Built in Public

Built in Public

By Courtney JohnsonBusinessEntrepreneurship
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Built in Public episodes

  • How April Whitney Went From a $65 Ebook to Building the Petite PWR ® Fitness Empire

    April Whitney was eating under 1,200 calories a day, training like an elite athlete, and still couldn't figure out why her body wasn't changing. Then she started working as a copywriter in pharmaceuticals, and the answer was right in front of her the whole time.
    April is a former competitive fencer, pharmaceutical copywriter, and the founder of Petite PWR, a fitness and nutrition platform built exclusively for women 5'4" and under. 
    In this episode we get into how she went from posting her body transformation on a secret Instagram account to building a business with 4,000 coaching clients, a team of 20, and a 150,000-person email list with a 48% open rate !!!!! 
    Here’s something you probably didn’t know but it’s freaking important and probably relevant to you: April posted every single day for five years STRAIGHT without missing one day, including Christmas. 
    She talks about why continuity and consistency are what build a brand, why getting views and building a brand are two completely different games, and the secret sauuuuce behind her best-performing YouTube videos. 
    👉 PRESS PLAY. Your niche is about to feel a lot less scary.
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    04:09 The secret Instagram account she started because she was too embarrassed to post
    08:06 Why your customer knows what they want but not what they need
    10:08 What AI did to the coaching industry
    13:29 The funnel: from free content to 4,000 coaching clients
    21:00 Why she gives 99% of her content away for free
    35:41 Why continuity and consistency are the only content strategy that works
    43:35 Five years of posting every single day without missing once
    About April
    April Victoria Whitney is a former competitive fencer who spent 18 years in the sport with dreams of making the Olympics. After retiring, she worked as a science copywriter in pharmaceuticals, where she worked on early GLP-1 research, before founding Petite PWR, a fitness and nutrition platform dedicated to women 5'4" and shorter. What started as a $65 ebook has grown into a coaching business with 4,000 clients, a team of 20, and a 150,000-person email list. April is not just building a brand, she is building a movement.
    Connect with April
    🎙️ Youtube: April Whitney
    👍 Instagram: @aprilvwhitney
    🎶 TikTok: @aprilvwhitney
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    56 min
  • How To Build A Profitable Personal Brand Without Quitting Your Job, with Adama Lorna

    Adama posted her first YouTube video to about five views, most of them people she already knew, while working full-time as a site reliability engineer. She never quit that job. She built a 180,000+ subscriber channel and she still hasn't left engineering.
    And in this episode she gives away the exact system to build, and maintain, 2 full careers exactly like hers.
    We get into how she built a personal brand as a full-time engineer without ever going all-in, why she started on the platform with the highest barrier to entry instead of the easiest one, and how she turned "I have 20 different passions" from a branding problem into an actual formula.
    She shares the formula she uses with people who feel too scattered to niche down (skills times passion times energy, to the power of values), why she turned down a fitness video that was already pulling 100,000 to 200,000 views because it wasn't the brand she wanted to build, and the real reason her first in-person event sold out almost entirely from YouTube. 
    Depth beats reach in ways most creators underestimate. 200,000 people on YouTube gets you a sold-out room. 200,000 on TikTok gets you nothing when you need people to show up in real life. Adama explains exactly why watch time built her opportunities in a way follower count never could.
    Oh, and she names the one book that reframes every "disadvantage" you think you have as your actual unique positioning. It's a two-word title, and it might change how you describe yourself on your resume.
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    3:59 The opportunities that came from building trust, not just an audience
    7:56 Why FOMO, anger, or wanting to prove yourself are legitimate reasons to start
    9:04 The "Renaissance" framing that gives you permission to take a season off
    12:00 Why she wouldn't take brand deals that spent down her audience's trust
    12:35 Why she stopped calling herself a "creator" and started calling herself a founder
    16:26 "Crack Mode": the season she disappeared from her social life to write her book
    23:00 The Formula: Skills x Passion x Energy, to the power of Values
    25:40 Why she turned down 200,000 views on a video that was already working
    About Adama
    Adama is a site reliability engineer and content creator with 180,000+ YouTube subscribers, known for building a personal brand around self-improvement and multiple passions while working full-time as an engineer. 
    Connect with Adama
    🎙️ Youtube: Adama Lorna
    👍 Instagram: @adamalorna
    💼 LinkedIn: Adama Lorna
    🎶 TikTok: @adamalorna
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    38 min
  • The Man Behind Hormozi and Simon Squibb's Growth on How to Make Money With Your Personal Brand

