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 LOTThe 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 membersI live for our awesome team at Fame, building businesses and great marketing.And 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

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

“We need to let them go.”

I’m in a 1-1 and a manager thinks someone in their team isn’t performing.

I'm in shock, to me they seemed enthusiastic and a culture fit.


We dug into the details:

- What weren’t they doing?
- Why weren’t they doing it?

The manager thought they either didn't understand or couldn't do the role.

Then I ask:

“How did onboarding go?”

“What do you mean by onboarding?” they reply.


And that's when we found the issue:

We skipped the onboarding process and replaced it with "a couple of calls".


If you’re recruiting right, you owe it to yourself to onboard right.

You can’t expect someone to join and start performing, you need to set them up to succeed.

Onboard right or do it twice.

Agree?

I had a terrible boss.

And I spent more time with them than my partner.
 

They never raised their voice.

They smiled (kind of).

But they also started:

- Passing my ideas off as their own
- Expecting email responses at 10pm
- “Checking in” multiple times per day
 
Again, they weren’t ever aggressive or rude, they just slowly eroded my confidence each day.

I thought this was normal e.g. you get a job, you get a manager like this.
 

And then…

I moved roles and got a new manager, they:

- Stepped in when needed
- Never emailed after hours
- Saved most comms to our weekly 1-1
 

A great manager won’t get you promoted.

They will change the trajectory of your career.

Agree?

My 7 favourite startup lies:


1. We’re scaling
-- No, you still don't know how/if you'll be profitable

2. We’re going viral
-- No, your CEO’s LinkedIn fundraise post got a few more likes than normal

3. TechCrunch picked us up
-- No, your $10k per month PR agency got you featured

4. We’re partnering with Google
-- No, you’re paying Google Cloud for servers

5. The inbound pipeline is strong
-- No, some competitors requested a demo to see what you’re building

6. We have FANG-level talent
-- No, one of your devs interned at Netflix 6 years ago

7. The team are fully incentivised
-- No, they have paper options based on an inflated fundraise


And my absolute favourite:

8. We’re worth $30m
-- No, a hyped up VC gave you this valuation to make themselves look good (so they can raise their next fund)


Thank god we don't have to lie to ourselves.

Here’s to the bootstrappers 🥂

(Exit the hype-train and subscribe to Cash Machines)

I probably shouldn’t share this…

I like to call it the “Pay Rise Formula”.


Most people go about asking for money in the completely wrong way:

1. Pay review arrives
2. “Can I have more money?”

It’s an easy "not yet" from the boss.


But if you follow these three steps, you boost your chances of a pay rise by at least 56%:

(Not a guarantee but it works)

1. 6 months before the pay review ask your boss: “what do I need to be doing in the next 6 months to get a pay-rise?”

2. Write those things down and make a plan to hit them. Work hard.

3. A few weeks before the pay review, show the list (with things ticked off) to your boss in a 1-1 and ask them to confirm if you are actually doing those things


If done right, there is no way a boss can push back on a raise with the "not yet" excuse.

Pro-activity pays.

Agree?

"OK let me get this straight..."

"Because it kind of sounds like you built yourself a job."


It's 11:37pm in 2017 and I'm sat with a good friend enjoying a spicy margarita in a seedy city bar.

He's shouting into my ear because they closed something called a "Series A":

- How their going to change the world
- An upcoming TechCrunch article
- All the people he needs to hire
- Their "enterprise motion"


But something isn't making sense to me:

1. He has to report to the board every month
2. Any cost greater than £25k must have board sign off
3. He can't take cash out whenever he wants
4. Board needs to sign off his salary
4. If he leaves in the next 4 years he only keeps a slice of his own company
5. If they don't sell it for a massive amount he may get nothing
6. To sell it, they need investor sign off


He replies:

"Yeah I see what you're saying, but the reality is the company is now valued at £20m, my stake is £6m, so I'm basically a multi-millionaire"

😳


As you can imagine, it didn't work out well.

Glad I stuck to building Cash Machines.

$4.5 million ARR, 0 raised.

$500 invested.

It’s been a wild ride.


We have built Fame as a service business with mostly intangible assets.

We did it without selling a single piece of equity to venture capital.

But even asset-light businesses get stuck.

You often need to buy speed to hire a star developer, fund a new marketing campaign, or pay a tax bill.

In those moments, I did not want to wait weeks for a bank.

Unless I had another option.

An option like iwoca.


They fund small businesses that move quickly and have already funded 100,000 businesses in the UK. 

They lent £3.3 billion to business owners who need to move fast and build resilience.

You can apply for business finance between £1,000 and £1M in about five minutes.

They typically give you a decision within 24 hours.

Apply here to check your options: https://lnkd.in/euSG4SCm

NOTE - applying does not impact your credit score.

#Ad

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

It felt like the responsible thing to do... 


But then it turned out to be one of the worst business decisions ever.

Depreciating assets hurt the balance sheet, locking up capital that could be used for growth. 

For example... 

