Tom Hunt

$3.6m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I'm doing.

Jan 2014.

I'm walking home from a depressing New Year's trip to Oslo with an ex. girlfriend.

It's raining in East London.

I made a decision:

I would replace my management consulting salary (£42,000) by the end of the year.

I had no idea from where, but that was the goal...

I just about hit it and left the corporate world.

And I haven't been back since.

Fast forward a decade and I've:

- Tried and failed with 17 businesses
- Invested in 11
- Learnt a LOT

The one that is finally working is called Fame:

- We have a weird culture (in a good way)
- We start and grow podcasts for B2B businesses
- We are fully remote and have 75 full-time team members

I live for our awesome team at Fame, building businesses and great marketing.

I post about them here 🤗

Founder & CEO

We start and grow the world's most profitable B2B podcasts.

Clients include:

👉 IDEO
👉 Workday
👉 HighRadius
👉 People.ai
👉 Zendesk
👉 Bevy
👉 Circle
👉 Suzy
👉 Mazars
👉 LeanData
👉 CXL
👉 Ramp
👉 Alibaba
👉 Signify
👉 eToro

We don't review CVs.

We don't use an ATS.

We don't ask for cover letters.

And we barely spend money on job ads.


Here's our hiring process:

1. Candidates come inbound
2. We review their LinkedIn profile
3. They do a short test task
4. First interview: competency-based
5. Final interview: values-based

That's it.


No six-round marathons
No "upload your resume then retype it"
No AI scanning for keywords


Just people looking at real work and having conversations.

HR SaaS businesses told everyone that hiring needs to be complex.

It doesn't.


You don't need expensive software to find good people.

Agree?

$4.5m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I’m doing.

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I cancelled a 1-1 with someone on my team.


Why?

- They were thriving
- Their OKRs were progressing well
- I had nothing meaningful to contribute

So why have the meeting?

Why waste their time because I'm insecure about doing my job?


It's called macro-management.

HINT: the opposite of micro-management.


Here’s how it works:

- They work where they want
- You provide the insight, tools and resources
- You remove barriers, blockers and distractions
- They decide the "how"
- You trust them

Put simply:

You enable.
You assist.

Then you stay in your lane...

Not theirs.

Agree?

We hired a project manager for $7 per hour in 2022.

Now he's earning $40K a year.

That's higher than 98% of earners in the Philippines.


We made him a deal:

"Where you are right now limits what we can pay you because you don't generate enough value. But the more problems you can solve for us, the more we can pay you."

E.g. we hired him for what he could become, not what he was.


He got a payrise in year 2, then in year 3, he takes on another role.

Now he's:

- Project manager
- Video editor

Maybe more in the future.


The best hires have the right attitude toward growth.

Skill gaps close with time and effort.

Character gaps rarely close.

No one is clapping when you get the second resignation email of the day.

No one is clapping at 6:37am on a Saturday as you’re combing through the P&L.

No one is clapping when it’s your 17th decision of the day.

No one is clapping when you're the only person around to reply to the angry customer.

No one is clapping when payroll looms and the bank balance isn’t where it should be.

No one is clapping when you can’t think of anything else on a Sunday afternoon.



There’s a lot of hype around starting a business these days…

I’m not sure it’s for everyone.

Most people chase salaries and titles.
Smart people choose who they work with.

Specifically: their manager.

Here's why:

A bad manager...
- Drains your energy
- Protects their position
- Watches your every move

A great manager...
- Explains why things work
- Protects you from politics
- Supports your development


The truth?

You may spend more time with your manager than your spouse.

Choose wisely.

Fame bootstrapped to $4.5M ARR by charging LESS.

Plus we:

- Spend less than 2% of revenue on ads
- Have a 1 person sales team
- Raised $0

How?

By focusing on the one metric everyone ignores...

Retention.


1️⃣ Strong inbound engine

Outbound and ads cost more, both to book a sales call, but also in the skill (and therefore cost) of the person who needs to run the call.

Instead:

- SEO
- Personal brand
- Bottom of the funnel Google Ads


2️⃣ Charge less

E.g. the Amazon model.

The more you charge, the more likely you will be cut when the CFO and CEO review the monthly P&L.


3️⃣ Objective performance metrics

We used to track client happiness, now we track client objectives.

Happy clients churn, successful clients don't.


4️⃣ Build a retention culture

The team laugh everytime I say "retention is the foundation of growth" because I say it so much.

Hire, fire and promote based on retention.



