LinkedIn

Here's my hot takes on the market for senior professionals either freelancing or on the job market."
" "
"It's coming up a lot in conversation so here ye go!"
" "
"Referrals are dead 💀"
""
"You can't rely on them and they're not coming back anytime soon. The way I'm thinking about this is "what if I had no referrals for the next 12 months?" and then making the changes I need to in order to accommodate this."
" "
"Interesting senior roles are incredibly hard to come by 💨"
""
"I'm hearing this from smart agency, digital, creative, and IT professionals. The list of companies I want to work for is very low - and I threw my hat into the ring for a global Head of Marketing role at a social impact tech earlier in the year."
"I put my best foot forward, went through 4 rounds, and laughed (with respect of course) when they said they went with someone else - "you must have found someone REALLY good"."
""
"I had a peek a few months later at who it was and was like - yep, I would have picked that person too!"
""
"This is the reality right now."
""
"Pain comes when your expectations are misaligned with reality."
""
"What can you do to bunker down, ride it out, and minimise the downside until you can create the change you need?"
""
"For me - that's no more Friday takeaway, and we're moving out of our rental into the in-laws to minimise expenses while we prepare to buy a house."
" "
"Learn to sell ✨"
""
"I don't mean go get that Sabri Suby book 🤮"
""
"Just go out there and get curious about more people, what makes them tick, and practice explaining what you're doing or looking for."
""
"The key word here is practice."
""
"You haven't had to sell before."
""
"So wouldn't it make sense to practice your explanations over and over again?"
""
"You never know where that goes - and then at the time when the pitch is high-stakes and it matters - it will roll off the tongue and accurately reflect all those years of experience and expertise you have."
" "
"--"
" "
"I don't want to minimise the anguish you're experiencing."
""
"This sucks."
""
"But I do hope that you at least take away a nugget and fashion it into something that resembles an opportunity for you."
""
"You're bigger and better than this and the world will realise your potential and the value you can bring."
""
"Peace ✌️"
" "
"📸 taken the other day at our coworking space - I just laugh at how much Transitions lenses suck. I love my glasses and I hate how they look after being outside 😢

Excited to share a first look from the lab at Microsoft AI. Meet our first two in-house models: MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview.
 
MAI-Voice-1: hard to be impartial here, but it's the most expressive and natural voice generation model I've ever used. It's also lightning-fast, generating a full minute of audio in less than a second on a single GPU, making it one of the most efficient speech systems on the market. Been loving it in Copilot Daily and Podcasts (already shipped), and you can test it out as a brand-new Copilot Labs experience here too: https://lnkd.in/eRVH76fE
 
MAI-1-preview: our first foundation model trained end-to-end in house. We've begun public testing on LMArena, a popular platform for community model evaluation. We’re excited to collect early feedback and learn more about where the model performs well and how we can make it better.
 
This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have big ambitions for where we go next - not just on model advancements, but also orchestrating a range of specialized models to unlock even more value. We have an exciting roadmap of large-scale compute investments and are focused on delivering leading models to put them into the hands of people globally, as part of our mission to create AI for everyone, in service of humanity.

If this resonates with you, come build it with us! Please reach out - you'll fit right in if you're a brilliant, low-ego, highly ambitious individual who wants to genuinely make a difference.
 
More detail on the MAI blog today if you want to deep dive: https://lnkd.in/eNWNswHc

It’s been a few weeks since we brought GPT-5 to Microsoft 365 Copilot, and it’s quickly become part of my everyday workflow, adding a new layer of intelligence spanning all my apps.

Here are 5 prompts that show what’s now possible:

Here's some back-of-the-envelope calcs and risks for a startup go-to-market:"
" "
"📈 Hire a Head of Growth"
"$100-150k+ salary (pro-rated if fractional) "
"Equity "
"Hiring time "
"Ramp-up time "
"% likelihood of succeeding"
" "
"📈 Hire a growth agency/consultant"
"$5-20k+ per month "
"Majority of growth IP stays with supplier "
"You take on the risk "
"Little to no guarantee "
"Hard to shift/pivot/guide when not working (no in-house expertise)"
" "
"📈 Take on an advisor"
"Small % of equity "
"Expert steering but little help with execution "
"Need talent/team but limited access to advisor"
" "
"If you're a technical founding team how are you supposed to know which one works?"
""
"Your network has thoughts, but not they're not full-time on what you're doing."
""
"Well what if your founding team built their growth expertise in-house?"
""
"You could become literate with experiments, early sales and pitching, creating entry points, and understanding what channels are going to create the best pathways for a team to land and expand for you."
""
"Rather than outsourcing something so critical - you can make informed moves towards what is going to set up your business for the next stage of growth."
""
"I was talking to a founder about this last week:"
""
""Ah makes sense... I feel the skillset for 0 to 1 is different to 1 to 100, and the 0 to 1 is best done internally with a team.""
""
"Well GTM Accelerator is launching this week and I'm looking for 5 startups to run with. "
""
"It will run for 6 weeks with unlimited post-program support until you're satisfied you know what you need to."
""
"We'll close off applications at the end of the week and record everything for the group (and future participants) afterwards."
""
"DM me."
""
"#startups"
" "
"📸 I was chatting with a very smart founder in Malaysia about sausages a couple of weeks ago, so I took a snap and sent some to him when it was warm last week - plus the Western Bulldogs made the finals so its like celebratory as well

