Jackie Hermes

Growing B2B software co's w/ marketing that *actually works* | founder + CEO @ Accelity | built from $0 to 7-figures with no funding

It all started in 1986 in Lansing, Michigan.

Kidding. (Well, not really, but that’s not how I’m going to start this story.)

I started my entrepreneurial journey with cookies. Really. A vegan cookie company… and I wasn’t vegan (I gave it a shot and dang, it was hard!). I turned four cookie recipes into a business—designing packaging, finding a kitchen and making the cookies, eventually outsourcing production, then selling and establishing distribution to 12 grocery stores around Wisconsin.

The cookies taught me how to hustle. As a 24-year-old MBA, I definitely didn’t picture myself hoisting up tents at farmers markets to hand out $5 bags of cookies, or being the demo lady at the grocery store, but there I was. I still had a full-time job running the marketing department at a SaaS company, and a baby.

I’m so grateful for that experience because the money I made helped me start Accelity. What began as a one-woman consultancy blossomed into a kick-ass team of 20 and counting and a group of amazing, loyal clients all over the US.

LinkedIn has been a HUGE contributor to our growth over the past few years. I got talked into—okay, almost forced; I really, really didn’t want to do it—publishing videos about my entrepreneurial experiences in mid-2018 and have steadily grown an audience since. The LinkedIn community has given me so much love and support and I could not possibly be more grateful for the opportunities.

Outside of my professional life, I was a foster parent for two years and two of my three beautiful kiddos were adopted in Milwaukee. People always ask about hobbies, so here you go: lots of travel, fitness, exploring Milwaukee, and playing a lot of Taco vs. Burrito with my kids.

Founder & CEO

We help B2B software companies grow faster with bold sales and marketing processes that actually work—not the “push content and say a prayer” method that many agencies use.

We’re different. An agency born from software, our team has years (and years) of hands-on experience working with high-growth B2B software companies.

Want to know how we do it? Check out the links below.

In all my years selling, I’ve found that when people say you’re “too expensive,” that’s actually rarely about price.

Hear me out.

You have to establish these things in order to make your price worthwhile:

1. clear ROI
2. the right comparison
3. a sense of urgency

And it’s HARD to establish all of these things especially when your buyer is in a hurry or providing limited time.

That means you probably don’t have a pricing problem. You have a value problem.


Taking the following steps makes all the difference:

> Anchoring to emotional impact
As an agency, we’re not delivering strategy or content. We’re delivering relief for marketers that are doing it all.

> Give context for them to compare to
If you don’t show what your work replaces (a hire, wasted spend, lost time), buyers will compare you to whatever is top of mind for them.

> Tie yourself to real business goals
When your product or service clearly ladders up to revenue, retention, or growth, price becomes easier to justify.


Final PSA: Discounting doesn’t solve this problem! The buyer needs clarity, not just a cheaper price. (You get what you pay for!)


I break this down more in Episode #304 of The Art of Entrepreneurship, including how to raise perceived value without sounding salesy or desperate.

🎧 Full episode link in comments!
📩 Send this to a founder who keeps second-guessing their pricing

CEO @ Accelity | Growing companies w/ marketing that *actually works*

I help in LinkedIn Growth 🚀 | TedX & Josh Talks Speaker| Influencer Marketing on LinkedIn| Personal Branding for busy Founders | Ghostwriter for Founders | LinkedIn Organic Growth | B2B Lead generation| Founders PR 🔥

I’m Sakshi Darpan, Founder of SackBerry Media, a personal branding and social media agency that’s helped 250+ founders, CXOs, and investors build their online presence and win trust in the digital world.

In the last 3 years, we have worked with clients across India, Dubai, US & Canada while generating millions of impressions for them!

What I do: 
- Build magnetic personal brands on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter/X
- Grow visibility for brands through social media strategy, PR, and paid ads
- Use AI-driven systems to scale outreach, content, and operations without adding extra headcount

🌍 What makes me different
I don’t believe in cookie-cutter content. I believe in storytelling that actually makes people stop scrolling, pay attention, and remember you. My clients don’t just get followers, they get leads, speaking gigs, media features, and opportunities they didn’t even know were possible.

📌 Beyond business
I’ve grown my own brand to 90K+ followers on LinkedIn by sharing my learnings in real time
I’ve been invited to speak on panels, podcasts, and judge startup events!
I’ve built an agency that runs on strong systems, so I can take vacations (sometimes a full month!) while the business grows


✨ What drives me
 Helping founders and brands turn their expertise into influence. 

