Hey friends,

Can you believe that we’re 5 months into 2024 already?! Time truly does fly when you’re doing what you love. For those wondering, I’m now back in NYC from my short trip to Accra, Ghana. My trip was well worth the wait, after moving to the US almost 6 years ago :)

As usual, this past month at Salley has been nothing short of amazing. The energy and excitement around what we’re building has been accelerating. It’s just great to see smiles on peoples’ faces when they learn more about Salley’s vision to help them reach their full career potential.

Without further ado, let’s get into what happened over the last month and what to look forward to:

Recap: Salley leadership development session on Productivity and Prioritization as Leader”

On Tuesday, April 30th, we hosted a leadership development session tailored specifically for emerging leaders and executives who are eager to optimize their time management skills and master the art of prioritization.

The session was led by Michael Katz. He's the CEO & Co-founder at mParticle ($272m raised). Mike has 20+ years of executive & leadership experience. Before mParticle, He was Founder and CEO of interclick, took it public in 2009 and sold to Yahoo in 2011 for $270M.

It was attended by emerging leaders and executives from companies like Google, Mastercard, Sugarwork, Coda, etc. Together, they went through interactive discussions and practical exercises to gain valuable insights into the latest productivity methodologies, time management techniques, and decision-making frameworks.

Some pictures:

Upcoming Salley Session on Adapting to a rapidly changing workplace.

​In the rapidly evolving business world, the ability to adapt quickly and effectively is the ultimate competitive advantage. Markets shift, customer demands fluctuate, and disruptive technologies emerge at a breathtaking pace. Those who can pivot seamlessly in the face of change will be the ones who thrive.

​At our upcoming Salley Session, you'll gain invaluable insights and strategies for cultivating a growth mindset and fostering an agile, future-ready workforce. Through interactive discussions, and hands-on exercises, you'll develop the ability to anticipate industry disruptions, embrace emerging technologies, and develop the resilience to turn challenges into opportunities.

This session will be led by Jennifer Chen, the President and Chief Revenue Officer at Connatix. She has more than 15 years of leadership experience and served in key roles as VP and General Manager at Sizmek, Co-founder at Givology, and many more. She also a Wharton School and University of Pennsylvania Alum.

​Whether you're a seasoned leader or an ambitious professional, this immersive experience will equip you with the tools to navigate uncertainty with confidence. Secure your spot today and master the art of adaptation – the key to long-term success in our ever-changing work landscape.

Emerging Leader and Executive Mixer, with AI and Product Executives from Cisco, Stack Overflow, etc. (NY Tech Week)

Join us for an exciting evening on June 4th. We're bringing emerging and established leaders from top companies around the world together for an evening of relationship building and knowledge sharing.

​This exclusive mixer provides a unique opportunity to connect with peers who are navigating AI implementation and transformation within their organizations.

We’re hosting this as part of New York Tech Week. Feel free to invite other top leaders who’d love to attend too. Here’s the RSVP link.

How you can help:

• If you know any emerging leaders and executives based in New York or San Francisco, looking to develop their leadership abilities, we’d love an intro! The ideal Salley customer so far works at a Series B or later company, with a minimum of about 7 years of experience and may be leading a team at their company.

• Tell everyone you know that they can develop their leadership potential with Salley! We’ll give you a special gift if you make a great connection.

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to empower emerging leaders and executives so they can thrive at work!

• Share this newsletter with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard Mensah

Founder & CEO at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is a leadership development platform for emerging leaders and executives. As the workplace evolves due to automation and AI, Salley helps you to continually develop as a leader so you thrive at work.

We’ve opened up a limited number of spots. Apply today at salley.co if you're looking to become a better leader, along with other peers from various world-class companies. Capacity is limited and will be on a first come first serve basis.

Hi from Accra, Ghana! Excited to be back home for a bit after more than 5 years :)

It’s been an average of 90 degrees here since I arrived and I certainly wasn’t ready for the temperature change coming in from New York, haha. It’s all good though, I head back to NYC within a week. Lots of exciting updates with Salley.

We had a strong Q1 2024. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) grew by +147.7%, we signed up a number of annual Salley customers paying ~$5k per year and, we also have a strong pipeline of emerging leaders and executives from top companies looking to join Salley.

Also, we seem to have a strong tailwind from employees from Series C+ to public companies looking to double down on their leadership development abilities, especially as it's becoming clear that AI will automate many logic-based and repetitive tasks within their organizations.

With that said, here’s more on what happened over the last month:

Recap: Salley leadership development session on Strategic Thinking, Managing & Decision Making

On March 26th, we delved into the art of Strategic Thinking, Managing, and Decision Making. This leadership development session was tailored specifically for emerging leaders and executives who are eager to sharpen their strategic acumen and elevate their decision-making prowess.

We brought together Directors, Heads, Founders, and more from top companies like Google, Oscar Health, Mastercard, LinkedIn, Moody's, etc.

One of the attendees recently transitioned from Vice President of Engineering to CEO at his company. I couldn't be more excited about supporting his journey and well as the leadership growth for high-agency individuals looking to accelerate their impact within various companies. Some pictures:

Upcoming leadership development session on Productivity and Prioritization as a Leader

Join us for an insightful evening at our next Salley Session on April 30th, where we’ll delve into the art of Productivity and Prioritization for Leaders. This leadership development session is tailored specifically for emerging leaders and executives who are eager to optimize their time management skills and master the art of prioritization.

​Immerse yourself in a collaborative environment where emerging leaders and executives from various top companies converge to explore the intricacies of productivity and prioritization in today's fast-paced business landscape. Whether you're seeking to streamline your workflow, enhance your focus, or effectively allocate your resources, this session is designed to equip you with the strategies and techniques necessary to thrive in a demanding and ever-changing environment.

​Embrace this opportunity to learn from seasoned experts and industry peers, sharing best practices and real-world experiences that will empower you to tackle the challenges of modern leadership with renewed vigor and focus. You’ll emerge from this session with a renewed commitment to excellence and a roadmap to unlock your full potential as a leader, driving your team and organization toward sustainable success. RSVP link here.

Shout Outs:

• Special thanks to Anna McCalpin, Ph.D. for her insights, work and guidance with the Salley Sessions curriculum and materials. 

• Big shout out to Julia Psitos for being an active participant at Salley Sessions and sharing some helpful feedback. 

• Much appreciation to Ellen Brandenberger for being available to chat about all things product & pricing over the last few months.

• Finally, huge thanks to Kevin Christoffersen for sharing some insights and advise on the space, coming from his vast experience as former Partner at Gallup.

How you can help:

• If you know any emerging leaders and executives in New York or San Francisco, looking to develop their leadership abilities, I'd love an intro! The ideal Salley customer so far works at a Series B or later company, with a minimum of about 7 years of experience and may be leading a team at their company.

• Tell everyone you know that they can develop their leadership potential with Salley! We’ll give you a special gift if you make a great connection.

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to empower emerging leaders and executives so they can thrive at work!

