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Happy Friday!


Things that went well this week:
- moved in 🏡
- verbal offer on a jet, and another heading into late stage
- fun basketball match

Things that need improvement:
- adapting BD based on what we're seeing
- time-wasters (2 no shows this week, and 1 who shouldn't have showed up!)

Things that rock:
- tunes on a Friday 🎧

Have a great weekend.

"We ran that and it doesn't work"

I hear this all the time from small business owners who don't appreciate or understand the value that marketing can bring.

The marketing challenge is felt more acutely at the smaller levels because the stakes are so high.

If it doesn't work - there's a risk the business can sink.

But if it does work - it unlocks stages of growth the business can't otherwise attain.

And (even before AI) EVERYONE thinks they can do marketing. We see it everywhere.

So in this video I talk through what a marketer sees and how it can bring value and why investment at lower levels needs to be at PAINFUL volumes in order to truly shine.

Happy to debate this one if you're game!

(and watch the end to get 2 tickets to the gun show 💪)

... and I swear to the divine beings if I see ONE MORE AI-slop comment masquerading as a thoughtful contribution from a 3rd degree connection I'm going to nuke you into the heavens with the report spam button SO QUICKLY that you the ban-hammer will be hitting you in the back of the head half a second after you clicked the "automate slop" button...

A banging question yesterday:
"how do you screen for AI use?"

I'm in marketing recruiting.

We're working with scaling companies.

I'm screening for judgment, taste, and decision-making.

But also skill, abilities, speed of learning, and adaptability WITH AI.

So here's how we're going so far with this:

"What are you building?"

Is a quick separating question. People sticking to prompts aren't building. Makers are shipping, tweaking, experimenting and can either point to generated content or better yet - link to something.

Great marketers aren't using generative AI in their back and forth DMs.

I've studied writing for over 2 decades. I know immediately when someone is copy and pasting their answers back from an LLM. I understand why people do this (especially where English isn't your first language). It's not a red flag - but it's definitely a flag. Great marketers are confident in their language use, and only use generative copy for scale they couldn't otherwise get.

I interrupt.

I don't want your polished script about what you've done with your career so far. "Tell me more about that", no - "I want you talk about this", "yeah but when you say this, what was the problem that led to this". Part of this being an infuriatingly curious neurodivergent, but now this also acts as a circuit breaker against scripts and pre-prepared answers. Myself and other people at Pointer have noticed candidates prepared answers (and other tools) during video interviews. We can never be 100% sure - but interrupting is 100% going to break any AI-assisted answers.

AI-generated resumes are here to stay.

I was talking through a candidate with a client last week and they shouted "this is an AI-generated CV"! I can't screen for that. Because if I did I would be eliminating 80-95% of applicants off the bat. I do screen out if you haven't updated your email on your generated CV or worse yet - fail to rename it from AI-apply.pdf.

There's more of course - I can't give away all of that hard-won IP.

But if you'd like me to share some more over a call or coffee I'm happy to - my shout ;) ☕️

📸 from the weekend by my friend Phil - it's not hard to stand out! That's me having my first Red Bull in a long time and what's not shown is me regretting it later at 11.45am in bed!

Walking into the week like... [insert powerful word here]

with the roles I'm hiring for right now 👇

Who I'm after:

Head of Growth | Infinity22 - Brisbane or Melbourne (hybrid), $120K base + uncapped commission. Owns the whole revenue engine: marketing, sales and customer success, reporting straight to the CEO. I want someone who's been itching to run an entire revenue function, not just one corner of it.


AI Growth Lead | B2B SaaS - Sydney CBD, $100-130K + equity. The first dedicated growth hire, building the engine from scratch and running it with AI from day one. I'm actively testing you on screen - it's fun :D


Customer Success Manager | Infinity22 - Brisbane or Melbourne (hybrid), $85K + super / $100-115K OTE (uncapped). Own a 200+ client book and be measured on keeping them and growing them. A farmer's role that grows with the business.


Senior Paid Media Specialist | Q Agency - Western Sydney, $100-110K + super. Own the agency's biggest and most complex accounts, and lift the team around you while you're at it. After someone who knows the ins and outs of Google and Meta Ad accounts.


Junior/Mid SEO Strategist | Practice Edge - Melbourne's North-East, $60-80K + super. Technical SEO for one of the best-kept secrets in healthcare marketing. Best suit someone local (or keen on a tree-change) with plenty of room to grow.


Know someone who'd nail one of these? Then let me know.


Giddy up - yewwwww! 🐎

Just your semi-regular reminder that I do marketing recruitment (with a sprinkling of techno).

Tea is light years ahead of the market on the intersections between digital media, creativity, and technology.

Hire them 🫶

If you're itching to work at a fast-growing Sydney-based startup and flex your AI + marketing chops - keep watching.

