Originally sent as "turns out it wasn't that hard" to the From operator to owner newsletter.
Last Friday I was on a video call with Greg Isenberg and his business partner, Jordan Mix.
I've followed Greg for years. If you asked me what I wanted one day, I'd have said some version of what he's built: a portfolio of internet companies, sold a few, invested in others, building at the same time, one of the biggest podcasts in the US, a huge audience and community. He's in New York. I'm in Lisbon. Meeting him was never something I thought would happen. It felt like a different category of life than mine.
Here's how it actually happened. He built a tool that I bought. One of the plans came with a single feedback session, limited spots. I signed up the day it opened and thought I'd never get it.
Then it was Friday afternoon and I was on a screen with him, and he was giving real feedback on both of my businesses, Madgrowth and Mazo.
Mid-call I took a screenshot and sent it to my husband. He wrote back: "what the hell, how are you on a call with Greg?!"
Short answer: I chased the opportunity. That's it. Sometimes it really is just about going after the thing you want, and it's easier than people think. Now he comments on my LinkedIn posts. Six months ago I wouldn't have believed it.
The feedback
On Mazo: there's a real business in it, maybe bigger than I think, but I'm running the software and the growth advisory for startups as two separate things when they should be one offer. Bundle them. Build distribution around what the product already generates instead of starting every post from a blank page.
On Madgrowth: too much text, not enough visual, and the only way in is "book a call". That's a big first ask for someone who found me at midnight, scrolling. Give people a smaller step first, something closer to a quick assessment than a calendar invite, so they get to the call already knowing what they'd walk away with. Make the outcome obvious.
One line applied to both: price in USD, not euros.
What I changed
I redid the Madgrowth website that week. Still rough in places, but it finally says what someone gets, instead of listing everything I do. The smaller first step is now the free Builder Diagnostic.
There's a harder change underneath. I'd had a digital course on monetising expertise running on the side for a while. It made about 15k in sales in a few months, and I'm shutting it down. Completion rates across the whole course industry have been dropping, and I don't think that's a coincidence. People don't want fifteen modules to watch on their own anymore. They want to build the actual thing, with something guiding them while they do it.
What replaces it is The Stack: fifteen skills for Claude that walk you through starting an internet business instead of teaching you about starting one. Positioning, offer, pricing, audience, launch plan, using playbooks specific to the business model you choose (consulting, software, services or media). One payment, no subscription.
Now go ship something you're proud of. I'm rooting for you.
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