We are in a hiring sprint, bringing on 2 - 3 new team members in Feb. 

Old Tom would have dropped thousands upfront for laptops that would be worth significantly less by next year.

That isn’t scaling.

It’s a cash drain.

Instead, we are using Raylo.

It took 60 seconds to set up a subscription for the latest HP laptops, and they arrived the next day.

Here is why I recommend Raylo as an affordable option for small businesses:

- Protect Your Cash: We paid £0 upfront. Every pound saved on hardware goes straight into growth.

- Upgrade Freedom: With the MacBook M5 rumors floating around, I am not worried because we can upgrade the team to the latest models for free with Raylo's monthly rolling option.

- Zero Drama: If something goes wrong with a device during the subscription, Raylo's Lifetime Warranty covers technical faults and they sort it quickly.


Or in other words:

Stop buying "stuff" that rots on your balance sheet. 

Convert your tech to OpEx and keep your capital for growth.

Check out the subscription options for your team here: mdsh.io/raylo-business 

#Ad

Gaurav Patel

High Performance SaaS Sales to reach $10 mil ARR Faster | Generated 1400+ B2B SaaS Appointments in 1 year

Your sales pipeline is burning cash on expensive talent executing outdated strategies. While your team automates outreach that turns sophisticated buyers into skeptics, your CAC climbs and close rates plummet. Nothing worse than this situation.

I built the Buyer-Certainty Revenue Engine that transforms how prospects research, evaluate, and buy from you:

✓ 3-Level Buyer Intelligence: Map business, functional, and personal decision drivers
✓ Certainty-Building Narratives: Address the real psychology behind B2B buying decisions
✓ Self-Service Conversion Funnels: Let buyers research confidently without pushy sales interference

The result? Lower CAC, 1.5-3x close rates, and SQLs who arrive ready to buy.

While your competitors struggle with $200K+ sales hires who underperform, PipeBagger leverages world-class Indian marketing and sales talent at 40-70% lower cost. We don't just reduce expenses - we execute superior buyer-psychology strategies your competition hasn't discovered.

Recent client results:
→ HRTech founder: 40% CAC reduction, 35% SQL increase in 180 days
→ IoT startup: 2.5x demo booking rate with zero additional headcount
→ B2B Fintech platform: shorter sales cycles, higher close rates, consistent pipeline

The window is closing. As AI democratizes automation and global talent becomes mainstream, early adopters of buyer-certainty systems will dominate their categories. Companies that build these engines now will have a 3-5 year competitive moat.

Your buyers are already avoiding traditional outreach. The question isn't whether you'll adapt - it's whether you'll lead the change or follow your competitors.

Founder and SaaS Marketing Success Head

Helping SaaS Leaders and Sales teams create strong awareness and build trust and relationships to grow revenue with least objections and increased conversions.

We generate leads for B2B SaaS companies using our Unstoppable SaaS Growth Framework

It helps a SaaS company build lasting relationships with ICP, Top talent and Investors.

How we do it?

Using Linkedin Marketing, Account based Marketing and Targeted Email Marketing for SaaS.

Why are we focussed with SaaS only?

We love technology that solves business challenges in day to day life (we have faced them too and solved using technology).

A lot of promising SaaS products are dying because of struggling market share and organic awareness would have helped them grow.

We want to help reduce this phenomenon and help promising SaaS companies cross the US$ 100 million mark and reach Unicorn status.

We want to support the SaaS SDRs and AEs to generate more quality leads and convert them with least objections.

I'm building a team of skilled SaaS Sales, Customer Success and SaaS Content writers. DM if interested to know what in it for you.

I watched a clip of Abhishek Sharma before his T20 match recently.

Minutes before the game, he's standing alone. Not power-hitting. Not practicing swings. Not doing anything that looks like 'practice.'

He's watching the ball. Visualizing shots. Tracking the bowler's release point. 

Standing completely still.

This is a guy who hits consistent sixes with ease. Dominates the ground. The #1 T20 batsman in the world.

And he's not practicing the 6-hitting. He's sharpening his foundation.

Every cricket fan wants to see the power-hitting. The sixes. The aggressive dominance. That's the visible part. That's what gets replayed on Instagram.

But the guy who dominates isn't the one with the best power-hit. He's the one who reads the bowler in advance. Who sees the line before the ball is released. 

Who knows exactly what shot he needs before the bowler even runs up.

The foundation work… the eye, the anticipation, the mental preparation nobody sees that. Nobody films it. Nobody talks about it.

But it's the difference between dominating and struggling.

I see the exact same thing in B2B #GTM right now.

Every founder wants to talk about the outcome. The visible part.

'We're closing deals. Getting meetings. Building pipeline.'

But none of that matters if the foundation is broken.

The foundation is invisible.

It's:
💪 ICP clarity (who is your ideal buyer)
💪 Competitive positioning (understanding what they actually believe about you)
💪 Buyer research (not assumptions, actual data on what they're up-to)
💪 LinkedIn presence (no vanity metrics, actual credibility in buyer research)
💪 Building certainty so buyers decide (answers their exact doubts)

Most GTM is the opposite.