• Share this newsletter with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard Mensah

Founder & CEO at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is a comprehensive leadership development solution that empowers emerging leaders and executives to thrive in the AI-driven workplace of the future. This is done by equipping them with the skills and mindset to navigate the evolving leadership challenges in the age of automation and AI. Learn more here.

Hey friends,

Spring is almost here! I can’t wait to spend more time outside in the sun. It has been super cold here in NYC and I’m certainly not used to the weather. Especially since I was born and raised in Ghana, where there’s sunshine all year round :)

Also, can you believe that we’re almost at the end of the first quarter of the year?! It’s insane. 2024 is shaping up to be our best year yet at Salley.

Here are a few highlights from February and what to look forward to this month with Salley:

Upcoming leadership development session on Strategic Thinking, Managing & Decision Making

Our next Salley Session is happening on Tuesday, March 26th at 6pm. It’s going to be at an exciting location the heart of Manhattan. Join us for an enlightening evening at the Salley Session, where we delve into the art of Strategic Thinking, Managing, and Decision Making. This leadership development session is tailored specifically for emerging leaders and executives who are eager to sharpen their strategic acumen and elevate their decision-making prowess.

Immerse yourself in a collaborative environment where emerging leaders and executives from various top companies converge to dissect the complexities of modern management.

Whether you're looking to refine your strategic vision or enhance your managerial tactics, this session is designed to equip you with the tools and perspectives necessary to navigate the intricate landscape of today's business world.

Salley Sessions is designed for emerging leaders and executives - Heads, Directors, Vice Presidents, Founders, etc., from the best companies. You’ll need to apply and be approved to be able to join!

Recap of our last leadership group coaching session

On February 28th, we brought a number of emerging leaders and executives together for an engaging leadership group coaching session.

The topic of the night? Defining and building your professional brand online. It was led by Anthony Park - a well-known New York real estate agent and content creator with almost 800k followers. It was an evening full of activity, learnings and insights!

We met up in a private townhouse in Gramercy, New York. We had emerging leaders and executives from EY-Parthenon, Google, Amazon, Brainscape, Rivian, Alfred, NYU Langone Health, etc., join us for the evening. The atmosphere was electric.

Demand for Salley Sessions is increasing and our innovative approach to leadership development is creating excitement among a lot of leaders and executives.

We're still in the early days of this. I'm thrilled with all the progress we've made so far.

Some pictures :)

How you can help:

• We'd love to get Salley in front of more senior executives and functional leaders (working at companies with 50 - 1000+ employees based in New York or San Francisco). If you know a few of them, I'd appreciate an intro! We’ll give you a special gift if you make a great connection.

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to empower emerging leaders and executives so they can thrive at work!

• Share this newsletter with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard Mensah

Founder & CEO at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is a comprehensive leadership development solution that helps emerging leaders and executives to continuously develop their leadership skills, especially in the context of the evolving workplace impacted by automation and AI. Learn more here.

Hey friends,

It feels like January flew by so quickly, haha. Aside from all the cool things we are working on at Salley, I had the chance to visit San Francisco for a bit to meet other founders and friends in the AI space. The energy there is electric. I also met some folks from the AI Grant created by Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross. We all went deep on AI and its implications on humanity.

Here’s an awesome picture I took while in the presidio of San Francisco.

The Golden Gate bridge from the Presidio in San Francisco

So much happened within the last month and I’m excited to share a few of them with you. Let’s dive right in:

Hosted our first Salley Session of the year in New York

On January 30th, we hosted a fireside chat and leadership group coaching session with a curated set of emerging leaders and executives in the West Village, New York.

The attendees included founders, emerging managers and executives with strong experience from some of the best companies in the world - Google, Amex Ventures, Block, Palantir Technologies, Alfred, Brainscape, Chegg Inc., Schmidt Futures, among many others.

Our focus for this session was on storytelling for leaders, which was led by Ellen Brandenberger - the Director of Product Innovation at Stack Overflow. It was full of excitement, learnings and reflections. Overall the energy in the room was amazing!

It was a great start to Salley Sessions. I'm thrilled to see how these sessions transform the lives and careers of emerging leaders and executives for the better :)

A few picture on that below 👇🏽

Upcoming Salley Session on building your professional brand online as a leader

​Building a strong online professional brand is an essential skill in business. At work, it can help you hire amazing teams, attract investors and close sales. Yet, we rarely spend time working on how we can be better at this.

​Our next leadership group coaching session will focus on building your professional brand as a leader. It’s happening on February 28 at 6pm. We'll learn from an industry leader who's also great at building their online brand, refine our narrative and brand through interactive exercises, and practice sharing them with an intimate, vetted group of emerging leaders and executives. We'll also have time to meet and mingle over drinks. Here’s the RSVP link

How you can help:

• We'd love some input on Salley from executives or functional leaders (working at companies with 50 - 1000 employees based in New York or San Francisco). If you know a few of them, I'd appreciate an intro! We’ll give you a special gift if you make a great connection.
  

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to empower emerging leaders and executives so they can thrive at work!
  

• Share this newsletter with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard

Founder & CEO at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is a leadership development platform for emerging leaders and executives. As the workplace evolves due to automation and AI, Salley helps you to continually develop as a leader so you thrive at work.

We’ve opened up a limited number of spots. Sign up at salley.co if you're looking to become a better leader, along with other peers from various world-class companies. Capacity is limited and will be on a first come first serve basis.

​Hey!

You now have the opportunity to be part of an exclusive group of emerging leaders and executives from some of the best companies, looking to level up their leadership potential.

With Salley, you’ll get access to:

• ​Salley Sessions - monthly in-person group coaching and networking sessions led by industry experts

• ​Access exclusive perks & discounts from our growing partner network

• ​Early access to your own leadership coaching AI, with a human coach in the loop

• ​Industry leading customer support

​Our first Salley Session for the year is on Jan 30th in the West Village, NYC. The Session will be on Storytelling for Leaders - there'll be a curated group of emerging leaders and executives from various top companies in the room. We'll also have time to mix and mingle over drinks. You're invited to Salley - an exclusive leadership development platform.

​We'll love to have you join too. Capacity is limited and will be on a first come first serve basis.

Since this is a personal invite, your approval will be expedited.

​To join, sign up at salley.co/sessions and confirm your participation asap.

