Google CEO Sundar Pichai says that when it comes to AI, “we are in the earliest stages of a profound shift.”

Pichai explained at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday that AI models are going to get better at reasoning and carrying out actions reliably over the next few years. The upgrades to AI models will have an impact on Google Search, which will “change profoundly” next year, he stated.

“I think we are going to be able to tackle more complex questions than ever before,” Pichai said. “I think you’ll be surprised even early in ’25 the kind of newer things Search can do compared to where it is today.”

Google has nearly 90% of the global search engine market, according to Stat Counter.

^{Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, at DealBook. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images}

Google has already pushed a series of AI-related changes to search this year, including adding AI overview summaries to the top of search results in May. That same month, reports emerged of Google’s AI overviews hallucinating, or telling users to eat rocks and make pizza sauce with glue.

Since its initial rollout, AI overviews have come to rely less on sources like Reddit and more on sites with specialized expertise, like Healthline and Runnersworld, according to a June study from SEO platform SE Ranking.

Related: Google’s AI Overview Has Changed Since Its Debut, and These Websites Have Benefitted the Most

Earlier this week, Google introduced a new AI model that beat the world’s most accurate modeling system in predicting the weather. It even predicted extreme weather, even though it was not trained to do so.

At DealBook, Pichai also said that Google is also gearing up to release its next generation of AI models.

“I just think there’s so much innovation ahead,” he said.

According to Patriot Software, entrepreneurs like yourself often work significantly longer hours than standard employees—anywhere from 50 hours to 80 hours a week depending on their business and its demands. So, when you have the opportunity to step away from their desks, what could you do to prevent burnout while engaging in enriching activities outside of work?

The answer could be as simple as taking a walk outside, or heading to your favorite sports team’s tailgate or a camping trip. Level up their favorite outdoor activities with the Carsule pop-up cabin and its accompanying inflatable Mottress. This duo could make any tailgating party or camping trip more comfortable, and both are now available for only $399.99, normally $508.

The easiest-to-set-up tent

On your next long weekend camping trip, don’t drag along the regular old tent that takes half an hour to set up, the Carsule just pops open from its case. Then, slide in the supporting rods, attach the magnets to your vehicle, and use the guy lines for added stability. This design adapts to a variety of car models—but your vehicle must have a swinging hatchback since it serves as the Carsule’s main structural support.

The Carsule provides over six feet of standing height and plenty of room for friends or family to hang out. Waterproof flooring, UV protective coating, and integrated mosquito netting keep you prepared when the bugs come out or if the weather changes.

An inflatable mattress designed for travel

Pairing the Carsule with the Mottress brings additional comfort. The Mottress isn’t like your ordinary inflatable mattress—its origami-style foldable design with four sections allows for a variety of configurations. Set up a makeshift couch when you’re entertaining, or spread them out flat for a comfy place to nap.

The Mottress is made with breathable fabric, so you can still enjoy your new setup on hot August nights. And, in case you spill a drink or snack, you can easily remove and wash the cover and wipe down the inner foam so it’s ready to go for the next game.

Add the Carsule and Mottress complete car adventure package to any outdoor excursion or tailgate, now $399.99 while supplies last.

Carsule & Mottress: A Complete Car Adventure Package!

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StackSocial prices subject to change.

Nowadays, your website is usually the first impression clients and customers have of your brand. But hiring a developer or managing expensive subscriptions can quickly eat into your budget. MaxiBlocks, a no-code WordPress website builder, changes the game by letting you design professional websites without technical skills or hefty monthly costs. You can get a lifetime subscription on sale for just $59 for a limited time.

WordPress powers more than 43% of all websites globally, making it the most trusted platform for businesses of every size. MaxiBlocks takes full advantage of WordPress’s flexibility with its drag-and-drop builder, giving you the tools to create sleek, responsive sites that look custom-made. Whether you’re launching a new business, showcasing your portfolio, or building an e-commerce store, MaxiBlocks makes it fast and intuitive.

And it’s cost-effective. While competitors like Wix and Squarespace charge at least $16 per month for basic plans, MaxiBlocks offers a no-subscription deal. That means you can save hundreds over time while still enjoying professional results.

With features like ready-made templates, full WordPress compatibility, and an intuitive interface, MaxiBlocks lets you build like a pro — no coding required.

Focus on growing your business while MaxiBlocks takes care of your website with a lifetime subscription to a MaxiBlocks No-Code Webpage Builder Pro Plan for $59.

MaxiBlocks No-Code Webpage Builder: Pro Plan Lifetime Subscription (3 Licenses) – $59

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StackSocial prices subject to change.

