Hello there.

It's been a while.

Author

Saleem Ahmad
February 13, 2024

“You can learn everything you need to know about someone by cold messaging them on LinkedIn.”

- Me, probably


Last week, I conducted an experiment.

I sent out 226 inMails to active founders with crappy headlines.

The subject?

“Dude your headline kinda sucks”

Followed by some helpful tips on how they could improve it.

Some founders, like Elena here, didn’t respond.

I sent a lot of inMails.

226 to be exact.

I mean… to be fair, your headline is the most important piece of real estate on LinkedIn.

It’s the first thing investors see when they:

  • Search for you on LinkedIn

  • Read one of your comments

  • Click through to your profile

So a well-written headline can go a long way.

Can anyone explain what Diego does after reading this drivel?

However, if you’re like most founders on LinkedIn:

Your headline sucks and you’re leaving money on the table.

You’re not converting investor traffic into checks.

Not every founder saw things my way though.

Noah wasn’t having it.

Some ignored me.

Some argued with me.

Some thanked me for my feedback but then did nothing about it.

…and then crickets. Friendly and agreeable founders are often the most useless when it comes to actually getting things done.

But there were some who took action.

Anyone who responded, I gave a free coaching session in the DMs to improve their headline until we were both happy with it.

Of the 226 founders, how many do you think took me up on my offer?

Uma here is going places.

Twelve.

Only 12 founders got a tangible benefit out of this exercise.

The other 214 got nothing.

That’s about the ratio I expected. Why?

Because the sad reality is the vast majority of founders are just wasting their time.

On their company. On LinkedIn. On life in general.

This guy wasted his time not knowing how to fill out a template 😂

What type of founder are you?

I mean, if I used this newsletter to tell you your headline sucks, you could:

  • Unsubscribe

  • Nod in agreement then go back to your day

  • Take a stab at improving it and even ask me for help if you need it

It’s an important question to ask yourself.

Because…

Dude your headline kinda sucks.

So what are you going to do about it??


Worst of LinkedIn

My top 3 picks this week


1) Unsolicited feedback is an unfriendable offense


2) Simon Sinek drops a knowledge bomb


3) Jack bites off more than he can chew

Upcoming Event

Join me, Nilima & Garrett in this IRL workshop to learn how to network like a pro.

That’s it for today.

Tune in next week for real examples of what founders can accomplish just by updating their headline.

Til next time,

Saleem 🤎

--

PS. guess how many of the 226 blocked me 👀

PPS. leave me an honest review of this newsletter on my post here.