Let's chat: sakshi@sackberry.com

Sakshi Darpan

In 2025, I bought my first real estate; a commercial investment.
Not to mention, 2025 has been the best year revenue wise!

This was supposed to be "the" moment. 
The milestone I had imagined in my early 20s.
The “I made it” phase.
But when it happened…
there were no fireworks.

I was happy, yes. But more than that, I felt grounded. A little humbled.

I realised something slightly uncomfortable:

1. Big wins feel quieter when you grow into them
When progress is steady, milestones don’t shock your system.
They feel earned. Almost normal.

2. The dream life doesn’t arrive with celebration music
- It arrives with responsibility
- With better decisions to make.
- With more things to protect.
 And with the realisation that stability is the reward, not adrenaline.

3. Gratitude and ambition can coexist
 I’m deeply grateful for how far I’ve come.
 And at the same time, my eyes are already on what’s next.
 That doesn’t mean I’m unfulfilled.
 It means growth didn’t stop at one milestone.

I’m living a version of the life my younger self prayed for.
It just looks calmer than I imagined.

What 2025 goals did you acheive?

#PersonalBranding

My mother in law is 4th pass & haven't seen a working bahu in whole family, but relentessly supported me in my career.

I will complete 2 years of married life next month.

In these 2 years I have grown SackBerry to a 15 member team, opened my office & hit the numbers I had set for myself.

Looking back, I realise that she has supported me in a way that my own mother sometimes don't believe.

- She has cooked for me way more than I could ever cook for her.
At times during G-meet, she would sneak & ask when will I come for lunch.

- There are times when she would pack my lunch when I would leave for office.

- I have missed 2 family functions while I was away on work trip, she never questioned it or made a fuss about it.

- At times I miss her calls during work, she understands.

There are so many little moments that are difficult to put into words & explain how much this meant to me.

Here is the most interesting part: 

She refuses to take any gift from me, against me contributing financially in household (she says to my husband bahu ke paise kyu lene hai). Yes, she is old school in a lot of ways, but still supports me for no agenda. 🥰 

Having both parents & in-laws support my dreams is being blessed & lucky beyond words 😍

This auto made me pause.

Not because I saw it myself, but because it kept showing up. Screenshots in group chats. A quick forward with a “this is clever." One of those things people in Bangalore seemed to notice on their commute and then quietly pass along.

I was not an exception, but then I found myself thinking about it a little longer than I expected.

That strange New Year feeling where routines reset, the city feels louder, and going home alone hits a little harder than usual. Nothing dramatic. Just a small, honest truth most people don’t articulate.

What I respected was how gently Supertails chose to speak to that feeling.

No sadness-led storytelling. No emotional pressure around adoption.

Just humour and warmth, placed on the backs of autos and around bus stands woven into everyday movement across Bangalore.

You notice the QR only if you’re already curious.
You realise it leads to shelter partners only if you pause long enough.
The idea doesn’t chase you, it waits.

From Delhi, it still landed for me. And that’s what stayed.

Because this didn’t feel like a message trying to convert.
It felt like a city acknowledging something quietly human, and offering companionship without insisting on it.

There’s something rare about that kind of confidence, the kind that trusts people to arrive at the thought themselves.

Makes you think how often the most meaningful work doesn’t announce itself, it just shows up,at the right moment, on the way home.

My definition of growth have evolved over the years!

Earlier, I thought growth meant:
– faster months
– more clients
– bigger top-line numbers

Now, I look at growth very differently.

Growth is when:
– revenue doesn’t fluctuate with my mood
– one slow week doesn’t create panic
– saying no doesn’t feel risky
– money supports decisions instead of dictating them

That shift didn’t come from earning more.
It came from changing how I think about money.

Here’s the mindset that runs my business today:

📍 Money is a tool, not validation
I don’t use revenue to prove I’m doing well.
I use it to design stability, for the business and for myself.

📍 Predictability is power
I’d pick consistent money over erratic big months any day.
Predictable income gives you leverage, with clients, with your team, with your own time.

📍 Good money is calm money
If income comes with anxiety, over-dependence, or constant firefighting, it’s expensive.
The goal isn’t more money.
The goal is clean money.