    Tobias Allen was knocking on doors at 16 with no job, no connections, and no plan, and by 25 he was Director of Marketing at Acquisition.com working directly with Alex and Leila Hormozi.
    And in this episode he gives away everything.
    We get into how he went from door-to-door sales as a teenager to working with two of the fastest-growing personal brands on the planet, Hormozi and Simon Squibb. 
    He shares the backdoor job application hack that gets you in front of decision makers, why being the best student in the room is the most underrated career cheat code, and the pizza box stunt that landed someone a job at a major company. Yes, really.
    We also get into money. Brands are quietly paying creators between $15K and $50K a month for consistent content. 
    HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS are moving out of traditional media and into the creator economy right now. And the creators who understand how to position themselves for that are going to win big. Tobias explains exactly how.
    Oh, and I asked him what both Hormozi and Simon Squibb do that almost nobody else does. His answer is 2 words. And it's probably the thing you've been putting off.
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    04:01 The MAN formula: how to find clients who already have a budget
    07:22 The backdoor job application hack that gets you in front of decision makers
    09:39 The pizza box stunt that landed a sales job
    12:01 How much he invested in himself, and why it was worth it
    16:39 What putting your life on hold actually looks like
    19:11 The three-act storytelling framework behind Simon Squibb's brand
    25:14 How to find your content format by looking internally
    26:06 The outlier method, double down on what's already working
    About Tobias
    Tobias Allen is a growth strategist and content expert who served as Director of Marketing at Acquisition.com under Alex and Layla Hormozi and now works with Simon Squibb, one of the fastest-growing personal brands in the world. Starting with door-to-door sales at 16 and investing over $100K in his own education, Tobias built his expertise from the ground up and has since helped scale some of the biggest creator brands on the planet.
    Connect with Tobias
    💼 LinkedIn: Tobias Allen
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    56 min
  • Simon Alexander Ong: The Personal Brand Playbook That Got Him 4 Million Views

    Simon Alexander Ong was let go from Lehman Brothers the day it collapsed in 2008. He had no plan. No backup. Just a decision to finally figure out what he really wanted in life.
    That decision led to a Penguin book deal, a YouTube video with 4.1 million views, and a global personal brand built entirely from scratch. And in this episode, he gives away EVERYTHING.
    The 90-rejections-in-90-days challenge that made failure feel like a game, the second Instagram and YouTube account hack that trains the algorithm to hand you viral content on a silver platter, the hotel lobby move he pulled at the One Billion Followers Summit in Dubai that put him in the same room as Mr. Beast, Will Smith, and Simon Squibb... on purpose ‼️
    Oh, and if you've ever said "I don't have time to post"... Simon has something to say about that. Pull up your screen time first.
    This one is packed. You're going to want to take notes.
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    01:24 From Lehman Brothers to building a global personal brand
    04:14 Why you have to grieve your old self before stepping into the new one
    08:19 Not all risk takers win, but all winners take risks
    12:25 Seeking failure, the Sarah Blakely story that changed everything
    17:38 "I don't have time" is code for "this isn't a priority"
    18:09 The 90 rejections in 90 days challenge
    21:33 How to reverse engineer the mechanics behind viral content
    23:48 The text post format that's outperforming every reel on his page
    27:07 The second account algorithm hack nobody is talking about
    33:20 The life you want is built in the margins of the life you have
    35:29 How to manufacture your own luck
    About Simon
    Simon Alexander Ong is a performance coach, keynote speaker, and the author of Energize, published by Penguin. Malaysian-Chinese by background, Simon left a career in financial services after the 2008 crash and built a personal brand from the ground up, coaching high performers in leadership and entrepreneurship, speaking on stages around the world, and growing a YouTube channel with over 4 million views on a single video. His mission is to help people live a better story.
    Connect with Simon
    👍 Instagram: @simonalexandero
    💼 LinkedIn: Simon Alexander Ong
    🎙️ YouTube: @simonalexandero
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    49 min
  • The Diary of a CEO Director of Trailers on How to Stop the Scroll and Grow Faster on Social Media