I LOVE these roles and the right person will already be generating their application in response to this throw down.

AI marketing lead.

Get in touch: https://lnkd.in/eQd6xJXq

how do you guys work the shadow market?

Hey - part of the "Marshy" deal is doing goofy sh*t.

(Like referring to myself in the 3rd person)

But even I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I organised an EOFY coffee party in the space of a week.

Things that went "wrong":

☔️ Melbourne was on-brand and it rained

💳 The venue wouldn't let me "put down a tab" - so I had to give my card to tap/tap myself for each of the coffees I shouted

🎯 I wasn't specific AT ALL about who I was targeting - the marketer in me spontaneously combusted - but people near my orbit decided to roll the dice and come along anyway

But this morning things went right!

Over 20 friendly faces braved the weather and came along for a coffee and some networking - a mixture of startup operators, founders, consultants, freelancers, and multi-hyphenates.

Thanks to those of you who humoured me and came along, and most importantly: helping me hit my goal of 100+ coffees with people by EOFY.

I set the goal to give our marketing recruitment business a momentum boost as I ramp up the business development, and finished with a lot of new connections and friendly faces.

I'm planning some more events 2nd half of the year in the spirit of BD and networking -

- a senior marketing leader dinner in Sydney at the end of July, 
- a marketing/growth leader brunch/lunch in a couple of months, and 
- some more hands-on AI workshops as well - marketing/growth + whatever people ask for

If any of these pique your interest have your people talk to my people.

☕️ cheers!

p.s. It was hard tallying the coffee meetings across a couple of calendars and google accounts - but it looked like I was at 83 before today, and made it to at least 105 by EOFY - woooo! 🥳

Whose idea was this anyway?

Featured on Melbourne Luma for the week.

Will close registrations 2.30pm Monday so I have time to organise final numbers and location/warn the barista(s).

Help me, help you 🫵 ☕️

Something, something free drink in comments

I don't know many people unaffected by mental health.

Whether it's direct lived experience, a loved one, friend, or family member.

I do know that it's often a taboo topic.

People prefer to talk about it within the safety of closed doors, discrete 1:1s, and within inner circles of trust.

I also appreciate that many people are uncomfortable reading about it, talking about it, or even listening to someone else speak about it.

I'm not going to fight with that today.

But it is end of the financial year, and organisations like SANE lean into this.

They talk openly about complex mental health in the media, they don't shy away from demystifying things, and when other organisations are washing their hands of the kinds of help they can provide to people really struggling - they're leaning into extraordinarily hard work to show these people that they're not alone, and in fact - it gets much, much better.

Not everyone can do this work.

It takes a special breed of human, a certain level of sacrifice, and a willingness to go where most prefer to turn away or keep things private.

I'm not going to suggest you do the same.

But - if anything I've said has struck a chord - and you're a person or organisation that needs to balance the ledger one way or another with tax-free donations, then you could do a lot worse than help SANE.

They support people affected, their carers, their kin, and do in a way that keeps the doors and options open where other pathways and systems have failed.

This access and support is free - and I'd love to see it continue and thrive.

If you're open and willing - please visit their website and donate.

And if there's anything I can do in return - pro-bono speaking, a connection, some advice - my door is open and I'll make that happen for you.

Thank you for taking pause and considering this.

📸 some snaps from over the years in my own recovery journey

Last night:

It’s been a massive and challenging week Luke, get to bed, catch some solid rest and finish off the week strong.

3am, courtesy of my turbo-brain:

OKAY LUKE YOU GET THE KEYS TO YOUR NEW HOUSE TODAY LETSSSSS FKKKKNNN GOOOOOO!!! No stopping us meow!

Tired me (this morning):

…great?

Coffee pop-up anyone?

Because I need your help!

At the start of 2026, I had grand plans.

I was starting a marketing recruitment business for Pointer, and just KNEW that I had to have more face-to-face meetings.

So I liberally stole from James Hertan and came up with the "coffee Tuesday" idea.

I meet you, and shout you a coffee - and somewhat ambitiously - set a goal of 100 coffee meets by the end of financial year (30th June 2026).

Now here comes the help part...

I think I'm going to fall short.

Going into Winter for the run home has made it harder to close out the 100.

My AI says I'm at 79, no wait - 89 - no wait - that mistakenly includes your quarterly online chat with Ross (bloody Ross - always ruining things).

So rather than throw the towel in I am going to do what any gormless and nefarious recruiter would do and CHEAT.

If you're available between 10.45-12pm on the 30th June in Melbourne's CBD - I will buy you a coffee.


You might have missed out.

You might have already caught up with me for coffee.

You might be a tight-a**e and the cost-of-living crisis has meant you've had to restrict your caffeine intake.


Well fear not - I've got your back in the spirit of sandbagging my numbers.

Help me smash my coffee quota goal en masse - there'll likely be some other people there and there might be the odd bit of "networking".

