Matt Toigo

When engineers say "no," it reveals flaws in your pitch or opportunity, helping refine your approach Here are a few common mistakes 👉 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 - 1. Not including basics things like work location, comp range, and tech stack 2. Not highlighting what makes the role/company relevant for them 3. Targeting the wrong (or not enough) people 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 4. Jumping right into technical questions before creating buy-in 5. Not pitching your company's vision 6. Not understanding why the candidate is interviewing and what they're looking for in their next role 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 - 7. Assuming candidates are interested, without understanding their decision framework 8. Not debriefing and addressing concerns after every interview 9. Extending offers without pre-closing Good recruitment involves a lot more than just finding top talent Have a great weekend!

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…But that’s if you're starting from zero. Look, you don't have to spend hundreds of hours figuring it out. Instead, you can use these 3 Conversation Code Strategies and be ready to connect with clients and candidates tomorrow: 1️⃣ The Trust Builder Strategy: ✅ 1: Start the conversation by genuinely complimenting your candidate’s career achievements. Everyone likes recognition. ✅ 2: Share a quick anecdote about your own career path or recruiting journey to create relatability. (Your Backstory) 2️⃣ The Value Proposition Strategy: ✅ 1: Identify the top three pain points for your clients and integrate them into your value proposition. ✅ 2: Clearly outline your unique recruiting process and how it directly addresses those pain points. 3️⃣ The Relationship 'Deepener' Strategy: ✅ 1: Schedule consistent follow-up calls with every client and candidate to build rapport. ✅ 2: Send a thoughtful article, podcast, or book recommendation relevant to their interests or industry. And just for reading this far... I pulled 10 more Conversation Code Strategies from my training, The Conversation Code, for each of these... Plus... I'm throwing in some examples you can use right away... Giving you a total of 30 strategies to connect like a pro. Want access to these 30 Conversation Code Strategies? Drop your biggest cold call phrase that you hate to hear, or DM me directly and I'll get you the link to the docs... Happy Headhunting ~ Rick #GenuineConnections #RecruitingRevolution #TheConversationCode #RecruitingTips #TalentAcquisition #HumanResources #RecruitingSuccess #CareerConversations #Networking #LinkedInNetworking

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🤔 "Why hire juniors when you could just hire seniors?" I hear this question a lot. After 20+ years leading software teams, I'll tell you exactly why this thinking is dead wrong. Watch this 90-second video to learn: • Why blended teams outperform senior-only teams • The surprising way junior devs make seniors better • How "naive" questions lead to breakthrough innovations 👉 Your company's next big innovation might come from your newest hire. #SoftwareDevelopment #Leadership #Engineering #TeamBuilding #Innovation #JuniorDevelopers

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“When I’m making $250k in my coaching business, I’ll finally be enough and successful!” 💰 $250k became my benchmark—close to what I made as an engineering manager. I set this goal to prove to myself (and others) that I can make good money doing what I LOVE. After all, if I can do it, others can too, right? Nothing wrong with that. “Proving myself” has been my winning formula: • It motivates me to work harder. • It pushes me to show up bolder. • It leads me to say yes and try new things—just to prove I can. • It helps me connect with others who feel the same drive. It definitely feels good when I feel I’ve “proven myself.” But here’s the catch: that sense of value and success only sticks around as long as I keep proving myself. 🔹 If someone sees my value, I feel good. 🔹 If I reach a goal, I’m enough. 🔹 If my revenue hits a certain number, I’m successful. It’s like I’m only worthy if I’m actively proving myself. And each new goal means I have to start all over again. Yes, reaching milestones feels amazing. But it’s exhausting, too. Have you ever asked yourself, “How many times do I have to prove myself?” The truth is, this foundation isn’t solid. When my self-worth depends on external benchmarks, my confidence and joy fluctuate with every change outside of me. It’s like chasing a moving target, and it’s robbing me of enjoying the journey to my goals. ✨ Last weekend, I experienced a radical shift by asking myself one question: “What if—just what if—I’ve got nothing to prove?” Sitting with that thought lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. With that space opened up, I asked myself, “If I don’t need to prove anything, why am I doing this?” And my heart answered, “To have FUN!” So, I went even further: “What if… I’m not just aiming for $250k, but instead, I’m meant to create a 7-digit business?” Wow. Scary? Yes. Fun? Absolutely. And…why not? For the first time, I’m able to laugh at my revenue goal instead of feeling weighed down by self-doubt. When I don’t have to prove anything, I feel free to dream even bigger because it doesn’t discount who I am right now. When I anchor myself in having fun, the journey becomes an adventure I can actually enjoy. How about you? What would you do if you had nothing to prove? Loving you, Wen P.S. Are you tired of constantly proving yourself? Ready to add more joy to the journey toward your goals? Let's talk! (Link in the comment) P.P.S. Don't wait. The time is NOW.

