Turned 35 this week.

My life's had wins:
- Sold a company for $200M+
- National debate title
- Found a full time boo

And losses:
- PTSD
- Cancer and health
- Social ineptitude

Lots of reflections.

Here's 35 somewhat controversial beliefs that got me through the years 👇 Whatever has your attention owns you.

- Vices
- Phones
- Toxic family
- Video games

Do an "attention audit" and ask:

"Does this deserve my attention?"

If you're honest, most of you will give up your phone.

My first job I hunted targets at the NSA.

They gave me:
- Tools to analyze anything
- Tools I couldn't get anywhere else
- Tools I used to build a company that sold for over $200M

Here are the 4 tools I now use for analyzing any market, company, or opportunity like a spy 👇





Most of you aren't hunting terrorists.

So to teach these, let's say we're thinking of attacking the insurance industry.

We'll use the following tools:
- Player Proportion
- Core Market Flow
- Journey of a Dollar
- Key Org Chart

(and then some bonus tools)

Let's go 👇

Ever argue with your wife about:

"Do I look fat?"
"No phones at dinner"
"Most people keep the toilet seat down"

You likely just talk in circles.

But I win these arguments - with data.

Here's exactly how for less than $10 per argument👇 You rarely win arguments, because most are just opinions - there's no data.

This means she wins.
Ties go to the wife.
I don't make the rules.

So we need data.

"But where's data on if my wife looks fat?!"

Research Zaddy's got you with these things called market panels 👇

The past 10 years I made companies $2.4 billion by fixing one piece of their business:

Their pricing.

Why'd they need me?

Because even the smartest people don't know how their pricing strategy should change over time.

So here's the exact pricing path to follow for growth 👇 At the start, your product is "basic", but you're excited to ship it!

Except - you forgot a price.

So you scramble.

You say "it needs to be simple like [famous startup] did, right?"

So you guess a price (and end it in a 9, because 🤷‍♂️).

But then something weird happens... 👇

Body odor is completely made up.

Marketers invented it to sell stuff and fuel a twenty two BILLION dollar industry.

Here's the quick story 👇 So before the 1800s people didn’t wash themselves.

If you were rich, you’d bathe once a month.
Poor? Only once per *year*.

Sounds gross, but no one cared.

Everyone stunk.

But Then came the cholera epidemic 👇

Ever get forced to call to cancel a subscription to these:

New York Times
24 hour fitness
Comcast
Vonage
AT&T
WSJ

It's brilliant - makes them $2.1B per year.

BUT

There's a better move that'd make $7.9B and make customers happy.

Here's exactly what they should do instead 👇 Subscription brands are like rejected lovers.

When you cancel they think:
- You hate them
- You never loved them anyways

So they hijack you and it works for a couple of months.

What they don't realize:

A *lot* of people cancel for reasons that have nothing to do with them 👇

In the past six months, I spent serious time with 18 millionaires and 6 billionaires.

They fell into two surprising categories 👇 Net-takers
- Need 51%+ of value from interactions
- Need "what's in it for them"
- Relationships = series of single "moves"

Net-givers
- Give excess value
- Seldom state "what's in it for them" (but know)
- Relationships = multiple "moves"

But then I found the weird part 👇

Last year I went from $19k in my bank account to selling my company for $200M+

Then came what I call "The Champagne Problem Cycle":

- Existential Crisis
- Cocaine energy
- 19 gas stations
- A move to Puerto Rico

Here's exactly what happens when you get rich 👇 Before the sale you're a cool cucumber.

The good - calm.
The bad - calm.

Diligence irks you a bit, but only because everyone else is so emotional. They've calculated their cut.

You know nothing is done until it's done, so you stay calm.

But then the money hits your account 👇

I built the pricing for 400+ companies, unlocking $2 billion+ in additional revenue.

There's one add-on high-growth companies sell that you don't.

You can implement it in 48 hours without any code: Add-ons are a piece of your product you charge separately for.

Why do that?

Parts of products only appeal to certain customers. If given to everyone:
- You don't get paid for it
- Most customers don't appreciate it

So why include it?

Here's the add-on everyone can use 👇

We fear public speaking more than death.

I used to too.

But then I won a national championship in debate.

The secret?

I learned HOW to speak using speaking frameworks.

Here's the one I used to win the title and to sell tens of millions in software.

It's called NEPC 🧵 Your fear of public speaking isn't because you're dumb.

You're a smarty.

You just don't know how to organize your thoughts.

So when answering questions or presenting ideas, organize them like this:

Name it
Explain it
Prove it
Conclude it

Let's quickly walk through each 👇

We hired 133 people.
Had 68k users.
0 funding.

Even then - I did every final interview for new hires.

No matter the role.

It was the single greatest use of my time, because it protected our team from a mistake you're likely making.