    Anthony Smith was about to quit editing forever the night he saw the Diary of a CEO job posting. He'd just told his girlfriend he was done. She said give it one more chance. 
    He stayed up all night building a portfolio site on Wix, tracked down the co-founder's email, and turned a 20-minute job interview into a two-hour conversation.
    Now he's the Director of Trailers behind the content that took Stephen Bartlett's YouTube from 300K to 15 million subscribers. And in this episode he's giving away everything: the storytelling frameworks, the cliffhanger technique, why your hook is actually killing your retention, and the real reason DOAC grew so fast that has nothing to do with production budget or Stephen's fame.
    Oh, and he uses I Am Legend to explain why failing publicly is the smartest content strategy you can have. That part alone is worth the 48 minutes 🤯
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    04:33 How he turned a Wix site into the most coveted content job in podcasting
    06:34 The one step above method, why your application is getting ignored
    19:38 Why information without storytelling will never convert
    21:03 Your hook is working against you
    24:09 The cliffhanger technique DOAC uses to turn reels into podcast listeners
    26:05 Why going viral is the wrong goal
    38:54 What I Am Legend taught him about experimentation
    18:49 Effort and care beats talent. Every single time.
    20:29 The real reason DOAC hit 15 million subscribers
    About Anthony
    Anthony Smith is the Director of Trailers at Diary of a CEO. Entirely self-taught, with a background in film, TV, and advertising, he joined DOAC when the channel had 300K subscribers and has been central to its growth to over 15 million. He shares storytelling and content creation tips on LinkedIn and Instagram.
    Connect with Anthony
    👍 Instagram: @anthonyr.smith
    💼 LinkedIn: Anthony Smith
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    51 min
  • Alexandra Steinacker-Clark: How a Personal Brand Creates Opportunities in Any Traditional Industry

    Alexandra Steinacker-Clark got her foot in the door at Sotheby's through a cold coffee request, built 27K followers on LinkedIn without a strategy, and landed a book deal with a Hachette subsidiary through a LinkedIn DM that sat unread for five months.
    Alexandra is the host of the 'All About Art' podcast and the author of 'Working in Art: How to Build a Career in the Art World', the book that finally tells you how to break into one of the most closed-off industries in the world 🫳🎤
    In this episode, we get into how she broke into the art industry with no connections, no insider access, and no roadmap. She shares the EXACT cold outreach move that got her in the door at Sotheby's, why taking a "lowly" job at a big name is one of the smartest career moves you can make, and how she built her entire personal brand by shining the spotlight on other people instead of herself.
    Also, Alexandra grew 27K followers in LinkedIn without a content strategy, without posting every day, and without ever optimizing a single thing. 
    We also get into the book deal. Twenty cold submissions, five months of silence, and one LinkedIn DM that changed everything. 
    If you've been telling yourself your industry is too traditional, too conservative, or too closed off for a personal brand, this episode is your reality check. YOU DESERVE MORE. 
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    📗 Working in Art - Alexandra Steinacker-Clark
    Alexandra's book is the ultimate guide to building a career in the arts. Fourteen chapters, fourteen different art careers, and the real stories of the people actually doing the work.
    Order yours →www.amazon.com/Working-Art-Find-Living-World/dp/184091954X
    05:34 Why a "lowly" job at a big name is a career cheat code
    09:20 How she built her brand by shining the spotlight on other people
    14:30 How the podcast became the foundation of everything
    18:00 How she put together a book proposal from scratch using YouTube
    21:00 The LinkedIn DM that landed her a Hachette book deal
    24:00 Twenty cold submissions and what she learned from every no
    25:14 Why LinkedIn works even when you're not trying
    28:06 Done is better than perfect - always
    30:00 What sustainable personal branding actually looks like
    About Alexandra
    Alexandra Steinacker-Clark is a London-based American-Austrian art historian, podcaster, and author of Working In Art: How to Build a Career in the Art World.
 
