Cosmo Tech | The Decision Twin Platform for Supply Chain, Finance & Asset Leaders at Fortune 500 Scale | Simulate Tomorrow. Decide Today.

I specialize in the messy middle of B2B SaaS scaling—taking companies from erratic growth to a disciplined, high-performance revenue engine.

Most sales teams don’t fail because they lack talent; they fail because of ambiguity.
When forecasts can’t be trusted, pipelines move only through founder heroics, and managers report activity instead of owning outcomes, you don’t need another playbook—you need an operating system.

My operating philosophy: Cadence | Ownership | Process

I install a repeatable flywheel of operational excellence:

Cadence
A rigorous Rhythm of Business—daily, weekly, and monthly operating cadence that surfaces execution risk early, before it becomes a board-level surprise.

Ownership
Managers own outcomes, not just activity. Forecasts are built bottom-up so leadership can commit without caveats.

Process
Qualification and execution are standardized before adding headcount, ensuring hiring is tied to capacity and real revenue impact—not hope.

The proof (Ekahau — SVP, Global Sales, 2019–2024)
	•	Revenue: Scaled $25M → $65M ARR in five years
	•	EBITDA: Increased $7M → $32M (margins ~20% → ~50%)
	•	Team: Built a 130-person global organization while reducing per-employee cost 25%

Selected wins
	•	Healthentic: Doubled ACV ($5M → $10M) and drove 10× pipeline growth through GTM transformation
	•	ControlCase: Delivered 34% YoY growth and 300% expansion revenue growth

Currently

Available for VP of Sales or Fractional GTM leadership with B2B SaaS companies $5M–$30M ARR. I also lead SalesGSS (revenue operating frameworks) and DigitalRegIntel (regulatory intelligence for AI/fintech).

The Senator perspective

Two terms as a Washington State Senator taught me the value of high-stakes negotiation and public accountability. I bring that same discipline to sales: clear ownership and execution when the pressure is real.

“Steve is ‘Instant Offense’ for sales—rare and valuable. World-class at creating strategic, data-driven sales teams.”
— Jeff O’Mara, CEO (Healthentic) / GM (Ekahau)

Steve Litzow

AI didn’t kill sales reps.
It killed excuses.

In 2026, AI isn’t a productivity tool — it’s a truth serum.

It exposes:
• Broken process
• Weak management
• Fake activity dressed up as “effort”

If your sales motion is tight, AI compresses time-to-decision.
If it’s sloppy, AI just produces more noise — faster.

Most $10M–$50M ARR teams are about to learn this the hard way.

This is Week 1 of the SalesGSS 2026 Operating Series.
Eight weeks. Eight uncomfortable truths.

AI didn’t come for your reps.
It came for your excuses.

Comment “2026” if you want the series.

VP of Sales / Fractional VP (B2B SaaS, VC & PE-backed) for $5M–$30M B2B SaaS | Scaled $25M → $65M ARR | SalesGSS

Your closers aren’t the problem.
Your committee is.

Roughly half of qualified B2B deals don’t lose.
They stall.
“No decision.”

At $10M–$50M ARR, the pattern is consistent:
• Strong champion
• Positive calls
• Deal “feels good”

But it’s single-threaded.

One relationship trying to carry internal selling across:
Finance. IT. Security. Procurement. Operations.

The closer is persuasive.
The organization isn’t aligned.

With 10+ stakeholders involved, persuasion no longer scales.

Elite closers in 2026 aren’t smoother.
They’re better at internal selling.

They multi-thread early.
They equip champions.
They sell the decision process.

Quick diagnostic:

Can your reps name five stakeholders—and each one’s priority—in their top deals?

If not, you’re optimized for persuasion when you need consensus.

Week 2 of the SalesGSS 2026 Operating Series.
(Week 1: AI doesn’t fix execution—it exposes it.)

Comment “2026” if you want the series.

If you can’t prove value in the first 60 days, you don’t have a deal.

In 2026, long sales cycles aren’t what kill deals.

