Head of Client Strategy @ Kurogo | We create thought leaders through personal branding | Award-winning Imperial College London alumnus

We turn entrepreneurs into credible thought leaders through personal branding so they can scale their businesses, unlock untapped opportunities and outlast their competition.

If you're anything like our clients, you're an expert in your field. One of the best.

But you just don't seem to have the reputation you deserve.

You want to be the go-to authority in your industry and become an opportunity magnet.

That way you could...
- Generate inbound leads consistently
- Win clients and customers with ease
- Attract media features
- Attract top talent
- Speak on stage

The list is endless.

We help our clients do just that through the power of personal branding, by:

1. Giving them clarity on their brand and positioning them as industry leaders.
2. Blowing up their social profiles and landing them high-profile media features.
3. Helping them convert their new-found reputation into meaningful opportunities and ROl

And having built 300+ personal brands, we've got quite good at it, achieving results like these in the process:

🚀 Jack generated 2.5M views and 6 figures in revenue in 90 days with us
🚀 Joe and Olly generated millions of views and saw a record month
🚀 Guy added 5 figures of pipeline value in a matter of months
🚀 Olie added £50K of inbound revenue to his pipeline Sue generated over 8.3 million views in 4 months
🚀 Jemma increased her views by 51,347%
🚀 James became an Amazon Best Seller Tom generated 5M views in 3 months

Your reputation is your biggest asset.

Take control of it!

If you want to see how we could help you build your personal brand, shoot me a dm saying 'Personal Brand'

If you're not quite ready yet, I post content on here showing you how to do it yourself.

Satwik S.

The GPS never says "you made a mistake". It says "recalculating route". 
That's what ambition should look like. 

Last year, I had to slow down and take detours.

But it was ok because I knew I was still moving.

(And move I did- literally)

I made the extremely difficult decision of moving back to my home country after:

- securing that elusive work visa
- achieving an Imperial College Master's 
- running 2 successful solo consulting businesses 
- spending 8 years alone, 4,000 miles away from home

When I came to the UK aged 18, I-

Wanted to "make a man" of myself. 
Wanted to grow, challenge and improve. 
Wanted to achieve financial stability and independence. 

I learned from some incredibly successful people, sometimes far younger yet far 'bigger' than me. 

I worked and hammered YESs to every opportunity, just so brilliant people would keep me around and allow me to learn. 

So here I am, checking in my suitcases full of their work ethic, demeanour, tenacity and skill.

For sure, moving back means un-doing some things I worked hard towards,

But in the grand scheme of things, it's all still in the spirit of ambition and growth.

Taking a step back so I can leap forwards. 

Recalculating route.

Head of Strategy and Content @Kurogo | We create thought leaders through personal branding | 300+ Personal Brands Built

The time we had to fire a client…(not clickbait)

Here’s the backstory:

- Client comes on wanting to create a personal brand
- Objective: “win my new business leads”
- Outcome: 4 months in, no results 

And don’t get me wrong:

The work was top-notch. 
The delivery was perfect. 
The client was buzzing. 

There were 0 complaints, pushbacks, problems. 

But we still put our foot down. Why?

Their business was too early in its journey. 

Barely a functioning website. 
Several re-brands along the way.
Multiple changes to the strategy and content. 

The business didn’t know what it wanted to be yet- and I didn’t see that changing soon. 

So I texted Sam I wanted to put down the rabid dog.

We did the right thing and let them go.

Marketing can’t fix or create a business. 
Content alone won’t bring you your first customer. 
Sometimes, the best action you can take is none at all. 

Now, we thoroughly assess prospect readiness before kicking off campaigns. 

Because the last thing we want to do is make a quick buck at the cost of a new business’ precious capital.

When you create something new, you remove yourself from the competition.
You become the only choice - not just another option.

And that's what positioning is:

1. Create something that does not exist
2. Claim it as your own

Most people try to compete in a crowded room. A "Red Ocean".

They see what is working for others, copy it, and hope to stand out.

Bad move.

Here is the real playbook:

→ Find a niche that is empty or underserved.
→ Frame it in your own words. Give it a name. Make it yours.
→ Claim it by sharing your unique point of view again and again.

Now you are not in the “better” race. 
You are in the “different” race. 
(Hint: different always wins.)

