SEO and content marketing
How to get found on Google and in AI answers, from keyword research and writing content that ranks to the tools worth paying for.
1 article
Market and sell what you make
How to reach buyers through search, email, social and outreach, turn interest into sales, sell online, and look after customers so they come back.
Topics
Marketing
Email marketing
How to choose a newsletter or email marketing platform, grow your list, and turn subscribers into customers.
2 articles
Funnels and landing pages
How sales funnels and landing pages turn visitors into leads and buyers, and how all-in-one funnel builders compare with a website plus an email tool.
1 article
Social media
How a small team can run social media well, which design and scheduling tools help, and which channels are worth the effort for your business.
Coming soon
AI content and video
How AI writing, video, voice and podcast tools fit into a small team's marketing, what each costs, and where a person still has to check the work.
Coming soon
Cold outreach
How to send cold email at a sensible volume, which tools to use, and how to stay out of spam folders.
6 articles
Prospecting and lead data
How to build prospect lists with B2B databases, email finders and trade data, and what each one costs per useful contact.
4 articles
Sales
CRM
How to choose a CRM for a growing team, what you need on day one, what can wait, and what it really costs per seat.
3 articles
Proposals and scheduling
How to turn interest into signed deals with clear proposals, e-signatures and online booking, and which tools a small team needs for each.
5 articles
Customer support
Shared inboxes, live chat, chatbots and help desks that let a small team answer customers without getting buried.
Coming soon
Selling online
E-commerce platforms
How to choose an e-commerce platform, and what a store really costs each month once you add transaction fees, apps and payments.
1 article
Digital products
How to sell templates, ebooks, downloads, AI skills and software licenses, and which platforms take care of sales tax for you.
1 article
Courses and communities
Platforms for paid communities, memberships and online courses, compared on fees, features and whether you own your audience.
Coming soon
Print on demand
Services that print and ship each order for you, compared on base costs, print quality and delivery times.
Coming soon
Dropshipping
How dropshipping works, where the margin comes from, and the suppliers and apps that run it.
Coming soon
Latest articles
Guide · Proposals and scheduling
Founder-led sales: a weekly routine, and when to hire your first salesperson
Founders should close the first 10 to 20 customers themselves, in protected weekly blocks for prospecting, calls, follow-ups and a pipeline review. Write the process down as you go. Hire salespeople once deals follow a pattern you can teach, and hire two rather than one.
· 9 min read
Guide · Cold outreach
How to set up a domain for cold email: SPF, DKIM, DMARC and warm-up
Send cold email from a separate domain that redirects to your website, with two or three mailboxes per domain. Add an SPF record, turn on DKIM, publish a DMARC record starting at p=none, and warm each mailbox up over a few weeks. Here are the records and the checks.
· 7 min read
Guide · Prospecting and lead data
How to build a B2B lead list: free sources first, then paid data
Define the companies and roles you sell to, collect companies from free sources like job boards, event lists, review sites and public registries, find the right person at each, and verify every email before you send. Paid databases like Apollo and Hunter save time once the free sources run dry.
· 7 min read
Guide · CRM
How to choose a CRM for a startup: what you need now and what can wait
Start with a CRM that records every contact and email automatically, shows your deals in a simple pipeline and reminds you to follow up. HubSpot's free CRM covers two users and Attio's free plan three. Pay for more when automation, sequences or reporting start to save real time.
· 7 min read
Guide · Business taxes
Sales tax for small businesses: when you have to collect it, and in which states
You must collect sales tax in states where your business has nexus: a physical presence, or sales above that state's economic threshold, such as $100,000 in Florida or $500,000 in California and Texas. Here's how to work out where you owe it and what to do next.
· 7 min read
Guide · Cold outreach
Cold email for B2B startups: how to get replies without landing in spam
Good cold email is a small, well-chosen list, a short first email about the recipient's problem, two or three follow-ups and a sending setup with SPF, DKIM and DMARC on a separate domain. CAN-SPAM applies to B2B email too, with penalties up to $53,088 per message. Here's the full playbook.
· 8 min read