Delayed proof does.

Buyers will wait longer to buy —
but they won’t wait longer to know if they made the right decision.

57% of B2B buyers expect positive ROI within 3 months — not at renewal.

If a champion can’t point to a concrete win inside 60 days:

Confidence erodes
Finance steps in
“Commit” turns into “let’s wait and see”

That’s why the strongest teams aren’t closing faster.

They’re proving faster.

They define Day-60 success before the contract is signed.
They scope for proof, not size.
They treat time-to-value as a deal quality metric, not a CS problem.

If value only shows up at renewal, the deal was insured by hope — not evidence.

This is Week 3 of the SalesGSS 2026 Operating Series.
Next week: why slow product cadence is becoming a silent deal-killer.

This week’s regulatory signal isn’t clarity — it’s formation.

In the U.S., digital asset market structure legislation stalled again. In the EU, regulators are already questioning AI Act transparency practices well ahead of enforcement.

Different jurisdictions. Different tools. Same supervisory pattern.

Expectations are forming before rules finalize — and long before penalties appear.

That’s what shows up later in:
- Board and audit committee questions
- nvestor and acquirer diligence
- Bank and payment-partner reviews

Not “what did the law eventually say?”
But “what did leadership understand and monitor as expectations evolved?”

I publish a short Digital Regulatory Intelligence brief each Tuesday that documents these early supervisory signals — not predictions, not legal conclusions — just what’s forming in real time.

Most regulatory risk doesn’t show up as a rule violation.

It shows up later as a question regulators now ask routinely in enforcement actions:

“When did you become aware of this risk?”

Across new digital regulations and recent enforcement matters, regulators have shifted from checklist compliance to supervisory posture — an expectation of continuous, documented awareness.

Exposure today isn’t just what you did.
It’s what you reasonably knew — and when you knew it.

That’s why this is increasingly a board-level issue, not a compliance exercise.

Curious how others are documenting supervisory awareness before it’s asked for.

When supervision exists only in email, it doesn’t exist at all.

This week didn’t bring a sweeping new regulation.
That’s exactly the risk.

Across the U.S. and EU, regulators continued applying existing authority while legislative clarity remains unresolved. That combination — active enforcement discretion + unresolved rules — is where most future compliance failures are born.

Fast-forward 24–36 months and the question won’t be:

“Was the guidance clear?”

It will be:
“What did you know — when did you know it — and how was that knowledge supervised?”

This week alone:

SEC and CFTC signaled regulatory coordination is moving forward without Congress
EU AI Act transparency expectations quietly locked in
FinCEN delayed rules while Treasury intensified enforcement
Enforcement volume dropped — but guidance-based expectations accelerated

None of this required a new rule. All of it creates exposure.

If your supervisory awareness lives in emails, Slack threads, or people’s heads, it won’t survive diligence, exams, or enforcement.

That’s why we published this week’s DigitalRegIntel Supervisory Brief — and why we believe supervisory awareness needs a system of record, not a newsletter.

Because when the question comes,
explanations don’t count. Records do.

This week’s brief formally documents each supervisory signal referenced above.

#RegulatoryCompliance #DigitalAssets #AIGovernance #RegTech #Compliance

I use VAs and AI to save company owners 5+ hours a day by completing their tasks.| Marketing for startups and enterprises since 2012 | Founder of Dotcom Quest

It took me years of trial and error to figure out how to grow followers and generate leads.Now, I’m giving away the entire strategy at FREE.Back in 2012, I was hustling for Las Vegas clubs, trying to generate leads in one of the toughest markets in the world.I had no budget.I had no fancy tools.I had no clue what would work.After years of testing, failing, and refining, I cracked the code for predictable growth and steady leads on social media.I used this system to grow my LinkedIn to over 10,000 followers and consistently generate leads ➜ all without paid ads or guesswork.Now, I’m sharing that exact system in LinkedIn Launchpad which is a course and community of professionals focused on growth and results.Here’s what you’ll get:🚀 Proven strategies to grow your next 5,000 followers (or more).🚀 A step-by-step system to start landing leads by the end of the month.🚀 Support from a like-minded community committed to success.Here’s what you DON’T need:❌ A huge following to start.❌ Expensive tools or ads.❌ To be great on camera.In this course and community, you’ll:✅ Grow your audience quickly and predictably.✅ Turn your connections into inbound leads.✅ Land clients through authentic, no-pressure outreach.If I could figure this out from scratch, imagine what you can do with the system in your hands.Click link in bio to join at no cost and start building your audience and generating leads today.