This week’s tragic shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York has raised concern about the security of corporate leaders.

CNN says, “UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing shows why companies spend millions to protect their top executives.” A Forbes columnist predicts that “after the shooting… security personnel will be in demand.” And, according to this Wall Street Journal report, his killing “prompted an immediate re-evaluation of longstanding security practices across corporate America,” and “dozens” of security chiefs from large U.S. companies convened together on a call to discuss the situation.

“The environment is explosive right now,” a former Boston police commissioner who now (no surprise) consults with large companies on mitigating security risks told the Journal. “The threats are evolving and getting more violent.”

Okay, let’s calm down, shall we?

Related: Unsolved Murder of UnitedHeathcare Exec Causes Panicked Health Insurance Companies to Take Down Website Leadership Pages

Of course, there’s reason behind this concern. Corporate executives are not only more in the spotlight than ever before, but they are also not too hard to find. They attend public events, shareholder meetings and social functions all over the world. Often, companies make their schedules public or publish press releases noting where they’ll be. Getting hold of their home addresses is a few steps online. Digging into their personal relationships takes minutes, thanks to LinkedIn, X and Facebook.

If you’re a corporate executive, you can easily be targeted by someone who, say, wants to right a wrong or impersonate a social justice warrior for 15 minutes of fame. But this is not a new thing, is it?

Uber’s former CEO, Travis Kalanick, was egged in Taiwan in 2017. Bill Gates was hit with a pie in the face during an overseas visit in 1998. Rubert Murdoch and the CEOs of Qantas Airlines and the now defunct Enron Corporation also got pie-ed. Frankly, lots of business leaders and celebrities have been “involuntarily” pied over the years.

But the murder of a CEO is, obviously, much more serious. Thankfully, these situations have not only been few and far between but almost non-existent.

An advertising executive was murdered in New Jersey in 1994, but that turned out to be the Unabomber’s doing. A Microsoft executive was shot and killed in Florida in 2022, but the culprit turned out to be his ex-wife’s husband. George Tiller, who owned a women’s health clinic in Kansas, was murdered by an anti-abortion extremist at a church service (his clinic was the target of “multiple attacks” previously).

I don’t want to downplay or trivialize the gravity of what happened to Thompson. But I’ve searched Google and various chatbots like Perplexity and ChatGPT for examples of other CEOs who have met the same fate and come up short.

There are currently 55,000 publicly held companies in the world, and the U.S. has more than six million employee-owned businesses alone. These companies are led not only by CEOs and business owners but by teams of senior executives who would all make enticing targets for the attention seeker. And yet, there are very, very few incidents like this. Senior executives seem more at risk of succumbing to a skiing accident or going down in a plane crash than some random person shooting them point blank on a busy New York City street.

Which is why we should all calm down for a minute. The media loves to exploit the worst of our fears and anxieties to get clicks. So they write things like “security will be in demand” and “the environment is explosive.” Posts like these from irresponsible “journalists” certainly do not help either. It’s a great marketing moment for security firms. But should corporations be making knee-jerk decisions to all-of-the-sudden start spending significant sums for security over what seems to be an isolated incident? If your CEO is Mark Zuckerberg, a celebrity, I get it. But for all others? I’m not so sure.

Related: Here’s How Entrepreneurs Can Protect Their Company From Cyberattacks

Why? Because people don’t go around shooting other people. Our systems — while they don’t catch everyone — are pretty good at isolating those with criminal histories or who need watching. Guns can be obtained both legally and illegally, but pulling off a shooting requires patience, skill and planning.

Of course, people in public positions need to be careful in today’s world. CEOs who get political or involved in social issues or support certain controversial causes are increasing their risk of assault from a tiny fraction of lunatics that oppose them. Executives who run firms that are involved in life and death matters, such as healthcare, also need to be careful. All leaders have to be aware of their surroundings. If they receive threats — as Thompson allegedly did — they must take them seriously. Those are the situations where added security measures are needed, be it provided by local police or through private firms.

But as you can see from the numbers, these situations are few and far between. So, no one should be panicking. Corporations don’t need to surround their CEOs with secret service-type agents in sunglasses. Some do, and they pay millions for the privilege. But for the vast majority of corporate executives, they can take heart that we haven’t gotten to that point. And I don’t think we will ever get to that point — at least not in the foreseeable future.

Thompson’s shooting was tragic. But it was a rare event. An anomaly. We should mourn for this man. But, with apologies to the security industry, we shouldn’t be overreacting.

