Cofounder of Chubbies + Loop Returns | Now, Marathon: A managed technology platform + bespoke services offering helping you exit the short-term direct-response hamster wheel to find your balance of Brand and performance

Chubbies and Loop Returns co founder. Now, applying those lessons and mistakes to help consumer brands transition to a balance of Brand and performance with software that measures the future rev impact of brand, incrementality studies to validate; and the media management and creative production to actually execute on the vision. MarathonDataCo.com

Classic AI software + services combo. 

This is all informed by our firsthand experience and a desire to help brands go through the transition that transformed our business and helped us get acquired for a massive number and continue to grow super profitably today...but without all the pain and heartache we had to go through...

You see, Chubbies almost went out of business because of the exact problem we're trying to solve at Marathon.

In the early days at Chubbies we built Brand because we had to. We had no money. We were scrappy, creative, dynamic. 

And we built an awesome Brand.

Then we monetized that Brand with performance DR. 

We convinced ourselves that that was the source of our growth. 

We almost went out of business.

We righted the ship and built, brick by brick, to a >$100m exit, culminating in a >$1B IPO, and now, doing well over $100M / year at nearly a 30% EBITDA margin, but to do that we had to overcome the overwhelming pressure to take a short–termist approach.

As we've seen this direct–to–consumer brand market evolve over the years, we've seen the same cycle happen to nearly every other business out there: Starting hot, pushing performance marketing, then stalling out and never getting to long-term sustainable growth.

This was the problem we felt absolutely compelled to solve because we felt for these brand builders and entrepreneurs. We were in their shoes. And but for a whole lotta luck and a gritty–a** team, it would have sunk us.

Then we looked around and realized there just isn't anything on the market that helps companies do this — this most important thing imaginable.

So that's what we're working towards, would love your feedback.

Preston 🩳 Rutherford

LinkedIn Top Voice 2024 | Building LinkedIn (content+outreach) engines that make founders visible, credible & booked, every week | Ghostwriter | Personal Branding Strategist

Let’s make your LinkedIn a flex, and your most profitable GTM channel. 

Drop a line, and we’ll build something worth talking about. 

Best part, it shouldn't take more than 30 mins/week.

Reach out via DMs or connectdiksha99@gmail.com! 

Diksha Burnwal

You think you got Opus 4.6 and now you can replace, exchange, return your writer. Hold my kombucha.  

Sure you can prompt a few things and make Claude or Chatgpt spit long paragraphs that have the resemblance of a linkedin post and then you see, wow it performed decently. 

And start typing, "I replaced my ghostwriting team with Claude." Good for you, but you don’t just hire a writer to write. 

You hire them to understand: 

- Your business
- Your way of speaking, pacing, sentence structures
- The right anecdotes that can build or break your brand 
- The pattern recognition 
- The storytelling that makes your customers remember you

Offlate writers are being treated as "just writers” especially by founders and C-suites. They think let’s replace them. 

On the other hand there are tech giants, and the biggest companies out there paying hundreds of thousands to find their Chief Storytelling Officer and surprise surprise they aren’t looking for Chatgpt 10.0 or Claude Opus IDK. 

They’re hiring writers, writers who know what they’re doing. And the value they bring to the table. 

Also kombucha because I hate beer. You get the drift right?

I have been on a mission to regain my attention span. And here's everything that I have been doing-

Fox context: I wouldn't call myself an addict, but when you work in the social media space and you are chronically online it just makes the matter a whole lot worse. So... 

1. Reading fiction and in general reading more. It's been 2 weeks now and I already see a higher clarity and more intentional writing. You consume rich, you create rich. Simple. 

2. Putting my phone on grayscale. So, I'm not the kid in the candy store looking at colorful candies. 

3. Stopped consuming short form content. Better for impluse control and getting out of the cycle of receiving cheap dopamine hits. I am focusing more on reading substack articles, YT videos, and more. 

4. Keeping my phone away while I'm working. It gets 10X easy when you don't have a distracting af device at an arms length. 

BONUS: Started watching Ghibli movies, they're so pretty and doesn't overstimulate your brain. 

The whole reason why I'm running this experiment is to make more time and energy to do things I always wanted to instead of being on autopilot. 

And eventually being able to truly live analog. 

I'm curious what do you do to protect your attention span? And what has actually worked? Let's talk in the comments.

If I wasn’t worried about hurting your feelings, here’s the personal branding advice I’d actually give you:

10. If someone can’t tell what you do and who you serve in the first 3 seconds of viewing your profile, you’re losing leads.

9. Your banner is prime real estate. Use it to signal authority, with a clear value prop, a result, or social proof. 

 8. “Founder | Dreamer | Innovator” tells me nothing. “Helping D2C brands 3x retention via lifecycle emails” tells me everything.

7. Your ‘About’ section isn’t for you. It’s for the reader. Write like you’re answering: Why should someone trust me, follow me, or reach out?

6. One post a month won’t move the needle. If you’re serious about inbound and oppurtunities, show up at least twice a week, with intention. 

5. People don’t buy from the loudest voice. They buy from the clearest one. Show your thinking, your process, your results.

