A real room signals authority
A talk to real founders proves expertise without a single claim. No one has to take Peter's word for it.
Case study · Peter Ahn
We studied the hit. Then we made another one on purpose.
The starting point
A sales coach who didn't want to be templated.
Peter is a Chief Customer Officer and tech sales coach. He wins work through trust, and his inbox fills up every week with agencies promising to make him go viral.
He wanted the opposite. In his words, it's "about really elevating the authentic nature of my story." He wasn't looking to template his growth or hack the algorithm.
He almost never answers cold email. He answered ours because it was obvious we'd been studying him: his values, his way of selling, and his passion for helping Asian-owned businesses. It wasn't a pitch.
How we worked
One story, carried across every platform.
- Week one
Meet the team
Before any content, every team member sent Peter a short video introducing themselves. "It felt like I really had a team behind me building my brand."
- 2023
LinkedIn first
We started where his buyers already were. He grew from about 5,000 to about 12,000 followers with no algorithm tricks.
- Then
A short Instagram test
We tried it, learned from it, and kept his story the same. As Peter puts it, the pillars of his brand stay intact no matter which platform he's on.
- Now
YouTube at the center
Long-form talks and interviews on YouTube, cut into shorts for LinkedIn. This is where trust gets built.
Step 1 · The hit
A 20-minute talk to a room of founders.
Peter gave a talk to a small group of founders at a VC firm. Minimal editing, 720p or low 1080p. Nothing about it looked like a viral video.
We packaged it honestly. The title says what's inside. The thumbnail shows Peter talking to a small group, with three words: "Sell like a founder." We didn't name-drop the firm.
13,000+
views, against his usual 240 to 520
935
hours of watch time
354
subscribers gained, still growing weekly
4.6%
click-through on 122,457 impressions
| Metric | This video | His typical video |
|---|---|---|
| Views | 13,000+ | 240 to 520 |
| Engaged views | 8,564 | 240 to 500 |
| Watch time | 935 hours | 10 to 40 hours |
| Subscribers gained | 354 | n/a |
Step 2 · Why it worked
The substance did the work, not the polish.
Curious, but honest
"Mentality hacks" and "Sell like a founder" make people curious without promising money or using clickbait.
It was already on his calendar
He was giving the talk anyway. The best content is often something you're already doing.
It came from showing up
One video beat his usual by about 25x, but only because the channel kept publishing month after month.
Then we looked at the data. His audience loves binge-watching his sales philosophy and way of thinking, not just one-off tips.
Step 3 · Repeat it on purpose
One outlier could be luck. Two is a method.
We made a new video in the same format, built around the same kind of thinking: “37 minutes of tech sales advice.” It became an outlier too.
3,160
views, 2,900 more than his usual
243
hours of watch time
+83
new subscribers
What it changed
What it changed
"It makes it feel like these people know you before they even speak to you. That's continued to compound over the last few years and has been really critical to my business."
- 01Prospects binge-watch his videos before a call and open with something he said a year and a half earlier.
- 02Former Google colleagues from 2008 reached out after watching his latest videos.
- 03Even in his full-time executive role, buyers research him first. His videos explain how he sells before he's in the room.
- 049 out of 10 people ask him who makes his videos.
Your best talk might already be on your calendar.
Book a call and we'll look at what you're already doing, and what it could become.