Want to become irreplaceable? 

Stop talking about how you are better. 
Start showing how you are different.

Btw, you don’t need a fancy framework. You need:

→ A clear promise that says what you offer.
→ A source of proof that you are credible.
→ A unique mechanism, POV or personality.

Remember: the most valuable brands are not the best at what everyone else does. 

They are the best at what only they do. A category of One.

This week, have a think about what your category is. 
My DMs are open!

Jake Summerhayes

Working with founders and business Leaders to craft powerful and authentic personal brands. 

Why? Because reputation matters. 

- 82% of customers trust a company when their senior management members are active on social media

- Brand messages are shared 24x more on personal accounts compared to company accounts

- Customers are willing to pay 13.5x more for elite industry experts

Yet only 1% of LinkedIn's 700 million users share weekly content. 

Our mission at Kurogo is to solve that.

Kurogo is derived from the Japanese ‘Kuroko’ referring to the black clad stagehands in traditional Japanese theatre.

The convention of wearing black implying the invisibility of the wearer on stage. 

We are your Kurogo. 

Directing, driving and delivering your personal brand from the background. 

Giving you the spotlight to excel in what you do best.

Head Of Client Services

Client: “Content approved, no changes”
Me (a nearly 30-year-old man ):

Client Services Director @ Kurogo | We create thought leaders through Personal Branding

“Who the fuck is Steven Bartlett?”

That was the response my Mrs had a few years ago when I said I wanted to watch Dragon's Den, because it was his first season.

This marketing bubble is much smaller than you think.

Go and touch some grass.

Just admit it, you’re never going to look at that saved post again…

I’m 29. I lead client services at a remote agency. 

My day: 

7:00am-1:00pm Work
1:00pm-3:00pm Break
3:00pm-4:30pm Work

Honestly any structure other than this would be bullshit, because it changes everyday.

My metrics for success are:
- Client Retention
- Team Happiness
- Team Performance

And whilst there is a list of tasks and responsibilities that fall under the pursuit of those, every day, week or month ends up being different. 

Things come up, priorities shift and I’m given the freedom to be flexible.

As long as we’re growing the business, and making progress towards those metrics, nothing else matters.

I am really not looking forward to 2026 

It's going to be an incredibly tough year for myself and Kurogo.

We're going to be dealing with a lot of consequences of 2025.

- Hitting Record MMR multiple times
- Crossing the £1,000,000 ARR mark
- Having our largest team yet 
- Having our biggest social ever
- Signing a record number of clients 
- Records across all client delivery metrics
- Record campaign performance metrics 

These are all huge problems because now we have to beat them again this year.

AND I need to hire a bunch of people to help us do it.

My steak is too juicy and my lobster is too buttery.

If you can be arsed being a part of it, keep an eye out on all personal and company socials.

We'll be releasing some roles soon...

I once fired a client during their onboarding call. 

They spent less than 15 minutes on the books.

What did the job was they were throwing around phrases like:
”What guarantees do I have after the contract ends?”
”This other agency offered me x, y and z”
”Can we add a refund if I’m not happy?”

(Bearing in mind they had already been back and forth with the sales team for over a month)

But these things weren’t the issue; they never are. 

Just symptoms of someone who’s jumped into something before they were ready. The reasons for which ultimately don’t matter. 

As soon as it becomes obvious we’re starting off on that foot, it’s best we end it before we both have a shit time and the regret spirals into resentment.

Like my first relationship
- I didn’t actually fire them, it was ‘mutual’ of course
- They went with someone else and came back a few months later
- We had a great time for 6-months and parted ways amicably 

Alls well that ends well.

When people say social media is cyclical this is what they mean…

It’s so easy to feel like every other business has a perfect product or service.

Then you buy a toaster from a leading UK retailer that turns out not to be deep enough to fit a full slice of bread, so now all your toast comes with 2 inches of bread OR you flip it round to create an ombre that would have 2012 jealous. 

Every single morning, I'm reminded that the world is full of incompetence.

And you're probably doing better than you think.

4 years ago, I joined Kurogo as their 4th hire.

We’re now up to 20 of us with over £100k MRR.

In honour of that anniversary here’s my 4 biggest lessons beginning with f….