Cheers

Richard Mensah,
Founder and CEO at Salley

Hey friends,

Glad we all made it to 2024! We accomplished so much together in the last year. I’m glad I got to meet a lot of you. December in New York was pretty, bustling and magical, as always. However this past month, we were busy at work bringing you a new, exciting update to Salley. Before we dive into that, we made a quick 2023 recap video, check it out! Now, let’s get into what we we’re up to in December 2023:

Confirmed new Salley Session leaders

A few of our session leaders

As some of you may already know, Salley is a leadership development platform for emerging leaders and executives. As the workplace evolves due to automation and AI, Salley helps you master the leadership skills of the future so you can be relevant and thrive. Salley offers:

• ​Monthly in-person group coaching led by industry experts

• Top-notch professional networking with other qualified leaders from various companies

• Access exclusive perks & discounts from our growing partner network

• Early access to your own leadership coaching AI, with our human experts in the loop

As part of our monthly group coaching sessions, we’ve confirmed a number of seasoned industry leaders who’ve agreed to lead them: They include:

Howard Lerman - Founder & CEO at Roam, former Founder & CEO at YEXT. He has more than 17+ years of leadership and management experience. He took YEXT public on the NYSE in 2017 as CEO

Ellen Brandenberger - Director of Product Innovation at Stack Overflow, where she leads Generative AI. Prior to this, Ellen led product management at Chegg, Thinkful, Pearson, Gradeable, among others. She also holds a Master’s from Harvard

Nick Chen - Founder & CEO at HYPE. Nick has 8+ years of executive & leadership experience as the Founder and a Director of Design. He's raised $20+ million for HYPE and holds a design degree from Stanford

Lucas Fox - Former General Manager 'Brex for Startups', Co-founder & Chairman at Grupo Dadivar. Lucas led a 100+ person Engineering/Product/Design, Operations, and Sales teams focused on venture-backed startups, overseeing 50% of Brex’s P&L. Brex is now valued at $12 billion.

And many others, including the founders of mParticle ($272M raised) and Brainscape (10 million+ users)

Our first in-person Salley Session for the year is on January 30th in the West Village, New York. There’s lots of excitement already about it :)

Welcomed Offsite as a new partner

Offsite is "Airbnb for team retreats". They save companies and executives time, money, and stress when it comes to planning team retreats. They’ve also worked with hundreds of startups including Webflow, Buffer, Linear, 15Five, and Hampton, as well as top VC firms and Inc 5000s.

Given Salley’s focus on empowering emerging leaders and executives, they are a great fit for leaders within our community to save time and money when it comes to planning their team off-sites. Learn more about them here.

How you can help:

• I'd love some feedback and input on Salley from any executives or functional leaders (working at companies with 50 - 1000 employees based in New York or San Francisco). Also, if you know others, I'd appreciate an intro!

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to help professionals master future-oriented leadership skills for work, we’ll be adding more capabilities to Salley soon!

• Share this newsletter with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley :)

Wishing you an amazing week and an awesome 2024,

Richard

Founder & CEO at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is a leadership development coach for emerging leaders and executives. As the workplace evolves due to automation and AI, Salley helps you to easily master only skills that help you stay relevant in the long-term.

We’ve opened up a limited number of spots. Apply if you're looking to develop strong leadership skills along with other peers from various companies. Mention that I referred you in the application and you should be able to get in front of the line.

Hey friends,

The holiday season is now in full swing! Personally, it’s my favorite time of the year - streets filled with dazzling lights, the excitement of gift-giving, and ice skating against the backdrop of New York's iconic landmarks. It's simply mesmerizing and it brings back memories from my childhood in Ghana. No ice skating there, of course haha, but the holiday spirit transcends culture and distance, connecting us all in its heartwarming embrace. Without much ado, let’s dive into what we’ve been up to at Salley in the last month.

Recap on Mixer & Dialogue on Effective Conflict Resolution at Work

On November 13th, we hosted an evening of exchange and insight with Katya Stepanov on one of the most under-appreciated ingredients to success in business: the art of human relationships. Katya coaches founders and executives at some of the world’s top companies on how to bridge divides, resolve conflicts and create thriving organizational cultures.

​We’ve all heard the high-profile stories of unicorns that “fall from grace” due to scandals or conflicts between founders and team members. One of the number one - yet rarely talked about - reasons that startups fail is disagreement amongst the partners or founding team. The inability to resolve conflict efficiently can lead to a company’s demise, even with the perfect strategy, marketing plan, technology, and funding in place.

​The event highlighted our individual uniqueness in many ways. It also showed us that if we put our heads together, we can develop deep connections in spite of our differences. It was truly remarkable!

Here are some pictures from the event:

New Salley update

As some of you know, we’ve been testing one skill on Salley for a few months now - to help experienced professionals get better at building their online brand. The results so far, with a small group of paid early users has been phenomenal. Here’s what one of them had to say after using Salley for 6 months:

We’ve seen good success with our beta product and we’re now doubling down on the things that make Salley truly special for our most engaged customers. Starting next month, Salley will only serve emerging leaders and executives looking to improve their leadership skills significantly. It will now comprise of group coaching sessions led by industry experts, world-class professional networking, all complemented by our very own AI leadership coach to empower professionals to reach their fullest potential.

We’re opening up a limited number of spots for the new version of Salley. Apply if you're looking to develop strong leadership skills along with other peers from various companies. You can learn more here.

How you can help:

• We're launching a new offering for Salley early next year. I'd love some feedback and input from any executives or people leaders (working at companies with 50 - 1000 employees based in New York or San Francisco) here before we go live! Also, if you know others, I'd appreciate an intro :)

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to help professionals master future-oriented skills for work, we’ll be adding more capabilities to Salley soon!

• Share this newsletter with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley :)

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard
Founder & CEO at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is a leadership training coach for emerging leaders and executives. As the workplace evolves due to automation and AI, Salley helps you to easily master only skills that help you stay relevant in the long-term.

We’ve just opened up a limited number of spots. Apply if you're looking to develop strong leadership skills along with other peers from various companies. We'd love your feedback. Mention that I referred you in the application and you should be able to get in front of the line.

Hey friends,

Today, some of the best long distance runners from all over the world descended into the city for the annual New York City Marathon. It’s one of those events that get me fired up! Just watching some of the most resilient people - who’ve spent months training, strive towards the finish line is truly breathtaking. Here’s a photo of the finish line!

Finish Line at 2023 New York City Marathon

Just like these runners, we’re also pushing hard to wrap up this year strong. We’ve got lots of updates from the month of October. Let’s get into it:

Upcoming Mixer & Dialogue on Effective Conflict Resolution at Work

On November 13, we'll be chatting with Katya Stepanov about effective ways to resolve conflict at work.

It will be an evening of engaging dialogue and insight with on one of the most under-appreciated ingredients to success in business: the art of human relationships. Katya coaches founders and executives at some of the world’s top companies on how to bridge divides, resolve conflicts and create thriving organizational cultures. Her company has worked with leaders from big corporations like Heineken, Vanguard, and Deloitte as well as VC-backed start-ups like Centivo, BetterCloud and Havenly.

The number one - yet rarely talked about - reasons why startups and teams fail is disagreement among the partners or team members. The inability to resolve conflict efficiently can lead to a company’s demise, even with the perfect strategy, marketing plan, technology, and funding in place.

​You’ll also have the opportunity to meet with other ambitious professionals and gain some practical skills for cultivating great human relationships in business and beyond.

If you are a founder struggling to align with your partners on major decisions, or a leader dealing with any kind of conflict with your team or peers that is keeping you up at night, join us

Recap of our New York Tech Week, mixer & fireside chat with the Director of Product Innovation at Stack Overflow

During New York Tech week this past October, we mixed, mingled, and went deep into the world of product management in the age of AI!