She obtained her BA in History of Art at University College London and continued her education at Goldsmiths University with an MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy. Her specializations are in contemporary art and the contemporary art market along with accessibility, engagement, and the demystification of the professional art sector.
 
Steinacker is the founder and host of the 'All About Art' Podcast, which covers the variety of professional paths that exist in the arts and cultural sector, streamed in over 115 countries worldwide.
    Connect with Alexandra
    👍 Instagram: @alexandrasteinacker
    💼 LinkedIn: Alexandra Steinacker-Clark
    🌐 Website:  alexandrasteinacker.com/
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    37 min
  • How to Write and Self-Publish a Book That Gets You Speaking Gigs and Money with Chandler Bolt

    Chandler Bolt was painting houses door to door at 18, getting cussed out and threatened, and then dropped out of college to co-author his first book at 23. Now his company publishes two to five books every single day.
    Chandler Bolt is the founder of Self-Publishing School, one of the leading platforms for writing, publishing, and launching a book. He's helped over 7,000 authors bring their books to life. In this episode, we get into why he waited until eight figures to start his personal brand and why he now calls that a mistake, how a book creates instant authority that no amount of followers can buy, and the exact reason your unwritten book is already worth money.
    We get into the self-publishing vs traditional publishing debate, the real pros, the real cons, and what nobody tells you about signing with a big publisher. Chandler breaks down how he uses free books to drive millions in revenue every year, why the book is the bait and the business is the prize, and the mindset shift that gets people out of book purgatory and actually hitting publish.
    We also get into the writing process. He shares the MORE writing method, how to write a book using your existing content, why giving yourself permission to write badly is the only way to start, and the strategy he'd use to write a book from scratch today, even with no audience and no idea where to begin.
    If you've had a book outline sitting in your Google Drive for months, this episode is the push you've been waiting for.
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    05:48 Why posting every day is rejection therapy
    08:53 Why he waited until eight figures to start his personal brand
    10:43 Opportunities don't go to the most qualified, they go to the most visible
    14:36 The most expensive mistake most people make
    18:13 The root word of authority is author
    20:37 Why traditional publishing is an inferior model
    25:00 How giving books away free drives millions in revenue
    29:00 The book is the bait. The business is the prize.
    29:51 The MORE writing method explained
    34:03 How he wrote his first rough draft in a week
    42:33 Why being too qualified works against you
    45:08 How to use AI to write a better book without the slop
    About Chandler
    Chandler Bolt is the founder and CEO of Self-Publishing School, one of the leading platforms for writing, publishing, and launching a book. A college dropout who started his first six-figure business painting houses, Chandler co-authored his first book at 23 and has since helped over 7,000 authors bring their books to life. His company publishes two to five books every single day across every genre. Chandler is also the author of Published, his guide to self-publishing success.
    Connect with Chandler
    👍 Instagram: @chandler.bolt
    💼 LinkedIn: Chandler Bolt
    🌐 Website:  selfpublishing.com/courtney
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    57 min
  • Coach Keren Eldad: She'll Destroy Every Excuse You Have for Not Building Your Personal Brand

    The people closest to Keren Eldad thought her content was so embarrassing they offered her a loan, a place to live, and her old job back.


