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

It's Xmas Eve and I'm off to the gym.

I hand over the baby to Tiziana and walk out of the kitchen.

Just as I get to the door, she starts to wail.


Every parent knows this sound is excruciating, worse that scraping your fingers down a blackboard.

But this time, it's sweet (to me at least)


The child is now 10 months old, and for the first 6 she had no idea who I was. From month 6-10, she would smile.

But she wanted her mother. She wanted the person who has now carried her around for 19 months. I don't blame her.


But she's finally recognising me.

And based on that cry, now wants me.


Shout out to all my baby Dad's out there.

It's taken 10 months...

I finally feel useful.

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

“Yeah that’s cap-ex, not op-ex.”

I’m sat in a meeting in the corporate world.
And guess what?

These people (my colleagues) are talking corporate.

And I have no idea what they’re talking about, despite the fact that I’m working in a Big 4 accountancy firm and that I’m midway through the CIMA foundation course.

It took me 9 years in business to understand the difference between Cap Ex and Op Ex.

Now it’s very clear:

Cap Ex belongs on the balance sheet, and Op Ex on the P&L.

It’s the difference between buying (Cap Ex) and borrowing things (Op Ex).

For bootstrapped businesses, conserving capital for what really matters, a new location, machine or big hire… is critical.


Setting your team up with the right tech is essential for motivation, productivity, and growth. 

But tying up your cash in hardware that depreciates the second you use it? 

That’s just an inefficient use of capital.

Which is why we’re big fans of Raylo | B Corp…

Instead of dropping thousands upfront on hardware that rots on your balance sheet and depreciates the second you use it, Raylo gives you the latest tech through a flexible subscription.

It’s simple:

- Healthy Cash Flow: zero upfront costs mean you keep your capital where it belongs, fueling actual growth.

- Upgrade-Ready: at the end of your term, upgrade for free instead of being stuck with outdated kit.

- Founder Speed:  it takes 60 seconds to order and it arrives the next day.

Productivity isn't about owning more "stuff"; it's about using your capital effectively.

#ad

🤓 I used to be Head Of Marketing at Ebsta (B2B SaaS in sales space), we started the Sales Ops Demystified podcast as I identified a new customer persona: sales ops professionals

🎤 The podcast started well: our ideal customer persona was coming to our office to be interviewed, instead of ignoring my cold emails! 

🕵️‍♂️ We also started generating some inbound organic traffic as all the content was published on our blog and we started generating some social engagement from video clips. But then something magical happened... 

😱 The VP of Sales Operations from a B2B SaaS company (that you probably know!), came on the show, did a great interview, and then randomly started chatting with our CEO on LinkedIn... and four months later ended up buying our sales software for all 183 of their salespeople 

💰 This generated a 9-10x ROI on all the time and money we spent on the podcast

🏆 I felt like I had discovered the holy grail of B2B marketing: short-term, attributable ROI with long-term value add, branding building, SEO and social benefits compounding over time

🤝 So I left Ebsta... they became Fame's first client, and still are a client! The show now has over 200 episodes, is the most downloaded podcast in sales/rev ops and is now generating a significant ROI for Ebsta through SEO value, social engagement, positioning and also customers/partners generated through relationships with guests 

📈 We have taken this process, make incremental improvements each month improve and now implement it for 70 other B2B businesses in different niches for a pretty reasonable monthly subscription 

🥇 The basic approach is to choose a sub-niche within your market that is underserved and then become the #1 most downloaded podcast in that sub-niche within 6 months 

👌 If we do that, we should be able to generate a significant ROI from SEO value, social exposure and in particular... the relationships built with guests 

At Fame, we have taken this process, make tiny improvements each week and implement it for over 80 B2B businesses, including:

👉 IDEO
👉 Workday
👉 HighRadius
👉 People.ai
👉 Challenger
👉 Bevy
👉 Circle
👉 Suzy
👉 Mazars
👉 LeanData
👉 Personiv
👉 Ramp
👉 User Interviews
👉 Signify
👉 ValueSelling Associates

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

7 steps to become a high-performer in your business:


1. Never complain
2. Advocate for your team. Get them promoted
3. Use emoji’s to dispel negative emotions in written comms
4. Follow up. Always follow up 
5. Be the person to take the meeting minutes. This person has power
6. If you can’t present the solved problem, present solutions. The worst thing to do is just present problems
7. Do your managers job

Super simple.

But most people don’t do these.

It struck me mid-way through the 2nd fish course.

Italian food isn’t:

- Spaghetti Bolognaise
- Lasagne
- Espresso

It’s a way of life.


Back to the dish…

Nonna serves up a lightly grilled talbot drizzled in a parsely, oil, lemon and garlic salsa.

Just 5 ingredients… all fresh and sources from within 20 miles of their farm.

This is the second of three fish courses we’re consuming on Christmas Eve this year:

- Cod with tomato and olives
- This Talbot
- Grilled, lightly battered king prawns

Again, maximum of 5 ingredients, all sources from within 20 miles of their farm.