Ricky Waters

Everyone treats LinkedIn like a resume.

I treated it like a funnel instead and got 1,300 leads.

For months, I thought was doing everything "right."

Posting daily.
Writing strong hooks.
Engaging in comments.

But I was only getting likes, not leads.

Why?

Because I was treating LinkedIn it's only for content.

Not a funnel.

The shift happened when I stopped asking "what should I post" and started asking "what path does my ideal customer take?"

Here's the truth:

Content without a funnel is just noise.

Your profile and every post needs to answer one question "does this move someone closer to trusting me?"

Not "is this clever?" Not "will this go viral?"

Just trust.

You need a system that makes it impossible for your customers to not take the next step.

Once I built that lens, everything clicked.

I created this 9-step funnel (see image for all the steps) and everything changed. 1,300 leads in the next 3 months.

The crazy part?

Most people are doing 3-4 of these steps already. They're just missing the ones that actually convert.

Look at the image. 
Find the 3 steps you're skipping. 
Fix those first.

That's how you turn content into leads.

📌 Want the full system? (click my link in bio for the playbook)
♻️ Repost to help your network build real funnels.
➕ Follow me Ricky Waters for more systems that actually work.

Join FREE LinkedIn Course + Skool Community With 1.2k+ Creators ➜ Click Bio Link

29 LinkedIn crimes you might be guilty of.

Don’t get caught doing this on LinkedIn.

We’ve seen too many creators break the rules lately.

Posting like it's Facebook. Oversharing like it's therapy.
And forgetting to remove AI buzzwords from ChatGPT

So we made a list.

29 infractions you’ll want to avoid at all costs.

❌ No more pitch slapping DMs
❌ No more begging for engagement
❌ No more waiting days to never hit ‘post’ because it’s not perfect yet

Think of this as your official warning.

Swipe the carousel to be in line and stay out of LinkedIn jail. 👮‍♂️

Which mistakes do you see the most?

Follow Ricky Waters. Repost = Helping protect a feed from cringe. Be a hero.

What Not To Do On LinkedIn

Stop overcomplicating your goals.

Here's what actually works:

I used to set big goals.

Then spend weeks building the "perfect" system to achieve them.

Complex funnels.
Elaborate processes.
Detailed tracking sheets.

I'd finally start the actual work...
And burn out after 12 days.

Every. Single. Time.

The problem wasn't my goals.
It was my approach.

I spent more time setting up than doing.

And complex systems create fatigue before they create results.

Here's what I learned:

Simple things get repeated.
Complex things get abandoned.

Think about it:
→ Simple routine = 300+ days done this year
→ Complex routine = 12 days then you quit

You can't do complicated every day.
You can do simple every day.

Daily repetition beats occasional perfection.

So stop building the "perfect" system.
Stop chasing elaborate processes.

Start simple.
Repeat daily.
Win over time.

P.S. What goal are you overcomplicating right now? 👇

📌 Want to build consistency? Join 1,300 others working towards their content goals: (Link in bio)
♻️ Repost to help others keep it simple.
➕ Follow me Ricky Waters for more great tips like this.

Finding content ideas isn't about inspiration.

It's about having a repeatable process.

I learned this the hard way.

My first 3 months on LinkedIn, I'd sit at my laptop for hours.

Waiting for something clever to hit me.
Scrolling through my feed hoping for a spark.
Staring at a blank screen until I gave up.

Then I'd post something generic just to stay consistent.