What an awesome day."
" "
"Full credit to the Teamified team for putting on such a well run event."
" "
"✅ Basketball"
"✅ Startups"
"✅ Networking"
"✅ Lunch"
" "
"Pulling on events like that takes a lot of work and is no small feat in the post-COVID world."
" "
"Thanks too to Gabby Leibovich for sharing candidly about his story to Brandon Burns unscripted (but well researched) questions."
" "
"I've got Catch of the Decade on my book shelf and look forward to putting it to the top of the reading pile 📚"
" "
"🏀 🙌🏻 🙏"
" "
"#startups"
""
"p.s. cracking Melbourne day for outdoor garden lunch "
"

There's never been a better time to be a techie marketer."
" "
"It was easy to become jaded by the relentless "push money through Google and Meta and repeat" engine."
" "
"But the reality is there's SO many interesting things happening right now that you can go a long way by just being curious and ready to figure things out."
" "
"I recently watched Jaume Ros Salvador interview a guy named Cody Schneider - I didn't know either of them but my YouTube algorithm surfaces up all sorts of niche stuff."
" "
"My first impression was "why is the goofy guy from the Silicon Valley TV show on a podcast?""
" "
"But I'm glad I listened, so here are a few of the takeaways:"
" "
"❄️ 📧 ➡️"
"Cold email is still incredible. 30 per day. Different domains with Cloudflare. Inboxes set up Gmail/Outlook, and then Instantly or Smart Lead. Offer, repeated shorter, repeated shorter. Headline, hook. And repeat."
""
"🔗📲 🤙🏼 "
"It hasn't happened in Australia yet, but LinkedIn is trialling/moving to video recommendations. He described someone popping up an average video in the medical space and getting 165k views. He joked it was being referred to as LinkTok."
" "
"📈 🤝 ✅"
"Cody figured out about 1% of our cold audience will become customers. So we just work backwards from there."
" "
"One thing that's fun about early growth is that there's very little downside to playing and experimenting."
" "
"You can't burn your brand."
"Lose 1,000s of customers (you don't have many)."
"Or muck up things up too much if you're mindfully aportioning your time and costs."
" "
"The biggest mistake I see is over-committing to a channel type, resource, tool, or approach before the playing and experimenting has shown where the value lies first."
" "
"LinkedIn hates it when I post links so just search "Jaume Ros How to make $50k/month w Cody Schneider" and you'll find it if you want to listen to the whole thing."
""
"#startups

Football season is almost here, and we’re kicking off a new era in our partnership with the National Football League (NFL), bringing Copilot and Azure AI Foundry to the game, on and off the field!

Read more: https://lnkd.in/gZ_ZysTW

Excited to work with Epic as we integrate Dragon’s ambient AI into their charting tools to help clinicians focus more on patients and less on documentation.

A common problem I see when a startup business hires an agency or consultant:"
" "
"The supplier won't say things that need to be said."
" "
"What's some examples?"
" "
"🔥 We can't deliver this because it's making s*** up and has no data to back it up"
" "
"📣 We can't deliver on your PR goals because all you're doing is talking about yourself"
" "
"💰 We'd prefer if you didn't use this monthly advertising budget because we believe your resources are better spent elsewhere right now"
" "
"The reason is there's a lopsided power dynamic."
" "
"You're the client, we service you."
" "
"This kind-of works in agency land where Marketing teams can get away with blue murder."
" "
"I've worked with:"
""
"...A marketing director that couldn't receive critical emails because they wouldn't clear old ones from Outlook"
""
"...A CMO who told me to " to video games" at a dinner function"
""
"...A media lead who asked me for a $100k refund in cash"
" "
"As a supplier you learn to work around this because "its the client"."
" "
"That same skill doesn't serve when working with a startup."
" "
"The stakes are far higher."
" "
"Qantas, Foxtel, and NAB are still going to be around regardless of silly behaviour (not the same clients referenced above btw)."
" "
"Your startup is not."
" "
"The decisions need to be informed, adaptive, and towards the right thing."
" "
"If someone isn't challenging you to spend your limited runway better it can lead to it running out - simply because nobody told you you are wrong and why."
" "
"-"
" "
"I'm launching GTM Accelerator for 5 startups soon. I'm making it nearly impossible for startups (of the right fit) to NOT land more large clients. "
""
"DM me."
" "
"#startups"
" "
"📸 from the archives of me about to host the Virtual Pitch Night for Startup Gippsland beardless and out of a closet during COVID - far out times change 🤣

Exciting work by our team, representing a real step forward in understanding the protein dynamics that power biological function.

I just love this. The new =COPILOT() function in Excel lets you analyze, generate content, and brainstorm directly in the grid!

Ask me anything (AMA)."
""
"Hey I'm Marshy."
""
"I'm connected to a lot of people on here ranging from the spouse of and mother of our children to at least one bot (🤖)."
""
"It's a quieter week on the Marshall front so I thought I'd check if AMAs work on LinkedIn."
""
"My hunch is they don't. "
""
"Because people are too busy hashtagging and professionalling to stop and ask what's really on their mind."
""
"So here's a bit about me in case you feel like playing and want to ask a question:"
""
"- I was born in Traralgon - a country town within Gippsland that used to have the most tennis courts in one complex in the Southern Hemisphere (has since been overtaken)"
""
"- I did a degree in Media & Communications (2004) and did an internship in the sports section at the Herald Sun"
""
"- I realised journalism wasn't for me and went and did my 2nd degree in Law, I realised that wasn't for me after facing a big challenge to my mental health with a psychotic episode, hospitalisation, and recovery - I'm open about my experience and now serve on Lived Experience Advisory Committee and Board at SANE"
""
"- I've had a blend of career and freelance roles - I've worked in big tech companies (Google and Facebook) and in more recent times a lot of work with startup accelerators and non-profits"
""
"- I'd say my super-powers are relationship building and connecting people, I channel a lot of what I do into coaching which is what I enjoy the most these days"
""
"--"
""
"I'm nothing if not honest and will happily answer any question thrown this way. "
""
"Take care of yourself and have an awesome day 👋"
""
"#ama