We had a huge turnout for mixer and fireside chat with Ellen Brandenberger - the Director of Product Innovation at Stack Overflow! She leads the Product Innovation team, focusing on testing and building new products, particularly generative AI solutions. It was awesome partnering with Lenny Rachitsky's community for this as well.

Ellen is a product leader who is passionate about the intersection of product development, user research, and helping individuals grow and learn. With a Master of Education from Harvard and extensive experience in product, research, and working with startups, she has honed her skills to be an adaptive leader. She's all about approaching problems from multiple perspectives to formulate innovative solutions for customers.

The room was full of amazing founders, product managers and tech leaders from companies like, Amazon, Rivian, Oscar Health, Apple, American Express, Google, etc.​ Take a look at some of the pictures!

Welcome, Nicholas Sykes our new Advisory Board member at Salley

We’re excited that Nicolas is now part of our Advisory Board! Nicholas brings in more than a decade of experience in People leadership and Operations. He’s held leadership positions at companies like Seniorly, Mosaic Technologies, CiBO Technologies, and Storyblocks. His previous work experience also includes playing a key role at leading organizations like Palantir Technologies, Bridgewater Associates, and JP Morgan.

Nicholas Sykes - New Salley Advisory Board Member

He has additional experience with top institutions across various markets and verticals like the Avenue Capital Group (Nanjing & Shanghai, CN), AllianceBernstein, Cyrus Capital Partners (Hong Kong), Scout Capital, Florida State Board of Administration, North Carolina Treasurer, FrontPoint Partners, Microsoft, Disney, IBM, Ronnie Lott Investments (NFL), Jamal Mashburn Holdings (NBA), Urban Compass, Partake Foods, PowerHandz, theCut.co, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, MoVi Partners, Socially Determined, Round, and others.

He’s truly passionate about workforce skill development and education. He's a Stanford GSB alum.

How you can help:

• We're launching a new offering for Salley early next year. I'd love some feedback and input from any executives or people leaders (working at companies with 50 - 1000 employees based in New York or San Francisco) here before we go live! Also, if you know others, I'd appreciate an intro :)

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to help people master future-oriented skills for work, we’ll be adding more skills on Salley soon!

• Share this newsletter with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley :)
  

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard
Founder & CEO at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is a personalized skill coach for professionals and teams. As the workplace evolves due to automation and AI, Salley helps you to easily master only skills that help you stay relevant in the long-term.

We're currently in private beta with one valuable skill - building your online presence. If you're looking to build your online presence to unlock more career and business opportunities, be sure to request early access at salley.co

Hey friends,

Fall is in full swing in New York! To make things even better, the New York Tech week starts tomorrow. There are many exciting events happening this coming week. We’re also hosting an event as well so if you’re in NYC on October 18th, swing by! More details on that below along with other updates from the month of September. Let’s dive in now:

Upcoming Mixer and Fireside chat with Head of Product Management at Stack Overflow - NY #TechWeek

Get ready to mix, mingle, and dive deep into the world of product management in the age of AI! We’re partnering with Lenny Rachitsky’s community for this.

​Our special guest for the evening is Ellen Brandenberger, the Head of Product Management at Stack Overflow. She leads a 50+ person Product Innovation team, focusing on testing and building new products, particularly generative AI solutions.

​Ellen is a product leader who is passionate about the intersection of product development, user research, and helping individuals grow and learn. With a Master of Education from Harvard and extensive experience in product, research, and working with startups, she has honed her skills to be an adaptive leader. She's all about approaching problems from multiple perspectives to formulate innovative solutions for customers.

​This event is perfect for founders, business leaders, and ambitious individuals who are passionate about navigating the ins and outs of AI in the workplace. It's a fantastic opportunity to learn from a seasoned professional, network with like-minded individuals, and maybe even spark some innovative ideas of your own. So, mark your calendars and get ready for an evening of insightful conversation and fun!

Anna McCalpin, Ph.D. is now an Advisory board member at Salley

Anna is the Head of Instructional Design & Development at Chegg Inc. There, she leads a team of over 20+ design and development employees, including managers, to build and maintain curriculum in high-growth technology and business spaces. She also directs the vision and strategy for creating new programs that unlock professional upskilling outcomes to produce maximum return-on-investment.

She holds a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Behavior Management, an MA in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and a BS in Psychology. She also serves as the president elect of the Organizational Behavior Management Network.

Personally, I’m thrilled about having her onboard. Her expertise and insights are well aligned with what we're building at Salley. Also, she's deeply passionate using AI to help future-proof the careers of professionals around the world.

New Salley product update for beta customers.

You can think of Salley as your coach that helps you navigate the workplace skill changes as AI becomes more mainstream.

Today, we're in private beta with one skill: Salley coaches you to build your online presence so you can attract more career and business opportunities.

Over the last few months, it's been clear that getting more impressions and reach on your posts is important to keep you motivated to make progress on your online presence.

To make your Salley experience much better, we're testing an integration with a content amplification marketplace. As such, we'll share your posts with people who have large accounts in your niche for engagement, so you can tap into their audiences as well. They assist with over 12 million impressions per month and have a highly reputable network of relevant people who drive serious social proof and credibility in addition to impressions.

Here's how you can unlock post amplification while using Salley:

1. Complete 4 consecutive weekly personalized quests that have already been tailored to you to help you build your online presence.

2. Once you do so, you'll be able to ask Salley to amplify one new post after. (For every 4 consecutive completed quests, you'll get to turbocharge one new post of your choosing)

3. Share a link to the post you want to amplify with Salley via text and, you should see between 10x and 100x more impressions on posts in a few hours

The quality of the content you want to amplify will be a huge factor in how much reach our post will get after amplification.

Can't wait for you to experience this update! 

How you can help:

• Connect us with senior level full-stack engineers who have a passion for AI, learning and the future of work.

• Share this with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to help people master future-oriented skills for work, we’ll be adding more skills on Salley soon!

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard
Founder at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is a personalized skill coach for professionals and teams. As the workplace evolves due to automation and AI, Salley helps you to easily master only skills that help you stay relevant in the long-term.

We're currently in private beta with one valuable skill - building your online presence. If you're looking to build your online presence to unlock more career and business opportunities, be sure to request early access at salley.co

Hey friends,

Greetings from New York! It’s summer and the city is sprawling with lots of exciting activities. In the blink of an eye, it feels like July is went right past us. Even though the month is almost ending, we have quite a number of updates to share with you. Now, let’s get into what we’ve been up to this month:

Recap of Mixer and Fireside chat with Elizabeth Gascoigne

​Elizabeth is leading the non-alcoholic movement in NYC and across several major cities in the US. Her company, Absence of Proof is elevating the non-alcoholic life and providing inclusive options.

Recently, she was featured as one of Adweek's Creative 100 for 2023! She's also been written about in the Financial Times, ABC News, Fortune, US Magazine, among others. And it doesn't stop there, she just recently announced a partnership with the New York Mets!

It was truly an exciting evening as Elizabeth shared her journey along with tips for building highly engaged communities in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, DC, Chicago, among others. She did all this in less than a year by building a strong online presence!