I also guarantee you it will be bitterly cold and Melbourne's weather gods will conspire to sabotage this event.

DM me and I'll add you to the "guest list" and hook you up with the venue and free coffee details*


*you must be okay with me social-media'ing the sh*t of this because that's the game yo

3 ways senior marketing candidates can help recruiters (and themselves) to navigate towards the next job:



1) Network.



I don't say this to be trite.



It's number one for a reason.



It's so critical to actively work and cultivate relationships at different levels, different sectors, different industries, with opposing and adjacent departments because at senior levels you do not know where the next opportunity is.



This gives you more information, more market knowledge, more pressure testing what you want, and more information you can take to any engagement you have a recruiter.



Which leads to my next point.



2. Be specific.



In BNI - they teach you to make your ask specific.



When you approach a recruiter - the best candidates do the same.



They have a specific ask - they know what they're good at and where they excel, and they know what they want next.



This is night and day versus people who say "I was at X company for 5 years and managed this".



I'm sure you're good - but that doesn't help me find your thing - it just puts you on a big pile of people that also say similar.



3. Learn to follow-up.



Selling is following up.



I could have easily said "learn to sell" but that's going to lose you.



Following up is the art of checking in, staying relevant, socialising new information, persistently yet politely creating new ways to be useful to someone.



This does many things.



But most importantly it builds a relationship with someone over time, and keeps you top of mind.



When senior opportunities are less - that's what you need to stand out from a crowd.



--



Is there anything I'm missing here or you want to dump on?



I've been on both sides of the fence and your takes are real and valid 😇

You get a role, and you get a role, and there's a live one here!

*waving my Oprah arms emphatically* 💪

Head of Growth - Infinity22 - East coast preferred
Customer Success Manager - Infinity22 - Bris/Mel
Senior Paid Media Specialist - Q Agency - Western Sydney
Junior/Mid SEO Strategist - Practice Edge - North-East Melbourne

I've also got some early days opps brewing on 2x AI-Growth Lead roles - if you're a beast at this feel free to sound them out with me but the calibre we're after is similar or better to the webinar I did last Thursday.

Happy to chat and LFG!

Have an awesome week 🫶🏻

What’s “vibe marketing”?

For me - it’s completing a broad range of marketing tasks with orchestration with a fraction of the time.

The debate over whether it is better than a person is moot - you can simply iterate (or a a loop to iterate) towards a better outcome.

You don’t have to love it (I don’t and love the craft) but this is the reality of market pressures and you only need to look at the amount of senior marketers looking for work (sorry - “fractionals”) to understand things are changing.

In a 25min demo on Thursday, I share:

- CRO audit in our contact page

- some illustration concepts to add to the website

- grab some extra ways we can talk about recruitment from conversations with existing talent and clients

And because the work was happening in the background I talk through a recruitment advertising deep-dive I got it to commit.

This level of work used to take weeks. I know this because I used to do that for global clients with tens of millions of dollars to spend.

https://lnkd.in/eXDpPnkt

Things that have have been great this week:

- Knicks!
- Socceroos!
- Business - pew, pew, pew - busy!

Things that have been very ordinary this week:

- Winter daycare sick
- unrelenting darkness
- learning that South Africans don't know wtf I'm talking about when I say "lurgy"

Things that will be better than the weekend hitting:



...



That's it - that's the post - I dare you to generate this magnificence.

It's been a week 😘

Just a friendly (and last) reminder that I'm doing a live vibe marketing session at 12pm today (Thursday 18th June).

I'll just work through it live with commentary and open it up for Q&A afterwards.

I guarantee you I can't anticipate every problem that will emerge and I also guarantee you that you'll learn more from this session than you will from 100 "comment bro" LinkedIn demo posts.

Get in :)

https://lnkd.in/eaihtAVz

There's some marketing tasks to get through this week - so let's "vibe" it.

And let's do it live over a 30minute session talking through what's happening, what to do when things don't go the way I want them to, and troubleshoot and problem solve live.

And yeah - let's record it and open it up to Q&A at the end...

Wait-- whose idea was this?

https://lnkd.in/eaihtAVz

3 ways I torched my career - and it still worked out:


1. Quit a big tech and aired my grievances publicly

I remember being angry and emotional. I put the detail up on a blog. Some friends said "wtf are you doing" and I took it down.
Bridges were burned. I was in the right. I spoke to a lawyer.

But much later I can look back at what happened and see the role I played, what I could have done better, and most importantly - learned more about what actually matters.

2. Sold a 6-figure digital advertising campaign, had the technology irretrievably break, and got asked for a refund in cash

Not comfortable shoes to be in. I thought I'd torched my relationship with the client, my role was going to crater, and the situation was unsalvageable.

It ended up becoming my best client, I had a PB on targets, and my boss helped our refund situation with generous makegoods.