Is a fractional CMO going to work for your startup?"
""
""
""
"I get the appeal."
""
""
""
"✅ Access to a senior leader for a fraction of the price"
""
"✅ Deep experience working in marketing"
""
"✅ Someone who can solve for all those challenging "growth" problems"
""
""
""
"Pump the brakes."
""
"Before you put on that polished interviewee - ask yourself the following questions:"
""
""
""
"1. Do we know what we need to grow?"
""
"A fractional CMO can tell you what they think you need to grow. It will sound very convincing and be grounded in marketing nous."
""
"But is that answer what you need to grow?"
""
"Or does it *sound* like the answer you think you need to grow?"
""
"Because they're two very different things."
""
"Most fractional CMOs are new to engagements like this (they're former full-time employees)."
""
"They're used to having a team, a budget, and guiding that team to where they need to go with that budget."
""
"Is that what YOU need?"
""
""
""
"2. Does your fractional know how to roll up their sleeves and DO things?"
""
"Here's what DOING doesn't look like:"
""
"- an amazing set of slides"
"- a polished LinkedIn profile"
"- a presentation in the final interview that blew your socks off"
""
"Here's what DOING does look like:"
""
"- spinning up a landing page that's good enough"
"- whipping up a guest blog post in your niche"
"- troubleshooting why your tag isn't tracking in Google Tag Manager"
""
"They don't have to be as good as a full-timer at the above tasks, but they know how to figure it out to determine if resources are needed for these sorts of tasks."
""
""
""
"3. Are they comfortable disagreeing with you and explaining why?"
""
"You're a new business moving from surviving, to growing, to scaling, to thriving. "
""
"A good fractional CMO is happy to argue with you and die on some of those hills because they know their craft better than you do and want to save you months of wasted time and budget."
""
"A bad one will defer, and kowtow to what you're insisting on to keep the peace (and their regular part-time salary)."
""
"A good one can back up what they say with data - and even show you a smaller version of what you're pushing (and that data) and why they're making their recommendation."
""
""
""
"--"
""
""
""
"The market is FULL of disenfranchised senior professionals who want portfolio careers and fractional roles. "
""
"It's a good time to onboard great talent that can make it rain for your startup."
""
"BUT don't be distracted by shiny things."
""
"Make sure you AND them are set up for success before doing the dance."
""
""
""
"Even a fractional salary for 3-6 months starts to add up is not the right fit."
""
""
""
"--"
""
""
""
"Am I wrong?"
""
"Have you had a good experience with a fractional?"
""
"Are you a fractional that's had a good experience with a startup? (I bet you have!)"
""
""
""
"📸 is of the ray of sunshine that accompanied me to daycare while his brother slept, there is also some sunlight streaming into the photo

Here's a question that needs a reframe:"
""
""I'm a startup with $1,000 to spend on marketing - what would you spend it on?""
""
"I get versions of this question a lot."
""
"It comes from a good place."
""
"Spending within constraint and wanting to have the most impact."
""
"Is it a bit of software?"
"A landing page?"
"A tool you can't do without?"
""
""
""
"No."
""
"Spend it on gathering valuable information:"
""
"- This could be getting in front of the right customers and giving them a gift voucher."
""
"- Paying someone on Fiverr to get a list of people within your niche."
""
"- Buying key introductions coffees to identify the entry points you need to land and expand."
""
"The reality is you're going to need more than $1,000 to spend on marketing if your startup is going to be a success."
""
"Yes - even if you've built the most amazing product in the world and it will magically lead all of your growth."
""
"So the reframe would be:"
""
""I've got a $1,000 to spend on marketing - what information do I need to maximise my return?"
""
"--"
""
"I'm launching the first cohort of my GTM accelerator soon for tech founders of startups with early traction and seeking more large customers. "
""
"DM me to go on the waitlist and be notified."
""
"📸 from some more filming last week - I got a new dongle mic and everything #profesh

Here's some recent flavours of help-seeking I've received while working with early founders:"
""
"Can you figure out what all of them have in common?"
""
"I need help with..."
""
"- AI"
""
"- I would like to understand how the AI works and how digital marketing works for my clients"
""
"- I want geographically specific mobile, email, social (FB) to specific landing pages combined with how to sell online"
""
"- I would really like to get a handle on Facebook metasuite for business and understand how to establish a video paywall and digital shop"
""
"- Want to optimise our landing page(s) and drive sales by adding new marketing channels"
""
"So here's the thing they have in common..."
""
"They don't know what they don't know."
""
"They're lost."
""
"I help them understand that what they're looking for isn't what they NEED."
""
"I do this in a kind, friendly, helpful - but firm - manner."
""
"There's about eleventy billion things they can focus on."
""
"I use my experience to separate out the noise, and gently guide them towards a path that's going to deliver what they need."
""
"This process works because of the experience. "
""
"I'm not a founder."
"I'm not a VC."
"I'm not taking equity."
""
"But I have seen this exact movie play out for big clients, small clients, service-based businesses, startups, global corporates, non-profits, and even a specialist safety-based engineering consultancy."
""
"The movie starts the same - a variation on "we're lost" but with different words."
""
"So I point them in the right direction."
""
"And here's what a founder said."
""
"He had one of the asks at the top of this post:"
""
""I love it, Luke. "
"And I love it how it rolls off your tongue. "
"Obviously. It's very conversational, you know, very easily done... this has been really great. "
""
"I've really appreciated the, the specificness of it as well."
""
" Like, we haven't gone into the weeds at all. It's just like, let's just get this done.""
""
"--"
""
"I'm Marshy - I'm launching Go-to-Market Accelerator - a series of training + coaching workshops designed to make it nearly impossible for tech founders with early traction to not get more large clients."
""
"DM me for more info and to go on the waitlist."
""
"📸 is the snap from our coworking accountability group on Monday at Melbourne Innovation Centre

Today, GPT-5 launches across our platforms, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Azure AI Foundry. It's the most capable model yet from our partners at OpenAI, bringing powerful new advances in reasoning, coding, and chat, all trained on Azure.

