John L. Ghiorso (@johnlghiorso) 's Twitter Profile
John L. Ghiorso

@johnlghiorso

Building a $100M agency venture studio. Founded Orca Pacific (exited). Obsessed with B2B marketing.

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linkhttp://influent.co calendar_today27-09-2018 23:29:33

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My “for you” page feels MUCH better calibrated to my interests lately. Did I miss something or is it just figuring out my interests?

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Great communicators play hits. So why shouldn't you? As listeners, we like hearing good ideas over and over because they resonate with us. We appreciate the nuanced updates and different perspectives. Our minds latch on to reinforcement and clarity. If you have a

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What got your agency to seven-figures won't get it to eight. Referrals, word of mouth, and partnerships are great, but they don't scale. And growth that doesn't scale is a ticking time bomb. Early success can be deceptive. Keep doing the same thing, you'll add the same

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In business, good news travels fast, and bad news travels slow. And if left unchecked, this dynamic will cause stagnation and even outright failure. Companies can only grow if there's something to improve upon, but it's human nature to avoid bad news. And to make matters

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Thought leaders: play the hits. You need to repeat an idea seven times for it to sink in. You need to repeat an... (just kidding!) But seriously, here's why: 1. Your reach is smaller than you think. On LI, or any social platform, only a fraction of your active followers are

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Rapid growth in an agency can mask an impending crisis: a sudden and unexpected plateau. Why it happens and how to avoid it: The issue lies in fixed revenue growth versus percentage-based churn. Consider a $4M agency adding $2M in new business annually—a 50% growth rate that

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Running an agency? Embrace the suck. When I was running mine, sleepless nights and visions of financial ruin were common. But it wasn't burnout. It was more like riding a rollercoaster. When I embraced that paradigm things started to feel more sustainable. Here's my take

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Agencies are sitting on BILLIONS in opportunity. Take Amazon Advertising, for example: Amazon is doing roughly $50B in ad sales. If agencies capture 5% of that, it represents a multi-billion dollar TAM. So why aren't they going after it in the way that SaaS does? First, most

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“Hire adults, and treat them like adults.” That was my philosophy when running a 100 person remote company. It helped us beat 95% of our competition, who all had 9-5 office cultures. This was before Covid, and before remote work became cool, and then very uncool. In spite

“Hire adults, and treat them like adults.”

That was my philosophy when running a 100 person remote company. 

It helped us beat 95% of our competition, who all had 9-5 office cultures. 

This was before Covid, and before remote work became cool, and then very uncool. 

In spite
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I’m not a public guy. I don’t post on Facebook or Instagram, and I’m not naturally comfortable being out in the spotlight. So, believe me, when you see me active on LinkedIn or X, it’s not because I enjoy it—it’s because it works. Back in 2017, I was hesitant about posting

I’m not a public guy. 

I don’t post on Facebook or Instagram, and I’m not naturally comfortable being out in the spotlight. 

So, believe me, when you see me active on LinkedIn or X, it’s not because I enjoy it—it’s because it works.

Back in 2017, I was hesitant about posting
John L. Ghiorso (@johnlghiorso) 's Twitter Profile Photo

As a founder, you have to fight human nature and accelerate the transmission of bad news. People want to make you happy, so they’ll share wins. But they’ll hide the problems. They've been burned when bosses shoot the messenger or blow up emotionally, so they'll stay quiet.

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We’re launching a venture studio to create FIVE agencies in the next two years. Admittedly we’re cheating a bit with agency #1. It's currently called Influent Social and is already serving dozens of happy clients. We’ve folded it into the venture studio as the first agency on

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If companies can't trust their people to work remotely, they've hired the wrong people. Great people will drive great results from anywhere, including their home office. Mediocre people's productivity will disintegrate without constant oversight. Amazon (and others) who've

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LinkedIn is the most underleveraged channel in B2B marketing. Yes, organic reach isn’t what it used to be. But if you’re consistently adding value to your audience, in an authentic and value-additive way, the ROI is unmatched. You’ll get more impressions through LinkedIn

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We're "seed-strapping" our five agencies. I stole this term, but it perfectly describes our financing model. Here's how it works: 1. We inject seed funding to kickstart the agency (typically $100-300K). 2. We hire the founding team and start building tech. 3. We onboard our

We're "seed-strapping" our five agencies. I stole this term, but it perfectly describes our financing model.

Here's how it works:

1. We inject seed funding to kickstart the agency (typically $100-300K).

2. We hire the founding team and start building tech.

3. We onboard our
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Agencies, consultancies, and SaaS are becoming commoditized. Everyone’s offering the same flavors of service, so being “better” with delivery/product isn’t enough. These are low barrier-to-entry businesses, with those barriers getting lower every day. To truly stand out, you

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I started an agency during The Great Recession and barely noticed it was happening. Here's the story in case it helps. Giant caveat: what I’m about to say is not bragging. I was 23 years old and mostly stumbled into this by blind luck. That being said, I think there are

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I'm thrilled to announce the launch of Sohva, the newest agency in the VantaFive portfolio. Led by CEO Navi Singh, Sohva is a full-service TikTok Shop agency. Social commerce is blowing up, and TikTok is leading the charge. Our mission is to ensure our brand partners take full