3. Told an agency the role can't work with the current financials, demanded change, and was rejected - left without a job

I joined an agency to build a startup division. 6 months later it became obvious that the model needed a different approach and I pointed this point to leadership.

"No - your job is this"

So I quit without a job to go into and figured it out.

Was that stressful? Yes.
Did I survive and go on to better things? Also yes.

I'm not sure who needs to hear it today but you are not your role and you're going to be okay ♥️

Here's 5 principles I shared this week about integrating AI into your GTM motion...

I ran a small session at Sanders Place this week as part of SEEDS with 🙌 Garry Williams

I've found there's so many ways to "do the things" that everyone is at different levels.

But I've also noticed these principles have remained true in the time I've been doing the things.

1. First-party data wins - every time

There's a lot you can do with signals, enrichment, patterns, trends, scraping, and all the other Voodoo that comes with modern go-to-market and AI.

But nothing replaces customer data, conversations, and live feedback - everything else is secondary and if you're trying to grow - heeding this above all else is the most important thing.

A tactical example - every B2B has legacy CRM data that's just sitting there. These are companies that took an interest in you at some point - starting there (and enhancing with AI) is a very quick win.

2. Build a shadow CRM

I don't give a hoot what any CTO, operations, or cybersecurity expert says about AI and GTM.

You can't pull off the kinds of moves you want to by trying to shoehorn your motions into an existing CRM.

You're spinning up new data, fields, angles, entry points, hypotheses, cohorts, PII, and code - at a rate of change that a CRM isn't equipped for.

Grab a secondary database (Supabase, Convex, or even Google Sheets) and then push it to the CRM when things are more stable and working well (ie. a booked call, demo etc.)

3. Ignore the fancy demos - they're not built motions

I say this with the full hypocrisy of someone starting the session with "who wants some leads", voice dumping my brief to my agent, and circling back later in the session with 5x different sets of leads (emails, names, linkedin, phone numbers) for 5 different ICPs.

This is theatre.

A real motion is built through constant and steady iteration. The first time a workflow is set up it will tank. This is part of the process. You get more data, improve and tweak things, and it improves for next time.

With /goals and /loops - that iteration can even be done in an automated way.

The comment "pineapple" bros have NFI about the specifics on the complexities of your business, and are simply farming engagement and leads - you can still learn from grabbing some of this stuff - but be ready to adapt and set up the differences in your own way doing things.

4. Its impossible to keep up - so learn to filter the information instead

The best in the world can't keep up. There's a stupid term that got popular earlier in the year called "AI psychosis" - as a mental health advocate I hate that term - but the truth behind it is you can't keep up and will go crazy trying.

(continued in comments)

I'm hiring!

We're looking for a Head of Growth at Infinity22 - one of the fastest growing financial services advisories in the country.

You'll be leading a team of BDs, Customer Success, and marketing and owning the revenue for this business.

Expected capabilities -

- you've owned revenue before and carried quota
- you've managed sales + customer success before and can lead/direct a marketing function (offshore AI marketing manager)
- disciplined on commercials - know your CAC, understand margins, and forecast with control

This role is open to Brisbane AND Melbourne candidates, and will be posting up a customer success manager for this organisation as well.

Referrals, chats, DM slides all welcome and here to help 🫶🏻

Remember to take your gigantic phone and wallet out of your pocket next time you're on stage Marshy...

Had a blast delivering the Pointer pitch to the startup ecosystem a few weeks ago with StartSpace's 'Flip the Pitch'.

Well the elite team has now shared with me the edited video so I can share that pitch with my network in all its 3 minute glory.

Did I mention I have a 100 coffee goal by EOFY?

That count is now at 89... wonder if I'll get there with such a compelling and well-thought out offer being beamed to you in video format 🤔

86 - at the start of the year I set a goal of hitting 100 coffee meetings by the end of the financial year.

Well - the end of the financial year is in 21 days and how are things looking?

Pretty darn good.

When you're an early startup, momentum is 10X more important than your website, your pitch, or even your product (its going to be revised a million times anyway).

But momentum leads to traction, and traction is what builds revenue and ultimately a long-term business.

So momentum is what I've been focused on while building out the marketing recruitment business at Pointer.

And I got momentum thanks to City Coffee Tuesday ☕️

Here's some things I noticed for myself:

- I love coffee chats. Something about the format brings out my sense of fun and curiosity.

- I can't drink more than 1 coffee. I just can't. I'll switch to peppermint tea, hot chocolate, or sparkling water when there's more than one meeting.

- It saves me from work-from-home doldrums. It's so easy to stay in a home office, especially in Winter. But I noticed that when I forced the pilgrimage each week (or multiple times a week), my sense of wellbeing and productivity during the week skyrocketed. Yes it's hard to do all my things on the city meeting days, but it carries over to home office productivity on other days of the week.

