Legends of Scale

Legends of Scale

By Brian O'ConnorBusinessEntrepreneurshipManagement
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Legends of Scale episodes

  • How Blake Minho Kim Runs a 100-Person Agency (With Only 5 Full-Timers)
    Today we talk with Blake Minho Kim, co-founder of Myosin, a marketing network helping web3 companies grow.

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    0:00 Meet Blake Kim
    0:44 "A Traditional Agency Is a Ponzi Scheme"
    1:04 Why the Agency Model Is Broken
    6:13 What Members Get Instead of a Salary
    9:13 Why Myosin Pays Everyone in Stablecoins
    10:57 The Reputation Score System (Peer Reviews + Bayesian Average)
    16:09 How Compensation Actually Works Across 100 Freelancers
    18:54 Overseas Talent, Geographic Pay, and the New Reality
    22:14 "If You're Not Using AI, You Will Get Left Behind"
    22:43 Why AI Won't Replace Creative Directors
    25:12 "Traditional Agency on the Front End, Network on the Back End"
    29:32 Vibe-Coding Their Own Internal OS (Synapse on Replit)
    32:40 Freelancers Take 60โ€“70% of Gross Revenue
    33:48 "What Used to Cost $200k Now Costs $200 in AI Credits"
    34:33 Network Effects, Flywheels, and the IPO Plan
    36:23 Find Blake + Myosin.xyz

    38 min
  • Shoshana Winter Rebuilt a 60-Person Agency (Steal Her Turnaround Playbook)
    Today we talk with Shoshana Winter. The second employee at the world's first social network, now CEO of Converge Marketing.

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    00:00 Intro
    00:29 What She Walked Into
    02:32 Why Clients Were Shaky
    05:13 Fixing At-Risk Clients
    07:08 Rating Every Client 1โ€“5
    09:20 Using SWOT Analysis
    12:54 SWOT Explained Simply
    16:33 Strategy vs. Tactics
    19:54 Strategy vs. Plan
    25:01 Failing Fast
    26:13 Fail Fast at Converge
    31:01 Are We Organized Right?
    35:08 Positioning at 60 People
    38:28 What Is Positioning?
    43:25 The Positioning Formula
    46:23 Positioning for Campaigns
    49:23 Advice to Yourself on Day One
    53:00 Where to Find Shoshana

    55 min
  • Patrick Gilbert Refused AI for 3 Years (Today He's Google's AI Speaker)
    Today we chat with Patrick Gilbert. CEO of AdVenture Media.

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    00:00 Intro โ€” Meet Patrick Gilbert
    01:17 How Patrick Went From AI Hater to AI Superfan
    04:41 Doubling Every Year โ€” Then Hitting the Wall
    08:06 What Structure Did He Cut (and Why)?
    10:06 Build First or Get Revenue First? AI Changes the Game
    13:38 Why They Were Anti-Tech (But Pro-AI)
    15:38 What Does 'Structure' Even Mean?
    17:37 SOPs vs. Culture โ€” The Big Trade-Off
    20:55 Builder Mentality โ€” The New Culture at AdVenture
    22:43 Idiotic Optimism โ€” AdVenture's Secret Weapon
    24:52 The Hackathon Mistake โ€” A Lesson in Culture Building
    27:52 Why 'Idiotic Optimism' Beats 'Smart Optimism'
    33:42 "Pessimists Are Often Right, But Optimists Are Often Rich"
    41:30 It's Not Risk โ€” It's Side Projects That Change Everything
    46:33 Patrick's New Book โ€” "Never Always Never Never"
    55:26 Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean โ€” Why Marketing Agencies Are Shrinking
    1:06:03 Nobody Actually Has a Strategy
    1:17:52 Business Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy
    1:25:12 YouTube Ads Are TV Ads (and Nobody Knows It)
    1:28:12 How AI Actually Helps (It's Not Just Productivity)
    1:35:19 Non-Technical Founders Using Claude Code
    1:41:06 Where to Find Patrick + His AI-Powered Book