Imagine if your business could deploy a team of virtual agents that not only execute repetitive tasks but also make strategic decisions, learn, collaborate and adapt in real-time to changing conditions — all at a scale that was once unattainable due to limitations in hiring, capitalization or other constraints. This is the power of agentic AI, a transformative technology that automates business processes, enabling organizations to scale operations, decision-making and innovation exponentially.

In recent years, tools like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) have been deployed to automate repetitive, low-value human tasks such as data entry or simple workflows. While incredibly functional, bottlenecks occur when processes become too complex or require human judgment. These systems lack the flexibility to adapt to dynamic business environments or complex, strategic decision-making processes. Agentic AI changes that. It introduces systems that automate tasks, make informed decisions, and continuously learn and collaborate with humans and other agents to scale and improve outcomes far beyond what was previously possible.

Related: AI for the Underdog — Here’s How Small Businesses Can Thrive With Artificial Intelligence

From thought to exponential action

Agentic AI is differentiated by its ability to move beyond simple, prompt-based AI toward executing complex, multistep workflows at scale. Agentic systems are powered by large language models (LLMs). These can act autonomously across varying digital ecosystems, interact with tools and work seamlessly with other agents. This capability shift enables AI systems to perform strategic tasks at a level that scales with growing operational demands, adapting to unforeseen challenges and managing variability systematically.

Instead of relying solely on human inputs, agentic AI systems can plan, execute and iteratively improve upon tasks — scaling business processes exponentially — and freeing up human resources for higher-order strategic thinking and innovation.

In my industry, when you think of AI’s impact on software development, your mind gravitates towards a scenario where the engineers writing code get automated away by AI bots doing the work. Yet, software development involves more than coding. Most of the problems that emerge in this process stem from either a poor set of inputs (requirements and designs) or poor engineering of the solution (organizing software into logical, reusable and scalable components).

Instead, envision an agentic software development team, several AI agents collaborating to handle the entire software development lifecycle, that streamlines product design and planning, architecture, engineering, coding, testing and deployment across multiple projects simultaneously and allows human teams to focus on the creative and commercial aspects of these projects.

AI in discovery

Weeks of intensive discovery sessions are compressed into two or three reviews of the AI’s results. The AI can produce 90% of the product’s functional exploration. It defines all requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria and more, saving weeks of human labor — often identifying elements that might otherwise be overlooked.

AI in design, architecture and planning

An AI product designer can process the application’s requirements to generate a navigation system and user interface. An AI technical architect creates a detailed architecture, identifying the technology stack and crafting data and application architectures, facilitating the subsequent development steps. And, an AI project manager provides initial timelines and cost estimates — and interacts free-form to adjust efforts based on constraints.

AI in coding

All information captured and generated by the AI becomes an operating system for client and delivery-focused processes. This extensive context feeds the AI coding agent’s generation technology, increasing the specificity and accuracy of software development. This context is equally crucial for human developers. It reduces reliance on their imagination and minimizes project delays and budget overruns caused by lapses in meeting business requirements.

AI in code review

AI pair programmers used for real-time code review ensure that code quality is consistently high and error-free by identifying potential issues early and decreasing rework.

Related: 5 Practical Ways Entrepreneurs Can Add AI to Their Toolkit Today

AI in deployment

AI DevOps agents optimize cloud resources and infrastructure based on real-time utilization demand, enabling more flexible, scalable and cost-efficient operations.

Scaling beyond current limits

Whether developing complex software, managing global supply chains or processing thousands of loans, agentic AI enables your business to operate at a scale that would otherwise require significant increases in manpower and resources.

Are you looking to integrate agentic AI into your operations?

1. Identify strategic processes to scale: Focus on high-value tasks that, if scaled, would bring significant gains to your business. Include processes where agentic AI can scale operations without proportional increases in costs.
2. Identify and secure data sources to feed scale: Agentic AI systems are highly dependent on the quality and availability of data. It’s critical to identify the data sources (internal and external) that will feed the agents, ensuring that the data is comprehensive and reliable. Without this, agents cannot make informed decisions or improve over time, limiting the ability to scale effectively.
3. Encode processes into AI: AI can handle complex processes and large-scale, dynamic operations while continuously improving performance as it scales. This requires documenting the human process and data requirements and encoding AI agents to perform these tasks in parallel, better and faster.
4. Leverage multiple agents: A multi-agent approach, where you deploy specialized agents for different roles and allow them to collaborate on complex tasks, can help break down large workflows into manageable parts — executed efficiently by the appropriate AI. Your business can scale processes without the corresponding increase in resources.
5. Continuous learning and iteration: Among agentic AI’s greatest strengths is its ability to learn from agentic and human interactions and positive or negative outcomes. Ensure your systems are set up to capture feedback and make adjustments. This continuous optimization allows for improvements as the system scales.