And wonder why nobody engaged with it.

The problem wasn't that I lacked creativity.

It's that I was treating content creation like art.
When really, it's more like manufacturing.

Most people quit posting because they think they need to be more creative.

But creativity without a system is just inconsistency.

Build the process first.
The ideas will follow.

👉🏻 Swipe through to learn 10 amazing ways to find content ideas.

📌 Want my full system for never running out of ideas?
Join 1,300+ in my free LinkedIn course & community (Link in bio)

♻️ Repost to help your network post consistently.
➕ Follow me Ricky Waters for more great tips like this.

How to Never Run Out of LinkedIn Content Ideas

Audio editing used to steal 10 hours from my family every week.

Now 1 prompt and we spent yesterday at the pool instead.

Here's what changed:

My wife creates ASMR content.
And perfect audio isn't optional, it's mandatory.

For months, every weekend looked the same:

Her hunched over a laptop for 10+ hours
Cutting background noise frame by frame
Removing every tiny audio mistake

Me staring at the clock counting the hours.

One glitch ruins the entire video.
One background noise? Start over.

It was brutal.

Then Meta released an AI audio editor.

Yesterday we tested it.
She uploaded a 45-minute video with background noise throughout.
Typed one prompt: "Remove background noise."

30 seconds later?
Professional quality audio.

The exact same result that used to take 10 hours of manual work.
We looked at each other and just laughed.

This week we got 10 hours back.
And spent some extra time at the pool.
That's what this tool actually gives you.

Not just better audio.
Your life back.

Here's the exact process:
1/ Go to Sam Audio Tool by Meta
2/ Upload your audio or video
3/ Type what you want fixed
4/ Click "Isolate Sound"
5/ Download your result

Zero cost.
Zero technical skills.
Zero wasted weekends.

The content creation game just changed.

While everyone else is grinding through manual edits, you can ship faster and actually live your life.

P.S. What's been your experience with AI audio tools? I'd love to hear about it below.

📌 Want to create content without the burnout?
Join the free AI Creator Community (Link in bio)
♻️ Repost for creators who need their weekends back.
➕ Follow me Ricky Waters for more like this.

Edit Audio With AI

Getting followers is an easy.

Turning them into clients next? That's where most people fail.

I see this constantly:

Someone posts for 6 months & hits 5k followers
Gets tons of engagement
Has 0 clients
Quits

Why?

Because followers aren't customers.
Engagement isn't revenue.
And posting more won't fix it.

Here's the proactive approach that actually works:

1. Prospect like your business depends on it
Send 25+ personalized DMs daily. 
Not copy-paste garbage. 
Real outreach to people who engaged with your content.

2. Do your homework first
One minute of research beats 100 generic messages. 
Check their profile. 
Reference something specific to show you actually care.

3. Think like a fanatic prospector
Average prospectors wait for motivation. 
Fanatics prospect every single day. 
Discipline beats inspiration.

4. Replace new leads even immediately after wins
Close a deal? Add 10 new prospects to your pipeline.
Churn is a real thing so lead generation should never stop.

5. Block time like it's sacred
60 minutes daily. Same time. Same place. 
No emails, no Slack, no meetings. 
Just prospecting.

6. Show proof, not promises
People are scared to get burned. 
Testimonials, case studies, wins: plaster them everywhere. 
Add authority to your profiles.

7. Follow up relentlessly
80% of sales happen after the 5th touchpoint. 
Most quit after 1. 
Vary your follow-up types and keep going.

8. Use multiple channels
If all your leads come from one channel, you have a single point of failure.
Have a 2nd lead gen channel and a platform update ruins the 1st? No problems when you have 2 channels.

9. Live by the 30-day rule
Your pipeline today reflects your effort 30 days ago. 
Today's prospecting pays off in 30 days. 
Think long-term.

10. Track everything religiously
DMs sent. Reply rate %. 
Conversations started. 
Calls booked. 
Deals closed. 
You can't improve what you don't measure.

The truth?

Most people won't do this.

