Raul Hernandez Ochoa

Small creator teams are building the next $30M ARR business. 12 months ago, this didn't seem possible. We used to see a clear split: There were business builders: the people in the trenches, solving problems, growing teams, hitting revenue milestones. And then there were content creators; people talking about the work, not doing it. Building something real takes more than clever posts. It takes sleepless nights, hiring decisions, product failures, revenue targets… the kind of things that don’t always fit neatly into a carousel. The best content creators I know? They’re operators too. Quietly scaling businesses behind the scenes. And they’re doing it faster, cheaper, and with more leverage, because they’ve mastered one thing most founders ignore: Distribution. They don’t wait to be discovered. They tell their story, share their playbook, build trust at scale and the pipeline follows. They’re not creating content for attention. They’re doing it to build conviction in the minds of their buyers. To educate, differentiate, and own the narrative in their space. And the results speak for themselves: → Inbound leads that close faster → Investors who already believe in the vision → Talent that wants to work with them, not just for them It’s not about choosing between builder and creator anymore. The founders who win today are both. They know content isn’t a distraction from the real work, it is the real work. Because if no one knows what you’re building, who you’re building it for, or why it matters… you’re not just invisible. You’re irrelevant.

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IF a DTC founder acted like an affiliate, they'd have 3x more cash. IF a service-based founder acted like a DTC operator, they'd have more leads then they could handle. IF a high-ticket program founder acted like a service based biz, they'd have referrals & never get sued. I've done all 3. The answers to your problems already exist. You just need to do the right actions.

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I think a lot of founders are missing the boat on Reddit. Yes, Reddit. Every addressable market is really a "network of niches” (thx to the NFX blog for this insight).  If your product can win one niche, you have a foothold. Reddit is the best place I’ve found to find and engage those first niches: 👥 If you’re solving a real problem, chances are people already self-organize around that problem 📈 TikTok, IG, and X/Twitter are stingy with the outbound clicks, but Reddit can drive tons of traffic — it drove more than 70k sessions to PriceMe just in September. 🧪 This traffic can help you prove out your concept, test features, and get early users. You can start by interacting with existing subreddits, but I would recommend eventually starting your own. Post every day and spread the word around other communities (google how to do this in a non-jerk way) It’s not for every idea, and you can’t be overly self-promotional. Ask for feedback you sincerely need. You have to deliver actual value in an authentic way — hey, just like your product! But if you’re trying to validate an idea or build early community, don’t overlook it. Anyone else try this?

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I just dropped the 2026 blueprint for scaling your agency to $1M+. Last year I made this exact video and it was the most talked about video in the agency space. Why? Because what I teach is completely different from what everyone else says. And it works. Genflow has done $100M+ in revenue. Took me 14 months to hit $1M. We've done $10M+ every year for the past 4 years. $25M in 2025. All public record. You can verify it yourself. Here's what I cover in this blueprint: 📍 Step 1: Stop servicing offline clients Restaurants, spas, dentists, local businesses. They're the bottom of the market. They can't scale. You'll get stuck at 10-20 clients and never grow past it. 📍 Step 2: Go after online clients only Fast-growth brands. Ambitious founders. Tech businesses. D2C brands. Creators. Online entrepreneurs. Online clients grow fast = you grow fast. 📍 Step 3: Stop offering one service The "pick a niche, one problem, one solution" advice? That's how you sell courses. Not how you scale agencies. You need to offer multiple services across the funnel. 📍 Step 4: Control the whole funnel Stop being part of someone's funnel. Control it. Awareness → Traffic → Conversion → Retention The closer you are to conversion, the more money you make. Because you're making THEM money. If you're just at the top (content, leads, awareness), you'll only ever charge retainers. And clients will leave in 6-9 months asking "what's the ROI?" But if you control conversion? You can charge retainers AND take percentages of revenue/profit. That's how a $2k/month client becomes a $50k/month client. 📍 Step 5: Position differently for every client You don't have one niche. You have multiple positioning angles. Fitness app? "We help fitness apps scale." D2C brand? "We help D2C brands deploy UGC at scale." Customize for every opportunity. That's how you close more deals. 📍 Step 6: Be a partner, not an agency Everyone hates agencies. Including agency owners. So don't be one. Be a partner who controls the full funnel and shares in the upside. 📍 Step 7: Hire the right structure + build SOPs Two key hires: Delivery Operations Manager + Client Services Director. This frees you up to learn new skills, sign clients, and grow. Plus: everything needs an SOP. Every task. Every process. Every client update. That's how you scale past $100k/month without collapsing. This is the exact blueprint I followed. It's not theory. It's what actually worked to build a $100M agency. If you're ambitious and want to scale fast in 2026, this is the playbook. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/ddUrp5mD