Here's what I did in these interviews 🧵 Your number one priority as an executive is your team.

You push them.
You unblock them.
You protect them.

And most importantly you make sure every new hire raises the bar.

The problem: we suck at this.

It's really hard, mainly because the way we interview makes it harder.

We bootstrapped a team to a $200M+ exit.

One thing almost ruined it all - my autism.

I had to work harder than most at communicating (and continue to fail a lot), but I found a good hack:

Asking the right questions.

Here are 9 questions I use to be a better manager.

🧵 People you manage will complain about one another. It's human.

The *worst* response is to try to solve the problem right away.

It creates drama triangles.

Instead ask:
1. If I asked the person A, would they describe this the same way?
2. Have you tried talking to them?

Bud Light sponsored a trans influencer and then lost $20B due to boycotts.

Those folks are bigots, right?

Actually - 89% aren’t boycotting because of trans rights.

This has been bothering me, so I collected data from 4.1k people.

I uncovered a pretty big mistake👇 Bud Light did what big brands do: chased a top influencer.

I’ve sat in that room.

Everyone's excited.
Someone asks “is this political?”
Their morals get questioned.
Then everyone gets on board because - “TRAFFIC?!”

BUT, these rooms blind you to the true definition of brand. 👇

Problem > Cause > Solution is a powerful mental model for unlocking growth in your business by giving you prioritization superpowers.

It's also the framework I used most bootstrapping to an exit of over $200M.

A short thread on how it works: You face a lot of problems.

"We need to cut costs"
"A big customer canceled"
"How do we raise $$?"

Most folks aimlessly throw solutions at problems to see what works.

It's sloppy and wastes time.

Problem > Cause > Solution helps you think clearer and prioritize.

Here's how:

Sold a company for $200M+
Graduated 1st in college
Won a national title in debate

Am I bottling confidence?

Nope.

I'm *incredibly* insecure.

Just like a lot of you (and your teams).

Here's the framework I use to turn that insecurity into fuel.

It's called SCOREBOARD 🧵 No amount of affirmations screamed into a journal will rid you of self-doubt.

Why?

They're lies to get you through the day.

You know what works - the truth.

Your brain needs proof to overcome self-doubt, and that's where SCOREBOARD comes in.

I've spoken to 437 founders.
Studied data from 37k more.
Sold a company for over $200M.

One crucial piece tends to separate companies growing rapidly from those being held back.

It's often overlooked.

Here's the framework. 🧵 Most companies are misaligned on the following:

Do you (and your partners) agree on the destination and the journey required to get there?

So much of business success is survival.

If you're misaligned on the above, you're destined to fail.

The following framework helps a lot.

How bad will this year be for your business?

After analyzing data from 33.6k companies - not good, but there's hope:
- B2B on an uptick, but not why you think
- Consumer $$ still tanking

What should you do?
- 5 ways to not lose
- 3 ways to win

Thread time 🧵 Let's first look at businesses who sell to other businesses (B2B).

Here's revenue since 2020.

Notice how growth started slowing at a rate we haven't seen since the 2008 recession. 📉

But wait - is that an uptick at the end of the graph?! 😳

AI.

No one's asking the right question:

"How much do customers *actually* care that your product has "AI"?"

I wanted to know, so I collected data from 2.4k customers.

Here are the surprising results 👇 How much does AI boost willingness to pay?

I ran a landing page study comparing:
A. Control
B. "...with AI technology."
C. "...with blockchain technology."

Using AI in sales/marketing copy boosts willingness to pay 17%

Two major implications you should take away from this 👇

Discounting is a cancer on your growth.

"But our sales team says they can't hit their numbers without them!?"

Lies.

Here's data on how they hurt you more than help (and what to do instead).

A quick 🧵 Sales folks *love* discounts.

- 77% think they're crucial to close
- Most want to give 25%+ discounts
- 32.1% give discounts on 1st calls

Can't blame them. Tis their nature.

Discounts are the path of least resistance.

What if I told you they weren't necessary though?

3 out of 5 CEOs cut their customer success teams in the past 6 months.

This is a *catastrophic* mistake for growth.

Here's why and what to do instead: During downturns, many customers:

Stop buying new products.
BUT
Spend *more* with existing companies.

Which team drives expansion revenue?

Yup - customer success.

They boost (data below):
- Revenue per customer
- NPS
- Revenue

Here's how to enable them for more revenue👇

Are we in a recession?

Doesn't matter, because...

Your customers THINK they're in one.

Here's data from 18.3k customers showing how buyer behavior changed almost instantly.

READ: You should be changing your landing pages and email copy immediately.

🧵 The last few years I've run a landing page study comparing messaging:

A. "Make you money"
B. "Save you money"

Notice the massive shift in last week's data. Same thing happened in COVID.

Everyone now wants to "save money."

Two things you should take away from this 👇