Daylen Stoutin

@KLM - lost 3 bags to a tight connection in AMS yesterday and now the website to submit a baggage claim (klm.com/missing-baggag…) says it can't be submitted online and an automatic answer on the customer contact center line is says its closed (1-800-618-0104) 🤨. What gives?

@fortworthchris @baldridgecpa @FoundersPodcast Bible Project is this on steroids. The videos are great, but the podcast is incredible.

@baldridgecpa @FoundersPodcast I will help fund whoever wants to do this and make it a full time job.

Guaranteed successful podcast @FoundersPodcast but for the Bible Go through the Bible with the rigor and enthusiasm that David studies founder biographies 2 years later start over and do it again 2 more years and you have a top 10 podcast

@dickiebush Alternative take. This is legitimately useful rather than entertaining. The twitter lurkers bookmarked it to use it later.

Extremely interesting engagement data on this thread. • 19.7k likes • 32.3k bookmarks 12.6k people silently bookmarked it without wanting to show others they're interested in learning more about ChatGPT. Fascinating. The stigma around using AI will not last much longer.

Tough, but hopefully helpful customer feedback for @elonmusk and the @Twitter team: I've been an active participant for 14 years. I love Twitter. It's where I met most of my friends outside my hometown, including some of my best friends. It has been my go-to place for news, commentary, and analysis. It has been the first and best place to test and try and experiment with new ideas. I've loved the discourse and feedback. It's where I built my career. It's the only way a small group of us could have risen out of the Midwestern primordial ooze to raise $350M in outside capital, recruit top-notch talent, and find opportunity. Recently, the value of Twitter has degraded. But, before I give critical feedback, I want to applaud some of the changes. 1) Blue Checks -- While a rocky rollout, good move. Glad there's now verification beyond what felt like an invisible velvet rope for the cool kids club. 2) Paid Membership -- Happy to see less ads and for added tools. I like a Twitter freed up to make users customers and not the product. Looking forward to seeing what more comes out. 3) Public Metrics -- Adding views and bookmarks is helpful in certain contexts to show engagement. 4) Added Characters -- I was skeptical, but it's growing on me, as evidenced by me using this feature to write this. I like that only the first 240 characters are shown. 5) Top Articles -- Great work! I've subscribed to a number of third-party services that did this through the years and find it valuable. Now for my concerns: 1) Algorithm -- The "For You" tab has become a dumpster fire of clickbait, lists, outrage, and seemingly random off-topic nonsense. It's VERY different than it has been and seemingly becoming worse by the day. A primary concern is the incentive it provides. Anything earnest, thoughtful, charitable, or that links to something long-form gets shown to few people. Hacks, quick tips, dunks, and controversy gets spread far-and-wide. You get what you reward and while it might bump engagement for a period of time, if I'm any indicator, I find myself less-and-less excited about both opening up Twitter or posting. I'm not naive that this is a problem for every social platform, but it feels like the dial is turned WAY up in the wrong direction. Could you go back to a more neutral stance on the algorithm and try to work to surface the hard work people put into more nuanced and long-form, off-site content? 2) Non-followed Content -- A significant amount of tweets are from people I don't follow. There's a reason I don't follow them. I understand that I could switch over to the following tab, but what I really want is both a feed of chronological people I follow and a tab for the top tweet from people I follow. Could you three-tab the home with the default being top tweets from people I follow, the next tab as a people I follow in chronological order, and you can do whatever you want -- heck make it a circus -- for the third tab? 3) Ads -- I know cash flow is tight and perhaps this is a tradeoff you have to make, but dang are there a lot of ads and I'm a paying member. Before becoming paid the product became so flooded with ads that it was almost unusable. Now, it's still significantly impacting the experience. Plus, most of the ads are irrelevant to me. Is there a way to have paid members pooled into a separate group that is shown very few ads, but are more highly targeted? My guess is that advertisers would pay up for that inventory and it would improve customer (paid tier) retention. Could you add a no-ads tier? I'd happily pay more for that. Hope this is helpful. It's earnest, which unfortunately means it probably won't get seen by many. But, I love Twitter and figured I'd try to give some feedback. Cheers, Brent

@dickiebush Bing

What's the best new app you've started using so far in 2023?

@markbrooks One more. Problem finding the time to train the new person. Easier to spend 5 minutes doing it than 1 hour teaching it.

We resist letting go of tasks / projects / processes for 4 reasons: Fear of obsolescence: "What happens to my job?" Fear of deterioration: "What if someone else messes it up?" Compulsion for control: extreme of this is OCD Ego: "No one else can do this better than I can."

This whole thread. Read this whole thread if you’re a leader of any kind.

@RoryTyer I might.

Would you pay for this service? Executive communication coaching - 1-2 days shadowing you - detailed report (filler words, air time, % asking vs telling, perceived confidence, etc) - series of Zoom or phone coaching convos w/ action steps - follow up shadowing at 6 months

@markbrooks So good.

Everything is paid for with either time or money. Money can be replenished. Time cannot. Choose wisely.

@nathanbarry Describe a day of work where, at the end, you’re energized rather than depleted. Follow up. Describe the reverse.

What is your favorite interview question to ask when hiring?

@cnickens Good one, Clay. Can you think of a reason this is true beyond deal size? Rolling up related businesses allows you to do smaller deals. Buying stand-alone businesses drives up the minimum viable deal which puts a lot out of reach for self-funding.

@DaylenStoutin Good list! Addition: platform+bolt ons feels different than series of ~same-size acquisitions. Former being more friendly to self-funded. This exists on a gradient as to others on the list.

Alright, HoldCo/Roll up twitter. How do you decide if you should raise a fund or use profits from business #1 for acquisitions and growth? @girdley and @RegZeller - looking strong opinions. Here’s what I can think of:

@lawyer4SMBs @ConnorAbene I’m amazed at how evenly distributed these results are.

Can you help out newer searchers with a budgeting question? If you closed on a SMB acquisition in the past year in the $1-4M price range, what was your total budget for diligence and other pre-close expenses?

What’s missing from this list? Trying to set a course for the future. I’m not sure which is right for me.

5) Network Raising money puts you in front of successful people. People to challenge you, mentor you, expose you to new ideas. Advantage outside money.

@ConnorAbene Fly fishing. Requires full attention and seclusion. Very few things force that combo.

What’s your favorite hobby outside of work, independent of family? I want pure hobbies. What comes to mind? Let me know.