It’s hard to believe it’s only been two and a half years since Sam Altman joined us in Redmond to show the world GPT-4 for the first time in Bing, and it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come since that moment.

The pace of progress is only accelerating, and I can’t wait to see what developers, enterprises, and consumers will do with this latest breakthrough.
https://lnkd.in/gQHJBHex

Excited to bring OpenAI’s gpt-oss models to Azure AI Foundry and to Windows via Foundry Local.

It’s hybrid AI in action: mix and match models, optimize for performance and cost, and meet your data where it lives.

https://lnkd.in/gS6-aqr7

Anything is possible from recovery, and I’d argue even more is possible because the world needs more of us to bounce back and help those around us 💙

If you work in product, and are excited to add AI features into your product, I'm going to give you some FREE unsolicited wisdom."
""
"Slow down."
""
"I see a LOT of releases both in new products and products I'm already using but "with an AI on it"."
""
"There are some tools I stopped using altogether because of this (hello Craft writing tool) but Descript is one of the better ones."
""
"This week I tried out the Eye Contact feature (see GIF) and here's some things I noticed:"
""
"- The button is sitting there and I can turn it on/off - that's it. No explanation. No what you can do with it. No prompting. Just turn it on or off Marshy - gosh what more is there to know?"
""
"- I was reading from a script - but make many, many mistakes is using the tool. I was reading to the side I had glasses reflecting, I had poor light direction, I wasn't reading to the centre..."
""
"- I only know all of these things were wrong because after playing I went searching and found the product page (their demo looks MUCH better than mine) and then the help page (where it says "It only works on video with eye contact: This may be obvious, but if you’re turned entirely another way or looking at a script to the side of you, it probably won’t do anything at all.")"
""
"No - there's nothing obvious about the experience at all!"
""
"I use your product every week, it's a button that appeared and I clicked on/off and turned into a goofy alien 👽"
""
"It's not hard to provide a prompt/onboarding/explainer about how to use a product and - hear me out here - it actually increases the chances of someone using the product regularly after trying it for the first time."
""
"This is 101 stuff - and is a rushing/eagerness/leadership problem - not an AI problem."
""
"The latest newsletter edition just hit people's inboxes. "
""
"It's a humdinger 💥

"I'm thinking I should...""
""
"STOP."
""
"I spoke to a few founders today who all wanted help with growth."
""
"The thinking part is a trap."
""
"There's a place for theory."
""
"I can give you frameworks, strategies, channel recommendations, and point you towards "How Brands Grow"."
""
"But there's a lot more value in doing."
""
"Putting things out there. "
""
"Repeating it to see if you can get the same outcome."
""
"Having fun and noticing what works."
""
"If you're super-successful - this will be the last era where you can simply record a video next to a garbage bin and upload it alongside your brand because you're simply "seeing if this works" and you will never get away with that because the Head of Brand can't believe you tried shooting something on the main social account next to a garbage bin--- oh gahhhhd wtf"
""
"I digress."
""
"I know a founder is on their way when they come to me with:"
""
""I tried X, Y and Z - but am noticing A - what am I not seeing?""
""
"One had 4,000 waiting list sign-ups (no sales) and asked me how to get the first sale - "
""
""Email them a link?""
""
"That's obvious to me, and it becomes less obvious to a founder when they get caught up in their own thinking."
""
"Do."
""
"Then think."
""
"But do a lot of doing first as it helps inform how you think."
""
"#startup #growth"
""
"📸 is a still from a video I recorded for a new campaign I'll be running soon. My hand is talking about a flat growth "curve". I look so happy despite it being like 3 degrees down here

We just wrapped our earnings call. It was a very strong close to our fiscal year. A few highlights:
 
Azure surpassed $75 billion in revenue for the first time this year, up 34 percent year over year.

It has been quite the journey from 0 to 75!

We have come a long way from Project Red Dog... we now add as much capacity in a month as we did in our first five years!
 
Super grateful for the trust so many customers have placed in us through the years.
 
One other big number we shared: more than 100 million monthly active users across our family of Copilots.
 
We rolled out our biggest update to M365 Copilot this quarter, and we saw the largest quarter of seat adds, with a record number of customers coming back to buy more seats.
 
Plus, we have Copilots and agents for every role and function, which are all growing fast, from GitHub Copilot for devs (20M users), to Dragon in healthcare (13M physician-patient encounters this quarter).
 
And with Copilot Mode in Edge, it is exciting to see innovation come back to the browser!
 
Azure Foundry is our app server for AI, and we’re seeing great momentum.
 
Foundry offers access to more models than any other hyperscaler, as well as best-in-class tooling, management, observability, and built-in controls for trustworthy AI.
 
And when we look at just the number of tokens served by Foundry APIs, we processed over 500 trillion this year, up over 7X.
 
This is good indicator of true platform diffusion beyond a few head apps and services.
 