- Fucking focus: 1 thing done well is better than 10 things done poorly.
- Fuck Hustle Culture: Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, stop rushing
- Fucking Plan: It will never go the way you think, but it gives perspective.
- Fuck being scared of feedback: It’s never personal, but it is necessary.

4 years, 4 f’s, very fucking worth it. 

Here’s to another year of doing what we do. Sometimes wrong, mostly right, never boring.

Bonus For 2026: Fuck your shit AI content (still)

I check one number every week: client churn. If it's high, nothing else matters.

Most agency owners obsess over new leads.

But if your clients keep leaving, you’re running on a treadmill.

Acquisition feeds your ego. Retention feeds your bank balance.

Every Monday, I review churn with my senior team. If that number’s not low, nothing else in the business works. You can pile on as many new clients as you want-it’s like running a bath with the plug out.

Here’s what moved our retention from “average” to “best-in-class” in the last 6 months:

1. Set real expectations.
Tempting to promise the world in sales calls. But if you do, you’ll deal with unhappy clients and refunds. Be clear about what they get and what they don’t.

2. Nail the first 30 days.
Onboarding sets the tone. Give them a win in the first 48 hours. Show progress, no matter how small. Always tell them what’s next. Uncertainty kills trust.

3. Over-communicate.
We send weekly roundups: what we did, results, stats, next steps. Monthly reports give the big picture. Never let a client wonder if you’re working for them.

4. Do what you say, when you say.
Missed deadlines are worse than missed features. I left an agency once, not because they failed to deliver, but because they never did it on time. Consistency > fireworks.

5. Incentivise your team on retention.
Forget fancy bonus schemes. Reward your team for keeping clients. Simple target, simple reward.

Retention is not just about service. It’s about trust, clarity, and doing the basics right every time.

Want to scale? Obsess over churn.

ps. Save this post for the week you feel like you’re losing clients faster than you gain them.

Every business has three core systems:

1️⃣ Acquisition (get attention and leads)
2️⃣ Value Delivery (give clients what you promised)
3️⃣ Infrastructure (everything behind the scenes)

Most people scale the first one too early. 
They pour fuel on the fire before fixing leaks.

Here’s my rule: Don’t scale until less than 10% of your clients have problems. 

If you ignore this, you only scale the headaches.

Client experience is the same. 

Call clients at key points. 
Ask where the process broke. 
Use their feedback to smooth the journey.

Acquisition feeds your ego. Retention feeds your bank balance.

Everyone loves chasing new clients. Feels good. Makes you look busy. But if you can’t keep them, you’re running a business with the plug out.

Here’s what I see all the time:

- People refuse to work for free, saying they’re “worth more.” They spend 6 months searching for that first paid client.
- Meanwhile, the ones willing to work for free land their first client in 30 days, get proof, and start charging real money within 60.
- The ego crowd is still arguing about their value. The others are building a real business.

You don’t need to quit your day job to start. Validate your offer. Get a few case studies. Then focus on what actually matters: keeping those clients.

Retaining clients is where the real game starts. Most people obsess over acquisition. But acquisition is vanity. Retention is sanity.

Here are 5 things that have doubled our retention rate in the last 6 months:

1️⃣ Set real expectations. Overpromise in sales and you’ll create unhappy clients who leave fast. Be honest about what you deliver.

2️⃣ Nail the first 30 days. Give your client a clear win within 48 hours. Remove uncertainty. Let them know what happens next. First impressions stick.

3️⃣ Weekly communication. Every Friday, we send clients a roundup: what we did, what worked, and what’s next. If you don’t remind clients of your value, they’ll forget it.

4️⃣ Do what you say, when you say it. I’ve left agencies-not because the work was bad, but because promises weren’t kept. Reliability beats over-delivery every time.

5️⃣ Incentivise your team for retention. Tie bonuses to client stickiness, not just acquisition. The team cares about what you measure.

If you can’t retain clients, you’ll never scale. It’s that simple.

Acquisition is loud. Retention is quiet-but it’s where the money is.

Save this for the days you’re tempted to chase shiny new leads.

taplio

The Battle

Satwik S.

Jake Summerhayes

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSatwik S.'s LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJake Summerhayes's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Satwik S.

Jake Summerhayes

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);}Satwik S.'s LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJake Summerhayes's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSatwik S.'s LinkedIn Performance