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Dev agencies, if you don’t want to be treated as a commodity, stop acting like one. - Learn the business context for engineering needs - Stop squeezing your clients every opportunity you get - Prioritize transparency, communication, and accountability In short, position yourself as a partner that uses tech to solve business problems. You really can’t complain about being seen as a commodity if you treat everything as a transaction.

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To all my fellow dev leaders, what's something you've learned through your growth that you didn't realize early on? For me, it's been empathy and simplicity. As a dev leader, you're often asked to provide simple answers to complex problems and give estimates of when they'll be ready. This makes up a significant part of the job. To build trust and clarity, you need to empathize with your clients' needs (both internal and external), fully understand the customer need, and platform or service you're delivering on. This ensures you're delivering value and maintaining trust. I've learned to say "I understand" more than I've uttered "are you crazy?!". When I was a junior developer, I tended to overcomplicate problems to justify my expertise. But as I grew and learned from mentors, I realized most people want to know three things: Can it be fixed? When can it be done? What do I need to do? Like a car repair, they want clear, straightforward answers, not technical jargon. With that, rather than outright reject a new feature or revision simply because I didn't want to fix the problem or undo work I've done — I've learned to see every bit of feedback as an opportunity to enhance features and bring things closer to the customer's expectation — a valuable insight in building great products. In delivering, I'm not always perfect (I've learned to be imperfect) and often rethink my approach, but to me this represents growth and persistence. It's about striving to deliver the best results and meeting expectations. Sometimes we have answers right away, but I find my trust goes further when I thoroughly think through the process, even if it means rethinking within reason to ensure we're meeting every expectation above and beyond. This isn't about inefficiency or indecisiveness; it's about delivering the best possible results. So, what's something you've learned on your journey in dev leadership?

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"Never assume - it makes an ass of u and me". Except when estimating of course. "How long will it take?" has got to be the most annoying question anyone in software development can be asked. Totally get why. There are always tons of variables, especially at the beginning. If someone wants solid timelines, they might not really get how software dev works. But if you can't throw out an estimate with some clear hypotheses in place, you might not get how business works either. Trite though it is, "time is money" and "money doesn't grow on trees". So yeah, it's fair to estimate, but make sure you’ve got those assumptions clear. Assumptions are a big deal in any plan. Ignoring them is why plans fall apart. Look after your assumptions, or you might end up feeling like a bit of a donkey🐴

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Building your own quality commenting experience from scratch is painstaking and can take a ton of time away from your dev team. Time that could be better used building on your product's core competency... BUT Luckily there is Velt SDK! At Velt (YC) we have spent years refining the best commenting experiences, so that you don't have to. All you need to do is add a few lines of code to integrate our SDK's full stack components!

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When the CEO pitches a terrible new feature... ** AVALANCHE ** ❄️😂 Every PMM knows THIS feeling lol: CEO: "Let's add THIS to the roadmap!" PMM: "What problem does it solve?" CEO: "It's innovative!" PMM: "But who asked for it?" CEO: "Trust me, they'll love it." PMM: ** Internal screaming ** 🫠 So. What should you do PMMs? My 4 top reccos for you 👇 1. Challenge with customer evidence "Here's what we learned from our last 3 customer interviews..." 2. Reset with strategy "How does this align with our Q1 focus on [strategic goal]?" 3. Propose an experiment "Let's test this with 5 customers before we commit resources" 4. Show the opportunity cost "Here's what we'd have to remove from the roadmap to fit this" -- 👋 P.S. Have you felt this before PMMs? What else would you add? P.P.S. Don't worry, I'm owning this as a CEO who has definitely pitched some questionable features in my time ;)