Plus I LOVE meeting new people.

People like Jane Korneyko - who had strong opinions on startup land and was happy to debate where things go.

Any accelerator/VC would be mad not to hear out what she's building.

And if you'd like to help me hit that 100 number by bumping up my Tuesday City Coffee numbers (or otherwise) - slide into my DMs and I'll give you a booking link :)

Fake AI-generated profiles are becoming more and more of a thing.

Some of the problems this creates:

- provides bad actors access to more of your data

- creates false social proof for gathering more of you connections (8 mutuals accepted this one, I'm pretty loose with my accepts but there's nothing to be gained by accepting a bonafide bot)

- adds to the already problematic levels of slop

This profile was allegedly a PM at Google and doesn't know how to proof/check the spelling of "guaranteed".

This isn't very sophisticated and is easy to spot.

My fear in the long run is that this stuff will become harder and harder to spot/distinguish between real/not real.

The Dark Forest theory of the Internet is worth a read as it's no longer theory (more categority truth these days).

p.s. Thanks King for the pub hol 🤴 in Victoria

Despite all of our best efforts - I still believe SANE is an undervalued asset punching way above its weight.

Q: Hang on - you're a digital-led organisation helping people navigate the messiest of mental health situations?

A: Yep.

Q: But people navigating multiple diagnoses, co-morbidities, grief, trauma, domestic violence, AOD, and any number of other life challenges can only be helped by people and support services face-to-face?

A: Not true - in fact, we have empirical evidence that we can improve those exact people's outcomes with digital delivery alone.

Q: That seems impossible, and life-changing for people most in-need. Surely everyone knows about this impact and is happy to fund this? Think of all the access this provides to our most marginalised and at risk!

A: No, that's what I would think too. I'm a marketer and am believe raising awareness, SANE's profile, and educating government, citizens, partners, and corporations will step-change the outcomes for all of the people navigating mental health challenges that don't fit in a neat funding box (because some funds only want to be awarded to neatly described conditions - not how people like us actually live).

---

Are you up to the task?

You need to have high integrity, be willing to donate your time, have really tough conversations, and help steer this asset towards the impacts this country needs.

Feel free to get in touch with questions or apply via the details below.

I can't think of work that's more important.

Are you ready for a spicy take? Because I'm coming in special hot with a side of chilli 🔥 🌶️

(And not one of those beige declarations masquerading as spice - I see you, purveyor of all that is dull and generated).

Here we go...

There are a LOT of AI founders/co-founders that I've met, witnessed, looked at, or JUDGED FROM AFAR.

And I'm telling you - nearly all of them don't know sh*t about commercial.

They are excited by the shiny thing.
They love this new fandangled technology and how awe-inspiring it is.

...and they are completely missing the point.

A product only becomes a product by being sold.
If it can't be sold, it's not a product - it's a play-thing you're obsessed with.

You need to focus on what people want.

I'll say it again:

You need to focus on what people want.

And how do you do that?

You do it by getting it in the hands of people and getting them to pay for it.

Can't get them to pay for it?

You don't have a product.

You can still redeem yourself by putting it in the hands of people and aggressively seeking feedback until you're paid - but that's where the work is.

This principle was a core truth before AI, but goodness gracious grapes - it's even MORE important now.

But AI founders just faff. Pursue the quick dollar, and are surprised when the revenue doesn't just roll in.

Do you know why it doesn't roll-in?

It's because go-to-market expertise, navigating objections, and doing the reps to find the veins of product-market-fit are formidable skills that are required.

I have them coming into my DMs:
"I sell AI now"

I see them six months later:
(they don't sell AI now)

No amount of encrypted, scrying, LLMing, or code-spewing is going to solve that so enjoy your just desserts.

p.s. I'm teaching GTM with AI to founders and operators next week. So if you're offended by the above maybe don't get a ticket 😘

Sometimes you just need to talk shop.

One of the things I offer at Pointer is monthly mentoring chats with our senior marketing placements.

My goal is to grow the practice so big that 1:1 becomes untenable but for now I’m enjoying riffing with and helping fellow operators.

Things that come up:

- How to go to market with a new product offering, what to look for, and who to target

- Navigating founder challenges where the level of marketing nous is less than the operator

- Be a sounding board for evaluating a current agencies output

I’ll be honest - I have a vested interest in helping these placements succeed.

I don’t get paid if they end up struggling and leaving the company.

But if I’m being even more honest - nobody reads these right - I LOVE vibing with operators in the trenches and problem-solving live challenges because I LOVE the craft.

And if you’re doing what you love the rest follows right? 😉

I’ll toast to that

3 ways AI helps the thoughtful job seekers (that most recruiters won't tell you)...



I can share this because I've been recruiting for ~6 months now, and you have way more advantage than you think.