The formula:

1️⃣ Strong inbound engine
2️⃣ Charge less
3️⃣ Track objective performance metrics
4️⃣ Build a culture of retention

And please, say it after me:

Retention is the foundation of growth.

As soon as I met Cristian and Alexandru in person, I knew I had to go.

They are the first reason I'm hosting a panel at Tekpon AI Summit 2025 in Bucharest.


The second reason is that I've spent the last 5 years working in my bedroom (pretty much).

$4.5m ARR from behind a screen.

It's working.

But now it's time to crawl out of the cave, and into real life.


So if you're in Bucharest on November 25th, come say hi.

Let's talk AI.
Let's talk marketing.
Let's talk LinkedIn.

Just let's actually talk.

Be like Taylor Swift...


At least that's what I told the awesome people at the Turing x SYSTM Growth Summit yesterday.


Why?

She nailed The Fame Formula:

1. Make really good content in a specific niche
2. Be seen around other famous people in the niche

First she did it with country, and now she does it with pop music.


It's also what we need to do in B2B.

B2B buyers are only in the market 3% of the time. We need to get them to know, like and trust us during the other 97% of the time.

How?

Two steps:

1. Content Format
2. Content Positioning


1. Content Format

You've got three options:

Social: Easiest to grow, lowest influence. Great for reach, but people scroll past quickly.

Email/Written: Middle ground. More intimate than social, easier to produce than podcasts.

Podcast: Hardest to grow, highest influence, best for repurposing. One episode can become 20 pieces of content.

If I was to start again, I would pick the social platform that I liked best, and start there.


2. Content Positioning

Two parts:

- The Niche

Be as narrow as possible.

If you sell email marketing software, don't start a marketing podcast, don't event start a email marketing podcast, start the open-rate podcast.

- The Edge

The thing a customer would tell their friends. What makes you different? What's your unique opinion?


That's The Fame Formula:

Pick your format.
Nail your positioning...

And be like Taylor.

If you can’t share an agenda for the meeting, we shouldn’t be meeting.

When Taplio was acquired by lemlist, they got:

- $2m upfront
- Another $6m for hitting growth targets


I asked him if it was time for beach and cocktails...

"Absolutely not."

Tibo starting sourcing young, hungry founders to build more products.

He now runs 5 products, each with difference technical founders, whilst he focuses on their growth and building his personal brand.

Now $6m ARR.


The next exit will be much bigger.

Find out how in this episode of Confessions of a B2B Entrepreneur below 👇

One of our team members' machines was compromised.

And a client found out about it.

Somehow their Slack log in was posted in a data dump, which was flagged to a client's security team.

We immediately took the compromised machine offline for deep cleaning and changed a load of other passwords.

In the end, no breach occurred, but it was a scare.

This would likely not have happened if we were using Keeper Security, Inc. 

It’s the highest-rated password manager in the world for a reason. 

It solves both the security and the productivity problem:

- Zero-Trust Security: Keeper built its entire platform on a zero-trust, zero-knowledge architecture so your business data is encrypted on your device before it ever reaches their servers

- Instant Access: The KeeperFill feature automatically enters usernames and complex passwords for you

Keeper is built to scale with your business (securely) from day one.

Check out their Cyber Week offer linked in the first comment 👇

#ad #keepersecurity #cyberweek

Brand partnership • $4.5m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I’m doing.

Cristian Dina

Tekpon

CEO @ Tekpon AI Summit & Tekpon Awards

Co-Founder

Chief Revenue Officer

Chief of Staff

Account Executive

Website Manager

Social Media Manager

Forbes

Forbes 30 under 30

SaaStock Local

City Leader

SaaStock

I was a jury at the SaaStock Global Pitch Competition, where the winning startup got an investment of $500.000.

It was an opportunity to show off your up-and-coming SaaS in front of the region’s most influential VCs and funds and the wider SaaS community.

Jury

Startup Wise Guys

Alumni SaaS Batch

carVertical

Affiliate Marketing

Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ Tekpon | City Leader @ SaaStock | SaaS Podcast Host

We rise by lifting others!

Cristian Dina is the Co-Founder of Tekpon and the CEO of Tekpon AI Summit.

His work has positioned Tekpon as a trusted software buying platform used by thousands of companies worldwide.

As the CEO of Tekpon AI Summit, he's bringing together over 1,000 B2B SaaS and AI leaders, solidifying his impact on the artificial intelligence and software community.

Cristian has personally interviewed 300+ industry leaders and authored the best-selling book King of Networking, establishing himself as one of the most connected and respected voices in the ecosystem.