    Keren Eldad, better known online as Coach Keren, is a coach, author, and speaker who built a business around mindset, identity, and behavior change. 


    In this episode, we get into why Keren started calling herself “Coach Keren” before the business even existed, why claiming an identity before you feel ready matters, and the exact reason most people stay trapped in the cringe phase of building a personal brand. She explains why consistency is the only metric that matters in the beginning, why self-doubt is built on a false narrative, and how to stop waiting until you’re “qualified enough” to start sharing what you know.


    We also get into what she calls “Purgatory” the place where people have 400 post drafts, multiple coaches, endless strategies, and still haven’t hit publish. Keren shares the mindset shift that’s helped thousands of clients finally take action, her “assume everybody likes you” rule, and why most fears around personal branding are just scarcity stories wearing different outfits.


    Oh, we get into speaking. She breaks down how she landed two TEDx talks, why most aspiring speakers should stop waiting for invitations and start creating their own opportunities, and the outreach strategy she’d use if she wanted another TEDx talk tomorrow. 


    Plus: books, comparison, criticism, trolls, and the one thing she believes every ambitious person owes themselves.
    If you’ve been waiting until you feel ready to put yourself out there, this conversation is your wake-up call.


    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/


    03:53 Why she started calling herself “Coach Keren” before she had clients
    04:45 The imposter syndrome that came with claiming the identity first
    09:13 Her boss asked if she needed her old job back
    11:27 Cringe is just self-doubt wearing a costume
    22:09 The danger of having 400 drafts and posting none of them
    24:15 Taylor Swift’s approach to trolls.
    34:23 The books she considers non-negotiable reading
    36:19 How speaking became her career
    42:47 The TEDx application strategy she’d use today
    57:05 The real reason she wrote GILDED and GILT FREE


    About Keren Eldad
    A thought leader in the coaching world, Keren Eldad ("Coach Keren") specializes in taking high achievers out of the futility of constant pursuit and into the greatest levels of success and fulfillment. Her coaching clients include Olympic athletes, politicians, Hollywood stars, supermodels, Special Forces operatives and serial entrepreneurs, as well as renowned global organizations such as Estée Lauder, J.P. Morgan, and Nike.Recognized as a Top Ten Executive Coach by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Real Leaders Magazine, & Goop, Keren maintains gold-standard coaching credentials on top of her advanced academic degrees from The London School of Economics and the University of Jerusalem. She is also a former C-suite executive, who has lived and worked in 17 countries and on four continents, and now coaches leaders all around the globe in four languages: English, Spanish, Hebrew and French. With half a million views on her TEDx talks, and speaking engagements all over the world, Keren's message seems to transcend borders. She hopes it resonates with you. 


    Connect with Keren
    👍 Instagram: @coachkeren
    💼 LinkedIn: Keren Eldad
    🌐 Website: kereneldad.com


    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    58 min
  • How to Build a Personal Brand That Makes Money BEFORE You Feel Ready, with Ruffin Mitchener