They see the power-hitting and want power-hitting.

'More leads. Better messaging. Faster sales process.'

So they hire more reps. More campaigns. Close faster.

And nothing changes. Because the foundation is still broken.

The founder who invests in building the foundation (ICP, positioning, buyer research, credibility, certainty) will close at 20-30% conversion, while building bigger pipeline.

The founder who skips the foundation and goes straight to 'more leads' will close at 10%, max.

The difference isn't the salespeople. It's what happens salesperson get.

Abhishek is not special because he hits the hardest. He's special 'cause he does the invisible work that nobody sees. The foundation creates the opportunity. The power-hitting just capitalizes on it.

Same in GTM.

The positioning & certainty creates the opportunity. The sales process  capitalizes on it.

Same for the founders I've seen scale to $10M+, faster and with much ease.

They're not special because they have the best salespeople or the best campaign.

They're special because they built the invisible foundation so well that everything else works.

That's the difference.

And it's almost always overlooked.


#Invisible #RevenueEngine

Gaurav R Patel

I reverse-engineer why B2B deals die (hint: buyer uncertainty, not price) | Building self-service revenue systems that buyers actually prefer

End of 2025, Tim booked 7 calls from 91 DMs (not cold). That's 7.6%.

And a modest $32k closure in first the quarter.

Most founders blast automated DMs and get ghosted. He manually sent 91 DMs to the right ICP with clear positioning, and high certainty.

His Proven Process:
1️⃣ ICP segmentation (narrow focus)
2️⃣ Revamped Positioning clarity on LinkedIn (who + acute problem + outcome)
3️⃣ Convertible Linkedin posts + Handpicked invites only (no loud or salesy)
4️⃣ High conversion lead magnet (bridging buyer to product, not vanity metrics)
5️⃣ Strategic meetings (no MQLs)

Now he'll DM lead magnet requests.

3 types of DMs
👉 “Thanks for booking strategic meetings. See you on the other side.”
👉 Grabbed the lead magnet visitors, but didn’t book.
👉 No lead magnet asked, hence, a direct DM conversation (targeted, and no salesy).

9 booked from 91 DMs. 7 attended. So far, 1 successful closure :) 

And more to close in future, probably.

And best part is -> performing at fractional acquisition cost + 37% shorter sales cycle.

This is what happens when you fix positioning + buyer journey through high-demand asset, before you scale outreach or ads.

LinkedIn is still the best B2B channel in 2026.

Want to architect this for your SQL pipeline?


#SQL #CAC #LTV #CRO #CMO #SocialSelling #RevenueEngine

In 2025 I met this founder spending $$$ managing an SDR team.

After 4 months, they were at 200 outreaches per week.

Yielding 10+ meetings booked per month.
None of them closed.

This founder DM'd me on LinkedIn thinking he needed better SDRs.

What he actually needed was better pipeline and conversion rate.

And founders end up hunting for better agency and better reps.

Activity ≠ Revenue.

More MQLs ≠ Revenue.

More budgets ≠ Revenue.

More meetings ≠ closed deals.

Your SDR can be phenomenal. But if the system they're feeding into is broken (your qualification process, your conversion rate, your forecast accuracy), they're just exposing the problem faster.

The problem isn't the SDRs.

The problem is the engine that drives buyer journey. Which is managed by your people.

We call this "revenue system architecture."

Most founders fix it backwards. They hire people, then try to fix process after.

Then they stretch the holes further by adding DemandGen/ Agencies/ VP Sales.

And end up leaking more.

Just like this founder who was leaking until Jan 2026, and was about to hire more reps and run more ads.

The ones who scale predictably? They fix the architecture first, then add people.

Different order. Different outcomes.

The founder above? Fired 2 reps from the SDR team. Fixed his revenue system instead. 6 months later, same team structure generated 3x the pipeline with 50% fewer outreaches.

Yes, you read it right.

Between that February in 2025, and now.

Between that very first meeting in Feb 2025, and our weekly review last Friday,

what's visible is - 6X ROI, without ads or adding more reps.

What brought this change?
1. Replacing two SDRs with better thinkers.
2. Prioritizing the ICP, and tweaked the positioning.
3. Activated 7 profiles on linkedin, more visibility + trust + relationship building
4. Launched two funnels for each priority personas, to book semi-SQLs (not MQLs)
5. Measured. Tweaked. Measured. And Tweaked.

Treat your revenue road-map with same or more criticality, like your product gets.

Nothing less.

Because it feeds your product and team, or sucks from them, 

will depend on your choices.

This founder was sucking SDR budget from his savings.

The equation changed between two Februaries.

And the bigger achievement is more than that.

It is in having clarity about how his next $1-3M revenue coming, and at what cost of acquisition.

Thats what is Revenue Architecture.


#RevenueEngine #MOAT #CAC #MQL #LTV

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The Battle

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