Harness agentic AI — position your business for success

Behemoths like Microsoft, Google and OpenAI already invest heavily in agent-based systems. The tools necessary for widespread adoption will only improve. As agentic AI evolves, businesses that embrace it early will be best positioned to scale exponentially with unprecedented efficiency — without the need for corresponding increases in labor, resources or capital — creating existential crises for slower-moving competitors.

What is most interesting about agentic AI is that businesses that were traditionally considered mom-and-pop or highly service-oriented can now embrace these methods and achieve growth rates, profit margins and scale that were only previously available to pure software businesses.

By positioning agentic AI as part of your roadmap, you can unlock its potential to transform workflows, augment decision-making and create new opportunities for growth.

Big changes are coming in 2025 that could redefine how you market your business — but are you ready? AI-powered marketing is evolving at a breakneck pace, opening new doors for growth while introducing risks that could derail your efforts if you’re not careful. These shifts aren’t just a trend; they’re a transformation that requires action, and you’ve got a limited window to prepare.

In this week’s video, I’ll show you how to navigate these shifts without falling behind. Whether it’s tapping into the power of new search platforms or avoiding the pitfalls of over-automation, I’ll guide you through what’s coming — and how to stay ahead of the curve. Let’s dive in.

Download the free “AI Success Kit“ (limited time only). You’ll also get a free chapter from my brand new book, “The Wolf is at The Door – How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World.”

The holidays can be hectic, but one thing that always helps is a list. Even Santa Claus needs one — and I’ve heard he checks his twice!

I have a holiday routine I follow every year to help me reflect on how my business performed over the past year and how it can improve in the next. These crucial tasks have helped me grow my business, PostcardMania, from nothing to over $100 million in annual revenue. The best part is that our revenue growth is accelerating, which is a big accomplishment for a 26-year-old business. Since 2020, our annual revenue averages 15% growth — three times better than the previous decade’s average of 5% growth.

This checklist will help guide you in the process of analyzing your results and preparing for the year ahead.

Related: 4 Marketing Triggers You Need to Set Up Now to Supercharge Your New Year

Review marketing metrics and focus on top-line (aka new sales) growth

At the end of the year, take time to compile all of your results data — leads, sales, and where both are coming from.

For me, I look at what’s driving top-line growth (i.e., orders from new customers). A lot of coaches and consultants focus on bottom-line growth, but top-line is where I find the most useful information when it comes to marketing.

What’s driving sales? What brings in the best ROI? Once you know that, you can build in efficiencies down the line to improve profitability/bottom line, but getting that top line to grow is always my number one priority.

For example, last year, we noticed that new orders were down. My beautiful VP of Sales, Ashlie, who has been with me for over 20 years, made an excellent observation and suggestion. She asked, “How about we increase the postcards?”

Um, HELLO — I needed to practice what I preach!! We looked into it, and somehow, our outgoing postcard promotion had been cut from 205,000 weekly to 195,000. So, we increased our postcard outflow again (it’s now at over 260,000), and new orders and revenue from first-time buyers is finally up. That increase is over $1 million in top-line growth year to date. As I write this, we still have four weeks left in the year.

On top of that: We already know that half of those new clients will order more than once — and many will order for years and years to come.

To me, this was huge! A “come to Jesus” moment — if we increase our postcard mailings, we increase our top line without fail. It’s a little bit embarrassing because this is my mantra, and I missed it.

What works for my business may not be what works for yours, but you have to put the work in to find that top-line growth driver. Once you know it, grow it like no one’s business and build in efficiencies as you go. That has been the key to growing MY business.

Look for year-over-year trends to make adjustments

It’s not just the current year’s results you want to scrutinize. Compare the last five years to identify trends. If you don’t have data that goes that far back, try to gather any information possible to obtain a bigger picture of what may have changed or stayed the same over a span of time.

How have your marketing strategies evolved? I can tell you that at my business, PostcardMania, direct mail marketing continues to deliver massive results. We mail hundreds of thousands of postcards every week advertising our services like clockwork.

But we’ve also tested other marketing strategies over time. For example, the majority of our social media ads were static images. Then, last year, we decided to launch a series of short video ads about our clients’ successful marketing campaigns, and we witnessed a huge difference. As a result, our social media leads doubled, increasing by 105%! Since then, we’ve transitioned most of our ads on Facebook and Instagram to video instead of photos.

What is your most significant marketing trend? It will be different for every business, but the crucial takeaway is that the more you market, the more your business will grow. That’s a tried-and-true trend that will always stay the same.