1. Video screening is your friend.

I get it, it's awful and you don't want to do it. But look at it from our perspective.

We are INUNDATED with AI-generated applications - like 100s.

You are invited to prove you're not a robot.

Not showcasing your best polished thinking in relation to a screening question.

I repeat: prove you're not a robot.

I've seen AI-generated videos, someone reading off a scripted answer off-camera, and ~60% of candidates point-blank refuse to do it no matter what.

That's your advantage - just answer in 1-3 sentences with the dog barking in the background - you're real.


2. You can add extra touches.

Following up with a thoughtful email connection, sending a personalised linkedin connection to the hiring manager/recruiter explaining why you're excited for this application, and if you're extra endeavouring - a quick voice/video note after the accept.

You're now ahead of 99% of the competition. I wish the % was lower - it's not.

You have now given yourself a ripping shot.


3. Doing the above two things works BETTER now that AI is taking over.

The human elements of the application process were always the most important.

But in the age of:

- Perfectly formatted CVs
- Cover letters that effortlessly nail every point
- Follow-up notes and intros that are 3-5 paragraphs long (a hardcore tell)

...being a human stands out even more!

Am I wrong? Do you disagree? Is any of this a surprise to you?

AI-forward-facing and great-fit fractionals and senior operators are quietly sliding into my DMs and letting me know they're open for business.

Not prompt jockeys.
Not people who have "done a certification".

People who are building and nerding out hardcore and wanting to flex their chops in new roles unencumbered by old ways of working.

If you're looking for "unicorns" I have them and want a chat.

I had lunch with an old work friend on Monday. He asked:

"So is it hard to recruit in marketing for tech right now?"

Yes and no!

So it's not hard to get applications right now.
Basically every general-ish role that's going up is getting 100s of applications.

You just pick the best right?
Wrong.

The founders/hiring managers we're working with don't have time or the expertise to know what great looks like.

So we're actively involved in not only the screening process - but in some cases designing the marketing task and actively pressure-testing their technical acumen as well.

On the other side - there's a reduction in what I call "traditional" marketing roles in general at earlier-stage companies.

This is because it's no longer efficient to hire a paid ads specialist, lifecycle marketer, marketing manager, graphic designer et al.

The best (and I talk with them every day) are leaning into AI's capabilities and doing the work of 3-4 people - today.

And I can smell BS a mile away because I'm an operator who lives and breathes this stuff and pulling off similar moves at the businesses I'm working in.

So is it a bit nerve-wracking?
Of course - but so is any venture that's new (like setting up a marketing recruitment function).

I do believe we're going in the right direction and the market will catch-up (or the smart ones will just work with shops like us).

Some news 🏡

Let me make one thing clear:

It was really FUN being on the other side of the stage last night for StartSpace's "Flip the Pitch".

I've been in the ecosystem for over a decade -

coaching hundreds of founders through things like:
- early stage product market fit,
- what to do to generate quick wins and growth, and
- how to tell a story with confidence and conviction and instil captivation

...and I will admit, I was a bit nervous to go from judge to judged.

But I needn't have worried.

The warmth and goodwill in the room was infections, and it was a really fun evening hearing from ecosystem operators, aspiring founders and wise members of our community who are much further along in their journey and actively giving back.

A big thank you to Will Dawson, Sherin Breuer and the rest of the team for putting it on, and an extra special thank you to Amir Aridi for snapping this banger of a photo 🔥

Here is my step-by-step playbook for evil business development:


(Choose to use at your peril, it only works if you’re a big meanie)


1. Offer “free coffee” in the Melbourne CBD to literally anyone brave enough to ask in your big bad INBOX


2. Be friendly, helpful, ask questions, follow your curiosity and (most importantly) don’t let them pay for their coffee - you can’t let them catch you out as a malevolent business developer


3. Regularly post about it on LinkedIn - so you can continue scheming and plotting evil with your social HONEY POT 🍯


Take Andrew Holmes - I caught up with him last week.

He will tell you Marshy and him have kept in touch over the years and that he’s always helped him since meeting at Tiger Pistol, but it’s outrageous lying -

I am truly a BIG MEANIE and only do this 100 coffee challenge for sweet and delicious SELF-GAIN.

So definitely don’t get in touch - because anyone who does will be beset by evils.

I had a blast at the Anthropic Claude Code Impact Hackathon over the weekend.

High energy, ~ 100 people enthused about AI, and wanting to work on impact.

Some things I noticed after being a mentor on the day:

> the best teams were quite pragmatic and happy to adapt and be fluid in their interactions with other team members. They could hold a strong opinion, listen to feedback and then adapt. The ones that struggled a bit more were a bit more fixed on ideas or problems and couldn't find agreeable territory as easily.

The reality in a hackathon is your start point looks nothing like your end point and it's more important to keep iterating and build momentum rather than get caught up on debating with fixed conviction.