You can read more about our results here: https://lnkd.in/gvQd_xNf

Today we’re introducing Copilot Mode in Edge, our first step in reinventing the browser for the AI age.

My favorite feature is multi-tab RAG. You can use Copilot to analyze your open tabs, like I do here with papers our team has published in Nature Magazine journals over the last year.

And there is a lot more to come, including built-in actions so you can delegate tasks as you browse.

Try it out for yourself here: aka.ms/copilot-mode

Let’s talk self-care routine."
""
"During lockdown my ex and I were regulars at our local Yo-Chi."
""
"How regular?"
""
"Well we got pretty good at guessing close to the weight."
""
"We knew whenever there was a new kind of yoghurt."
""
"And stopped going after the friendly and gregarious shop assistant started recognising and addressing us on a first name basis."
""
"I shared my lived experience story at an event today and it’s important I take care of myself and nurture and give myself what I need."
""
"I live very far away from any Yo-Chi stores these days, but you can imagine my delight knowing where this one was post-talk."
""
"I’ll also journal, take space, meditate, and listen and care for any bubbles on the inside."
""
"It takes time to figure out works and that’s okay."
""
"I also know it can change over time and that’s totally okay too."
""
"But you better believe I enjoyed the crap out of this bad boy 🍨

LinkedIn isn't immune to scammers."
""
"Last week I had a senior connected professional (ooh 10 mutuals) reach out with an opportunity for my skill set."
""
"My normal process for a cold contact is to punt them to my booking link because:"
""
"- it's an easy way for me to either point in the right direction, "
""
"- screen them out if it's nonsense, "
""
"- or actually receive a legitimate opportunity"
""
"This person asked for my phone number instead."
""
"That's not completely unusual. "
""
"Busy senior leaders sometimes just jump on the phone because "f**k that booking noise I just get sh***t done"."
""
"Well that's what I ~imagine~ they do anyway."
""
"Yet I have done this dance before and scheduled some time just before the agreed calling time to do my homework."
""
"Here's what I noticed:"
""
"- Now this person had 20+ mutual connections - a jump in 10 since a few days ago"
""
"- The new connections were some of my freelancer/business owner connections (you know who you are and I love you - representing 🫡)"
""
"- The company was attached to multi-level marketing (MLM) 🤮"
""
"- The person was a "regular" LinkedIn poster, but the posts were near daily with zero engagement - this is spam - not actual LI posts which can be perceived as spam as well, but usually have other people spamming comments on them too"
""
"I severed my LinkedIn connection with this person - there's nothing to be gained here."
""
"15 minutes before the call they messaged saying they need to reschedule and will be in touch."
""
"I won't be waiting with bated breath."
""
"Last year there was a scam shoe company that needed to run 5 figures worth of Facebook ads, and while I block the hell out of them..."
""
"I still get the odd pitch in my Inbox for 15-25 guaranteed appointments every month."
""
"I do have cold inbound leads from time-to-time on LinkedIn - but last week wasn't one of them and thought it needed a PSA "
""
"I got you fam 👊"
""
"📸 from the weekend where I did a solo drive from Diamond Creek to Geelong to see the Western Bulldogs play. It was wet and cold. We had only won 14 matches there in 62 appearances. But do you know what?"
""
"We won the 15th match! I just KNEW it was going to happen and the payoff was immense. "
""
"I can't EXPRESS how excited I am about our season ❤️⚪️💙

Thanks for paying attention to the sudden change in music direction Spotify, but I am NOT upgrading to Family for 2x 15mth olds.

Today we’re releasing GitHub Spark — a new tool in Copilot that turns your ideas into full-stack apps, entirely in natural language.

I've enjoyed creating with Spark myself, but even more, I’ve enjoyed seeing what you're building: https://lnkd.in/gQ_swwt3

AI that doesn’t understand Europe’s languages, histories, and values can’t fully serve its people, its businesses, or its future. That’s why, today in Paris, we’re deepening our commitment to Europe’s digital future with two new initiatives focused on making what’s uniquely European—its languages and culture—more open and accessible. https://lnkd.in/egjbBbyi

A great example of “walking the walk”."
""
"Conversations in the Lived Experience Advisory Committee are spirited and challenging."
""
"I know this because I’m an active participant!"
""
"I’m proud of the way SANE engages their community."
""
"Work in this sector is challenging - but I believe it’s much less impactful when you’re not heeding the voices of those in need."
""
"It’s good to see the research catching up to this 🙃

I got to my desk today and realised I left my mouse at home."
""
"This is comment worthy because its about the 7th time this has happened in 5 months."
""
"This is also comment worthy because forgetfulness is common with #ADHD and stuff like this used to INFURIATE me."
""
"Before knowing why, this stuff used to absolutely THROW me off course for the entire day."
""
"The reason being my ADHD brain goes fast, it benefits from habit, association, and running at pace in a groove."
""
"When something gets knocked out of that groove it can be disorienting and disproportionately irritating for something that seems so small and incidental."
""
"Not to mention the shoulds:"
""
""I shouldn't have forgot a simple mouse"."
""
""This shouldn't have happened"."
""
""I should remember"."
""
"It sounds exhausting, but that's reality for an adult operating with rampant ADHD traits unchecked."
""
"Instead I've learned to work with reality - not what should happen."
""
"--"
""
"𝙘𝙪𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛-𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 - 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮"
""
"- Okay Marshy it seems you've forgotten your mouse again"
"- Yeah wtf"
""
"- You could drive home and get your mouse (next to the whiteboard checklist you forgot to check) but this has happened enough times now that we can probably do better"
"- Yeah wtf"
""
"- How about we drive up the road to JB Hi-Fi, grab a second mouse to keep at your coworking desk, and this way you don't have do this dance again"
"- But why do I have to spend money to stop this happening when I already have a mouse I like and blah blah"
""
"- You're fighting with reality again mate"
"- Yeah wtf"
""
"--"
""
"So I went and got a mouse and came back."
""
"I did some box breathing during the trip and had some pleasant chit-chat with the shopkeeper about parenting (yes I'm that D̶a̶d̶ dag)."
""
"I know how to reset and know this kind of stuff won't throw off my entire day any more."
""
"It also coincided with a meeting cancellation so I didn't even lose time."
""
"I've still got a soft-spot for the ADHD space and am looking for 5 professionals who want can spend 30mins talking about their experience with looking for #coaching - if you fit that brief DM me 🙏"
""
"📸 of me returning from my victory lap with my silly Transtions lenses 🤣