Related: What I Learned From Spending $5.9 Million on Marketing Last Year

Analyze your sales funnel to discover opportunities for improvement

Even if you have been relying on the same sales funnel for years to deliver customers, it’s still beneficial to analyze its performance to see if there’s room for improvement.

Where do you normally witness prospects losing interest? Find the weaker spots in the communication channels and brainstorm strategies to draw them back in.

Typically, an interested buyer will visit your website before making any final decisions. This is a key point where prospects will often fall out of your funnel — but you can do something about it. At PostcardMania, we use technology to match a website visitor’s IP address with their physical address, then mail them a retargeted postcard within 24-48 hours following their website visit. The mailer sitting inside their house helps bring them back for a purchase.

I also recommend creating a solid schedule of reminder ads, emails and phone calls to re-engage prospects who haven’t converted yet. If you can automate these tactics to be responsive using your CRM, that’s even more ideal. This will cut down on the workload on your end and create a more personalized experience for prospects. Win-win!

Remember to work smarter, not necessarily harder.

Track your competitors and compare for additional insights

By now, you should have an idea of who your main competitors are. A well-thought-out marketing strategy includes an analysis of the competition and their marketing as well.

What did your competitor offer this year? Was it better than the discounts or free items you advertised? Who did their ads appeal to in regards to audience? If you aren’t sure, make sure to visit their websites and sign up for their newsletters or marketing promotions. I also suggest creating a Google alert for each competitor that will send any new mentions across the web right to your inbox. Take all of this information into account and detail any offers or messages that may have performed better than yours. Then, rally with your team to come up with even better strategies next year to get ahead of the competition.

Just keep in mind that your business should maintain its unique mission and identity despite any changes in advertising and promotions.

Ask your customers for feedback through surveys and reviews

I can’t preach this enough, but the only way you are going to get more positive reviews is by asking! The end of the year is the perfect time to send out an email or text message to customers and ask them to rate your products, services and customer service.

By giving customers an opportunity to provide feedback, you not only increase your credibility online, but you also gain more information about what your customers love and don’t like as much.

My staff regularly takes time to ask happy clients for reviews. If someone’s had a good experience, they’re very likely to leave a review when asked!

Once we put a process in place to do this, our five-star reviews skyrocketed. I’m B2B, and I noticed my competitors — even publicly traded competitors that are 10x our size — have far, far fewer good reviews than we do.

Create a comprehensive plan for the new year

You don’t have to wait until the new year to make changes. As soon as you digest your business’s results data, you can begin a new marketing strategy. The best time to make purchases is before the end of the year so that you can reinvest otherwise taxable profits back into your business and reduce your tax burden. Some purchases might even be eligible for tax credits!

If you are a B2B business like we are, go ahead and mail a letter to your prospects and customers and give them the great idea to pre-buy your product or service before the end of the year. Some of them inevitably will, and you’ll see a boost in December when people are usually too preoccupied with the holidays to spend that taxable income. We do this every year, and December is often our biggest month of the year!

Related: 3 Secrets to Finishing the Year Strong — Make These Smart Moves to Boost Your Revenue in the Final Quarter

Celebrate your successes and acknowledge those who contributed

The year shouldn’t end before you acknowledge all of your wins! Even if this year wasn’t your best, you can still celebrate any accomplishment. Include these victories in end-of-year events, or create a company email newsletter full of positive highlights. Make sure to give credit to anyone who contributed to the growth of your business. It will boost company morale and encourage the whole team to do even better in the coming year.

Modern buyers, both retail consumers and businesses, are demanding more from the companies they’re purchasing from. They want products built specifically for them from experts who understand their needs. On the business-to-business side, we call this verticalization. This is a trend that is exceptionally prevalent in software.

Research by the Boston Consulting Group reveals that 76% of software buyers find it important to work with sales teams and management who truly understand their industry, while more than two-thirds value “industry-specific solutions.”

Investors like Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) admit that the concept of verticalized software as a service (Vertical SaaS) is fairly new, and for good reason. The question of depth vs. breadth, according to BCV’s reporting, can divide investors. Why would a software company willingly choose to limit its total addressable market (TAM) in favor of a specific vertical, after all?

When my co-founder, Amir, and I started Duda over a decade ago, verticalization wasn’t even remotely as hot of a topic, and investors were far more skeptical than they are today. Focusing on depth is controversial now, but it was unbelievable then. Yet, as our product evolved and our company began to grow, it eventually became clear it’s what we had to do.