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Mastering Affiliate Marketing & Partnerships for Scalable Growth with Dustin Howes If you're relying only on ads to grow… you're missing one of the most scalable growth channels out there. In this episode of Voice Like A Lion Podcast, we dive into: 💡 Building high-converting affiliate programs 🤝 Creating strategic partnerships that drive long-term revenue ⚙️ The exact systems Dustin uses to scale performance marketing 💣 Mistakes brands make when launching affiliate programs (and how to avoid them) If you're a founder, CMO, or marketer looking to diversify your growth playbook, this one’s packed with gold. 🎥 Check out this clip (this one hits!) 🎧 Full episode now live!

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If your ads aren’t working… Your product is NOT the problem. Here’s the cycle founders fall into: • You spend $1,000s on ads. • Platforms say a million people “saw it.” • Only 2 people bought. So you assume your product sucks. Wrong. Most of the time it’s not your product. It’s ad fraud. Click farms. Bots. Fake impressions. Over-reporting. All designed to bleed your budget dry. Agencies - are incentivized to keep retainers fat. Google & Meta - Paid on clicks, real or fake. Everyone wins - except you. That’s why we built REX. It runs ads through pre-warmed accounts, block bots in real-time, claw back stolen dollars, and move your budget like an investment banker - into whatever makes you the most money. MAYBE your product sucks. (But if it does, you'd know that by now) More likely, your product DOESN'T suck. The system does.

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Top worst mistakes I've made after raising VC: 1/ Burned $15K/month on paid ads - "Spend money on growth - that's why you raised it." - Got thousands of signups. Zero retention. - I was pouring water into a leaking bucket. 2/ Hired a $10K/month "FAANG superstar" - "This guy's worked at Google and Facebook - he's incredible." - He came to work at a startup with big tech mentality - Never shipped a single line of code in 4 months. 3/ Optimized for vanity metrics - "User growth is what matters for the next round." - Revenue stayed flat while burn rate exploded. - Got seduced by fake PMF. -- The pattern across all the mistakes: I optimized for the next funding round, not making our customers happy. Lesson: Never put your company in a position where its survival depends on outside funding.

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Most DTC businesses kill their email signup rates with this one mistake... I've audited hundreds of email marketing systems, and I see this way too often. Their opt-in forms ask for: - First name - Last name - Email - Birthday - Sometimes even more... Every additional field you add creates friction that kills conversions. The best-performing opt-in forms we've tested follow this simple rule: Email only. But here's the psychological hack most brands miss: Instead of "No thanks" as your exit option, try "No thanks, I'll pay full price." When visitors see this, they pause. They think: "Wait, why would I pay full price when I could get a discount for just entering my email?" This simple copy change alone has increased our opt-in rates by 2-5% consistently. Remember: You're interrupting someone's shopping experience. Make it worth their while with minimal friction. Target metrics to aim for: - 7% minimum opt-in rate - 10%+ means you're crushing it What's your current opt-in rate? Drop it below 👇

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Founders who post weekly get 2x more demo requests from warm leads. Why? Not because they post more than you. But because they post with a plan. You don’t need more ideas. You need a system to "reuse" the right ones. Most SaaS founders sit on a goldmine of content: Their customers' problems. But instead of building a pipeline, they post reactively. Or worse, go silent between launches. Here’s the shift that helped me stay consistent without burning out: ✅ Write down 100 problems your ICP faces ✅ Pick the top 10–15 “spiciest” ones ✅ Group them into 3 content pillars (e.g. GTM pain, founder lessons, AI-in-product) ✅ Tackle one post per week that solves one problem That’s 3+ months of content, Without repeating yourself or selling. And no, you don’t need to post daily. You just need to say something that makes your ideal buyer nod and think: “This founder gets it.” When you solve real problems in public, you build trust "before" the demo. P.S. What’s one “pillar” you could post about weekly without running out of ideas? 👇 Drop yours, I’ll share a few from mine too.

