, I'm going to him first. Not because he's cheapest. Not because he's technically the most qualified on paper. Because I trust the guy. I've been following his thinking. I know how he sees the world. And that familiarity is the most powerful thing in business.

That's the whole game. Sales is trust. The product matters. The price matters. But none of it matters if the trust isn't there first. And trust isn't built in a sales call. It's built over time through showing up and sharing your thinking before you ever ask for anything in return.

The founders who treat their LinkedIn as a living representation of how they think have an unfair advantage no amount of ad spend can replicate. And the founders who don't? They're losing deals every day. Not because competitors are better. Because competitors showed up. Were visible. Were known. Were trusted.

Your LinkedIn profile communicates whether you're someone worth trusting. You're either building that on purpose or losing it by default.

Happy to judge your profile if want, put it below ;)

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Katie Nowak

Aurelien Scagnolari

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taplio

The Battle

Katie Nowak

Aurelien Scagnolari

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);}Katie Nowak's LinkedIn Performance

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