They'll keep posting and wondering why their followers aren't handing money over to them.

But you? You can be different.

📌 Want to turn your LinkedIn into a lead generation machine?
Checkout my free community (Link in bio)
♻️ Repost to help your network turn followers into revenue.
➕ Follow me Ricky Waters for more great tips like this.

I just analyzed my top 73 posts.

97% of them had one thing in common:

Real-life experience + business takeaway.

Not a theory.
Not repackaged advice.
Not AI generated content.

Actual stories from my life that led to a lesson.

Here's the truth nobody wants to hear:

AI can write your hooks.
AI can structure your posts.
AI can polish your grammar.

But AI can't tell your story.

It can't replicate:
↳ The panic you felt when your startup failed
↳ The conversation that made you quit your job
↳ The moment you proved everyone wrong

Your competition is using the same AI.
Reading the same threads.
Following the same playbook.

But they haven't lived your life.
That's your unfair advantage.

Stop trying to create "perfect" content.

Start creating honest content:
→ Share the failure before the lesson
→ Show the messy middle, not just the highlight reel
→ Tell the story only you can tell

Because while everyone else is asking AI "what should I post?"

You should be asking yourself "What did I do, and what did I learn from it?"

The algorithm rewards authenticity.
And so do people.

📌 Ready to build a content engine around your story?
Get started in my free community: (Link in bio)
♻️ Repost if you're tired of generic AI content.
➕ Follow me Ricky Waters for more like this.

P.S. What's the most valuable lesson you learned the hard way? 👇

Everyone has access to the same AI.

So why do some people get 10x better results?

It's not the tool.
It's how you talk to it.

I used to think ChatGPT was overhyped.

I'd ask it questions.
Get mediocre answers.
Then go back to doing things manually.

"This AI stuff isn't for me."

That's what I told myself.
But I was wrong.

The problem wasn't the AI.
It was me.

I was treating it like Google when I should've been treating it like a conversation.

Here's what changed everything:

I stopped asking random questions.
I started building systems.
And now AI saves me 10+ hours every week.

Here's what actually works in 2026:

Start with frameworks:
→ APE for quick tasks
→ RACE for detailed work
→ COAST for complex projects

Then level up with these:

1. Clarity before answers
Ask yourself what you actually need before asking AI.

2. Make AI show its work
"Explain your reasoning step-by-step."

3. Give it context upfront
Past decisions, preferences, background - feed it everything.

4. Challenge its first answer
"What would a skeptic say? Now give me a better version."

5. Ask better questions
Tell AI when your question is unclear and ask it to rewrite it.

And avoid these mistakes:

❌ Using generic roles ("You're a helpful assistant")
❌ Assuming it knows your context
❌ Accepting the first output

The people winning with AI aren't smarter.
They just learned the system.

Most people use AI like:
→ A better Google
→ A one-and-done tool
→ Something that should read their mind

Top performers use it like:
→ A thinking partner
→ An iterative process
→ A system that needs clear inputs

The difference?

One group gets frustrated and quits.
The other multiplies their output by 10x.

Which one do you want to be?

P.S. What's one task you wish AI could do better for you? 👇

📌 Want more AI conversation tips? Join 1,300 other AI creators in my free community (Link in bio)
♻️ Repost to help your network master AI conversations.
➕ Follow me Ricky Waters for more AI tips like this.

I just asked Claude to remove all junk in my download folder.

It actually worked.

I've tested AI tools that control my computer before.

They always made mistakes.
Moved the wrong files.
Needed constant tweaking.

This time was different.

Here's what I had Claude's new 'Cowork' tool help me with:

My download folder was a disaster.
Old LinkedIn posts I'd downloaded.
Random PDFs everywhere.
2 years of digital chaos.

So I asked Claude Cowork to find all my old LinkedIn posts and organize them.

Here's what shocked me:

It didn't just blindly grab every PDF.
It actually differentiated between:
→ LinkedIn posts I'd saved
→ Ebooks that looked similar
→ Other random documents

Then put the LinkedIn posts only all in one folder.