Big milestone for the future of quantum computing.

We are delivering the world's first operational deployment of a Level 2 quantum computer, powered by our stack and in partnership with Atom Computing. Congrats to EIFO, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and QuNorth.

A recent bit of feedback:"
""
""That's great. I really appreciate it. I love your clarity and energy. And I've got a a plan." - new business owner"
""
"Sounds like a pretty good deal for Victorians :)

Great to see how San Francisco is equipping its employees with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. Thank you, Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 for leading the way!

It’s been a really rough 3 months."
""
"Since our boys turned 1, there’s been sleeplessness, new daycare routines, wave after wave of sick, meltdowns and an ambulance trip."
""
"Yesterday was my 41st birthday, and my love and I got to do a day trip to Hepburn/Daylesford, and enjoy alone time, a breakfast buffet, and day spa."
""
"These moments are few at the moment and I’m really grateful for them."
""
"🙏

Understanding protein motion is essential to understanding biology and advancing drug discovery.

Today we’re introducing BioEmu, an AI system that emulates the structural ensembles proteins adopt, delivering insights in hours that would otherwise require years of simulation.

6 months ago I set up a booking page called a Big Fast Value call."
" "
"It's a direct link into my calendar to book a free, short coaching session to help anyone in my network troubleshoot a marketing, tech, career, or growth problem."
" "
"I made it painfully obvious it's not a sales call - there's no pitch and I'm there to help."
" "
"Here's what didn't happen:"
""
"📆🔥"
"My calendar instantly flooded with time-wasters"
""
"🏊‍♂️🏞️"
"I swam in swathes of referrals as the good vibes kept rolling"
" "
"Instead I got to help 30+ people about something that was bothering them and they got to walk away better off than they were before."
" "
"Here's one from last week:"
" "
""I really, really appreciate it. This has been great. Yeah - this space is so hard to navigate, so I appreciate your directness. It's been amazing.""
" "
"It worked out to be about 10 donated hours out of 6 months - I'm pretty sure I can afford to keep doing this with feedback like that."
""
"#coaching

I caught up with Stu Nimmo yesterday on a call and he's looking for senior product/UX work."
""
"I'll share some general tips about searching below."
""
"I'm putting this out there because there's a trend I'm seeing for talented mid-senior and senior professionals."
""
"Here's the trend:"
""
"- Start career"
"- Do well in a role and get approached to work somewhere else"
"- This cycle continues for 10-15 years where the professional hasn't had to apply for jobs, market or sell themselves, because they've always had another opportunity to walk into"
""
"This is because the talent is great - and that's been the reality for someone who is great at what they do (like Stu)."
""
"Unfortunately there's been a significant downturn in tech, product, marketing, and agency roles. "
""
"This has disproportionately impacted senior roles as organisations seek to do more with less and "trim the fat"."
""
"I don't agree with it, but it's the market reality."
""
"So people like Stu have had to learn how to sell and market themslves by this reality."
""
"So here's some tips - some of which Stu was already doing too!"
""
"- Look outside the standard job boards (SEEK and LinkedIn). There's some golden roles that can be found on EthicalJobs.com.au, Startmate's talent engine, Blackbird's Lilypad, and Airtree's job board. Even if you're not seeing jobs that are an ideal fit - you're getting a sense of how ads are being written and what the asks are"
"  "
"- Hit your network - everyone has one. You can start by reaching out to people you've worked with before to catch-up, and then branch out more broadly to more distant connections to learn more about what they're up to so you can keep an eye out for things that might help them in the future. I connected with Stu through an older post he did and this is exactly what he was doing!"
""
"- Look for temporary roles in adjacent or shoulder industries. Never worked in Government? Have a crack! Interested in non-profit? Check it out with lower-stake commitments. Temp roles have a lower barrier to entry. They are typically looking for specialist to do something specific. Or sometimes want to throw a body at a challenge within a narrow timeframe to see if it can be solved. Not only does it get you out there again - it might surprise you and it builds your network too."
""
"It's hard out there and I feel for people who haven't had to "sell" themselves before. "
""
"It's a brutal lesson to be forced into learning as you get older and I hope a tip or two helps someone out there."
""
"Needless to say if you're hiring now and looking for a senior product/UX specialist you definitely need to hit up Stu Nimmo."
""
"🙏

