Connor Gross

@RomanEcom hard not to love

I love this city.

@colindougherty @seanmcginnis 👋🏼 placed growth leaders at ARMRA, RAW Nutrition, Starface & dozens of other brands. If you need help, happy to find you someone great.

Have a friend looking to hire Head of Growth for their peptide brand DTC brand, on Shopify They are on an absolute CRUSHER right now Shoot me a DM or share with a friend if interested

@ryanbeltran 👊 lets go

A new era, we’re live 🇺🇸

I'm so happy that I never bought real estate with investor capital. From 2021-2025 I bought 9 buildings. Every one with our own capital. And we didn't have a $10M+ fund, so I was looking for home run deals. Not boring 15% returns, only 50%+ IRR deals. We've had a lot that have done really well. But 2 of the 9 deals that we did, significantly underperformed proforma (1 the Capex went way over, the other we doubled revenue, but 4 new facilities popped up in a 10 minute radius so leasing slowed). After reviewing the financials today, we'll probably still make around 10%+ IRR on both deals. If we were underwriting for 15% IRR from day 1 because we were looking to deploy investor funds, I could see a world where we would be very underwater & stressed right now.

@TaylorHoliday @Seanfrank @iamshackelford @Jaredorkin @stevenborrelli @SJohnson_89 so good 🤣

More isn't always better. Better is better. Forecast more accurately, grow contribution more consistently all while saving money with the Prophit Engine from CTC. Big love to the boys: @Seanfrank @iamshackelford @Jaredorkin @stevenborrelli @steviej @SJohnson_89 for the acting brilliance. This one is a love letter to the DTC x community.

@HelgaMorsan sure but then u need to deal w interns

@c_gro Or you can take a student on an internship to test how curious she is

Imagine hiring a "Head of Internet" in 2001? Hiring a full time AI employee is silly. You should be hiring people who are AI-curious and like to experiment. And if you don't know what's possible, hire a part time consultant (that industry is exploding today)

@Trey_Harnden that's because a new marketing channel opened. Once the ad platform really opens up on LLMS this either becomes Head of Paid LLM or SEO/SEM marketers capture this under their job scopes

@c_gro Nuance. Hire domain specific, workflow experts that are building the next version with AI. You didn’t hire a head of internet. But you surely hired a “director of e biz” (pre ecom title) or “director of interactive media” (digital marketing)

@willnitze 1,000%

Buying for such a big number and then 5-6X’ing in 3 years is outrageously good execution.

@iamshackelford this is excellent

19 rules I follow right now that protect my energy, my time, and sanity: 1. Up before 5. On the computer before 6. 2. Workout by 5:30 AM. Every day. No exceptions since Hyrox locked me in. 3. Peptides, saunas, ice baths. I inject myself in the stomach every morning and chase it with an energy drink. (And always happy to talk about any of this for anyone interested) 4. Water and electrolytes immediately upon waking. Before anything else hits my system. 5. Dopamine seeking habits only after noon. No social media, no scrolling, no entertainment before 12pm. 6. Zero TV. I have TVs in my house for no reason other than covering wall space. 7. Drive to the gym = market content, podcasts, research. Music is saved for the drive home when everything's done. 8. No name brand clothing. I don't care what I'm wearing and I don't want anyone else to either. 9. Phone OFF or in the other room during time with Kingsley. Can't be half present. Whole commitment to whatever's in front of me at that moment. 10. 7:00 PM work shutdown. Most days. If I'm still going after 7, something in the day went wrong. 11. Wednesdays completely open. No calls, no meetings. Dedicated to getting ahead for the rest of the week. 12. Monday and Tuesday I prep for Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday I prep for Thursday and Friday. Always working a day ahead. 13. Selection of project over selection of role. I'd rather pick the right thing to build than the right title to hold. 14. I train for competitions now. Hyrox Anaheim is next. Having something physical to train for & compete in keeps everything else in check. 15. If someone on my team doesn't communicate proactively when something isn't done, that's inexcusable. Silence is the fastest way to lose trust with me. 16. Integration over balance. I don't try to balance work and family. I draw hard lines so both get 100% when it's their turn. 17. When traveling, mornings and afternoons are full family time. Evenings are work blocks. Every call happens, every decision gets made. Nothing falls apart. 18. Find something worth working toward that makes you think "fuck it, I'll wake up earlier." If your goal doesn't do that, it's not big enough. 19. When nothing else works, work works. My dad gave me that. It's how the Shackelfords operate.

@seanjagermann @eatboldbar then yes

@c_gro @eatboldbar No it’s under 300

Would you also be interested in a non-caffeinated @eatboldbar version? 20g Protein Honey Sweetened No artificial sweeteners No seed oils No fake fats No fiber syrups No glycerine Essentially just the cleanest protein bar on the market.

@hazan0608 cool, dm'd!

@c_gro Next to mcarren park!

I've secured this warehouse in Williamsburg. Setting it up as a startup office / co-working space. Who wants to join?

In a world of AI slop, this quote hits 10x harder

@oliverbrocato 👊

We raised $64M for this moment: Introducing Bustem. Bustem scans the internet to find and eliminate 100% of counterfeits RT + comment “SCAN” and I’ll send you a list of every scammer targeting your brand 🫵

This is the best 1-2 punch in beverage today.

@soundslikecanoe Really cool. Excited to see how it goes. Still insanely impressive that you can replace all of these tools in basically 2 months

lol @ "they automatically know how to use your software" people have strong feelings about Notion, I've found. Usually not good ones to my demise The absolute top priority is improving and streamlining all of our internal work and knowledge management Cost and time savings will be a big part of that My bet is that onboarding to this is actually way easier than Notion / Google Docs because everything is as clear as possible how to use it whereas in Notion there's like a million features that we don't use and a bunch of ways people can use it "wrong" in our workflows There's a LOT less ways that this app can be used "wrong" if that makes sense

Finally got to a point where we using our new vibe coded OS for all internal processes / client work. We are ditching: Notion Frame Google Docs (parts of) Slack Claude Skills Zapier Will soon be ditching: Forecasting spreadsheets Meta reporting apps Only took two straight months of vibe coding and terrible sleep

Help me understand But a local newsletter business has got to be the worst business model? All of the negatives of a TAM restricted local market With the global competition of running an internet business. The only upside I see is being well-known in your town. Which is fair. But not a good business.

This blew up. I work with hundreds of local newsletter founders. The cool thing about this space is that you can run whatever playbook you want. Want to send 1x a week and prioritize community and impact. Want to send 7x a week and just sling ads. Maybe you want to have fun, make a ton of friends and build a local holding company. All options. Local newsletters are a choose your own adventure. My advice: Write something you’d be thrilled to receive. Build toward a clear goal and stay the course. Support your community. Push the boundaries of what a traditional local newsletter can be. For the serious folks, join us in The Newsletter Club. 🔗 bio