BarronTech: AI, Microsoft, Solopreneurship
Join me as I lead revenue growth at Echelix (AI Services firm) and share insights to enable your organization co-sell with Microsoft. I also want to inspire you to build your own highly profitable solo business that gives you Time Freedom.
The best apps come from problems you actually have
The Solopreneur Copilot P.S. read an web version of this email here: barrontech.kit.com/posts/ I've got a 14-year-old who cannot self-regulate his screen time. I know this because I've watched it for years. He'll play for 6 hours if nobody stops him. I tried rules. I tried conversations. I tried timers. All of them require me to be the enforcer, every single time, which is exhausting and adds friction to both of our days. So I'm building something. It's called Earned Screen Time. The idea is...
I closed a big deal Friday. Then I gave myself a B+ as a dad.
The Solopreneur Copilot P.S. read an web version of this email here: barrontech.kit.com/posts/ Closed a really big deal on Friday. Had a great weekend with the kids. Stayed off the phone most of it. I gave myself a B+ as a dad this week. The standard I want to operate at is higher than what I delivered. And I’m honest enough with myself to say it out loud. The myth The myth solo founders sell themselves is that the business and the family are on the same team. Win at the business and the...
Your product is your funnel (if you let it be)
Co-Sell Field Notes: Notes from a $70M Microsoft Services Seller P.S. read an web version of this email here: barrontech.kit.com/posts/ Your product is your funnel (if you let it be) I've been curating my LinkedIn outreach list this week. Adding names on Sales Navigator, engaging with content where it makes sense, building the lead list slowly and on purpose. And I caught myself almost making a mistake. I was about to discard accounts that didn't fit my services ICP. Smaller teams. No...
The only thing AI can’t shortcut
The Solopreneur Copilot P.S. read an web version of this email here: barrontech.kit.com/posts/ I was walking the neighborhood yesterday at noon. Empty street. One mom with a dog. That was it. Where is everybody? Sitting in offices with people who don’t really care about them, then driving home to the same house they could’ve been working from the whole time. The whole arrangement is one of the great unforced errors of modern work, and most people are still doing it because nobody told them...
The uncomfortable middle
The Solopreneur Copilot P.S. read an web version of this email here: barrontech.kit.com/posts/ Last week I sat in deadstill traffic for 30 minutes, so I pulled out my phone and decided to record a voice note. Talking through the state of my businesses out loud to nobody. Deals pending at Echelix. New hire starting in under 2 weeks. CoSell Buddy has its first real user from my services business. A couple of Barron Tech prospects I'm working -- one I'm optimistic about, one I'm genuinely not...
The middle is where most sellers fold
Co-Sell Field Notes: Notes from a $70M Microsoft Services Seller P.S. read an web version of this email here: barrontech.kit.com/posts/ I was sitting in traffic earlier this week running through the state of my pipeline. One deal scoped at roughly $1M and likely to sign. One scoped at $850k that'll probably land closer to $750k. A third at $700k-$1M for a mortgage company I just met -- could go either way. Somewhere between $1.6M and $2.2M sitting in various stages of "we'll see." And while...
Having a job is riskier than starting a business now
The Solopreneur Copilot P.S. read an web version of this email here: barrontech.kit.com/posts/ I had four jobs before I found one I actually cared about. TurboCare, Siemens. Honeywell. Vestas. Then Neudesic, which was the first time the work and the technology lined up enough that I gave a shit. That took 15 years. Fifteen years of commuting, fluorescent lights, eating lunch in my car to get alone time and going to bed early so I could be fresh for something I didn’t care about. That’s the...