At just 23 years old, Cristian was named Forbes 30 Under 30 2025, representing a new generation of tech builders, bold thinkers who move fast, build with purpose, and create real impact.

Founding Member - Right Hand to CEO

> Strategic support
> Building and nurturing relationships

⚠ This will be our last event in Romania.

Tekpon AI Summit 2026 will be hosted in London.

If you ever planned to join us in Romania, this is the moment.

One last chance to feel the atmosphere that shaped everything we built.

See you all in 7 days 👋

CEO @ Tekpon AI Summit | Forbes 30 under 30 | Co-Founder @ Tekpon

It doesn’t matter if you land at 2 AM

If you’re flying in for Tekpon AI Summit, we take care of you ✈️

At Tekpon, leadership is service, not status.

When brilliant minds travel thousands of kilometers to join us, we show up

In person. No matter the hour.

👉 Flying in and need a ride? Drop a comment or DM.

👉 Are you a Romanian founder or executive and want to help bring global SaaS and AI legends to Romania?

🤝 This is your chance to welcome them and connect before the summit even begins.

This is how we do things at Tekpon AI Summit, together, from the very first step off the plane ✈️

We just hired Cezar on Monday, and what does he do in his first day off?

It's Saturday and he's picking up guests from the airport, arriving for Tekpon AI Summit 

Not because someone asked or because it was expected

But because this is what leadership looks like at Tekpon 

You serve first. You take initiative.

Most companies wait months to see if someone is a cultural fit. We saw it in five days :)

Cezar turned a simple airport pickup
into a powerful first impression of Romania
and a meaningful connection with one of our speakers, Angeley Mullins

This is the standard we operate on. This is the culture we protect

And this is why Tekpon keeps growing as a global community

Bcause people like him don’t wait for titles to lead

If there's something that I learned about hiring is that the most important trait is hunger

As Cristiano Ronaldo says it, 'hunger is the most difficult'

See you all in 4 days at Tekpon AI Summit

🚨 New Speakers Just Dropped

Tom Hunt, Founder & CEO @ Fame 
Angeley Mullins, CEO @ Aetheris Ventures
Oren Greenberg, GTM Advisor
Mike Korba, Co-founder & CCO @ User.com by Positive  
Alex Baldovin, Founder & CEO @ Authbound  
Valentin Radu, Founder & CEO @ Omniconvert 

At Tekpon AI Summit, we bring together the people shaping the future of SaaS & AI

They’ve built brands, led teams, and reshaped the SaaS & AI landscape

And now, they’re bringing their expertise to our stage

We can’t wait to hear their stories at Tekpon AI Summit 🚀

Our unofficial "Chief Compliance Officer" has inspected all Tekpon AI Summit badges

He concluded they are extremely comfortable

If you’re joining us, please know:

Your badge has been rigorously tested for softness, durability, and nap-compatibility

We work hard. But this guy clearly works smarter

Big news for us at Tekpon

We’re welcoming Cezar Nitulescu, our new Strategic Partnership Manager to the team

Yes, he is only 21 years old

He comes in with a strong drive, a sharp mind, and a focus on performance.

Partnership growth.
Relationship building.
Market understanding.

Being the youngest in most rooms never stopped him

From sales meetings to events, he gets the same question:

“How old are you?”
“I’m 21.”
Silence. Then he lets the work talk.

I see a lot of my own early journey in him. The same hunger. The same energy. The same drive to prove yourself through action

Can't believe we're only 2 weeks away from Tekpon AI Summit 🤯

From the bottom of my heart, thank you everyone for joining Tekpon AI Summit  

Still need to process everything that happened

Yesterday we announced Tekpon AI Summit London, June 2026

Will you be joining us?

Thank you for believing in our mission and supporting us ❤️

Why we keep a Business Formal dress code at Tekpon AI Summit

Some people ask why the summit follows a business formal dress code

The short answer is that we are hosting global AI leaders, investors, and operators who fly in from all over the world.

A formal look helps us:

→ Set the tone for meaningful exchanges
→ Keep a focused and respectful environment
→ Build a sense of occasion for speakers and attendees

Step into a room full of people who are here to build the future

See you all in 5 days. And be ready for the pictures 📸

Look for these beautiful flags when coming to Tekpon AI Summit

See you in a few hours

Tomorrow you can listen to my podcast on Radio France Internationale Romania

93.5 FM in Bucharest, from 17:30 to 18:00, and again on Saturday after the 11:00 news

I’ll be sharing more about Tekpon AI Summit 2025, the story behind Tekpon, and how we’re bringing 1,000 AI and SaaS leaders from around the world to Bucharest this November

At 23, being part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 community and leading one of the most exclusive AI events in Europe is both humbling and inspiring

A big thank you to Mirel Bran and the RFI Romania team for the invitation and the inspiring conversation about technology, community, and the power of authentic networking 🙏

If you want to scale without hiring fast, this is the session you watch.

