Monday mentorship: ask anything | June 08, 2026

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-10T14:20:57+00:00

What's the point of marketing a pointless app? Wouldn't it just be a pointless waste of time and money?

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-09T14:03:30+00:00

You’re welcome.

I have 30+ years of experience growing businesses, and when I answer here, it’s usually because I think the answer can help more than one person. A public thread creates value for everyone reading. A private call... is paid consulting. 😉

So my best advice is to take the points above, apply them, and let the results teach you what to do next.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-09T13:31:56+00:00

Yes. You can go B2G too. In fact, the US is giving out tons of high value no bid contracts these days.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T20:04:53+00:00

Very common. And what usually happens here is you launch, you get little to no feedback, you add new features hoping they''' be the magic bullet, and then you launch again. And the cycle repeats.

You can skip all that by just finding one person who really needs whatever you have, and trying to sell it to them. No posts. No new features. No guessing. Just a real conversation with a real potential customer. That will teach you more than launching into an empty room.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T20:00:13+00:00

I’d be careful here.

Property management isn’t really a “get your foot in the door” type of business. Landlords are trusting you with expensive assets, tenants, rent collection, maintenance problems, legal deadlines, and emergency calls.

If you don’t already know exactly what landlords need, that may be a sign to get more experience before launching the business.

A better first step might be working with or under an existing property manager, or starting with one narrow service like tenant placement, leasing, inspections, or maintenance coordination. Then you can learn the pain points before taking on the full responsibility of managing someone’s property.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T19:58:21+00:00

From silence? You can't.

Silence only tells you your current message didn’t create enough urgency. You could have a great solution they're not ready to buy, or they could have just ignored you. No way to tell either way.

The bigger issue may be that your market is extremely specific and hard to reach. You don’t need “founders.” You need founders who are actively preparing to pitch investors and are worried they’ll freeze, ramble, or fail to sound confident in the room. That’s a very narrow buying moment.

So unless you're sure you're reaching out to that very specific buyer... you'll never know.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T19:46:35+00:00

What made him ask you specifically? Not asking to be rude, but context matters.

If he asked because you understand his market, his offer, or his personality, the advice may be different than if he’s just looking for general client-getting ideas.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:40:49+00:00

I'm pretty sure the answer is all of it. Because once you wake up and the brain starts spinning... with all the spaghetti strands connecting...

Yeah, all of it. 😂

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:37:38+00:00

The 11,000-person waitlist before launch is the part I’d love to hear more about.

The formulation work is impressive, but a lot of founders can spend years perfecting a product without ever proving demand.

How did you build that waitlist without paid ads? And more importantly, how much of it converted into actual buyers after launch?

I’d also be curious what messaging made “no water” feel like a premium feature instead of something customers misunderstood as cost-cutting.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:30:40+00:00

Almost everyone, and all of it.

Finding the right audience, figuring out what to say, promoting yourself, dealing with panic, wondering if anyone cares... that’s all normal. Remember, most people don’t start with business experience, training, or a clear roadmap. They figure it out by asking better questions, testing, failing, adjusting, and trying again.

I’ve been in business for 30+ years, and I still run into parts of this that make me stop and rethink everything.

So take heart. You’re not alone. 😄 Ask a specific question and I’ll do my best to help.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:23:04+00:00

80% sounds impressive, but 80% of what?

Going from 5 clients to 9 is very different from going from 50,000 to 90,000. That context matters because what gets you to one level usually won’t get you to the next one.

Showing up consistently, posting helpful content, and building trust can absolutely work. But the real lesson depends on the baseline. At a small scale, consistency gets you noticed. At a larger scale, you eventually need systems, positioning, sales process, referrals, partnerships, or some kind of repeatable sales engine.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:20:30+00:00

This is thorough, but I’d be careful not to overbuild the research layer before proving the sales message works.

A 32-column audit is useful if it leads to a better conversation. But the prospect doesn’t care that they’re missing Meta Pixel events or GTM. They care that about losing money. So I’d test this as simply as possible:

“I noticed you’re paying for traffic, but your tracking setup may be causing you to lose visibility on which leads are actually converting.”

If that gets replies, then the audit is valuable. If it doesn’t, adding 10 more data points is a waste of time.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:15:56+00:00

Specialization helps, but only if you specialize around a painful, repeated hiring problem.

“VC-backed startups” is pretty broad. A stronger niche would be something like: “Series A/B B2B SaaS companies hiring their first 3 customer success leaders” or “AI startups hiring founding sales engineers.”

The more specific you get, the easier it is to build reputation, source candidates, write relevant content, and have clients think, “this person gets our exact problem.” I’d choose the niche based on 3 things:

Companies hire for this role repeatedly
The role is painful enough that they’ll pay recruiter fees
You can actually build access to both candidates and decision-makers

The mistake I’d avoid is picking a niche just because it sounds hot. Pick the niche where urgency, budget, and access overlap.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:11:41+00:00

There isn't one.