Aside from Elizabeth’s eye opening conversation, we had a 2 Michelin star mixologist at the venue making drinks for attendees throughout the event. It was spectacular! Here are some pictures :)

ZFellows and Omacasa join our partner network

Excited to mention that we’ve now added 2 new companies to our partner network at Salley. Omacasa and ZFellows.

Omacasa curates and sources one-of-a-kind experiences. Their roster includes 3 Michelin star sommeliers and mixologists, the best female magician in the world, the global head of yoga for Equinox, a Japanese Tea Master from Hiroshima, and many more. As such, we now be bringing these experiences to our private beta users in New York. Learning anything on your own can be challenging. So in addition to giving each user their own personalized coach, we’ll keep hosting fun experiences for our users so they can trade notes, stay motivated and future-proof their careers together.

ZFellows fast-tracks some of best technical builders and founders into Silicon Valley. These fellows are typically working on interesting side projects and startups. The ZFellows get mentorship and guidance from the crème de la crème of Silicon Valley. Mentors include the founder of Netflix, Figma, Eventbrite, DoorDash, Tinder, you name it. I’m thrilled to share that ZFellows is including Salley as part of their list of important resources and perks for their fellows. This way their fellows will get to master other high-value skills using Salley as they work to grow their side projects and startups.

Introducing Co-learning with Salley (coming soon)

Earlier this year, we started our private beta to help early users get better at building their online presence. And so far, there has been multiple success stories from professionals looking to get better at that skill. Using Salley, they all have their own personalized AI-powered coach, that’s helping them stay on track with their goals.

However, to make the Salley experience even better, we’ll also be introducing Co-learning days for users to meet in person so they can help each with anything they are struggling with. We’ll also have some experts on standby so they can help if needed. For now, these will be focused empowering users to build their online presence but it will expand to other skills as they become available on Salley.

We’re already in advanced conversations with a potential partner for this, who has access to prime commercial real estate. I’ll share more details about these once they go live for our private beta users.

A few things we’d appreciate your help with:

• If you know an experienced full-stack engineer with deep AI knowledge looking for join an early stage startup, send them our way :)

• Share this with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to help people master relevant skills for work, especially as AI changes the workplace.

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard
Founder at Salley

What is Salley

Salley is your personal career coach that helps you to future-proof your career. As the workplace evolves due to AI, Salley helps you to easily master relevant skills that can't be easily automated.skills. Learn more at salley.co

Hey friends,

Hope you’re all having an amazing fourth of July weekend! As you may already know, we’re building Salley to help you master AI-proof skills, like building a strong online presence, among others. This way, you’ll have plenty of career opportunities as AI changes the way we work.

June flew by so fast for us. As the saying goes, time flies by when you’re having fun! For those of you wondering, here’s what we were up to:

Upcoming mixer fireside chat with Elizabeth Gascoigne (July 27)

On Thursday, July 27, we’re hosting the one and only Elizabeth Gascoigne for a mixer and fireside chat. ​Elizabeth is leading the non-alcoholic movement in NYC and across several major cities in the US. Her company, Absence of Proof is elevating the non-alcoholic nightlife and providing inclusive options.

Join us for an exciting evening as Elizabeth shares her journey along with tips for building highly engaged communities in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, DC, Chicago, among others.

Recently, she was featured as one of Adweek's Creative 100 for 2023! She's also been written about in the Financial Times, ABC News, Fortune, US Magazine, among others. And it doesn't stop there, she just recently announced a partnership with the New York Mets!

Elizabeth will be sharing her insights and lessons on how she built a highly engaged community and brand across 7 cities in less than a year.

Recap fireside chat with Andrew Yeung

​Andrew is the mastermind behind some of NYC's most epic tech parties, and he's built a following of almost 40,000 people across Twitter and Linkedin in the process.

Two years ago, Andrew arrived in the Big Apple without knowing a soul, in the midst of a global pandemic. But he refused to let isolation hold him back. Instead, he turned to hosting dinners to bring strangers together, and what started as small gatherings quickly evolved into massive events with over 2,000 attendees!

The event was packed and there was lots of excitement in the room. Here are some of the pictures, the energy was electric!

Welcome Ellen Brandenberger, our new advisory board member at Salley

We’re excited to have Ellen join our advisory board! She has more than 10 years of experience leading product for some of the best tech companies in the learning space.

She’s now the Director of Product Management, Innovation at Stack Overflow. Prior to this, she led product at Chegg, Thinkful, Pearson, Gradeable, among others. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard and was a researcher there as well.

A few things we’d appreciate your help with:

• if you know an experienced full-stack engineer with deep AI knowledge looking for join an early stage startup, send them my way :)

• Share this with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to help people master relevant skills for work, we’ll be adding more skills on Salley soon!

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard
Founder at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is your personal career coach that helps you to future-proof your career. As the workplace evolves due to AI, Salley helps you to easily master relevant skills that can't be easily automated.skills. Learn more at salley.co

Hi friends,

Can’t believe that we’re already wrapping up the month of May. It’s been an exciting month so far full of new updates. As you may already know, we’re building Salley to help you master AI-proof skills, like building a strong online presence. This way, you’ll have plenty of career opportunities as AI changes the way we work. Now, let’s get into the updates!

Upcoming mixer and Fireside chat with Andrew Yeung (June 1)

On June 1st, we’re hosting a fireside chat with the one and only Andrew Yeung. ​Andrew is the mastermind behind some of NYC's most epic tech parties, and he's built a following of almost 40,000 people across Twitter and Linkedin in the process.

​Two years ago, Andrew arrived in the Big Apple without knowing a soul, in the midst of a global pandemic. But he refused to let isolation hold him back. Instead, he turned to hosting dinners to bring strangers together, and what started as small gatherings quickly evolved into massive events with over 2,000 attendees!

​Now, Andrew is ready to share his secrets with you. His events have been attended by some of the world's most brilliant and accomplished individuals, from C-suite executives to Olympic athletes, media personalities, and renowned entrepreneurs. They've taught Andrew a few things about life and business, and he's excited to share their insights and stories with you!

Mixer and Fireside chat with Andrew Yeung · Luma

RSVP here

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Join us in person in New York for an unforgettable evening as Andrew shares his hard learned lessons growing his online presence and hosting 100+ events for 10,000+ people in New York, Austin, San Francisco, Toronto, and Miami.

We hosted a Fireside chat with Chris Hladczuk (Highlights)

In the span of two years, Chris Hladczuk has gone from a Yale student to a Goldman Sachs Analyst and finally, a critical team member at Meow - a buzzy fintech startup with $1 billion assets under management.

​Concurrently, Chris has built a Twitter audience of 200K+ people, and his followers include some of the most sought-after people in tech, such as Packy McCormick (Not Boring) and Keith Rabois (Founders Fund).

Here are some pictures from the event. It was truly spectacular!

Say Hi to Julia Psitos, our new Advisory Board Member at Salley

Julia is the Head of People at Alfred - a series C startup that has raised US $144M in total. She brings in a wealth of experience and knowledge as a people leader, coach, mentor and founder of WeWork Alums LinkedIn Group. She also used to be WeWork’s Senior Director of People and Learning across the US and Canada. Last but not least, she’s piloting Salley’s product and is a community member!