I celebrated 4 years of sobriety last Friday."
""
"I remember it being during lockdown and just before Dry July."
""
"I flirted with the idea a number of times prior, and this time I knew I was playing for keeps."
""
"My career started in ad land. "
""
"Where we worked hard and partied hard and the alcohol was a key ingredient."
""
"It helped that one of our agency's clients was a national beer brand - so we had plenty to drink whenever the moment called for it - which was a lot."
""
"It also helped being a media buyer and getting wined and dined around Sydney's finest restaurants and never seeing the eye-watering bills."
""
"The term "addict" never resonated with me - but once I started the work I knew substances were one of the ways I was numbing and avoiding myself."
""
"I stopped on the 28th June 2020 and haven't looked back."
""
"It's not without challenges. "
""
"I've had to own my s*** and make amends for my mistakes. "
"I've had to repeatedly decline when my boss suggested "just a small drink". "
"I've had to navigate significant life upheaval as my marriage ended."
""
"But the rewards have been immense."
""
"I'm healthier. "
"More calm. "
"More aware of who I am and who I want to be. "
"A father. "
"Grateful for what I have instead of frustrated about what I haven't got. "
"Contributing to causes that are very important to me. "
"A marathon finisher! 🥇🏃🏽‍♂️💨"
""
"This change worked for me and I'm not telling anyone what to do because it's none of my business."
""
"I'll only suggest that if the idea of doing a Dry July and going a month without alcohol seems like mission impossible - know that I was there too."
""
"Today - I know going back to that lifestyle is impossible for me. There's a deep unassailable commitment to look after myself no matter what. "
""
"It's possible and worth a shot if you're interested."
""
"Cheers!🍻 <-- with a Sobah Beverages of course, you should definitely buy some*"
""
""
"*This is not financial advice - this man is an investor and it's a flagrant conflict of interest"
""
"📸 the 2019 snap was a better one than 2020 ones, as we didn't do much at that time - I do miss the taco cat t-shirt though

We’re teaming up with the Premier League to bring one billion-plus fans closer than ever to the game they love.

Excited to share two advances that bring us closer to real-world impact in healthcare AI:

SDBench introduces a new benchmark that transforms 304 NEJM cases into interactive diagnostic simulations. AI must ask questions, order tests, and weigh costs, mirroring the complexity of real clinical decision-making.

MAI-DxO is a model-agnostic orchestrator that simulates a panel of virtual physicians. It achieves 85.5% diagnostic accuracy—four times that of experienced doctors—while cutting diagnostic costs.

Together, these advances offer a blueprint for how AI can help deliver precision and efficiency in healthcare, and we're looking forward to working with healthcare partners and the entire ecosystem on these advances making a difference.

https://lnkd.in/gd5nd4qF

Looking forward to how this will benefit developers everywhere!

From retail and government services to healthcare, AI innovation is accelerating across every industry. Incredible to see the breadth of progress across the Netherlands during my recent visit.

Read more about these examples here: https://lnkd.in/gb4iwA3v

We got a sunny snap in front of Parliament House with fellow SANE board member Kirstie Allen before heading to the airport."
""
"Missing from this snap is our fantastic CEO Rachel Green and Chief Digital Officer Anna Gelling."
""
"There was lots to talk about in Canberra with MPs and staff."
""
"- the guided service program has run with over 8,000 referrals since it started in 2021"
""
"- its a psychosocial support service providing all the kinds of help you need outside of clinical while getting life back on track. How do you get back into the workforce? How do you disclose your ill health? Has anyone else been through this?"
""
"- ITS WORKING. The program is independently measured and is delivering statistically significant increases on recovery scores (RAS), quality of life (Re-QOL), and reductions in psychological distress (K10)."
""
"The worst part? "
""
"We need to increase access and funding to this program so it can continue delivering impact for people in dire need of help within a system that’s straining."
""
"Hence the trip ✈️"
""
"It is also a very different picture to 20 years ago."
""
"In June 2005, I was recovering from an acute episode in a forensic hospital with a new bipolar diagnosis."
""
"I was lucky to have an incredible support network that helped me navigate the system and work towards getting better."
""
"But recovery shouldn’t require luck - it’s hard and people deserve all the help they can get - especially the kind of help that’s digital, innovative, and independently proven to work."
""
"So we will keep pushing for the kind of support SANE’s program deserves 💙

Here's a hack that helps keep me stay focused on tasks."
""
"This is doubly important as someone running their own thing."
""
"Here it is:"
"I use a text editor to draft and outline nearly everything."
" "
"If I don't - I'm at the peril of the Internet distraction machine."
""
"Composing an email when there's other emails and tabs to read? 🚫"
"Using Google Slides when there's comments and other faces in it? 🚫"
"Also just using Google Slides... 🤮"
" "
"I digress."
" "
"Having a clean and utilitarian text editor that I can open up and just get started is game changing."
" "
"I can draft emails."
"Outline steps."
"Draft very important LinkedIn posts."
" "
"The default text editor for Mac is heinous."
" "
"So I coughed up my hard earned cash for Typora. The markdown functionality means I can pretend to be more techie and codey than I actually am."
" "
"It also helps me draft my newsletter (of course) because the Markdown copy+pastes into ConvertKit favourably."
" "
"I thought it might be helpful for other easily-distracted types -- believe me when I say I have researched the crap out of this."
" "
"📸 of me in action with Typora, for some reason LinkedIn hates it when I just straight screencap - so enjoy my pearly whites 😁"
""
"#lifehacks

