Benjamin Shafer’s Post

Leaving the tech world this year to pursue my own venture was both the scariest and most exciting thing I’ve ever done. After 12 years in CS/AM leadership, I left my last role at the end of the year, needing a break due to burnout 🔥 I know many of you can relate... Climbing the corporate ladder over the years had been difficult yet rewarding, but I wasn’t happy. I always wanted to start my own business in an area I was passionate about, but finding the right fit took time. Taking the leap was terrifying—I was leaving a lucrative career for the unknown. The thought of becoming a founder was overwhelming. What if I failed? What if people hated it? How would I handle marketing, delivery, packaging, suppliers, the website, admin, business development and everything else ontop? The decision fatigue was real. But Olly and I chipped away at it, and from ideation to launch took just 2 weeks! We went live on February 13th, and within 30 minutes, we had our first order. Olly jumped with glee, and I was nearly sick. Someone had bought our product! 🎉 In just over 5 months, we’ve sold over 4,000 Flavour Bombs, created 3 new flavours, completed a massive foodie festival, been approached by major retailers and a famous TV show we can't talk about just yet (envision a panel of investors 😉), gone viral on TikTok, launched on Amazon, received glowing reviews, and expanded globally. 🌍 We’ll soon announce exciting new expansions in Europe. Did I believe this would happen 5 months ago? No, but I’m glad I took the leap and believed in my passion, skills, and vision. Imposter syndrome still creeps in, but the drive to grow the business is stronger. 💪 Thank you to everyone who has supported us by trying and buying Flavour Bombs, providing advice, and just being there! It means the world. ❤️ <3 Watch this space! 💪

🎉 Celebrating a Major Milestone for Yong in the US Market! 🎉 Thrilled to share the journey of our #doer, Yong, who recently closed his first significant deal in the US market! 🚀 In the competitive publishing industry, Yong's company offers an innovative ad tech product designed to increase revenue for publishers. The challenge? It requires publishers to integrate code into their websites, making the sales process complex. And not to mention that he had to negotiate and close this sale from half way across the globe on Zoom! We supported Yong in achieving this key milestone by: Email and LinkedIn Outreach Optimization: Leveraged engaging video content to capture publishers' attention, resulting in meaningful conversations. Sales Deck Creation: Designed a compelling sales deck for Zoom sales conversations, effectively communicating the value proposition of Yong's product. Impressive Proposal with Qwilr: We assisted Yong in crafting visually appealing and persuasive proposal on the Qwilr platform. Negotiation and Deal Closure: Provided guidance/support during negotiations, ensuring a successful and mutually beneficial agreement. This victory is more than just a deal; it's a testament to Yong's innovation and the power of Relevant Playbooks. 🌟 At Relevant Climb, we're passionate about empowering global #doers like Yong to enter new markets and unlock growth beyond borders. 🌍✨ Here's to many more successes for Yong and the incredible journey ahead! 🥂 #SuccessStory #AdTech #PublishingIndustry #MarketEntry #GlobalStartups #Innovation #Growth

To work in a startup is to shape the future and build new landscapes 🌟 Today's post is dedicated to Martin Blaszczyk, who works in sales and business development at Flasheye. He has taken on various roles, demonstrating the growth opportunities within a startup as the company evolves. Initially hired as a developer, he then moved on to product ownership, and now focuses on general sales and business development. We truly appreciate his flexibility and ability to understand customer problems on a deep technical level. 🌌 What's the best part of working with startups? I started with a startup right after graduation and have always dreamed of starting my own business. It’s challenging, but the rewards when things go well are much greater. You need to trust yourself and strongly believe in your vision while also being open to taking advantage of experts. 🌌 How do you have fun at work and stay highly motivated? I believe it comes from feeling a significant and larger purpose, knowing that we can create something new that makes the world a little better, even though it's often challenging to be one of the first doing something. Seeing development take shape and solving problems that have never been addressed before makes me even more motivated to continue working on this with dedication. 🌌 What are you looking forward to? An autumn where we receive positive feedback on our strategies and collaborations, successful customer projects, and new exciting innovation projects.

Imitated but never duplicated… We are: 👉🏻 The darlings of direct sales 👉🏻 A Black Swan 👉🏻 Have a culture & community that sets us apart with products & people that stand the test of time 👉🏻 Built one but TWO BILLION dollar +/year brands (no failed attempts-research your founders, friends. ) by our Founders 👉🏻 Products that are clinically proven RF will be the #1 premium DS brand across the globe. What we did in 5 years is unheard of in the industry 😇 Most startups don’t sustain 5 years and we built to over 1 billion in 5 years 🙌🏻 but we haven’t scratched the surface. Hint hint, something new coming 7/16. The doctor’s mission was to redefine direct sales- mission accomplished ✔️and we will continue to. We have been built to last. Thinking now might be the right time for you…send me a message and we can chat. I’ll send you a giftcard for a coffee. Never any pressure because if it isn’t right for you it just isn’t right for you. 