First try.
No errors.
No babysitting.

I deleted all those old files in under a minute.
Could Claude also have deleted them for me?

Probably.

But I'm not quite ready to let AI do that without double-checking yet.

Baby steps folks!

Here's how you can do this too:

1. Install Claude Desktop App

2. Open Claude App
Click the Cowork tab in the app.

3.Tell It Your Task
"Find all my old LinkedIn posts and organize them in my downloads folder."

4. Let It Work
It handles the thinking for you.

The difference between this and other AI tools?

Most AI needs you to hold its hand.
Claude Cowork actually works on the first try.

It doesn't just follow instructions.
It thinks through the problem.
It makes smart decisions.
That's what separates AI assistants from AI agents.

One answers questions.
The other solves problems.

I'm finally starting to trust it with real work.
And that changes everything.

📌 Want to master AI for your business?
Join 1,300+ in my free community: (Link in bio)

P.S. What's one messy task you'd hand off to AI if you trusted it? 👇
♻️ Repost to help your network work smarter with AI.
➕ Follow me Ricky Waters for more great AI content tips like this.

Turn Your Computer Into An AI Agent

7 Jiu Jitsu Concepts That Will Change How You Work:

Most people feel like they're working harder but getting nowhere.

But some people stay calm under pressure and still win.

I've been training Jiu Jitsu since I was 5 years old.

Over two decades on the mat taught me something critical:
Effort without strategy is just exhaustion.

And the same principles that work in competition work in business.

Here are 7 Jiu Jitsu concepts you need to know to transform how you work:

1. Leverage: Position Beats Power
↳ Stop trying to outwork everyone. Find the 20% of actions that drive 80% of results.
↳ Build systems that compound. One great hire does the work of three average ones.
↳ Position yourself where effort multiplies. Teach one, reach thousands.

2. Position Before Submission: Set Up Before You Close
↳ Give real value before pitching anything. Spend months helping your audience first.
↳ Earn trust before asking for the sale. Share wins, lessons, and expertise freely.
↳ Secure your position. Then go for the close.

3. Know When to Tap: Kill Projects Early
↳ Set kill metrics for every project. If X doesn't happen by Y date, tap out.
↳ Your sunk costs aren't your future strategy. Cut losses fast.
↳ Ego keeps you in bad positions longer than logic ever would.

4. A Strong Base: Master Fundamentals First
↳ Pick one platform and dominate it. Don't spread yourself thin.
↳ Master the basics before trying advanced tactics. Speaking, selling, writing fundamentals beat every hack.
↳ Your base should work even when trends change.

5. Flow: Adapt or Die
↳ When the algorithm changes, adapt. Don't complain the game isn't fair.
↳ Winners pivot. Losers freeze and blame external factors.
↳ Test new formats weekly. Keep what works. Kill what doesn't.

6. Economy of Motion: Minimum Effort, Maximum Results
↳ Cut everything that doesn't directly drive revenue or relationships.
↳ Batch similar tasks. Context switching kills productivity.
↳ Say no to 80% of opportunities so you can dominate the 20%.

7. Mat Time Principle: Theory Without Reps Is Useless
↳ Stop taking courses. Start shipping work.
↳ Post daily for 90 days. Most will fail. That's the point.
↳ You only learn by doing. Watching videos doesn't make you good.

I've been applying these principles since I was 5 years old.
They work on the mat. They work in business.

I applied them when I started posting on LinkedIn 2 years ago.

My first 45 posts? Total failures.
But I kept showing up.

Now I have 16,000 followers and consistent leads.
You can too by joining my AI Content Creators (Link in bio)

♻️ Repost to help your network work smarter, not harder.
➕ Want more? Follow me Ricky Waters

taplio

The Battle

Steve Litzow

Ricky Waters

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSteve Litzow's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRicky Waters's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Steve Litzow

Ricky Waters

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);}Steve Litzow's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRicky Waters's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSteve Litzow's LinkedIn Performance