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Stop tweaking your funnel. Start fixing your offer. When growth stalls, founders often blame the funnel first; But the real issue usually starts with the offer. Startups love tweaking headlines, button colors, and ad angles... But you can't A/B test your way out of a mediocre offer. One e-commerce brand I worked with exploded in 90 days. Not from tweaks, but from one simple move ↴ Switching from "always available" to limited-edition drops. Same product. Different offer. 10x revenue. If your offer's weak, no funnel can save you. Here's how to spot if you're stuck on the wrong problem: 1. Obsessive A/B Testing  ↳ Running 100 split-tests with 0 impact. 2. Low Conversion Despite Traffic  ↳ Chances are, the traffic's fine. Your offer is just forgettable. 3. Short-Term Wins, Long-Term Stall ↳ Duct-tape growth never lasts. Strong offers do. This is how you can build an offer that actually sells: ✅ Solve a desperate, real pain ✅ Craft a clear and bold promise ✅ Build urgency into the offer itself ✅ Tell a story that makes you the only choice ✅ Speak directly to your avatar (not “everyone”) Most teams tweak because it feels productive. But tweaks don't build empires. Unstoppable offers do. Be honest: what part of your offer needs a real upgrade - right now? ⬇️ ♻️ Repost to help other founders strengthen their offers. 🔔 Follow Alvin Huang for more on startups & business growth.

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Most founders only run SWOT on their business. A big unlock is running it on your partnership program. I've audited hundreds of affiliate programs. The ones that scale know what's working. The ones that stall are guessing. Relationships aren't different from any other growth channel. They need internal clarity on what's working and what's broken. And external awareness of where the opportunities and risks are. This is the relationship SWOT. It's one of the fastest ways to find what's working or figure out what's bleeding you dry. 💪 Strengths: What's reliably outperforming If you don't know what's working, you can't double down on it. Most founders are sitting on strengths they don't use. Example: Your offer converts at 8%+ (industry standard is 2-4%). How to use them: Stop treating strengths like they'll last forever without investment. Amplify what's working before you try to fix what's broken. Protect your best relationships. Take them on trips. Give them exclusivity. Build the moat. ⛓️‍💥 Weaknesses: Problems slowing you down Ignoring weaknesses kills relationships. Affiliates won't tell you what's broken. They just stop promoting. Example: You're paying affiliates 60 days out (they hate that). How to handle them: Name them clearly so you can address them strategically. Fix the ones that are costing you money or trust. Stop pretending a weakness is just "how it is." That's how programs die. 💰 Opportunities: Openings that could redirect your program Most founders see opportunities too late. The ones who win see them early and move fast. Example: One of your clients has a huge audience and would promote you. How to act: Say yes before you feel fully ready. When you see an opportunity, move on it within 30 days or it's gone. Don't wait for perfect. Test, learn, iterate. ⚠️ Threats: External factors that could kill your program Threats don't announce themselves. By the time you notice, you're already behind. Example: You're 100% dependent on one affiliate network or one major affiliate. How to prepare: Diversify your partner base. Don't rely on 2-3 affiliates for all your revenue. Don't assume your program will stay competitive just because it is today. Most founders never audit their relationship program until it's broken. By then: Your best partners are promoting someone else. You've wasted 6 months on affiliates who'll never perform. Your reputation in the affiliate community is "they don't pay on time. The relationship SWOT takes 30 minutes. And it'll show you where the leverage is. Run the audit before your program forces you to. When's the last time you ran a real audit on your business? Maybe it's time to start 👀 I break down frameworks like this in the Four Rooms newsletter. Subscribe below for more 👇 https://lnkd.in/gUtCUYti ♻️ Repost this if you know someone running an affiliate program who needs to see it. And follow me, Amber Spears, for more relationship strategy that works.

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Your email and SMS aren’t the problem... ↳ Your website is. A DTC founder asked me: “How do we get more revenue from email and SMS?” They had: → Campaigns running → Flows set up → Best practices in place Still, performance was flat. So we looked under the hood. Their site conversion rate? 0.3%. That means: → 50,000 monthly visitors → 150 orders → Thousands left on the table Now imagine a 1% CR: → 500 orders → 3x the revenue → Zero changes to email Here’s the truth most ignore: Email and SMS drive clicks. But if your site doesn’t convert, retention won’t save you. Fixing email isn’t the answer. Fixing your funnel is. This is why retention doesn’t work in a silo. Your acquisition, website, and lifecycle strategy must work together. That’s exactly how we do it at Everboost.