But it goes beyond food…

The word for “table” changes based on whether people are sitting at it or not…

It’s feminine “tavola” if people are there… and masculine “tavolo” if not.

And when you sit down at the tavola, you don’t talk, you shout 🤣


So next time you decide to cook “italian”, ditch the pre-made source and turn off the TV.

Go to the local market, buy a few fresh things.

Then sit at the table with people.

Eat and shout.

$22m in profit on $28m in revenue.

10 years.


John Lee Dumas is the OG of business podcasting.

He started the @Entrepreneurs On Fire podcast in 2014 and established the roadmap for millions of other podcasters.

He got paid well for doing so.

Let’s dive in…


Revenue is going down (see image).

We can only assume this is due to competition… e.g. sponsorship revenue went down due to higher competition from other shows as the podcasting world exploded between 2014 and 2024.

Looking closer, we see that as revenue dropped from approx. $4m in 2016 to $1.6m in 2024, we see the revenue mix change:

- Dropped coaching and cohort courses
- Focused on sponsorship revenue


Why it’s working:

1. Lean team

The team consists of John, his wife Kate and 3 VA’s (based in the Philippines). Total payroll is $12k per month.

John records, they do everything else (not sure what his wife does though).


2. Zero CAC

John’s product is his own advertising. E.g. His ideal podcast listener is likely also his ideal customer.

$0 CAC.


3. Tax arbitrage

This is a simple one.

John moved to Puerto Rico in 2016:

4% income tax versus 30% in California

This likely is saving him upwards of $600k per year.


Learning:

A business doesn’t have to keep growing to achieve an epic outcome for its founder/founders.

John is still raking in over $1m per year by maintaining the attention asset and selling sponsorships.

Less stress, more cash.

Amen to that.

20k search impressions in 20 days.

From I business I copied.


Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel Securities says one of his favourite books is "Hardball".

It’s a book about playing the game to win, not to play.


In 2026, Fame is playing hardball.

My job to work out what is next. The wonderful Alexandra, Gemma and Michael have the main business under control.

During 2025, “what’s next” was going to come in the form of acquisitions… we did three:

- Lychee (now Fame Clips)
- Podcasting360 (now Fame Lite)
- Speak On Podcasts (now Fame Connect)

These are also under control and growing, overseen by the wonderful Ariel.


What’s next?

I’m big on IRL.

In person is back.

I’m also big on non-AI generated content, specifically video.

In 2026, more businesses will do more in person events and original, non-AI generated content from these events will get the most attention.

This is what’s next.


So I found a business doing this:

They help businesses film things in person (podcasts, events, trade shows) with a global network of video production talent.

I expressed interest, reviewed the numbers and made an offer.

They rejected the offer.

So I thought… why not  do it myself?


Fame Crew was born: a global event video production service.

20 days later we have 20k impressions and 33 clicks from Google Search and are working on our first event.

That that business owner… sorry, but not sorry.

Because we’re playing hardball in 2026.

300k words.

1,600 landing pages.

25k impressions and 55 clicks in 20 days.

How?


You guessed, this is an AI in marketing post.

E.g. how you can actually use AI to run tests FAST.


We’re launching Fame Crew: a global event video production service.

First problem to solve: can we find businesses looking to film things in person?

Google is the best place to look.


Fortunately we’ve been publishing podcast episodes on our domain for 6 years, Ahrefs gives us a 69 domain authority.

E.g. we can rank things fast.

So I head to Gemini:

1️⃣ Get it to give the the names of the 200 biggest cities in the world
2️⃣ I then decide on the 8 specific keywords that people would search for when looking for the Fame Crew service e.g. “trade show videography”, “event videography”
3️⃣ 8 multiplied by 200 gives us 1,600 landing pages
4️⃣ I ask Gemini for a sentence for each location / service, this is the sub-headline on each page
5️⃣ I ask Gemini for 3 FAQ’s per location / service, these form as the FAQ’s for each landing page
6️⃣ I decide on the structure of the headline for each page
7️⃣ I use an existing landing page template we have, make some tweaks
8️⃣ Hand everything over to a freelance Webflow dev

About 2 hours fo work for me, pre-AI, this would have been a week.

And as of yesterday, I’m currently working on a brief to film a cat-related conference in Reno.

Buzzing.

Everyone on our team is remote. 


We talk all day on Slack. 

If I send you a message and you don’t answer immediately:

BIG trouble.

No of course not, we assume you're:

- Making coffee
- Feeding the dog
- Doing something else

We don't care what.

If it's for longer than a few minutes, they update their Slack status.


The only thing we (and you) should care about is:

Is the job getting done?
Are they happy? 

Everything else is noise.


When bosses start monitoring your presence, trust is gone.

And no one wants to work in a world without trust.

taplio

Tom Hunt's Linkedin Analytics

Tom Hunt

Performance ScoreTom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

Who is engaging with Tom

Tom Hunt's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Tom Hunt's Linkedin Analytics

Tom Hunt

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

Who is engaging with Tom

Tom Hunt's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Tom Hunt's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreTom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

Tom Hunt's Best Posts (last 30 days)