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Q: "How do I know if my team is delivering secure software? I’m a non-technical founder without the budget to hire consultants." A: Well, you can’t know for sure. If you don’t know what’s good, you can’t know what’s bad either. But you’re not helpless. It’s quite safe to assume that your average general-purpose developer will deliver similar quality across the board. A sloppy developer will be sloppy regardless of what they do. It’s not likely their approach to security will be spot on, but it’s only the quality of the frontend that’s terrible. So if you’re not sure about security, take a look at other, more relatable parts of their work and do the guesswork. It’s unlikely you’ll be very far off. Talent is only one piece of the puzzle. The other is character. The character and job habits of people working for you are a good proxy for overall quality. I had this guy who wasn’t really good at certain development concepts, and his code reflected this struggle. On the other hand, he always delivered properly tested, stable, solid work, and on time. His character didn’t let him send off stuff he wasn’t happy with. As a non-technical founder working with tech teams, you’re always in a situation of information asymmetry. Some dudes are working for you and telling you stuff you have no idea about, and you have no choice but to trust them. You can’t bridge that gap with knowledge - at least not quickly. But what you can do is look at the problem holistically, listen to your gut feeling, and go with it.

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I've seen a lot of bugs. (No, not another cicada post). Software here. Egregious, immediately noticeable bugs. The opposite - those that require 6 concurrent conditions and 6 hairs from your nextdoor neighbor and it still only triggers once a month. (Okay, 7 conditions, 6 hairs...don't split those hairs). A continuum of buggage. Those complicated ones, sans the hyperbole - those are your Zero day issues. Regression testing doesn't find them. A super wily code-reviewing look-at-it-all software QA professional (I know the best one)...might...but probably not. How do we even engineer testing all of the complicated conditions? The interrelationships at runtime? I don't see a lot of talk about "how could we have caught this?" in public for disclosed issues. Most of the fixes for Zero days (those security holes best known because they're patched with updates to software like Google Chrome browser, Apple's ioS, Microsoft Windows) are downplayed. You get "Hey, user, look at these new features you're getting, and in whispered voice, "and security updates." Not familiar with the term? Zero day means a security issue without a patch. When the patch arrives, there's a remedy for the problem. Users often don't APPLY the remedy until much later...its own problem...prolonging the risk of the Zero day issue. Back to my kinda silly example. That's a wicked hard problem to test for. A bunch of concurrent situations that then trigger the problem. But, when the problem's a known issue, it's not hard to re-trigger. And therefore exploit. So what do we do? Other than fixing/patching, and communicating? What else is there to add to this conversation? Sunday thoughts. Sunday thoughts.

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Question for engineering leaders (managers, directors, VP's, etc): I'm curious about the current landscape of developer productivity analysis + management tools - things like LinearB and Jellyfish. Which tool, if any, are you using? Any opinions/pros/cons on the tool you're using (or the entire domain overall)?

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Google’s product growth strategy appears to be flawed: 1. Incessant YT premium sign up ads on YouTube 2. Google Workspace sign up flow doesn’t offer any change in the plan at the checkout. 3. No engagement messages on Waymo service 4. Maps almost doesn’t have any competition and yet I have billboard ads. Engineering driven org needs few business thinker also.

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Taken from TLDR - full article attached. "To automate entire job functions" it says. Talking about making your job easier? You won't have to do anything! 🤖 In two months they have generated 700k in ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue, so subscriptions. Artisan, a fast-growing startup founded in 2023, is revolutionizing the future of work by developing AI employees, called Artisans, to automate entire job functions, starting with sales. After initially struggling with a self-serve model, it transitioned to a sales-led approach, resulting in significant growth. Artisan is focused on building an efficient inbound lead generation system and aims to create the best outbound AI SDR on the market. It plans to expand into other areas like marketing and customer success. https://lnkd.in/eUnT972j

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Most efficient dept status update presentation I’ve ever seen. Being a leader is easy, right Adam Lovill? 😂 Ok there was actually a lot more context and detail beyond this brilliant slide, but this deck is worth borrowing when things are going well at your company. Might save you 11 seconds of building it yourself. 😜