Slope is now a referral partner for Salley

Excited to mention that we’re partnering with Slope, a renowned design agency for high-growth startups. They’ve worked with hundreds of startups backed by venture firms like Y Combinator, a16z, Accel, Sequoia, and Lightspeed. Clients include Eco, Clover Health, Point Card, Portal, Modern Fertility, Olympus DAO, and more. They’ll be referring tech professionals looking to build their online presence to us.


A few things i’d appreciate your help with:

• if you know an experienced full-stack engineer with a passion for AI looking for join a startup, send them my way :)

• Reach out if you have any ideas on how we can collaborate to help people master AI-proof skills, we’ll be adding more skills on Salley soon

• Share this with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley

Wishing you an amazing week ahead,

Richard
Founder at Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is a personalized career coach that helps you master AI-proof skills. Salley applies AI and cognitive neuroscience to make it easier for you to learn skills that can’t easily be automated. Learn more at salley.co

Hey friends,

Last week we shared some tips for balancing authenticity and mental health, as you build and grow your audience. Today, we’ll share with you the story of someone who has managed to do this extremely well: Andrew Gazdecki.

Not only is Andrew on the INC 30 under 30 entrepreneurs list, but he is also a founder with two exits under his belt. He is currently building a third company, while sharing his knowledge with his 200,000 Twitter followers. Let’s take a look at how he got here.

From college student to exited founder

As many young entrepreneurs, Andrew started small but was dreaming big. While studying at California State University, he founded his first startup, Bizzness Apps, right out of his dorm room. Despite the initial challenges the startup faced, Andrew's passion and determination paid off, and Bizzness Apps became the world's leading platform for mobile app publishing. That’s why the company made it to the INC 500 list of America's fastest-growing companies not once, but twice: it was 58th in 2014 and 91st a year later.

After 8 years of dedicated work, Andrew was approached by private equity firm ESW Capital with an offer to sell Bizzness Apps. Needless to say, he jumped at the chance to exit. After the acquisition, he could not sit still. He had to start another business. This time, circumstances were different.

How building an audience helped startup #2 succeed

Andrew decided to “build an audience and community before building a start-up”. He had no community support when he started his first company, but had accumulated a considerable audience on Twitter by the time he sold it. So the second time around, he leveraged his audience by creating a product for them: Altcoin.io.

Altcoin.io is a good example of why building an audience is so vital to success. Within months, the peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading platform had spread across multiple communities, offering one of the first peer-to-peer decentralized exchanges and fueling cryptocurrency adoption. Just like with Bizzness Apps, Andrew had created a useful product that stood out with its approach of targeting unserved markets, such as crypto investors and start-ups. It didn’t take long until the potential of Altcoin.io was discovered by other players in the industry, and in 2019, global investment firm BnkToTheFuture acquired the company.

Shooting for the stars

After successfully exiting from two startups and building a good-sized social media audience, Andrew was ready to take his entrepreneurial journey to the next level. He envisioned a platform that would enable small and middle-sized businesses to find potential buyers. This became the kernel for acquire.com, Andrew’s third and current company. He knew that starting such a service from scratch would be challenging, but he had a secret weapon: his loyal and engaged audience. The fact that they were interested in entrepreneurship and marketing was an added bonus. Savvy in both audience building and startups, Andrew decided to rely on his community when he launched his third business. Needless to say, this made acquire.com an immediate success. The rest, as they say, is history.

What can we learn from Andrew's journey? As an entrepreneur, you cannot overlook the importance of building an audience. It can be a powerful asset that provides support and allows your startup to grow organically. No matter what your main goal is, creating an engaged community can help you succeed. This means one thing only: don’t wait to start a community of your own. The sooner you do it, the sooner it will pay off.

With love,

Team Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is building a personalized career coach to help you stay ready for the future. Master hard to automate skills, such as building a strong online presence.

It’s finally spring in NYC and if you’re anything like us, chances are you may be enjoying this newsletter while soaking up the sun outside.

Today, we are bringing you the story of someone who has lived many lives, Amanda Natividad. Those of you who have been passing through Story Alley for a while may remember our interview with her. If you read it and found yourself wanting more, this is for you.

Amanda's journey began as a journalist after she graduated from community college with an impressive GPA of 3.9. She was accepted into all three UC schools she had applied to, ultimately settling on UCLA to finish her bachelor's degree in communications. Amanda started her career as an editorial producer, but she soon got bored due to the lack of innovation in journalism.

Rather than continuing down a path that wasn't fulfilling, Amanda decided to switch gears and pursue her love of cooking by becoming a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef. Cooking provided a creative outlet for her and following her passion for food, she launched her own newsletter called 'The Menu'. In it she shared tips, tricks, and thoughts about audience building, marketing, and - of course - delicious recipes.

This experience helped Amanda pivot her career in a new direction. She joined FitBit as B2B Content Marketing Lead and built out the company’s B2B marketing team. She also led the launch of Fitbit's Health Blog as well as their LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook channels. In 2019, Amanda decided to take a break from the corporate world and became an independent marketing consultant. However, it didn't take long for her to go back in-house. Liftopia identified her potential, and hired her as their Head of Marketing. A year later, she assumed the same position at Growth Machine, where she grew the company’s podcast to 20k downloads, launched their YouTube channel, and sent out a weekly newsletter with a 30% open rate.

The most inspiring thing about Amanda's story is her willingness to take risks and embrace uncertainty. While her career path has been unconventional, it has allowed her to succeed and empower others along the way. Her passion for helping others is evident through her newsletter and social media presence, where she shares tips and tricks for audience building, marketing, and delicious recipes. She has built a Twitter audience of over 128,000 followers, a personal newsletter with over 10,000 readers, and an audience research newsletter with over 50,000 readers.

When asked about her motivation for sharing advice with her Twitter and newsletter audiences, Amanda emphasizes the importance of opening doors for others. Amanda counts herself among the individuals who have worked hard, had not been given any breaks, and now wants to see others succeed.

We hope Amanda's story encourages you to pursue your passions and take the initiative to craft your own unique path.

What is Salley?

Salley is an intelligent career coach that helps you stay ready for the future. Learn skills that are not easy to automate, such as building a strong online presence.

Hey friends,

Now that it’s April, it finally feels like spring in NYC. We’re at the start of a new month, which means it’s time to tell you about all the exciting Salley stuff that happened in March. And since it’s already April 2, you’ll know for sure that none of it is a joke :)

Ready? Let’s dive in.

NYC Tech Mixers

We’ve continued bringing the NYC tech community together this month with two 🔥 mixers. A number of founders, engineers and Fortune 500 executives gathered at one of the coolest sports bars in the Flatiron for great conversations, new friendships and the best Philly cheesesteak in all of NYC.

Want to come to the next one? Reply to this email and we’ll be sure to send you an invite.