>> Despite the room being filled with hardcore Claude code enthusiasts, the range of knowledge and approaches and tactics were very different.

People have different stacks. People use different IDEs. People have different tools for building out their development stack. Some people are much more aware of design principles and how to stick with them versus others. This is wonderful thing.

While frontier LLMs are trying to build the AI equivalent of an everything store, what I like about this space even more is that each person builds their own workflows and figures it out in a way that that's unique to them.

>>> I loved that Inspire9 Workspace was the epicentre for this. It was arguably THE HUB for startup innovation back in the day and for it to host something that was very similar to its original spirit was quite fun (I felt maybe 15 years younger at certain points during the day)

Big thank you to Rye Smith and 🙌 Garry Williams and the other helpers for putting on an amazing show.

I loved meeting all the participants and mentors along the way.

Well done to everyone involved - it was a bit chaotic and we all attacked it with the right attitude and vibe.

p.s. awesome to hear from Anthropic themselves that Australia is one the fastest growing communities for this stuff in the world!

When someone asks me if it's not a priority for me right now:

Caught up with Marta James (GAICD) today and did a download on what I would do if I was putting out a fractional customer experience offer in-market today.

But instead of sharing what I told her, just reach out.

She can solve thorny product flow experiences end-to-end for founders trying to reduce complexity.

She’s looking to get feedback on this from operators who love talking about sign-ups, onboarding, conversions, silos, and AI.

If I am a marketing candidate, keen to work at an early-stage company, the highest leverage thing you can do is build with AI.

Please note what this isn’t:

- doing a certification
- copying prompts
- pointing to your years of pre-AI experience

Here’s what it actually looks like:

> designing dozens of variants of assets and reverse and codifying the process into a repeatable skill or workflow

> learning new ways to do channels that you previously lacked technical experience in (SEO, design, paid ads, automation, CRO)

> shipping and showcasing - you can literally grab a PD, find the brand, identify gaps, marry it with your experience, and building an interactive app why you’re best fit for a company’s problems (pro-tip: JDs are candidate descriptions for solving these specific problems) - with technology that exists -~✨today✨~-

You can get away with the old way of doing things with bigger companies because they’re slower at this adoption curve.

Early-stage companies cannot because everything they’re doing is a race against time and runway and they’re looking for every advantage and leverage point they can get.

Am I wrong?
Do you see it differently?
Is there something I’m overvaluing here?

📸 of some current roles here that are a click away, the numbers of these will continue to increase

5 things I changed my WFH routine(s) after becoming a father to twins:


1. I had to let go of my militant passion for routine. The need for them was more important than ever, but understanding that I also needed to be flexible with my partner and kids to adapt to this incredible change to my WFH conditions.

2. I travel into the city at least one per week. The distance is healthy, it gives me space, and it absolutely helps my business development.

3. Finish by 5.30 no matter what. I love the nighttime routine and spending time with my boys over bath time, dinner, and stories. I can always catch up after they go to bed (and I do this 2-3x a week).

4. If I want to train in the morning - it’s before they get up. That means 5.30am rising and pumping the weights or a run. This is not getting easier as we go into Winter!

5. Keeping them occupied at this age (3) is more tiring than a full day of work. I know this because I share the load and do a full day when my partner works on Sundays (horse riding teacher) and am utterly pooped. Whereas I can punch out 6 new business meets in a day and feel more energised 😂

What do these 3 people all have in common?

1. We're all parents
2. We've all worked in Sydney
3. We all worked at F'book (not Meta hahaha)
4. We're all now in Melbourne
5. We're all still friends :D

Soooo good to catch-up with Elizabeth Anderson (she's in-market meow - any company would be crazy not to snap her up) and Sophie Shepherd (even though her Dees are going to cane my beloved Dogs this weekend).

I feel really lucky to have kept a lot of the work friendships from this time.

And it's super-easy to swap notes with people who have done the dance as well.

The most interesting part for me was hearing our takes on OpenAI's new ad product - between us we've helped launch new ad products across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp...

There's ways to do this well, and ways to do it not so well.

AI also came up (obviously) and I think we're in a classic hype-bubble short term, and under-valuing what it's going to do long-term (like ecommerce 25 years ago).

Also shoutout to Liz on the cafe recommendation - it's near my 'hood and I thought I was headed to a sewing wholesaler instead of a kick-**** cafe in Eltham.

Absolutely pumped to see what Melbourne brings for the Claude Impact Lab next Saturday.

Hackathons have always been a staple of startup land but seeing one powered by cutting edge capabilities and aimed at impact in our fine city has me positively salivating.

And very pleased to share that I'll be a mentor on the day.

Thanks Claude Community Australia.

Let's get it 🔥

I'm dusting off my pitching chops and coming for YOU startups.