Vincent Jong, Founder @ Poolside Ventures, brings the AI-First Playbook to Tekpon AI Summit

He’ll walk through how AI reshapes product, GTM, sales strategy, and operations for extreme efficiency

With real examples from Poolside companies, you’ll see how high-traction startups operate with minimal headcount

A must-attend for anyone building lean, profitable, AI-driven companies

The most competitive companies in the next decade will be AI-first by design.

graphical user interface, text, application

Read the latest Tekpon Magazine tomorrow

Featuring Jeko Kolev, the founder and CEO of Nextoria 

See you all in 16 hours

A mentor sees the version of you that you can’t yet see yourself.

For me, that mentor has been Alexandru Stan

My co-founder, partner, and guide through every challenge of building Tekpon.

His insight, belief, and leadership have shaped not just the company, but the way I lead and think every day.

Being included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list is a milestone I’ll always be proud of,but it’s also a reminder that no achievement stands alone.

Behind every step forward, there are people who push you, challenge you, and inspire you to aim higher.

Thank you, Alex, for your mentorship, guidance, and partnership. This recognition is as much yours as it is mine.

We’re partnering with BizzyNow as the Official Networking App for the Tekpon AI Summit

All participants will be able to connect, match, and collaborate directly through the BizzyNow app

This will create real opportunities for meaningful conversations and partnerships in the AI ecosystem

Download the app using the link below 👇

This guy is the reason why we’re doing Tekpon AI Summit

Last year, Kazik kept pushing me to let him speak.

I told him Tekpon Awards doesn’t have speakers.

He didn’t accept that. For a month, he kept insisting.

He even said he wouldn’t attend unless he could teach something real.

Because of that persistence, we added Day 3 at the UiPath office, our first-ever workshop day.

It was experimental. It wasn’t planned.

And his session became a turning point.

He taught people how to build and use AI agents, and everyone walked out with their mindset changed.

That moment made everything clear. This is what the ecosystem actually needs.

And that’s why Tekpon AI Summit exists today.

This year, Kazik is coming back with The Human - AI Collaboration Playbook.

You’ll learn how to eliminate frustrating AI interactions, compress weeks of research into hours, and know when predictable workflows outperform autonomous agents.

Kazik Pietka. The person who pushed us to raise the bar. And the perfect person to take this summit’s stage.

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

Todd Paris is flying all the way from the US to teach how AI search visibility really works

He will show why top Google pages rarely appear in AI answers. Less than ten percent overlap.

The gap is real and it is reshaping how brands get noticed.

What we'll learn tomorrow:

✅ How AI engines pick their sources
✅ Why GEO and SEO tell different stories
✅ What brands must change to stay visible

Thank you IQRush.ai for supporting the event. You can head to IQRush.ai to take their AI Readiness quiz 🚀

💸 56% savings. One smart move.

When Clym, a fast-growing digital compliance SaaS, decided to scale through partnerships, they needed a reliable affiliate marketing platform to power their new program

They found the perfect one, an enterprise-grade solution used by global brands.

But the annual cost? $30,000 👀

Instead of compromising on quality or settling for a cheaper tool, they turned to Tekpon’s procurement service for help.

✅ We ran a full discovery call to understand the needs and goals
✅ Saved them $16,800 and weeks of back-and-forth
✅ Negotiated the price down to $13,200 /year

Today Clym’s affiliate program is live and thriving, without burning through their budget.

This is what smart software buying looks like.

Real companies. Real savings. Real results.

👇 Full story by Ana-Maria Stanciuc below

Opening the stage at Tekpon AI Summit,

Sara Maldon sets the tone for Artificial Intelligence

As Head of Business Automation & AI at Make, she knows what it takes to scale AI

It all starts with one question, what actually works?

She will share the playbook on how they built scalable agentic systems that deliver real outcomes

Expect lessons from real-world experiments, failures, and successes that turn AI into action

Don't miss this rare session for anyone serious about operationalizing AI 🚀

taplio

The Battle

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Cristian Dina

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taplio

The Battle

Tom Hunt

Cristian Dina

Followers

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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);}Tom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

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