Product Updates

We’re building Salley to help people to master skills that cannot be easily automated. One skill at a time. Now, we’re helping you rapidly improve your audience building skills with minimal hassle. We know it’s a long journey. That’s why we gave our product some major upgrades. Now, you can use Salley to:

• set long-term goals

• get a personalized, gamified plan to help you achieve them

• ask questions about your online presence and get answers in real time

We’re still in private beta, so there’s much more to come. If this sounds interesting, you can learn more and join our waitlist here.

Workshops

Some of you may remember that we were supposed to do a workshop with a large startup bank this month. However, as we all know, the banking industry hasn’t been doing especially well, so we had to put this on hold.

BUT we were approached by a number of other organizations, asking us to help with the exact same thing. We’re excited to say that we’ll be delivering workshops on online presence for OnDeck and Fractionals United.

In addition, we’ve teamed up with The Org to host a live online presence workshop that’s free and open to the public. If you’re in the NYC on April 11, be sure to stop by. You can RSVP here. 

Member-only experiences

Some things in life are better when shared. This includes learning new things. That’s why every month we’re hosting a different experience for Salley members.

These exclusive experiences allow community members to connect with others who are actively building an audience, exchange learnings and have fun. From cocktail hours to workout sessions and gallery tours, we’ve got some really exciting stuff planned.

That’s it for now. We’ll be back in your inbox with the story of one of the internet’s favorite audience builders next week.

With love,

Team Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is building a personalized career coach to help you stay ready for the future.

Hey friends,

Last week we shared with you a few tips to help you maintain momentum with building your online presence. But just in case you need a jolt of inspiration to keep going, today we’ll share with you the answer to one critical question:

How does a chronic procrastinator become one of the most popular writers on the internet in a little under two years?

With a bestselling book, long-form blog posts that are guaranteed to go viral and a whopping 757K followers on Twitter, Tim Urban needs no introduction.

His stick figure drawings, humorous yet deeply informative breakdowns of highly complex topics, such as AI and cryonics, and graphics that make you contemplate your life choices have been a staple of the internet for years. Hell, he even got to write a series of deep dives on each of Elon Musk’s companies with collaboration from the man himself.

But before all this, he was just another 20-something-year-old, trying to find his way in the world. This is his story.

Tim’s story starts in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After spending the first years of his life in suburban Boston, he headed to Harvard after high school and picked a major only an idealistic youngster with a philosophical bend would: government. By the time his senior year rolled around, however, he realized that this would not be a career he would pursue. Instead, he decided to become a composer and write the music for movie scripts.

So, upon graduation, he did what any wide-eyed recent graduate does: he picked up and moved to LA. However, the film music business was not all it was cracked up to be, and soon, Tim found that he needed a different gig to pay the bills. That’s when he started tutoring students for the SATs. Soon enough, it took off and he found himself running a business with his best friend, Andrew.

After running their tutoring company for a few years, they decided to switch gears. Tim had developed a new-found passion for blogging and found himself relentlessly writing in his off hours. That’s why the duo decided to refocus their efforts and instead pour all their energy into growing Tim’s blog. The year was 2013 and none of them had any experience building or growing a community, blog or social media following. Yet, they decided to give it a go with Tim focusing on writing and Andrew focusing on growth.

Unlike other popular blogs at the time, they decided to focus on long-form content that often focused on philosophical topics, but approached them in a light-hearted way and made them understandable to anyone. Tim had been drawing low-grade comics for a few years, so when he and Andrew started Wait But Why, he decided to incorporate his stick figure drawings in the blog posts. Little did he know that they would soon become iconic…

From the very beginning, the duo behind Wait But Why decided to do something that was quite unusual in 2013: they collected the emails of their readers, and emailed them whenever a new blog post was up. This allowed them to own their audience from Day 1. In addition, readers would usually follow Tim on Twitter to get updates on the blog, which quickly kicked off a somewhat unexpected growth engine: social media.

Within 19 months, Wait But Why was attracting 61,000 readers per month. By then, Tim had developed a new interest in science and technology and started exploring topics such as The Fermi Paradox. With this new-found focus, the blog attracted the attention of influential figures in tech, including Elon Musk.

Musk liked Wait Bu Why so much that he decided to ask Tim for his help in telling the stories of his companies - from Tesla to SpaceX and Neuralink. What followed was a trip to LA, a somewhat awkward lunch with Musk and months of deep research that ultimately culminated into the release of The Elon Musk Series on Wait But Why in 2016.

With the weight of one of the most powerful tech entrepreneurs behind it, Wait But Why was off to the races. The series attracted millions of new readers, rapidly expanding the blog’s subscriber base, allowing Tim to increase his audience tenfold. The rest, as they say, is history.

While Tim’s story certainly involves a stroke of good luck, it does offer valuable lessons and an undeniable dose of inspiration. Never in his wildest dreams had Tim believed that he would one day get a call from Musk’s assistant, asking him to fly out. Yet, it happened. This goes to show that if you follow your curiosity and invest in developing your unique voice, success is likely to follow and - sometimes - the most unexpected things can happen.

With love,

Team Salley

What is Salley?

Salley is building an intelligent career coach to help you stay ready for the future.

Hey friends,

Earlier this week we came across a video that we haven’t been able to stop thinking about. Lenny Rachitsky was talking to a16z’s Sriram Krishnan and his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy. The topic? Getting started with your online presence…and why so many people shy away from it.

As you may know, we’ve talked about the number one reason people don’t build an audience. The fear of being judged and “looking bad” is an extremely powerful - albeit artificial - deterrent. So is its close friend, the fear that you don’t deserve to speak out. We know because we’ve experienced this ourselves.

For years, we held ourselves back, believing that we hadn’t accomplished enough to warrant sharing our ideas and knowledge with the world. That we weren’t “experts enough” to join the conversation and have an opinion that matters. Needless to say, this was the wrong mindset and it only hurt us.

We wish we could say that breaking out of it was an easy and straightforward process, but the reality was very different. It took us months of casual experimentation, sporadic tweets and observing others to finally change it. It was a gradual change that required learning from others and gaining confidence that not only did we have something valuable to say, but that doing so helped others.

Looking back, there were three things that helped us get started and maintain momentum. Here’s how you can implement them too:

Speak with people who’ve done it before

One of the best things you can do when you’re getting started is speaking with people who are a couple of steps ahead of you. Often, these are people you admire and want to learn from. They may seem as if they’re in a league of their own, but they were once in your position too.

Hearing their stories, trial and tribulations about building an audience and the best practices they’re developed along the way could be extremely encouraging. Chances are they struggled with all the fears you’re experiencing but got started anyway. Knowing this and hearing it directly from them can be empowering.

Not only that, but you can often get ideas about what to do, an inkling of what works and doesn’t, and even content ideas.

Focus on topics you know and understand well

Something that really helped us hit our stride when we first started creating content was gaining confidence in our knowledge of the topics we talked about. While there is no shortcut to this process, something that worked incredibly well for us has giving 1:1 advice to multiple folks. This showed us two things: that many people would have the same questions about a given topic and that they all seemed to find our advice helpful. Once we knew that this was the case, we were more comfortable sharing our thoughts in public.