StartSpace is running "Flip the Pitch" - an event focused on supporting the Vic startup ecosystem.

So on Tuesday night, 26 May, I'll tag-team with 19 other speakers at the State Library sharing why we're so good at helping startups.

Like - really good.

The other organisations involved are quaking in their boots at just how good we can be.

So if you're a founder sick of being made to pitch in front of an audience, curious about what's out there that can help you, or simply want to be on the receiving end of a direct line of information about funders, accelerators, community builders, meetups, and operators - then you could do a lot worse than come along (or visit online) at:

🗓️ Tuesday 26 May
🕓 5 PM – 9 PM
📍 State Library Victoria (or online)

I'll include some details about how to get a ticket in the comments below :)

Since joining Pointer I've been aggressively mining Rick's brain for his knowledge of sales, business development, and how he thinks about go-to-market.

I'm low-key hyped for all the listeners out there who get access to this in podcast format next week.

Here’s where your edge in AI is (and it’s not what you think)

Habits I learned in my 20s I have taken into my 40s:

1. Have a coffee with someone in your professional network every week - it can be a bigger number, but keeping this the minimum creates opportunity flows that pay off 5, 10, or even 20 years later

2. Pay attention when people drop their guard - you can learn a lot from people and how they behave when no-one is “supervising” them. Lean into the people who behave congruently, be wary of those who don’t. I learned this one with first-party evidence

3. Blow something up every few years - pick a hill you know is wrong and fight for it anyway. You learn more by backing yourself and fighting back than you ever do from listening to everyone who is “right”. And sometimes - it turns out you were right for you

4. Write every day - it doesn’t matter where it is, how you say it, or who reads it. But it bloody damn matters that you do

5. If it’s low effort for you and high impact for others, do it - I have benefited from this more times than I can count and always post it back

I'm off to Melbourne Basketball networking this morning.

It's really fun.

Run by the ever-exuberant Brandon Burns.

There's worse ways to spend a Monday imo.

"So how do you do this for a small niche like manufacturing?"


This was one of the great questions we received yesterday in our AI growth systems webinar.

I like to think about this stuff as a repeatable mechanism, where the amount of AI you use varies based on the data you can gather, size of your audience, and what clues (signals) you can find about your audience online.

I don't gatekeep any of my presentations because the information changes so fast and I'm a give-first kind of guy!

And if you'd like even more detail than the slides, we've done a write-up for in the comments.

Some quick takes:

> domain knowledge + technical nous combined make this stuff work best - a keyboard jockey is never going to be able to deliver an equivalent

> people who sell this as a quick win are CHARLATANS

> the gains you get from this style of work are in the 3rd, 7th, or 14th loop - you're playing for the compound improvements

Enjoy! 😊

Oh go on then! If you're up for learning what an AI growth system is and how I think about them - you can join our webinar at 12pm today!

https://lnkd.in/dFrH8wrd

I’m not normally in a hurry to share a coffee update - I’m meeting a lot of people each Tuesday after all - but I’m making an exception here.

Mehek Dodecha found me, and picked my brain about sourcing work in Melbourne, the state of digital marketing, and startups.

(She was talking to the right guy lol)

Yet one of the selfish reasons I do this is to learn more about other people.

I love hearing about origin stories and I deliberately probe to uncover things they normally don’t share - because it’s the rabbit warrens and off-scripts for where the magic lies.

Well check out this:

- completed first degree in India
- created a content/infographic social media side-hustle that she sold to a VC
- used the sale money to help pay for a Masters in Marketing over here

And now on the hunt.

We don’t currently have graduate tech sales roles open - but I would forward in a heartbeat.

I have no doubt she’s going to take the advice and run with it, and I look forward to referencing this post when it happens.

📸 “remember to take the snap” she said, because I regularly forget too! Gold 🤌

Go-to-market engineering, growth systems, AI-powered growth...

what are they and why do I have so many pitches for them in my inbox?

^^ that's the premise I'm going to cover off in our Thursday lunchtime webinar for Pointer

I'll go through:

-> the nuts and bolts of setting one up,

-> what tools and resources this is done with, and

-> what to look out for that can trip you up as a solo operator, founder considering hiring a consultant, or a revenue leader who knows they can do more with automation to fill top-of-pipeline

And by the end of the session you'll know:

>> What an AI growth system is and what it can do

>> The core areas to focus on (audiences, campaigns and messaging, tools, and feedback loops)

>> You'll have seen some examples of stack architecture

>> What the watch-outs are

I saw an "AI expert" running an LLM-controlled browser extension to get their LinkedIn connections list the other day (1 by 1) - I'll share how you actually do things like this with efficiency, verve, and a touch of pizzazz.

This usually pops up in-feed, and will share the registration link as well if you'd like a reminder, the slides afterwards, and to stay in touch.

Carry on!

https://lnkd.in/drXbAeSN