    VCs laughed Ruffin Mitchener out of interview rooms for posting on TikTok. Four years later, she's the angel investor writing the checks.
    Now she’s built a six-figure creator business, landed recurring deals with brands like TurboTax and LinkedIn, and built one of the fastest-growing investing communities for women in startups and VC.
    Ruffin started in accounting at Deloitte, moved into fintech startups, got her MBA at UCLA during COVID, and realized early that founder content was going to become mandatory. She was one of the FIRST WOMEN in venture capital and startup investing actually building publicly online while everyone else thought it was cringe!!
    In this episode, we get into why personal branding matters before you need it, why founders should start creating content years before fundraising, and how Ruffin used TikTok and LinkedIn to build real leverage in venture capital. She also breaks down the exact cold outreach strategy she used to land brand deals, how she pitched hundreds of companies herself before hiring management, and why niche B2B creators are making more money than creators with 10x the audience size😲.
    Oh, she even tells us how she is using Claude as a social media strategist and why cohort-based live courses are replacing recorded programs.
    Plus: pregnancy as an entrepreneur, creator management contracts, and the one thing every creator is keeping secret right now... good short-form editors 😭
    If you’re waiting until you feel qualified enough to start posting, this episode is your sign to stop waiting.
    📘 Career Cheat Codes — IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    00:00 Pregnancy as an entrepreneur is a wild ride
    03:54 The moment Ruffin realized content was the future of business
    07:03 Your digital footprint is the new resume
    08:53 The UCLA MBA post that changed everything for her content
    10:13 People are done buying recorded courses
    11:20 Ruffin’s full creator tech stack: CapCut, Descript, Claude
    11:45 The relationship-building strategy founders ignore before fundraising
    16:24 The biggest mistake Ruffin made building her brand
    18:57 How she landed brand deals before having management
    20:24 Why niche B2B creators make more money than giant influencer
    About Ruffin Mitchener
    Ruffin Mitchener is the creator and founder of Brydge Club, a media and investing community empowering 200K+ women to understand and navigate the world of angel investing and entrepreneurship. Less than 2% of VC funding goes to all-female founded teams - and less than 15% of venture capital decision-makers are women.
    Ruffin has personally angel invested and led syndicate opportunities for Brydge Club angels into companies like POCA, Alinea Invest, Offe Market, GOB, Bumo, and Hey Jane. Investing alongside firms like Offline, True Ventures, and Baukunst. Prior to Brydge Club, Ruffin worked as an operator at an Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) consumer fintech startup, which brings hands-on operational experience to everything she backs today.
    Connect with Ruffin
    👍 Instagram: @ruffinmitchener
    💼 LinkedIn: Ruffin Mitchener
    🎶 TikTok: @ruffinmitchener
    🌐 Website: brydgeclub.com
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    47 min
  • Avni Barman: The LinkedIn Strategy That Made Her a Full-Time Creator

    40 million LinkedIn views a month. Two to three videos a day. And she built it after returning venture capital money because she realized she hated the company she was building 😲
    In this week's episode, I sat down with Avni Barman, founder of Gen She, creator, speaker, and one of the smartest people I know when it comes to audience building and career leverage. She started with a two-minute cold outreach habit in college and turned it into a network, a business, a media brand, and a global community for women in tech and entrepreneurship.
    We get into the exact outreach system that helped her land opportunities before she had experience, why most people overcomplicate networking, and how she grew LinkedIn into a platform driving 40 million monthly views. She explains why virality is overrated if it’s not converting into real community, why she stopped chasing a million followers, and how she thinks about building content that actually gets people to care. 
    If you’ve been waiting to feel qualified before you start posting, networking, pitching, or building something, this is your wake-up call!
    📘 Career Cheat Codes — IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    03:01 The survival strategy that turned into her networking system
    04:22 The two-minute cold outreach routine that changed her career
    09:24 Speaking at Harvard Business School changed her perspective on entrepreneurship
    10:17 She ran a 16,000-person paid virtual conference during the pandemic
    17:28 She flew to India without sponsors or an event plan, and Microsoft joined the day before
    28:14 How she hit 40 million LinkedIn views a month with video
    29:17 “I’d literally rather die than get a job”
    About Avni Barman
    Founder & CEO of Gen She, a media platform and fund shaping the next generation of female founders. With 1M+ community, 400M+ views, and a 150K+ subscriber base, she has built one of the fastest-growing platforms for the next generation and is a leading voice on personal branding, virality, and building in the modern digital economy.
    Connect with Avni
    👍 Instagram: @avnibarman_
    💼 LinkedIn: Avni Barman
    🎙️YouTube: @avnibarman
    🌐 Website: generationshe.co
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: [email protected]
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    1 hr 12 min

About Built in Public

From the publisher's feed

Built in Public is a personal brand podcast hosted by Courtney Johnson.

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