Sam Szuchan

Founder @ Soleo. LinkedIn strategy for industry leaders. Clients work w/ Apple, Amazon, Google + published in FT, Bloomberg, etc.

Creator of influence. Nice things folks have said about me:

"Recently, a lot of Sam's posts have been taking off. Last week, he helped me reach 400K+ enterprise professionals with a single post. A third of them from companies with 10,000+ employees. When recruiting teams start sharing your content internally, you know you're doing something right."
—Very major recruiting tech CEO

"Each time that I post [a post Sam made], 100+ people enroll in a course that changes their lives, and my business does twelve or thirteen grand in revenue in that day. A total win-win."
—B2B educator you 100% definitely follow

"Sam helped me clarify my goals and think strategically to reach 150K people in my target demographic – largely founders, CEOs, and senior execs. Prospects frequently mention my LinkedIn content."
—CEO of very cool agency working with Google and many other big tech co's!

"Sam's ability to understand who you are and become an extension of you online is second to none. He provides strategic direction, insightful research, and a relentless desire to bring your strengths and knowledge to light."
—Forbes 30u30 founder who basically invented consumer-facing recruiting tech

You have probably read a few dozen posts I've written without realizing it. Thanks for stopping by :)

Founder

Formerly Saga. Leveraging the world's largest B2B platform to create overwhelming lead pipelines for B2B firms.

"As long as the history books get it right, take some pride in letting the newspapers get it wrong."

Sam Altman wrote that in 2020. A year earlier, he walked away from Y Combinator's presidency to bet everything on OpenAI. 

Everyone thought he was insane.

YC was the most powerful platform in startup land. Direct access to hundreds of founders per year. The ability to shape how an entire generation thinks about building companies. A reputation machine that had already minted Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe.

Remember, this was 2019 - way before OpenAI’s rise. He left YC for (what was then) a nonprofit-controlled AI lab that still looked more like a research shop than a product company.

Looking back, EVERY move he made throughout his career was the maximum leverage option available to build influence, way before anyone realized:

- Chose computer science at Stanford in the early 2000s when finance was the prestige path
- Dropped out to do YC and build Loopt when he could have gone straight to Google or Facebook
- After Loopt, launched Hydrazine Capital to invest in YC companies, making himself essential infrastructure for the next generation of founders
- Became YC president at 28 and turned it into a distribution network across hundreds of startups
- Left YC to become CEO of OpenAI's new "capped-profit" structure

Throughout his entire career, he's been 5-10 years early on the most influential position possible. It's happened too many times to be a coincidence.

His pattern works because he understands how influence compounds. Every YC batch, he met dozens of founders at their most malleable stage.

He saw the raw decks, the dysfunctional teams, the early flashes of product-market fit. Some became Instacart, DoorDash, and Coinbase.

Each founder he helped became a future allocator of equity, attention, and introductions.

Their founders remembered who took them seriously when they were pitching half-finished slides.

"The question isn't 'How do I stop caring what people think?'" Altman wrote. "It's 'Whose opinions should I care about and on what timescale?'"

November 2023 proved the pattern works. When OpenAI's board tried to oust him, hundreds of employees threatened to walk. Microsoft made it clear the partnership was with Altman, not the corporate shell.

He didn’t survive through maneuvering.

He survived because of the protective layer of influence he built.

Because influence isn't a cooler job title—

It's pure leverage.

It's a 15-year bet on who and what matters later, and how you can own it before anyone realizes it’s the next big thing.

“The newspapers will get it wrong. The history books will get it right.”

That's the bet he's made his entire career - and he's making it again.

What could you build by choosing history books over newspapers?

P.S. Full breakdown of Altman's 15-year playbook in the comments

Sam Altman Chose Influence Over Billions (And Got Both)

MidWeek

MidWeek hosts workshops and panel discussions for people in their 20s and 30s navigating career uncertainty. Our London events create a space for honest conversations about work, purpose, and what comes next.

Through structured workshops and panels featuring people who've successfully navigated career transitions, we help participants move from confusion to clarity. It's where ambitious people come to figure out their next move, surrounded by others who get it.

Not networking. Not generic career advice. Just real conversations about finding work that actually fits who you are.

Still Wandering

Still Wandering is a weekly newsletter documenting the reality of finding meaningful work when you don't know what that means yet.