    1 hr 44 min
  • Adrian Fagerlund Built an Ad Network During COVID (Then Signed 10,000 Brands)
    Today we chat with Adrian Fagerlund. Founder and CEO of Linkby.
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    00:00 Meet Adrian Fagerlund
    00:15 Launching a marketplace during COVID
    00:57 The chicken-or-egg problem, getting the first brands and publishers
    2:31 "We had to hire 15 people at once"
    4:51 How he decided which roles to hire for
    6:49 Going 100mph but slowing down for hiring
    8:35 "The structure hasn't really changed," what he got right early
    9:09 Why he doesn't use recruiters or AI to hire
    12:16 The 4-step hiring process: vibe check, sample, puzzle piece fit
    14:55 "Blinded by glossy packaging," the hire that burned him
    15:37 The cultural difference that changes interviews in America
    19:53 How to vibe check when you can't describe your culture
    22:52 "Lifers," the employees who followed him across companies
    24:37 "You can't teach hunger," the ESOP and commission structure
    26:33 How to tell if someone is moldable and hungry in an interview
    28:06 The type of questions that reveal real candidates
    29:23 Can you spot moldability before the 30/60/90?
    30:59 Day-in-the-life testing and giving feedback live
    32:20 The onboarding process that keeps people around
    35:23 Training library: what's async vs. live
    37:59 How to decide what to train at $1M to $5M
    39:00 Training by need: new products, new skills, new focus
    40:48 How to make sure 100+ people actually adopt a new skill
    44:57 How to know if people understand AND do what you trained
    47:43 AI Visibility: helping brands rank inside ChatGPT
    50:02 What is reverse pitching?
    50:29 Use case: how an ecomm brand uses Linkby
    54:48 The publisher side: how writers make money with Linkby
    58:10 Where to find Adrian + Linkby

    1 hr
  • How Sam Schmitt's SaaS Got 70,000 Users (W/o Quitting His Day Job)

    Today we chat with Samuel Schmitt. Founder of Thruuu โ€” an SEO tool used by 70,000 people.
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    00:00 Meet Samuel Schmitt
    00:18 Building an SEO tool with zero SEO knowledge
    00:59 Why he kept the tool completely free for 2 years
    05:07 Losing 3 years of growth by not charging early enough
    06:40 The 10 mistakes you shouldn't make when building a SaaS
    07:18 Building a SaaS as a side project while working full-time
    08:59 Why too much cash in the bank account is a problem
    10:49 Learning to delegate when you've never hired before
    13:09 Paying 10 copywriters to write the same article as a test
    15:30 Running a 70,000-user tool with 4-5 part-time freelancers
    16:25 Why he refuses to hire full-time in France
    19:08 How he structures steady part-time workloads every month
    22:13 The fear of giving your code to a stranger on Upwork
    24:20 Why SaaS isn't dead but having just one product is risky
    29:03 A private bank client built a $50K tool alone with Claude Code
    32:45 Building a portfolio of SaaS products in the next 12 months
    35:09 Where to find Sam

    37 min
  • Gilad Bechar Cut Costs With AI (But Hired Like Crazy)

    Today we chat with Gilad Bechar Founder of Moburst.
    ---
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    0:00 Meet Gilad Bechar
    0:11 All-In on AI (But Hiring More, Not Less)
    0:48 "We Thought We'd Downsize"
    3:32 The Roles Nobody Expected to Create
    6:48 Why Every AI Tool Needs a Product Manager
    8:17 The LinkedIn Content Machine (Full Breakdown)
    12:24 Tinder for Content โ€” Swipe to Schedule
    14:39 The Chef Analogy โ€” Tasting AI Output
    16:00 Writers Became Editors-in-Chief
    19:00 Every Role Got Promoted
    21:12 One AI Engineer Can Transform a Full Agency
    25:56 "50% of Our Hires Need to Be AI Native"
    28:18 The Token Bill That Doesn't Scale
    32:45 How to Test for AI Skills in Hiring
    36:24 Five Acquisitions and Counting
    40:09 What Moburst Is Buying Next
    43:05 Find Gilad + Moburst