📍 Growth should reduce pressure, not increase it
If every step forward makes your life harder, something is broken.
Real growth simplifies.

📍 Growth should buy me freedom
The ability to step away when needed, to take off on a Monday, but still choose to work 7 days straight if needed. 

Most importantly, growth should be about compounding over months & years! 

Compounding systems, trust & money! 

#system #personalbranding

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I’m a Gen Z founder.
And my entire team is Gen Z too.

Which basically means two things happen at SackBerry every day:
📍 Nobody is impressed by “working late” as a personality trait
📍 Everyone is obsessed with making work feel lighter, faster, and repeatable

Here’s how we build founder brands like a system (Gen Z style):
- We stopped posting “smart” things and started posting clear things.
- We removed fancy words and replaced them with lines that sound like the founder actually speaks.
- We added proof without making it loud.
- Not testimonials everywhere, but small signals of competence placed naturally.
- And we made consistency predictable.

The results were honestly my favourite kind.

You could see trust building quietly:
➡️ More saves than likes
➡️ More “I’ve been reading for a while” DMs
➡️ More warm enquiries that didn’t ask basic questions
➡️ More conversations that started with context, not convincing

Gen Z teams get judged for being “too impatient”.
But here’s the truth:
We’re not impatient.
We’re allergic to inefficiency.

So when we build brands, we build them the same way:
– Clear positioning
– Repeatable content buckets
– Proof that feels natural
– Consistent execution
– Zero drama

What’s one thing you could simplify in your content today?


#GenZFounder #PersonalBranding #FounderBrand #LinkedInGrowth #ContentStrategy #BrandBuilding #MarketingAgency

I have achieved 90% of my 2025 goals. 
If you feel your 2026 goals create mental clutter, this is the post for you!

I have built a simple system to organise my ambition.

Here’s what changed everything for me ⤵️

Step 1: Separate thinking from doing
Your brain keeps shouting because it thinks everything matters now.
It doesn’t.
Some goals are for this quarter.
Some are for this year.
Some are just ideas waiting their turn.
Mix them together → instant overwhelm.

Step 2: Put every goal into one of these 4 buckets

1️⃣ Now (next 90 days)
If it doesn’t move your life meaningfully in 90 days, it doesn’t belong here.
Max 3–5 goals. No exceptions.
2️⃣ Next (6–12 months)
Real goals. Just not urgent.
You design them & not execute daily.
3️⃣ Someday (parking lot)
This is where ideas go so they stop haunting you.
Writing it here ≠ abandoning it.
4️⃣ Standards (non-negotiables)
Not goals.
Rules for how you live and work.
These reduce chaos more than any planner ever will.

Step 3: Choose ONE primary goal
Ask yourself:
“If this works, what else becomes easier?”
For me, it’s usually either:
– revenue stability
– or visibility
Everything else becomes secondary.

Step 4: Stop managing tasks. Start managing containers.
I don’t chase 50 to-dos anymore.
I track only 3 containers:
- Money
- Visibility
- Energy
Every week I ask: “Did I move these forward?” That’s it.

Step 5: Weekly reset (15 minutes)
Once a week:
Look at what’s in "Now".
Move guilt-creating goals to Next or Someday
Release the pressure.

The truth?

Clarity isn’t about having fewer ambitions.
It’s about deciding what deserves your attention right now.

What’s your top 2026 goal?

#PersonalBranding #Goals #MarketingAgency

After rejecting 200+ assignments for a LinkedIn ghostwriter position, I am really frustrated, disappointed & genuinely alarmed.

Most people aren't bad at grammar or structure.
But because almost everything sounds the same. 

What worries me isn’t AI or chatGPT,
It’s how easily people have outsourced thinking to it.

Most submissions feel like someone prompted a tool, lightly edited the output, and sent it across hoping the assignment is good to go!
It's not.

Anyone who has spent even a little time with founders, markets, money, pressure, and decisions can spot it immediately.

The uncomfortable truth is this:
If your writing works equally well for a SaaS founder, a D2C founder, a coach, and a creator, then it’s not ghostwriting. 

It’s generic content. Period.

So yes, we’re still #hiring at SackBerry.

But, we’re not looking for someone who knows prompts, hooks, or frameworks.
We’re looking for someone who already has writing skill & just need AI to make it better!

Reach out: talent@sackberry.com

Tag someone who is a great fit!

#Ghostwriter #contentwriter #personalbranding

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The Battle

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