27 February 2023
This week's additions focus on strategy, marketing, and leadership, with new digests from TK Kader, Lenny's Podcast Product Career Growth, and Neil Patel. Highlights include Download volume is a vanity metric — activation rate is what matters Build company infrastructure earlier than feels necessary — or tear it down later.
Showing 33 digests for 27 February 2023.
How to build a high-converting B2B lead generation funnel
TK Kader
March 5, 2023
Funnels
10
Content marketing
7
Conversion rate optimisation
6
Download volume is a vanity metric — activation rate is what matters
Both conversion rate and activation rate must exceed 20% to work
A manifesto moves buyers to act; a lead magnet just informs
Business operating systems
Podcast
Scaling a company: operational principles from Stripe's COO
Lenny's Podcast Product Career Growth
March 5, 2023
Business operating systems
10
Management
7
Build company infrastructure earlier than feels necessary — or tear it down later.
Saying uncomfortable things clearly is a learnable, high-leverage leadership skill.
Most companies don't need a COO — and a head of biz ops is lower risk.
Hiring & recruitment
YouTube
How to drive a million blog visitors a month: a step-by-step system
Neil Patel
March 4, 2023
Hiring & recruitment
9
Management
8
Processes & SOPs
7
Deleting and merging old pages often beats publishing new content.
Pitch sites linking to multiple competitors — they'll likely link to you too.
Push notifications get subscribers without asking for personal information.
Founder interviews
YouTube
From Indian farm town to $20M US startup: Kesava Kirupa Dinakaran's story
Silicon Valley Girl
March 4, 2023
Founder interviews
10
Fundraising & VC
6
Winning hackathons by building what judges want, not what's cool
No degree, no visa, no money — $19.5M raised anyway
Automating 40% of customer service work with one recorded workflow
How Gary Vee assigns value to IP and builds VeeFriends
GaryVee
March 3, 2023
Business models
9
Branding
8
Product-market fit
6
A 37-cent sock sells for $9 because meaning beats material
VeeFriends launched with 268 characters to embed values into pop culture
Buy what you actually like — signalling status leads to regret
A four-part framework for clearer async team communication
Layla at ProcessDriven
March 3, 2023
Communication
9
Processes & SOPs
6
One framework turns multi-day message chains into single clear asks
Stating stakes stops junior staff from reverse-delegating upward
Request specificity scales up or down across every delegation level
Customer experience
YouTube
Caring about your customers is a startup competitive advantage
Y Combinator
March 3, 2023
Customer experience
9
Competitive analysis
6
Founders who genuinely care about customers consistently beat better-funded rivals
Talking directly to users is a superpower big companies literally cannot replicate
Copying big-company sales tactics from day one throws away your only real edge
Founder interviews
Podcast
Ginni Rometty on good power, AI trust, and skills-first hiring
Masters of Scale
March 2, 2023
Founder interviews
9
Hiring & recruitment
7
AI strategy & adoption
5
Why trust in AI is built by the drop, withdrawn in buckets
How IBM cut degree requirements from 95% to 50% of roles
Growth and comfort never coexist — seek discomfort deliberately
Five ways to eliminate wasted ad spend
Neil Patel
March 2, 2023
Paid ads
9
Conversion rate optimisation
7
40% of media spend is wasted — here's how to fix it
Retargeting cart abandoners converts 70% more reliably
Day-parting stops you paying for ads nobody acts on
Hiring & recruitment
YouTube
How to hire, build trust with, and replace your COO
Cameron Herold
March 2, 2023
Hiring & recruitment
9
Management
8
Outsourcing & delegation
5
Hire a COO who thrives in every area you don't.
COOs are stage-specific — the right hire for $2M is wrong at $100M.
Before any senior operator, hire an executive assistant first.
How to increase signups by fixing messaging, not adding more marketing
Rob Walling
March 2, 2023
Copywriting
9
Customer discovery
7
90% of growth problems hide in messaging, not traffic volume
Survey best recent customers to find the words that convert
LifeLapse lifted signups 93% — zero spend on new channels
Teaching AI thinking and design thinking for the age of AI
EO
March 2, 2023
Design thinking
9
AI strategy & adoption
7
Business models
5
Zero-to-one innovation is the one thing AI cannot replace humans at
AlphaFold solved in two years what humans achieved in decades
Stanford's design thinking gives anyone a repeatable path to innovation
Why most businesses are losing market share on social media
GaryVee
March 2, 2023
Growth hacking
9
Social media
9
Productivity & habits
5
Personal opinions about platforms are costing you customers.
Massive content demand, almost no supply — a wide-open gap.
One viral video can beat a full year of referral leads.
Office gossip vs strategic communication: a practical HR guide
HR Party of One
March 2, 2023
Communication
9
Compliance & regulation
6
HR holds more sensitive data — every casual word is a liability
Gossip = any talk not advancing organizational goals
Culture guides and official channels prevent rumor spread before it starts
Customer discovery
Podcast
What makes early-stage startups fail, and how to avoid it
Lenny's Podcast Product Career Growth
March 2, 2023
Customer discovery
9
Prospecting & outreach
6
Hiring & recruitment
5
Not talking to users is the root cause of almost every startup failure.
YC can spot failure patterns, but cannot predict the next Airbnb.
Climate tech is now a trillion-dollar business opportunity, not just a mission.