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Ditch the Commute! 15 SaaS Companies Crushing Remote Work in 2024: The future of work is flexible, and these top SaaS companies are leading the charge with awesome remote-first cultures: 1.) Zapier (automation platform) 2.) GitLab (version control) 3.) Cloudbees (software delivery management) 4.) Automattic 5.) Doist (task management) 6.) HubSpot (CRM platform) 7.) SurveyMonkey (online survey tool) 8.) Slack (communication platform) 9.) Zoom (video conferencing platform) 10.) Dropbox (cloud storage) 11.) Mailchimp (email marketing platform) 12.) Stripe (payment processing platform) 13.) Canva (graphic design platform) 14.) Airtable (collaborative work management platform) 15.) ClickUp (project management platform) Considering a remote role? Research the company culture and benefits to ensure it aligns with your needs. Look for strong communication practices and support systems for remote teams. **Do you work for a remote-first SaaS company you love? Share it in the comments! #remotework #saas #careerdevelopment #hiring #recruiting #flexibility

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As a tech CEO, just don't do this: 1 - Pure technical content Most techies default to writing deep technical posts.  I did too.  But the harsh truth?  Your business buyers don't care about your elegant code or architecture.  They care about business outcomes.  Technical content alone = engineering blog with zero sales impact. 2 - Copying thought leaders. Wasted months trying to sound like the big names.  Every second post was "10 leadership lessons" or "What I learned scaling to $100M."  Stop.  Your unique technical + business perspective is your advantage.  Cookie-cutter content never converts. 3 - SEO optimization first. Many think: I'll write keyword-stuffed posts and traffic will flow.  Wrong.  Build thought leadership with original insights first.  SEO comes after you have a voice worth amplifying.  Otherwise, you're lost in a sea of mediocre content. 4 - Guest posting everywhere. If my own post gets 10k views, I get 300 qualified leads.  If I guest post for 100k audience, maybe 15 good leads.  Did dozens of tests.  Big platforms often have diluted, general audiences.  Better to own your niche. 5 - Random platform experiments. Tried LinkedIn, Medium, Substack without strategy.  Burned time and effort.  Focus where your buyers are.  For B2B tech, LinkedIn + your own blog is usually enough.  Master one channel before adding more. 6 - Speaking at every tech conference. 99% of tech conference talks are "How we built X with Y technology."  Wrong audience.  Target business conferences where buyers go.  Your technical credibility is the differentiator, but speak their language. 7 - Outsourcing thought leadership. Never seen authentic thought leadership from ghostwriters.  Not once.  They can help polish, but core insights must come from you.  Outsource distribution, editing, polishing, not thinking. 8 - Corporate content calendar. There are two content myths: posting daily matters and consistency beats quality. Reality: One deep, original piece monthly > daily shallow posts.  Quality insights need time to develop. 9 - Gate all content. Not just ineffective, but kills your reach.  Make 90% free, gate only unique research/frameworks.  Build trust first, leads second. 10 - Brand publishing. Publishing generic company updates and press releases.  Nobody cares.  Share personal lessons, failures, and insights.  People follow people, not company pages. 11 - Hiring junior content team. Not at start.  Only you know your vision and technical insights.  Hit $1M ARR first, then build a team.  Junior writers can't create thought leadership without deep subject expertise. 12 - Complex content operations. Massive editorial calendars, approval chains, brand guidelines.  Keep it lean.  Speed and authenticity > polish.  Complex processes kill authentic voices. Applies to: Technical founders B2B SaaS Pre $10M ARR Product-led growth

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I spoke with developers recently. They were telling me their pain points when it comes to waterfalls and distributions. They underwrote a deal in which they’ll make a profit for a few years, then do construction (which they’ll raise more capital for), and after that, they will refinance and hold for 10-15 years. Their issue is that their returns and IRR for both the GP and LP weren’t adding up. I brought up a few good points for them to start looking into and asked them how they would solve these issues. Was their model created for construction and to handle multiple capital injections? What happens when you have different investors contributing at different times? When is capital being returned? All of these issues are common occurrences and need complex solutions to resolve. Everyone wants a simple waterfall, but every case is unique. How do you answer these questions when you are underwriting? If you need help structuring and organizing these types of distributions, reach out and let’s chat. --- If you found value in this post, please like and comment. Follow for more content! If you want to receive my newsletter, direct message me! Any distribution or waterfall questions? Reach out! Need help setting up or calculating a waterfall? Reach out.

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