This will likely work for you as well. To keep the pressure low, start by talking to friends who may need your help or advice on a specific topic. This will shorten the feedback loop and quickly show you how helpful people find your knowledge and ideas. The more you speak with people who need your help, the more you will likely find that most questions people ask you are somewhat similar.

These conversations will help you build the confidence to turn these ideas into content pieces you can put online.

Approach content like a scientist

Contrary to Sriram’s advice, we didn’t focus on being “the best us” out there. In fact, we took an approach of trial and error that was much more similar to Aarthy’s suggestion of constantly evaluating our content, tweaking and optimizing it, while also being kind to ourselves.

After every post, we would examine how it performed and try to dig into the why. Sometimes a certain tone of voice resonated more, so we would lean into that. Sometimes the language we used to share our advice did not seem compelling enough, which told us we had to make changes. We continued experimenting and refining, just like a scientist running an experiment would. This helped us learn what worked and what didn’t, what resonated the most and what advice people needed the most.

You can do this too. Content may be part art, but you can surely take a scientific approach to it, carefully examining what works and doesn’t until you find that creating awesome content has become second nature.

With love,

Team Salley

What is Salley?

​Salley is building an intelligent learning assistant, so you can future-proof your career. Learn high-value skills, such as building a strong online presence.

Hey friends,

One of our goals at Story Alley is to inspire you, so you can make more bold career moves, build optionality for yourself and reach heights you never thought possible.

And what better way to do so than share the stories of people who have successfully done this?!

Today, we’re bringing you the story of Lenny Rachitsky.

If you work in tech, you’re likely familiar with Lenny and his newsletter. But you may not be aware of the backstory that led to the creation of the behemoth Lenny’s Newsletter has become. With almost 360K subscribers, it’s one of the top Substack publications and earns $500,000 in annual revenue (!!).

This is the story of how this happened.

Lenny started his career as an engineer and spent the first 10 years of his career building software products in Silicon Valley. Then, in 2010, he decided to start a startup.

At the time, Foursquare was a big hit. Everybody was checking in and sharing their location, which got Lenny thinking: what if travelers could use locals’ knowledge of a given city or area?! The result was Localmind, a startup that enabled people to tap into the expertise of locals while traveling. The idea took off quickly, and in less than two years Localmind was acquired by Airbnb.

Lenny spent the next seven years of his career at Airbnb, where he led product growth, introduced data-driven culture into the company and built their first host community platform. As a result, he learned a lot and started writing online to share his knowledge. One of his blog posts went viral on Medium and was featured on the publication’s front page. Then, one of the founders of Airbnb shared it with the rest of the company. The accolades were rolling in but Lenny found himself itching to get back in the startup game. In the spring of 2019, he decided it was time to move on.

Upon leaving Airbnb, he gave himself a deadline: he would spend the next six months angel investing, writing and playing around with startup ideas. The goal was to find an idea he wanted to build after this period was over.

The more he experimented, the more he found himself drawn to writing. He enjoyed the process and it gave him more energy than it took away. Plus, people seemed to really like his takes on product and growth.

So, after a few conversations with friends, Lenny decided to put aside all startup ideas and focus on writing full-time. His track record of writing during his Airbnb days had helped him grow his Twitter presence, so when he announced he was launching a newsletter, he had a ready audience for it.

To speed up growth, he started contributing to the blogs of Andrew Chen and First Round. Needless to say, he always linked back to his newsletter. This allowed him to quickly grow his subscriber base to 1,000+ people.

Twitter tweet

From there, the flywheel started spinning.

Within the next nine months, Lenny’s Newsletter would grow to over 10,000 subscribers. The main growth channels? Twitter and word of mouth.

The more he focused on creating quality content that would help founders, marketers and product managers become better at their jobs, the more people seemed to like and share his newsletter. So, he doubled down on what worked: sharing advice people found valuable week after week.

By 2021, the unimaginable happened: his newsletter had started generating more revenue than his job at Airbnb, including his stock grant (!!).

This was especially impressive because he never thought that writing would turn out to be the highest paying job he ever had. In fact, Lenny started his newsletter because he wanted to optimize for work he found enjoyable and minimum stress. Little did he know that this would turn into a business with an annual revenue of $500,000 that would grow larger with every new subscriber.

Lenny’s story goes to show that sometimes the best thing you can do is optimize for work you find interesting and fun. If you like what you do and consistently share your ideas, people will notice. And this could be the beginning of a brand new journey that would change your life for the better.

With love,

Team Salley

What is Salley?

​Salley is building an intelligent learning assistant, so you can future-proof your career. Learn high-value skills, such as building a strong online presence.

Hey friends,

If you’ve been with us for a while, you know that Story Alley is a constant work in progress. We started out by giving you the most important news and resources on all things creator economy, then evolved to share tips, tricks and success stories on building a strong online presence.

Now, we’re adding a new component to the mix. We’ll start every month with a community update that will give you the skinny on all things Salley, including but not limited to our NYC events, product updates, wins, asks and more.

Ready? Let’s dive into all the exciting things we were up to over the past month.

NYC Tech Mixers

If you’re in NYC, you may have heard about our tech mixers. Twice a month, we’re bringing the tech community together for an evening of fun, cocktails and new friendships.

To say that people are having a blast may be an understatement. New friendships, group chats and valuable business relationships have been formed. But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what some of our attendees had to say:

Twitter tweet

Twitter tweet

Want to come to the next one? Reply to this email and we’ll add you to the invite list :)

Online Presence Workshop with Large Tech Bank

A few weeks ago we mentioned that we were approached by a big bank that asked us to deliver a workshop to their NYC team. The topic is one we know extremely well: building a strong online presence.

We couldn’t be more excited to be doing a workshop for the bank’s New York team in early April and will be sure to let you know how it goes.

Last but not least, we’ve been approached by two other organizations eager to have us do the exact same thing for them. Needless to say, we’re psyched!

Product waitlist growth 

We’ve now built a thriving community around Salley - both online and offline. While our events serve as the main conduit for the NYC offline community, our product waitlist isn’t far behind.

We’ve put zero marketing efforts behind our product, but the demand is ramping up on its own. Just in the past month, we grew by 9%. Hurray for word of mouth!

Website revamp. Tell us what you think.

We recently gave our website a major facelift, so we could better communicate our story, vision and value prop.

We’d love to get your thoughts on it. Feel free to reach out with any feedback, thoughts or comments. All you need to do is hit the reply button :)

Community + VC partnerships 

We’ve been hard at work reaching out to communities that would benefit from Salley, and are extremely excited to share that we’ve partnered with several VC firms and startup communities to offer them priority access to Salley.

Members of Kleoverse and Verci as well as portfolio companies of Unusual Ventures, The Fund, Contrary Capital, Primary VC and Worklife Ventures now have priority access to Salley. Lucky them!

If you can think of any other communities with which we should partner, don’t hesitate to reach out and make a suggestion. We’re all ears.

With love,

Team Salley

What is Salley?

​Salley is building an intelligent learning assistant so you can future-proof your career. Learn high-value skills such as building a strong online presence.