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The 7 biggest lies about getting high-ticket clients. (And why #5 is costing you the most.) Let’s clear them up: 1. “If you’re good, clients will find you.”    ↳ No. Clients don’t hunt.    ↳ You gotta go find them.     2. “Posting value alone will fill your pipeline.”    ↳ Not unless you pair it with conversations    ↳ And nuanced follow-up.     3. “Referrals are enough.” → Maybe for now.    ↳But if you’re not building your OWN pipeline?    ↳ You’re one quiet month away from panic.     4. “Premium clients hate DMs.” → Wrong.    ↳Premium buyers love clarity and confidence.    ↳ They appreciate direct outreach done right.     5. “You should wait until you ‘feel ready’ to sell.”    ↳Waiting is the most expensive strategy of all.    ↳Never going to feel ready.     6. “You need a  funnel to attract high-ticket clients.”    ↳ No. You need a clear offer    ↳A simple outreach system that speaks to real pain.     7. “Selling feels pushy, I’ll wait for people to come to me.”     ↳ Selling done right is service.    ↳ The most successful consultants lead the convo. Here’s what  works in 2025: → Clear positioning that speaks to urgent problems. → Consistent conversations that convert. → A simple outbound + inbound system that works daily. If your client acquisition system feels off? It’s not your fault. But it is your job to fix it. P.S. What’s the lie you’ve believed the longest? Comment below, I’ll tell you how to break it.

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Every founder thinks content = hacks, hooks and templates. Truth? The best performing content right now is honest documentation, not marketing perfection. In this post, I break down: The one universal strategy that’s working for all Eureka Craft clients Why it delivers narrative trust + inbound pipeline The exact weekly prompts we use Comment FOUNDER PROMPTS if you want the sheet. #FounderVoice #ContentStrategy #B2BMarketing #EurekaCraft #NarrativeMarketing #InboundGrowth #ThoughtLeadership

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Invest in links. See 20x the SEO payoff. We consistently see one strategy outperform the rest: link development. Whether it’s editorial outreach or digital PR... if you’re investing in link acquisition, you're giving Google what it still values most ---> trust and authority. Why does it work so well? Because PageRank still matters. Despite hundreds of ranking signals in Google’s algorithm, backlinks remain a core driver of visibility and long-term SEO success. In fact, businesses that invest in link building see 10–20x faster SEO gains than those that don’t. Here’s what you've got to remember: ✔️ Internal + external links both matter ✔️ Editorial > spammy directories ✔️ Consistency beats shortcuts ✔️ Tools like HARO (or featured) still deliver If you're not seeing results, it’s rarely about content quality alone. It might be about who's vouching for it. What’s the one link-building strategy that’s delivered the highest ROI for you this year?

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Recently, I did a free content audit for a founder & spotted a mistake that’s costing him $30k/m for his paid ads service business. This was the mistake: Targeting 2 different niches In a minute, I’ll explain why this is a huge problem & how you can fix this: The thing is if you are building a founder led brand, you want to be known for something. That’s one of the principles of your founder led brand. Probably the main one. Now that “something” equals to these 3 things: A specific industry, a specific service, a specific outcome. When you post content, send cold/warm DMs, engage, the first thing your ICPs or target audience check out is your headline, profile and content. By doing this, they want to know 2 basic things: 1/ who you are 2/ what you do You want to get as clear as possible. But if you are targeting 2 different niches, they’ll get confused about what you represent. So even if you have the best content or offer it doesn’t matter. Which is why the best way to brand yourself is to be someone who is known for doing (xyz) Not (xyz) AND (abc) You want to be very clear on telling who you are within 1 second. Once they enter into your ecosystem/world, you can talk about all the other stuff that are subtopics to your main topic Also, when you do this, you enjoy outcomes like: - You control pricing powers - You are rewarded with demand - Your positioning becomes stronger - Clients find & reach out to you easily - You build trust because you understand industry language even better The goal of your LinkedIn presence is to reduce their friction in getting to know and remember you. P.S. P.S. If you are a B2B founder & want your founder brand to help you get sign ups for your product/service, but don't know how, drop a message

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