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)

Founder of 1% Better™ | Former accountant, future author | Follow me for the best self-development content on LinkedIn

Former accountant.
Future author.

I share actionable, educational, and entertaining self-development content to help my readers live their best lives.

Join 65K+ receiving my top 5 discoveries every week:

https://colbynewsletter.ck.page

Colby Kultgen

I dealt with negative self-talk for years.

And believe me when I say, It's no fun going through life as your own worst enemy.

That's why I love simple reframes like this.

They’re the tiny course corrections that, over months and years, can completely transform the way you speak to yourself.

Source: Coral Santoro on Instagram

The only way to become the kind of person who can do the thing…is to start doing the thing before you feel like that kind of person.

Read that twice.

Most people get this backwards.

They wait until they feel like a "real" writer to publish.
They wait until they feel like a leader to speak up.

But here’s the thing: 
Identity doesn’t come first, action does.

The evidence you're searching for only shows up after you start.

So if you're feeling stuck right now.

Overthinking. 
Overpreparing. 
Overconsuming.

Ask yourself:
1. What would the “qualified” version of me do today?
2. What small move could I make in that direction?

Then do that.

Act like the person you want to become.
Eventually, you won’t be acting anymore.

End-of-year reminder:

You’re allowed to be proud of things that have nothing to do with income or promotions.

The friendships you strengthened.
The habits you kept.
The boundaries you honoured.
The health you protected.
The person you’re becoming.

Success is a much bigger pie than job titles and salaries.

If you grew, healed, learned, showed up for people, or protected your energy this year—that counts.

Celebrate the parts of your life that don’t get LinkedIn announcements.

Image credit: 6secondseq on IG

No alternative text description for this image

a study everyone should know about:

Your brain is lying to you about the past.

Research shows we overestimate how predictable past events were by 30-50% (hindsight bias).

Translation: 
You think you "should have known better" way more often than you actually could have.

When you catch yourself spiraling about a past decision, run it through this filter:

1. Information gap - What did I not know then that I know now?
2. Resource gap - What didn't I have access to? (time, money, support, tools)
3. Awareness gap - What emotional patterns or blind spots hadn't I recognized yet?
4. Growth gap - What skills or wisdom hadn't I developed?

Your brain rewrites history to make past outcomes seem obvious. 

The reality is:
You did the best you could with what you knew. Now you know more. 

That's not failure, that's the whole point.

Remember:

It's better to admit you walked through the wrong door than spend your life in the wrong room.

I see this everywhere. 

The soul-crushing job we keep because it sounds impressive on paper.
The toxic relationship we cling to because leaving feels like giving up.
The outdated belief we defend because we've already invested so much of ourselves into it.

The hard part isn't recognizing this, it’s admitting it.

Because admitting you're in the wrong room means admitting you made a mistake. It means backing out. Confronting the sunk cost. Disappointing people. Starting over.

But here's what nobody tells you: staying costs more.

Every day in the wrong room is a day not spent in the right one.
It's not just wasted time, it's the compounding loss of what could have been.

The opportunities you'll never see. 
The version of yourself you'll never become.

Sometimes the bravest thing you can do in life is simply say: "This isn't right for me anymore.”

And then move on.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

Developing a bias for action is one of the most valuable things you can do in life.

This advice isn't anything new, Rumi was preaching the same thing almost 1,000 years ago: "As you start to walk on the way, the way appears."

As far as making this part of your every day working process goes, here are a few ideas:

1. Start every morning with one “move it forward” task. Pick the single smallest action that will advance your most important project, and do it before checking anything reactive.

2. Shrink every task to the next physical step. Not “write the article” but “outline the first three points.” Not “launch the product” but “draft the landing page headline.”

3. End the day by setting tomorrow’s first action. Before you close your laptop, write down the exact task you’ll start with in the morning.

♻️ Repost if this resonates.

graphical user interface, text, application

An idea that genuinely changed my life…

The Average Tuesday Rule:

The quality of your ordinary Tuesday is the best measure of your life satisfaction.

Think about it.

We spend 80% of our lives on these “nothing special” days, yet we obsess over optimizing the other 20%—weekends, vacations, milestones.

We tolerate miserable Tuesdays while dreaming about spectacular Saturdays.

But when your average Tuesday is an 8/10, everything changes:
↳ You stop counting down to Friday.
↳ Small moments start mattering more than big events.
↳ You start enjoying the entire ride, not just the peaks.

Most self-improvement advice focuses on reaching the ceiling.

The Average Tuesday Rule flips this approach: focus on raising your floor.

Here’s where to start:

➊ Design your ideal ordinary day:
 From wake-up to bedtime, craft a realistic blueprint for an 8/10 Tuesday.

➋ Take small steps to close the gap: 
- Identify one daily friction point and solve it permanently. 
- Add one small joy to your routine and protect it fiercely.
- Subtract one energy leak that consistently drains you. 

❸ Keep doing this until your reality matches your ideal.

Because life isn’t made up of mountaintop moments.

It’s made up of average Tuesdays.

How to remember almost everything you learn (science-backed):

how to remember almost everything you learn

I’m 34. 

Here’s what I would tell my 24-year-old self:

I’m 34. Here’s what I would tell my 24-year-old self.

How to do a hard reset on your life before 2026:

How to do a hard reset on your life before 2026

How to unrot your brain (step-by-step)

Reminder:

You don’t have to wait until January 1 to change your life.

Here are 6 questions to close out 2025 strong and hit the ground running in 2026:

6 questions to answer during the last 6 weeks of 2025

30 short habits with a massive return on life:

What would you add to this list?

30 short habits with a massive return on life 

5 non-negotiable daily routines every person should have:

5 non-negotiable daily routines every person should have

A "razor" is a rule of thumb for simplifying complex decisions.

Here are 8 everyone should know:

8 decision-making razors everyone should know

How to get more done in less time (8 daily non-negotiables):

How to get more done in less time 

Well, it's that time of year again.

Before we rush into 2026 with a fresh set of goals and big plans, there's something important we should do first:

Reflect on the 12 months behind us.

Wins, losses, lessons. The stuff most people skip over in their rush to plan what's next.

I originally created this set of 7 questions for myself, but after seeing how impactful they were, I knew I had to share them with you.

2025 Personal Year-In-Review

How to do a digital declutter before 2026:

taplio

The Battle

Sam Szuchan

Colby Kultgen

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSam Szuchan's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreColby Kultgen's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Sam Szuchan

Colby Kultgen

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

Performance ScoreColby Kultgen's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSam Szuchan's LinkedIn Performance