👉 Calling all startup founders, product leaders, and growth marketers! Ever heard of Sean Ellis, the mastermind behind Dropbox's explosive growth? 📆 Mark your calendars because Sean Ellis is gracing Sydney with his presence this month! 🔥 Book the tickets (in comments) if you are curious to learn more from the OG Growth expert himself. 🧠 Find out actionable secrets behind Dropbox's rapid rise to a $1 billion valuation and apply it to your own venture! See you there (P.S: This aint sponsored- I am just excited)

The importance of partnerships for startups and how to cultivate meaningful ones There should be three winners in partnership: yourself, your partner and your customers. Some tips to get to this stage: Do: 1. Care about your partner and whether they’re getting economic surplus; 2. Recognise your partner’s capabilities, cultures and motivations; 3. Emphasise accountability and metrics. Don’t: 1. View it as a zero-sum game; 2. Don’t be greedy as this brings instability; 3. Don’t think of it as merely a press release exercise. Source: Elad Gil interviewing Satya Nadella at a Stripe event. **** Enjoy this and work in Advertising? Follow Rishan Chopra for more

Calling all startup founders looking for help with finding product-market fit and getting to market! There are only two days left to apply for the next cohort of The Revenue Accelerator 🚀 💪 ! This isn't your typical accelerator experience. We're the only program that is 100% focused on helping founders to the actual work of going to market, not just high level strategy. While we provide dozens of proven playbooks, frameworks and templates to help accelerate your path to market the real value that we provide to founders comes from our team here at GrowthX. Founder-led sales is hard, especially when you're doing it on your own in a silo. That's where we come in. For 16 weeks, my team and I get in the weeds right alongside you, where no detail is too small, to help you build and execute a path towards product-market fit and scale. Want help with figuring out your ICP? We've got you covered. Need help with that email campaign? Let us rewrite it with you. Not sure how to structure that pilot or respond to that RFP? Let's work on it together. Feeling overwhelmed and just need a sanity check? We're here for you. Join us and let's rise together PS - If check out 100% of our go-to-market playbooks in the comments section! https://growthx.com/

It's not often you share the stage with someone you just met but who's so aligned with your thinking- and it makes for a great conversation. Sam Li of Thoropass and I talked about the B2B SAAS Founders Journey- it was honest, deep and I hope, useful. Thank you Supermomos Edwina Yeo 杨时恩 & Capchase Ian Garrett for a great night. Some great quotes from the evening (courtesy of Ashley Griver): "Founders need to sell. Both to customers and to early employees. Why would you leave Google to join an early start-up? If you as a Founder can't sell something, don't expect to hire someone who can do a better job than you" "Be brutally honest about PMF. You can fool yourself into believing with false metrics, but at some point, you have ask yourself if your business actually works." "Founder idea fit is so important for a business to be successful, and to successfully fundraise. Were you put on Earth to do this? People can tell" "Things are healthier in the fundraising market now compared to 2020/21 to an extent. What happened then was unsustainable." So many great founders in the audience Ariel Serber Emeka A. Valerian Gegidze Natacha U. Madeleine Heuts Chaeyeon Kim Shashank Singh Red Bike Capital Herman Goihman

One of the BIGGEST MISTAKES that I see early stage founders make is... ... failing to identify the part of their market that they should focus on first! 🙈 If you are just getting started and don't have a ton of momentum or paying customers, STOP getting caught up in worrying about: ▪️ TAM (Total Addressable Market) ▪️ SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market) ▪️ SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)! 🚫 I know you want to convey that you're going after a huge market, but the reality is that your Go-to-Market should really be focused on your EAM (Early Adopter Market). I rarely see THAT number in the pitches I judge, but I am always impressed by founders who understand that an effective GTM starts with your EAM. Who is your Early Adopter Market ❓ Your product/service addresses a particular use case. And for many founders, they think that their market is anyone who has that use case. But within the population of people with the use case, there are a few different groups: 1️⃣ There are the people who have a solution for the use case that is at least "good enough" and they have near zero motivation to "switch horses" at the moment. 2️⃣ There are the people who have a solution and feel like it is "sub par" in many ways, but who think that it "does the job" and that going through the effort of looking for a new solution, which may or may not be better than the status quo solution, isn't a priority. 3️⃣ There are the people that have a subpar solution for the use case, but don't do the use case frequently enough to worry about making a change. 4️⃣ There are the people that have a solution and know that it isn't great, but think that sticking with the "Devil they know" is less risky than changing to an unknown and unproven option that doesn't have a lot of social proof or a strong reputation. 5️⃣ Then there are the Early Adopters. 💥These are the people that: * Need to do the use case * Do it frequently * Would get real value out of a "better" solution * Are already looking for a new solution * Feel a sense of urgency in making a change By focusing on the Early Adopters in the beginning, you'll find that the sales process is quicker, the sales objections are fewer, and their lack of a reputation and social proof is less of a barrier. ❗ What do you think? Start with a small segment or go out with guns blazing? Would love to hear your thoughts.👇 👋 Liked this post? ♻️ Please share and repost it to help other founders #EarlyStage #Startups #ProductMarketFit #Founders