Every week, I share honest reflections on navigating career uncertainty in your 20s and 30s. No frameworks or success theater—just raw documentation of the actual journey.

What I write about:

- Personal experiments in self-discovery and what I'm learning
- Conversations with others figuring out their professional path  
- The questions we're not supposed to ask about work and meaning
- Resources and ideas that genuinely shift perspective

This is for anyone who knows they want more from work but can't articulate what that is. For those collecting experiences and degrees but still feeling like they're living someone else's life. 

I'm not here to sell you answers. I'm here to make the wandering feel less lonely by sharing mine.

Writer

TrueNorth

TrueNorth is an AI-powered career coach designed for people who need to figure out what they want before they figure out how to get it.

Unlike traditional career tools that start with job searches and skills assessments, TrueNorth begins where real career clarity begins: with understanding yourself.

How it works:

Deep self-discovery sessions - Through thoughtful AI-guided conversations, uncover your core values, what energises you, and what kind of impact you want to make. No generic personality tests—just real exploration of what matters to you.

Pattern recognition - TrueNorth remembers every conversation, tracking how your thinking evolves over time. It spots patterns you might miss and reflects them back to help you see yourself more clearly.

Practical pathfinding - Once you understand what you're looking for, TrueNorth helps you explore aligned career paths and design small experiments to test what might actually fit. No overwhelming action plans—just the next right step.

Ongoing support - Career clarity isn't a one-time event. TrueNorth grows with you, helping navigate transitions, test new directions, and stay aligned as you evolve.

Who it's for:

- Recent graduates who feel overwhelmed by infinite options
- Professionals who've succeeded but feel unfulfilled  
- Career changers who know they want something different but can't articulate what
- Anyone tired of career advice that assumes you already know what you want

Built on the belief that you can't build a meaningful career until you understand what meaning means to you. Everything else—the applications, the networking, the skill-building—comes after that.

Start with who you are. End with work that fits.

arco.

Personal Brand Strategist

Thoughtleadr

Key Responsibilities:

• Managed content strategy and engagement for 10+ eight-figure business leaders
• Built and nurtured online communities across LinkedIn, Twitter, and email channels
• Developed personal brand strategies for C-suite executives and founders
• Created high-performing content that drove 6-figure audience growth

Notable Achievements:

• Increased client engagement rates by 300%+ through strategic content optimization
• Scaled multiple executive personal brands to industry-leading positions
• Secured podcast appearances and speaking opportunities at major industry events
• Generated millions of impressions monthly across client accounts
• Built repeatable systems for thought leadership that scaled across diverse industries

Creative Director

Opulous

Digital Marketing Intern

PUBLIC PRESSURE

ITMV

Digital Marketing Consultant

Expedition Engineering Ltd

Junior Engineer

Helping businesses deliver impact by enhancing their visibility and reputation | Founder of arco.

I spent my early twenties collecting careers like stamps. Architecture degree, music production, entrepreneurship—each pivot made perfect sense at the time, but from the outside it looked like I couldn't commit to anything.

The truth was simpler: I had no idea who I was, so how could I know what to do?

I discovered this wasn't just my problem. Almost everyone I knew—smart, capable people with good degrees—felt completely lost about their careers. We'd been taught how to get jobs, but nobody taught us how to figure out what work would actually fulfil us.

That realisation changed everything. I saw that the real problem wasn't a lack of opportunities or skills. It was that most career advice starts at step 10 when people like us were still stuck at step 1: understanding ourselves.

Now I'm building tools and communities to fix this:

TrueNorth: An AI-powered career coach that starts with self-discovery, not job listings

MidWeek: London events bringing together people navigating career uncertainty

Still Wandering: A newsletter documenting the messy reality of finding meaningful work

I work with people in their 20s and 30s who know they want something more from work but can't articulate what that is. People who've tried following conventional career paths but felt like they were wearing someone else's clothes.

My approach is simple: you can't build a meaningful career until you understand what meaning means to you. Everything else—the skills, the networking, the applications—comes after that.

If you're tired of career advice that assumes you already know what you want, let's talk.

taplio

The Battle

Sam Szuchan

Alex McCann

Followers

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taplio

The Battle

Sam Szuchan

Alex McCann

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);}Sam Szuchan's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSam Szuchan's LinkedIn Performance