Related: 10 Growth Strategies Every Business Owner Should Know

Serving everybody served no one

Our initial TAM was essentially anybody who wanted to use our product. As a website builder, that meant we were attracting a fairly wide range of skill levels to our platform — from small business owners to full-blown professional website designers.

Developing a platform that appealed to both of these audiences quickly became a real challenge. Someone wanting to build a simple menu website for their coffee cart, for example, would expect a simple, easy-to-use experience. A digital marketing agency, on the other hand, would demand more robust and sophisticated tools with a high degree of customization. These two personas are completely at odds.

Trying to balance and build a tool that is simple enough for a small business owner, yet sophisticated enough for a pro, proved to be extremely challenging — maybe not even doable at all, especially for a small team of engineers.

This wasn’t a very big deal in the beginning. Growing fast made a lot of sense, and our initial product, a website builder specifically for mobile websites, had broad appeal. However, as the web evolved, so did our company — and we had to adapt.

Businesses went from having a desktop website and a mobile website to having responsive websites that adapted to both platforms. Websites became more complex and their designs became more intricate. While our platform became more powerful, our focus became less clear and our competition became more fierce.

Not only did this combination pull our product in too many directions, it also put us into competition with much bigger players in the website-building space. We needed to focus and differentiate.

Related: He’s Hosted ‘This Old House’ for 20 Years — These Are His Best Tips for Growing a Home Services Business

Verticalization brought us clarity

Deciding to verticalize our platform was not an easy choice by any means. At the time, roughly half of our customers were small business owners. How could we justify walking away from half of our customers?

For us, the decision was based both on the customer data we had as well as the sentiment of our team.

We saw, from our own numbers, that professionals and agencies were growing at a much faster rate compared to small businesses. Additionally, when we looked outward, we saw that this segment was painfully underserved by the market. Our engineering team preferred building more sophisticated tools, too, for more sophisticated users.

With the data on our side, and the team behind the decision, we chose to narrow our focus. Doing so brought extreme clarity to every aspect of the company. Suddenly, the sales team knew exactly who their customers were. Marketing knew who to talk to, which publications to work with and what influencers to coordinate with. Engineering knew who to develop for and which features to prioritize. The list goes on.

Here’s a good example. We couldn’t say the phrase “responsive design” in our marketing before we narrowed our market; instead, we had to say it “works on desktop, tablet and mobile.” This was clunky phrasing, but after verticalizing we were able to start using specific, technical terms in our marketing like “responsive.”

Related: Not All Clients Are Good for Business. Here’s How to Find the Ones Who Are.

Your platform can verticalize, too

The story we tell is one that a lot of businesses can relate to. Once we decided to focus on professionals, we never spent another dollar on acquiring a small business. To this day, our copy specifically speaks to website professionals and SaaS companies — the people building or offering websites to others.

This clarity inspired every feature that came after and helped propel the company to where we are today, with over 23,000 customers and a million published sites on the platform.

To make the same change, you need to ask the same question we did: Who are your best customers? This is a never-ending question, and one we continue to ask ourselves, too. When we decided that web professionals were our customers, the obvious follow-up question was: What kind? Freelancers? Marketing agencies?

Once you’ve found your customer, you need to dig deeper. What are their characteristics? What do they like about your product and what’s holding them back? How do you get more of those customers?

Verticalization is about continuously double-clicking into your customers, diving deeper and deeper into their world until your product fully aligns with their needs. It’s also about ensuring that those needs align with the DNA of your business. When the pieces align, the effort is well worth it.

In 2021, Joanna Smith-Griffin, the founder of an education-technology startup, was featured on the Forbes “30 Under 30” list.

Last month, she was charged with fraud. Prosecutors allege that she lied to investors for years about her startup, AllHere Education, and the company received $10 million under false pretenses, according to the indictment.

Related: An AI Startup CEO on a Forbes ’30 Under 30′ List Has Been Charged With Defrauding Investors Out of $10 Million

Smith-Griffin has joined the infamous group of “30 Under 30” honorees praised by the public and media for their early success — before authorities discovered the illicit shortcuts that got them there.

Since 2011, Forbes has used the annual list to celebrate and honor entrepreneurs who have excelled in their fields early in their careers. The company says it thoroughly vets each of the nearly 100,000 nominees annually. As the Guardian’s Betsy Reed notes, “The problem here isn’t Forbes, the problem is the vision of success that we’ve been sold and the fetishizing of youth. 30 Under 30 isn’t just a list, it’s a mentality: a pressure to achieve great things before youth slips away from you.”

So, next time you feel discouraged about not reaching goals by a certain age, remember these “30 Under 30” recipients who were honored for their accomplishments in their youth—but had to cut corners and cross legal lines to get there.

Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was named to the list in 2021 for Finance.

Bankman-Fried started Alameda Research in 2017, and later founded FTX in 2019, which was valued at $32 billion in 2022. But in November of that year, FTX filed for bankruptcy after struggling to raise funds and facing a liquidity crisis, and U.S. prosecutors accused him of fraud. He was arrested in the Bahamas in December 2022 and charged with defrauding investors in a scheme that led to the bankruptcy of his company.

In February, four additional charges were added to his docket for conspiring to make over 300 illegal political donations. Currently, Bankman-Fried is out on bail, living at his parents’ house, and awaiting trial (which is scheduled for October).

Related: Who Is FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried? Everything to Know About the Disgraced Crypto King

Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos in 2003, a company that promised a revolutionary blood testing technology, and was once hailed as the world’s “youngest self-made female billionaire.” The company caught the attention of high-profile investors and companies (many of which never even saw the technology before investing) and raked up partnerships with big-name brands like Safeway and Walgreens.

Holmes was never officially on the “30 Under 30” list, however, she did headline the “Under 30 Summit” in 2015, where she also accepted the “Under 30 Doers Award” for her work in the healthcare industry and the potential impact of her company’s technology.

However, just weeks after accepting her Doers Award, Holmes became the subject of an investigation by The Wall Street Journal, raising questions about the legitimacy of her technology. What ensued was nothing short of one mishap after another: failed lab inspections, a slew of lawsuits, and the not-to-be-forgotten net worth dip of $4.5 billion to $0 in 2016.

Finally, in 2018, it was revealed that the technology simply didn’t work, the company collapsed, and Holmes was charged by the SEC with “massive fraud,” alleging Holmes knowingly misled investors and the public.

^{Elizabeth Holmes in 2015. David Paul Morris | Getty Images.}

After nearly a year of delays due to the pandemic, Holmes’ trial began in 2021, and she was ultimately convicted on four counts of fraud in 2022 and sentenced to 11 years in prison. After a request for a new trial was denied in November 2022, Holmes began her sentence in May 2023. Through it all, Holmes has maintained her innocence. She is currently serving time in prison in Bryan, Texas.

Holmes’ story of deceit has been the subject of widespread media coverage, including a 2019 HBO documentary, The Inventor, and 2022 Hulu miniseries, The Dropout (for which Amanda Seyfried won an Emmy for her portrayal of the disgraced founder).

Related: I Worked Side By Side With Elizabeth Holmes. She Seemed Like a Visionary, but We Were All Duped — and It’s a Comfort to See Justice Served.

Charlie Javice

Charlie Javice, known for her college financial planning startup Frank, was indicted in May 2023 for wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy charges. Javice’s alleged crimes center on exaggerating the value of her startup during its acquisition by JPMorgan Chase in 2021.

Javice was named to the list in 2019 in the category of Finance after founding her company Frank, which aimed to help students apply for loans more efficiently.

Prosecutors claim that she misled the bank by fabricating data and inflating the number of Frank customers. Javice allegedly asked her director of engineering to create fake data, but when he refused, she hired a data scientist to generate a spreadsheet with millions of false user accounts for the $175 million acquisition, and JPMorgan ultimately acquired the app.

However, in November 2022, an internal investigation led to her termination, followed by her arrest in April. In January 2023, JP Morgan sued Javice for defrauding the company. Javice now faces charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy. She is currently out on bail and has maintained her plea of not guilty.

Martin Skrekli

Martin Shkreli was named to the list in 2012 for Finance. At the time, he was recognized for his work as a hedge fund manager and entrepreneur. Shkreli had gained attention for his success in the biotech industry, particularly his involvement with Retrophin, a pharmaceutical company he founded.

Shkreli went on to co-founded several hedge funds and pharmaceutical companies, including Turing Pharmaceuticals, which notoriously acquired the life-saving antiparasitic and antimalarial drug, Daraprim and then raised its price by 5,455% in 2015. The move earned Shkreli, then called “Pharma Bro,” another title: “the most hated man in America.”

In December 2015, he was arrested on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy. The charges stemmed from his involvement with two hedge funds, MSMB Capital Management and MSMB Healthcare, as well as Retrophin.

Shkreli was accused of mismanaging funds, using assets from one of his companies to pay off debts from another, and defrauding investors. The allegations included a scheme in which he illegally used Retrophin’s assets to repay investors who had lost money in his hedge funds.

^{Peter Foley | Getty Images}

In 2017, he was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy, resulting in a seven-year prison sentence and significant fines.