4. Thoughtful comments build visibility and reputation faster than cold DMs. Most people ignore this. You shouldn’t.

3. You don’t need to go “viral.” You need the right 100 people to trust you. 

2. Even a simple text post can convert. If it sounds like you, and carries a point of view. 

1. LinkedIn is a leadership channel. If you're not shaping perception here, someone else will do it for you, with less context and more assumptions. 

There you go! Peace out :)

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Hi I am Diksha, I've been the founder's favorite ghostwriter for over 5 years now. And I thought 2026 is my year until January happened... 

If I were to describe my January in a word it was, INSUFFERABLE. 

Why you ask? 

Okay let's start with the night of 14th when I had an acute stomach ache, and just like that I had to undergo a surgery for gallstones in less than a week. 

During this week, I popped painkillers 3 times a day, completed my deliverables, informed all the clients, and pipeline about my situation and went into the procedure.  

It will be exactly 1 month to my surgery this week. And I wasn't able to get myself to writing this post...  

But during the time of rest I understood so much about my body and life in general. So, at the risk of being that person who shares a lesson... i think this is important so I might as well be pigeonholed lol. 

-  Never ignore the signs of your body. My condition was severe because I didn't bother to get a checkup when I was having minor symptoms 6 months ago. The surgery was a whole lot worse because of that :) 

- Very few things matter in life, your people, your work, the water intake (trust me), and a clean diet. 

- Testing times like this will show you who your real friends, well wishers, are. And the vice versa. 

- Pain is not a bad thing. My doctor said it's your body's way of telling you something's bugging me get it out. It sucks for people who can't know what's wrong with their bodies at the right time.

- You can't outrun a bad diet. No matter how hard you try. 

- Start changing your mindset towards rest. It's not "unprodcutive" it's literally helping your body, mind, relax and do better. 

- I also caught up to some reading. It's been fun. Completed 2 books. 

That's all for today. I know I've been MIA for quite a bit and I have a lot to catch up on. 

Would love to hear how your first month of the year went. 

PS: You know I'm doing okay when I got a matcha in my hand.

Running a business is not one emotion. 

It’s a thousand layered on top of each other. 

Some days are heavy. Some knock the wind out of you.
And then there are days that remind you exactly why you chose this path. Days that fuel you so deeply that even the hardest nights feel worth it. 

This week was all of it. A full plate of flavors.
The chili, the spice, the sweet, the umami. 

On the chili side, there were 2 net negative moments that did pushed me to the corner.   

But then the sweet showed up. Twice.
An old client reached out after 2 years to say, “We worked so well together, I want to connect you with someone who’ll truly benefit from what you do.”   

And a one-time project that was supposed to end turned into something more. The client told me, “You nailed my tone perfectly. How can we work together in the future?” 

Those are the moments you breathe a little deeper and think, yes, this is it. This is why I’m doing this.

Owning a business means showing up no matter which flavor the week serves you.

And this week, I tasted them all.

I have been a writer for the last half a decade of my life. And as a service provider, you have to make peace with these 8 things. 

TW: they might stink a lil. 

1. Happy clients leave all the time. It’s not on you. 

2. If your mechanism is to doubt your own skillset even after considerable proof you have a self esteem issue there. Fix it. 

3. If you do not speak up, you’ll be taken for granted by your clients. 

4. Learn to overcommunicate. You're not being too much.  

5. Saying no to bad-fit clients is how you make room for the right ones. 

6. Your rate is not up for debate.

7. Nobody is coming to organize your business for you. The admin is part of the job.

8. The client who haggles the most will also be the hardest to please. 

That’s all <3 

Stay hydrated.

I’m gonna get a lot of hate for saying this, but every creator out there is a little bit of a narcissist.

Honestly, you kind of have to be.

You have to believe that what’s happening in your life is worth paying attention to. That the small, ordinary things you experience carry meaning that deserves to be said out loud.

Most people don’t think like that. They live, move on, forget.

Creators pause. They replay things in their head, trying to understand what it says about them, about the world, about the work they do.
And no that’s not arrogance, that’s awareness.

But awareness looks a lot like self-obsession if you don’t know how to use it.

So, if you’re someone who wants to post online but doesn’t know what to say, you don’t need a new content strategy. You just need to start noticing your own day differently. 

Here’s what I mean: 

(1) You’re a founder. Your product glitched. You sat with your team, found the bug that’s been hiding in plain sight, and fixed it. That’s a post about leadership and problem-solving.

(2) You’re a coach. A client finally had that breakthrough you’ve been working toward. Write about what shifted, that’s a post about transformation.

(3) You’re a service provider. A client ghosted you, and you figured out what red flag you missed early on. That’s a post about boundaries and systems.

(4) You’re a marketer. You launched a campaign that tanked. That’s a post about feedback loops and creative judgment.

(5) You had a hard day managing your team. That’s a post about people, emotions, and trust.

(6) You read something that challenged what you believed. That’s a post about growth.

The ideas aren’t hiding in some fancy framework. They’re sitting in the middle of your own day, waiting for you to notice them.

So yes, maybe every creator is a little bit of a narcissist. But the good ones turn that self-focus into something useful for others.

And that’s what separates a post from a reflection, it starts with you, but it doesn’t end there. 

Thoughts??

taplio

The Battle

Preston 🩳 Rutherford

Diksha Burnwal

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taplio

The Battle

Preston 🩳 Rutherford

Diksha Burnwal

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);}Diksha Burnwal's LinkedIn Performance

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