    42 min
  • Tom Coburn Quit Pre-Med (To Raise $92M) - #05

    Today we chat with Tom Coburn. Founder of Jebbit. CEO of Waking Up: A meditation app he's building with Sam Harris.
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    00:00 Meet Tom Coburn
    00:54 7 years of "fake" product-market fit
    03:10 Winning a business plan with no code and dropping out of pre-med
    05:15 The eBay Churn: Losing $2M in ARR overnight
    07:08 Why the entire go-to-market strategy was wrong
    12:25 The 2.5-hour meeting that saved the company's culture
    20:35 Joining Sam Harris to run the Waking Up app
    24:40 Scaling a business heavily focused on product, not marketing
    27:45 Why the team flat-out rejected paid UGC actors
    30:30 The 10x difference between authentic partners and paid influencers
    35:18 Optimizers vs. Sufferers: Customizing the user journey
    40:14 Why a management team was finally necessary
    43:47 Where to find Tom

    41 min
  • A Lawsuit Drained Kevin Roy's Bank... Then He Built A 7-Fig SEO Empire - #04

    Today we chat with Kevin Roy. Founder and CEO of Green Banana SEO.

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    0:00 Meet Kevin Roy
    0:18 Starting from Craigslist (The Early Days of Green Banana)
    1:55 The "Favorite Rock Band" Hiring Filter
    3:20 The One Trait Kevin Refuses to Hire Without
    4:50 Using AI to Forecast Your Next Hire
    8:18 "Inches Away from Going Out of Business"
    10:07 2.5 Years of Just Gym and Work
    15:33 Why Relationships Beat Results (Client Retention Secret)
    24:26 The Retention Problem That Had Nothing To Do With Performance
    26:40 The Client Making 16x Returns โ€” Who Thought We Were Failing
    30:20 Why Kevin Kept Sales Flat for 2 Years on Purpose
    32:57 Catching Candidates Faking Interviews with AI
    36:50 The Role Kevin Still Can't Replace Himself In
    38:31 The Golden Age of SEO Is Happening Right Now
    39:06 Find Kevin + Green Banana SEO

    35 min
  • How Matt Sullivan Built a 7-Fig Marketing Agency (by Accident) - #03

    Today we chat with Matt Sullivan. Founder and CEO of Torro Media.

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    0:00 Meet Matt Sullivan
    0:45 The "Oh Shit" moment, "I can't do this alone"
    2:07 Why hiring generalists was a mistake
    7:10 "We were the guinea pig" testing on yourself before selling
    11:22 Hiring the Mac and Cheese reviewer
    15:06 Mrs. Monday, The COO who fixed everything
    24:08 AI vs humans, where each wins
    28:14 How Matt checks capacity and forecast hiring
    34:36 ChatGPT recommended Torro to a prospect
    37:50 "Deeper vs wider," the growth strategy shift
    43:53 What an A-player actually means
    49:03 Hiring differently for doers vs leaders
    54:28 "Deeper vs wider," what's working now
    59:08 Hooks that got them 40,000 emails + millions of views
    1:02:34 Hack ChatGPT to reverse engineer your visibility
    1:08:31 Where to find Matt + Torro

    1 hr 10 min
  • How Billy Moyer Built a 40-Coach Network - #02

    Today we chat with Billy Moyer. Founder and CEO of SOS Leadership. The legendary Operations consulting firm.

    โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”

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    0:00 Meet Billy Moyer
    0:54 "We crashed and burned" scaling before ready
    3:14 The retainer model that changed everything
    6:10 Why great consultants can't sell (and how Billy profits)
    8:56 Training part-time coaches without losing quality
    14:55 "Coaches were paying to work for us"
    22:19 The founder whoโ€™s overseas hires failed (now has 15 hires)
    31:41 Selling consulting by giving it away for free
    38:26 The private equity play Billy's building inside his firm
    43:09 The handshake deal that burned him
    47:28 The shadow side of leadership, what's really holding you back
    58:35 Where to find Billy + The Upside Down Leader

    1 hr

About Legends of Scale

From the publisher's feed

In this show 7 - 8 figure founders share the truth of how they scaled their business. The business model. What they tried (and didn't work). And the scaling tricks they use to grow: SOPs? Hiring? AI?