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.

swell Digital

swell is a digital marketing consultancy focused on SEO + Digital Ads strategy, implementation, and coaching.

Founder, Digital Marketing Strategist

Maven

Teaching a cohort-based SEO course called "SEO Masterclass for Marketers": https://maven.com/the-seo-cohort/seo-masterclass-for-marketers

Instructor

The SEO Cohort

Live, virtual SEO training program. Currently enrolling for 2024.

Founder, Instructor

CMO Alliance

The Chief Marketing Officer Alliance is collective of passionate CMOs and aspiring CMOs, connecting and learning collaboratively through events, podcasts and other ways that form a catalyst for success and growth

Member

ignite

Director, Brand + Digital Strategy

Aztek: A Web Design, Development & Digital Marketing Agency

At Aztek, I collaborated with organizations to build digital marketing strategies focused on driving website visitors, producing high-quality leads, and creating sustainable revenue growth. Areas of specialty include:

• Digital Marketing Strategy
• Search Engine Optimization (including use of tools like SEMRush and Moz)
• Marketing Automation (including use of platforms like HubSpot, Act-On Software, SharpSpring, MailChimp, and Salesforce)
• Content Strategy/Marketing
• Digital Advertising (Google Ads, LinkedIn, Facebook)
• Analytics and Reporting (Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, Google Tag Manager)
• Usability and Conversion Rate Optimization
• Social Media Strategy (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Hootsuite, Sendible)

Member of Aztek leadership team, and Visionary role as part of Aztek's EOS (Entrepreneur's Operating System) team.

Vice President, Digital Marketing

Manage a high-performing team of marketers, with a focus on inbound marketing efforts. ERC's Marketing & Digital team produces "full-stack" marketing efforts, including web, email, social, video, print, SEO/PPC, engagement and analytics - all in-house.

Member of ERC's leadership team.

Software included: Act-On Software, Marketo, Moz, Google Analytics, Google Adwords, LinkedIn Advertising, Adobe Creative Suite

Previously: Director, Marketing & Digital

Vice President, Marketing & Digital

Management of ERC's online brand, email marketing, social media initiatives, web analytics, SEO campaigns, and user experience/user interface.

Previously: Marketing Coordinator

Online Marketing Manager

MAGNET The Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network

Responsibilities included database input/management, web site redesign, and advertising design.

Marketing Communications

I'm Ryan, and I'm an SEO and Digital Ads Strategist and Instructor.

======
🔎 SEO
======
I help marketing leaders and teams uncover the SEO opportunities that business leaders care about, then teach them how to strategize and implement them.

The problems I solve:
- I help organizations that know SEO is important but don’t have an SEO expert on their team
- I help organizations grow traffic that leads to REAL results from organic search
- I help organizations identify and prioritize their best SEO opportunities
- I teach individuals and teams how to build and implement an SEO strategy

Ask me about SEO Sprints — a 6-week program to maximize your SEO return-on-investment!

================
🎯 Digital Advertising
================
I help organizations strategize and run ad campaigns. For those with no platform experience or expertise to those that want to learn more.

The problems I solve:
- I help organizations with no internal resources run success digital ad campaigns
- I help organizations run BETTER digital ad campaigns by looking at messaging, channels, and data
- I teach individuals and teams how to build and run a successful digital ad campaign


You can learn more about me here:
🔗   https://swelldgtl.com
🔗   https://maven.com/the-seo-cohort/seo-masterclass-for-marketers

MY BACKGROUND:
I've spent 15+ years on both the organizational and agency side helping organizations build and implement digital marketing strategies. Before swell, I grew two digital agencies as the Director, Brand + Digital Strategy at ignite and the Vice President, Digital Marketing at Aztek.

Prior to my agency life, I led the Marketing & Digital team at ERC, where I oversaw the organization's marketing and digital strategy.

I'm also the author of the book, "Double Your Website Traffic: A Step-By-Step Blueprint Using Content, SEO, PPC, and Social Media," which reached #1 best-seller status in multiple Amazon categories.
📗  Check out my book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/169523992X

Over the past 15+ years, I've given dozens of presentations to the business community on digital marketing strategies and tactics and been a guest on numerous podcasts to share my knowledge about digital marketing.

taplio

The Battle

Tom Hunt

Ryan Morgan

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taplio

The Battle

Tom Hunt

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