In 2022, Shkreli was released from prison (about four months early) and is now consulting for a law firm and living with his sister in Queens, New York, according to the U.S. Probation Office.

Related: ‘The Most Hated Man in America’ Where Is Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli Now?

Shkreli also gained notoriety in 2015 when he purchased the sole copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album, “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” for $2 million at an auction. Fans and the music industry vets criticized the lack of accessibility to such a culturally significant work, exacerbated by Shkreli’s decision to keep it as a rare collectible without plans for a public release.

Following his conviction, the album was seized by the government (along with his other assets) and ultimately sold in 2021 as part of the forfeiture process. The sale of the album completes Shkreli’s payment of the forfeiture, and the buyer and price remain confidential.

Obinwanne Okeke

Obinwanne Okeke, a Nigerian-born entrepreneur, was revered for his achievements in construction, agriculture, and real estate. But in 2021, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a computer-based fraud scheme that caused approximately $11 million in losses to his victims.

Okeke operated a group of companies — including the Invictus Group, which was the center of Okeke’s 2016 “30 Under 30” title — but ultimately conducted various computer-based frauds from 2015 to 2019.

Okeke’s scheme involved obtaining credentials from hundreds of victims and engaging in “email compromise.” Through fraudulent wire transfer requests and fake invoices, Okeke and his conspirators transferred nearly $11 million overseas. He also carried out other forms of cyber fraud, including phishing emails and creating fraudulent web pages. Okeke is serving his sentence and will be released in 2028.

Nate Paul

In June 2023, Nate Paul, an investor once regarded as a “real estate prodigy,” was indicted on eight felony charges for allegedly making false statements on loan applications, which ultimately led to banks loaning the investor over $170 million. According to the indictment, in one application, Paul claimed to have an account with $31.6 million in cash, when in reality the account in question had less than $500,000. Paul’s alleged violations took place between March 2017 and April 2018.

In 2016, Paul was named to the “30 Under 30” list for founding his real estate investment firm.

In November, Paul served a 10-day jail sentence after being held in contempt of court after accusations of financial mismanagement.

Paul is still facing federal criminal charges for bank fraud.

John Cronin, a 28-year-old entrepreneur with Down Syndrome, started John’s Crazy Socks in 2016. The Farmingdale, New York-based company now sells more than 4,000 different types of socks and has hit a major milestone: over two million orders fulfilled, per a report published Wednesday by the New York Post.

The socks on offer range from holiday-focused to Harry Potter-branded. There are also special designs that raise awareness for Down syndrome and autism, and gift packs, like a women’s dog rescue gift containing three different pairs of dog-themed socks.

Cronin, his parents Mark and Carol, and his older brother Jamie run the business together. It has grown to become the world’s largest sock company, per the Post.

Cronin co-started the company with the mission of “spreading happiness.” He handwrites a thank you note and includes two free pieces of candy with every order. At the start of the company’s journey, he would even hand-deliver orders to customers. Over the past eight years, John’s Crazy Socks has donated nearly $800,000 to charities, including the Special Olympics.

Related: These Married Co-Founders Started a Business With a Name ‘Nobody Could Pronounce’ — Then Bootstrapped It From Their Garage to 8-Figure Revenue

“Thank you to our customers,” Cronin said, per the New York Post. “Thank you so much for helping my company.”

How John’s Crazy Socks Began

Mark Cronin explained in an interview with Canvas Rebel last week that the business began when John was exploring his options after high school.

“John could not find anything that excited him,” Mark said. “This is an unfortunate reality that there are just not enough good options for people with different abilities.”

John wanted to go into business with his dad and landed on the idea of selling socks. The father-son duo decided to build a website, get some inventory, and set up a Facebook page with some promotional videos starring John. The first day they opened their virtual storefront, on December 9, 2016, they got 42 orders. In the next two weeks, they got 452 orders.

“We did not know how fast it would grow, we did not know how large it would grow, but we knew we could make this business work,” Mark stated.

Related: Best Friends’ ‘Scrappy’ Side Hustle Led to a Product on Track for $1 Million Annual Sales: ‘Rare to Find Somebody With This Same Passion’

John’s Crazy Socks was built on five pillars: inspiration, giving back, fun products, making it personal, and creating a great place to work.

“We may not be outselling Target and Walmart, at least not yet, but we have more choices than anybody else,” Mark said. In addition, the company employs 34 people, 22 of whom are people with differing abilities.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 22.5% of people with disabilities were employed last year.

Related: I’m Disabled — And Here Are 3 Meaningful Ways Your Company Can Foster a More Inclusive Workplace