Ben Merton

@iamliamsheridan ICP

your icp is probably too broad "b2b saas companies" is not an icp "tech companies with 50+ employees" is not an icp real icps are specific enough that you can name 10 companies that fit perfectly we use a 6-layer icp framework: → firmographics (the basics) → technographics (tools they use) → behavioral signals (what theyre doing) → negative filters (who to avoid) → buying committee map (who to contact) → trigger events (when to reach out) built out the complete worksheet like + comment 'ICP' and i'll DM you. (must be following)

@jjen_abel A $30k deal with a $5k expansion opportunity in 5 years vs a $100k deal with $250k expansion opportunity in 1 year. 😂

important reminder in sales: the time and effort it takes to close a $30K deal is almost at parity for a $100K+ deal

Quick reminder @jasonlk

Lemkin Score: the number of times per month at SaaS startup that an uncertainty or dispute is resolved by someone invoking Jason Lemkin. @jasonlk @HarryStebbings @saastr @LakshmanThatai

@imintomoms @CoenHees Been playing with @attio for a couple of months. Still lots of clicking and STILL can’t get anywhere close to a Salesforce dashboard on any CRM for some reason. Drives me insane.

@CoenHees Samesies. It feels like it’s made for people who really like DIY

We just cancelled our 150K ARR contract with HubSpot HubSpot is officially pre-AI

With @jasonlk @saastr London. Trying to explain to my 12 year old Liverpool supporter son that this is the SaaS equivalent of meeting Arne Slot (I had to look up the reference).

@jasonlk See you on Monday @jasonlk

Beautiful evening in LDN

@jasonlk I would add that one thing I would really like to be able to do is ask it questions based on the context it has and its responses. It already adds a tonne of value but it’s hard to fine tune after a point.

@bmerton That's ok. I think it gives accurate scores and strong advice to those with below an A- But in the end it is just advice based on all our speakers and content. It's just a challenge to think on.

Just out of a board meeting Convo? How to go from $1m to $20m ARR in 12 months Everyone should be having that conversation today And building that and nothing else

@jasonlk Honestly, it’s great. Between this and the valuation tool, my weekend is all set.

being a founder right now feels like standing in the savannah mid apocalypse… there is a blazing fire torching every dead structure around you, & ai pouring down like infinite rain, making the soil more fertile than it’s ever been. chaos + rebirth. best time in history to build.

Gosh if I’d only known this at the beginning, how much time we’d have saved…

@lukesophinos Checks are a total pain for sure. At >$20k ACVs, not everyone wants/can use a credit card/stripe. I just paid SVB a $15k collateral to allow us to process up to $100k ACH debits…now I am trying to force ACH/CC at order booking. Not ideal at all.

You'd be shocked to know that in 40%< of industries b2b transactions largely happen via check. Want a great wedge product idea? Check Cashing that integrates not just with the bank but with the industry management systems. Nail that then expand into eating the back-office.

@realEstateTrent Move to India.

Been chatting with my wife about an issue I want to solve, but am a bit stumped -- so thought I would ask the question here, and maybe get some ideas: We both work full-time, and have two young kids at home. Our nanny leaves at 5pm, and then I get home a bit after that. We play with the kids for about an hour (while my wife makes them dinner), have dinner, and then we each give one of them a bath, and help put them to bed. By then it's around 7pm, we're both completely exhausted. We would like nothing more than to enjoy some downtime the rest of the night after a long day, but the work is just beginning. The kitchen and dining areas are now a mess from dinner, the dishes need to be done, and food needs to be prepared for the kids for the next day. By the time all of it is done, it's after 9pm, we are beyond exhausted, and the day is essentially over. We have a cleaner that comes to the house twice a week, but of course wraps up well before 6pm. What do other people do to solve this issue? How do you win back your free time after the kids go do bed, without leaving a mess overnight and ensuring they have food ready for the next day?

@jasonlk I was there last week with some automotive and industrial automation customers on both sides of the border. Curiously, it seemed worse in Detroit than in Windsor: empty shop floors, layoffs etc.

Off to Canada and crossing the border multiple times later this week (Detroit <-> Windsor and back and forth) Wonder what it will be like in the current environment

Robots can’t even unload a dishwasher, let alone handle the bespoke/ETO chaos in manufacturing and life sciences. U.S. manufacturing’s 10.2% of GDP, with over 50% tied to human spatial cognition—precision machining, assembly, prototyping, troubleshooting, and tooling stay human for a long, long time. Even where robots excel, humans oversee, adapt, and fix flaws. Robotics hype-pushers haven’t logged enough real shop floor time. @theallinpod

@HarryStebbings How much more or less is the same thing true for founders?

From interviewing 2,800 investors: The greatest have the ability to be comfortable being lonely in their beliefs. To remain convicted when the market and their peers tell them they are wrong. As the Collisons have said: Pessimists are right and optimists make money. 🚀

Over the past few days, I’ve been in meetings with automotive industry folks in Canada and Detroit. The supply chain is a mess—raw materials and components crisscross the border multiple times before becoming finished products, getting slapped with ??% tariffs at each step. Shop floors are eerily empty. Layoffs have already started. No one can make decisions—everything’s up in the air. OEMs are telling suppliers to absorb the tariff costs, which they’ll inevitably try to enforce. This is a recipe for widespread bankruptcies and massive supply chain chaos on both sides of the border. Everyone I’ve talked to says it’s looking bleaker than 2008. @autonews @cvma_ca @GM @Ford

The impending death of SaaS caused by AI reminds me of how all consumer manufacturing died out because of 3D printers

@ChapmanLizzie Nothing about unnecessary marathon running there, I note @ChapmanLizzie

And eat 🧀

@asmartbear Yesterday my engineering head showed me and my co-founder jam.dev. I think we both scrambled to find the company card without even seeing exactly how it worked. The pain it solves is so real, and so sharply felt.

Think of the last time you visited a website and was really, genuinely excited to buy it. Not just try it, but buy it. Like, as you’re trying it you’re thinking, “𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 be good, I want this one to be good. Take my money.” Why did you feel that way? Go back to that website. What was the headline like? The photos? The layout? Did they talk about features or benefits, and in what order? What about the language connected with you? The way pricing was displayed? This is the way.