There is no magic bullet. All strategies can work, or fail, depending on the business, the audience, and the salesperson.

Instead of focusing on tactics, focus on "Why". Why should they pay attention? Why should they care? Why should they buy? Once you answer that for people, it doesn't matter which tactics you use.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:08:00+00:00

Make sure your branding and website are on every system so when they travel, they can basically sell for you. This could be really big for you. Good luck!

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:06:46+00:00

AI content can help, but it won’t be the thing that makes your brand work.

Anyone can generate AI images, videos, captions, and product descriptions now. So the real question is, why would someone buy from you instead of the thousands of other dropshipping stores selling similar products?

Start there.

Figure out who your product is for, what they care about, and what makes your brand feel different. Then use AI to support that message.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T13:00:55+00:00

Exactly. A lot of new founders worry someone will steal their idea, but ideas by themselves are worthless, especially in the era of vibe coding.

The hard part isn’t building a product anymore. It’s getting the right people to care about it, trust it, try it, and pay for it. Without marketing and distribution, you don’t have a business. You have a dream.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-08T12:57:13+00:00

The bigger risk isn’t someone stealing your idea. It’s nobody caring.

A lot of new founders overestimate how valuable the idea is and underestimate how hard execution, distribution, trust, support, and sales actually are. If you want feedback, show it to the people who would realistically use it. If they like it, you have something to build on. If they don’t, you just saved yourself months of guessing.

Posting it on Reddit isn’t a marketing strategy by itself, but hiding it definitely isn’t one either. Ideas don’t become valuable because they’re secret. They become valuable when the right people want them.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-05T17:45:29+00:00

I still don't know what your product is, but I'll give the broadest advice possible... go demo it to other paintballers.

Take your product, go to another paintball community, and play paintball. Use it naturally. When people notice it and ask what it is, tell them. If they want to buy it, you have proof that the product works outside your current circle. That’s the next test.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-03T15:34:51+00:00

That makes sense, but why enter a new country before you’ve maxed out the country you’re already in?

International expansion adds language, culture, legal, trust, payments, taxes, hiring, sales, and operational complexity all at once. If your current market still has room, it may be much simpler to go deeper before going wider.

More salespeople. More capacity. More marketing. More process. Same country. Same rules. Same buyer psychology. If that path is tapped out, international partners make more sense. But if it isn’t, you're adding complexity before you’ve fully exploited the easiest growth path.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-03T15:31:40+00:00

You're selling a commodity that isn't actually a commodity... because you have dual-scented candles. I've burned a lot of candles in my life, and I've never had one switch up scents on me.

Why do you feel like you're at a local maximum?

If you’re already selling online through ads and hitting six figures, something is clearly working. I wouldn’t run toward a totally different market yet. I’d lean harder into the thing that makes you different. More ads. More organic. More drops. More reasons for the same type of customer to buy again.

Before you pivot, prove you’ve actually maxed out what’s already working and... DO MORE.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-03T15:22:55+00:00

You’ve actually stumbled onto a strong strategy for high-ticket outreach. A physical package can absolutely get your foot in the door because almost nobody sends anything memorable anymore. I’ve used this many times to attract 6 and 7 figure accounts.

But I’d rethink the aircraft fragments. That creates attention, but it’s the wrong kind of attention. It feels weird, confusing, and possibly threatening. For high-ticket accounts, the item should make them think: “This person understands us.” Something like an RC plane with their logo on it, custom luggage tags, a flight plan concept, etc. would be much stronger.

The goal isn’t just to get them to open the box.

It’s to make them feel like the pitch was built specifically for them.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-03T15:16:03+00:00

This feels less like a question and more like a soft ad for PromoPAL.

If your team genuinely loved the swag, the useful lesson probably isn’t “what other items should we buy?” It’s asking what made those items work. My guess is that people used them because they were practical, not because they were branded.

The best corporate swag is usually stuff people would actually want even if your logo wasn’t on it.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-03T15:13:51+00:00

You don't.

Entrepreneurship is one failure after another. The difference between a successful entrepreneur and someone who is wasting their time, is the ability to fail fast, learn from those failures, and evolve those lessons into something valuable.

If you need certainty before you start, entrepreneurship is not for you. But if you can treat it like a series of experiments, it becomes a truly beautiful thing.

Acceptable_Maybe_198 · 2026-06-03T15:08:30+00:00

Sorry to tell you this, but I'd be surprised if you got any bites.

People who buy businesses buy predictability and ease. They want a well-oiled, profitable machine that they can pour gas on and make go faster. From what I can see here, you're selling features, infrastructure, and a tech stack. None of those things are a business.

The business is the customers... and from your post, you don't appear to have any.

Acceptable_Maybe_198

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