Dimitri (Jim) Antonopoulos and I have been friends for many years and started working together in 2023."
""
"TANK produces high-calibre, high-impact work and it’s been a pleasure collaborating on thoughtful projects with clients that understand and appreciate deep and thoughtful work."
""
"The services landscape is changing. "
""
"Multi-year retainers are things of the past. "
"There’s been increasing commodification of services - clients want more agility with which suppliers they do and don’t bring in, and for how long."
""
"This fragmentation makes it hard to stay across "what is great work?" and even harder to ensure great work is executed within your organisation."
""
"How do you produce great work when your team is expanding and contracting? "
"Where do you grow and develop your own skills?"
"Who understands your decision-making and can help you guide and refine this trait over time?"
""
"We believe there is a need for this."
""
"So Dimitri, myself, Damian Karaula and Nikos Psaltopoulos are offering on-demand leadership for such organisations."
""
"Get access to senior expertise outside of your day-to-day that can advise and assist with growth, partnerships, people, operations, and design."
""
"Engage for as long as you need support, and not a moment longer when you don’t."
""
"More here:"
""
"https://lnkd.in/gyFKV3iF"
""
"#fractional #leadership #freelance

Adding the finishing touches for the presentation for The Startup Network tomorrow lunchtime."
""
"If you've ever wondered how to get paid ads going on a business this workshop is for you."
""
"Last minute tickets available here - https://lnkd.in/gVNCYTPZ"
""
"Looking forward to sharing the goods 💪

It’s easy to forget to take leave when you work for yourself."
""
"I remembered to and took a few days off from Friday morning."
""
"One of the best parts?"
""
"Making this hearty chicken and vegetable soup with our crockpot."
""
"June is slower for me, and I’ll take a longer break at the end of the month."
""
"It’s been quite the year 🥲

I replace a lot of decisions with rules to make my life easier."
" "
"Daniel Kahneman told Shane Parrish that replacing decisions with rules is surprisingly effective at helping us achieve goals."
" "
"I picked this up from Shane's book: Clear Thinking. "
""
"I took away a lot from this book - if the amount of highlights I took on my Kindle is anything to go by."
" "
"Here's some of my "rules":"
" "
"⅔"
"The Two-Thirds Rule: "
"If you're sober at an event that features alcohol and having a good time, just leave two-thirds through the event. There's absolutely nothing to be gained from staying. The gap between boozed and non-boozed is now too big. You don't have to announce it, apologise, or make excuses. Just ghost and you can thank me later. I have seen this movie before and stayed past the end-credits."
" "
"⏭️ ⏭️ 🚫"
"Don't skip two days in a row: "
"You can have an off day and not train - it happens to the best of us. But don't skip two days in a row. Go for a walk, shoot hoops, or do something else that's easy if you have to - but don't skip two days of exercise in a row - that wrecks the training system."
" "
"🛌 > 📧"
"If there's strong feelings, sleep on it, before sending it: "
"Nothing is gained from sending a strongly worded email, letter, SMS, message, or comment in the heat of the moment. Sleep on it. As I was going through my divorce, there were things I wanted to say and make amends for. I wrote a letter and then put it in a drawer. The next day there was still some "hhnnnggg" so I slept on it again, and again. On the fourth day I posted the letter and it felt good. I lost nothing by waiting, but avoided saying something I might regret by doing so."
" "
"Sure - a Nobel laureate thinks this is good practice."
""
"I also learned it's crazy-good for ADHD - I'm prone to poor decisions all-of-the-time."
""
"I do think I mitigated some of this before being diagnosed because I had hundreds of these rules in my head."
""
"My partner is quite bemused by these but the systems work."
" "
"I'm tempted to go full-turbo on this in areas of my life that I think need improvement."
""
"> Where are decisions getting made?"
"> What rules can I introduce to mitigate poor ones?"
"> What outcomes will this unlock?"
" "
"📸 of me holding the book cover up via my phone on Kindle app"
" "
"#goodreads

I’ve admired the work SANE has been doing for years."
""
"I’m also fortunate to have benefited from understanding and the right supports while navigating my own complex mental health issues."
""
"SANE understands this, and is growing it’s impact to help more people who need understanding and help."
""
"I’m pleased to join the team and serve."
""
"https://lnkd.in/gaZDEMxs

We’re on again!"
""
"This year in the pleasant surroundings of Mirboo North."
""
"If you’re an aspiring founder within the area - we’re going to go out of our way yo equip you with as much knowledge, action-taking, and energy to launch it off the ground."
""
"I love helping my home region and have many friendships from the people we’ve worked with over the last 4-5 years."
""
"Any questions lmk 🚀

Hey Matt - thanks for seeking feedback from the community."
""
"My name is Luke. Anyone that's known me for longer than a year tends towards my nickname - "Marshy"."
""
"I often just say I have "lived experience" with mental health and get a nod. I once had someone poke back - "doesn't everybody?" - which was true, but didn't feel like unpacking the depths of my lived experience for that person there and then."
""
"There's a concept in queer and kink (and I'm sure many other worlds that I'm not as familiar with) about "outing"."
""
"You don't."
""
"It's my choice to reveal my sexuality, just like its my choice to share what I'm into and not into with people I feel safe with."
""
"The same goes for my mental health."
""
"When I meet an employer, potential client, mentee, or person at a BBQ I don't say - "hey I'm Luke I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 20 years ago"."
""
"Because there's much more to me than a diagnosis that helped at the time but doesn't help my recovery today."
""
"Outing is something I manage more openly than most."
""
"The blessing/curse of writing a book about my lived experience is that its very discoverable and I'm comfortable with that openness."
""
"But even with a warts and all book out there about bipolar disorder and bisexuality I would still prefer to be asked how I like to be addressed."
""
"I'm a real person, a father, a spouse, and an enthusiastic centre/forward in our over35s basketball team."
""
"There's much more to me than a diagnosis at one point in time that no longer serves, but often stigmatises."
""
"Thanks for asking as its discussions like these that normalise things for more people."
""
"And working through mental health challenges of any size - is super normal."
"