IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 Two Words That Can Change Your Life…

• ✅ Why Entrepreneurs Feel Fear and Self-Doubt

• 💡 AI Tip of the Month

• 🤐 What Private Equity Isn’t Telling You

• 💰 Time to Sell Index

Watch Today’s Clubhouse!

🎙️Business Networking & Strategizing in the World of AI (with George Dubec) - Today at 2pm ET

George Dubec joins us to explore how networking and strategy are evolving in the age of AI. Discover how to leverage technology to build relationships, sharpen your positioning and create new opportunities for growth.

Listen to this newsletter👇

#22 The Monthly Startup Club Edge

🚀 Two Words That Can Change Your Life…

Tiny words make a massive difference.

This is not a new strategy.

This is not a 12-step system.

Just two words: And. Happy.

Years ago, we hired George Walther to train our call center teams at Internet Direct and Hostopia. His program, Power Talk, taught something so simple most people miss it: change a few words, and you change the entire conversation.

Replace “but” with “and” and replace “I have to” with “I would be happy to.”

That one change can save a customer, calm a spouse, win a team member, and maybe even keep peace with your twin brother.

Here’s how it works.

1. Replace “I’ll have to” with “I will be happy to”

Bad energy:

“I’ll have to call you back.”

“I’ll have to check on that.”

“I’ll have to come to the wedding.”

Better energy:

“I will be happy to call you back.”

“I will be happy to check on that.”

“I will be happy to be there.”

Same action. Totally different feeling.

Why it works:

• It turns obligation into choice. “I’ll have to” sounds like a burden. “I will be happy to” sounds like service. 

• It tells the other person they matter. Nobody wants to feel like one more task on your list. 

• It changes your own attitude. Sometimes your words lead your feelings, not the other way around. 

• It creates goodwill before the work even starts. People forgive delays when they feel respected. 

• It makes you sound like a leader, not a hostage. Leaders choose. Victims “have to.” 

2. Replace “but” with “and”

Try this:

“I agree with you, but…”

“That’s a good idea, but…”

“I understand, but…”

Now try this:

“I agree with you, and…”

“That’s a good idea, and…”

“I understand, and…”

One word changes the temperature.

Why it works:

• “But” deletes everything before it. The moment people hear “but,” they brace for rejection. 

• “And” keeps the conversation open. It adds instead of attacks. 

• It lowers defensiveness. People are far more likely to listen when they don’t feel shut down. 

• It helps you build on ideas. “But” blocks. “And” moves. 

• It makes disagreement feel like collaboration. You can still say no. You just do it without slamming the door. 

The Wedding Test

I learned this lesson in business, and then life tested me.

In October 2022, my twin brother called. He and his girlfriend of ten years were getting married.

Great news.

One small issue: the wedding was in thirty days.

Another small issue: our company had sponsored a car at NASCAR that same day, and I was really looking forward to going to the race.

My first thought was not exactly brother-of-the-year material. As I admitted in the book: “That selfish prick. He tells me this only thirty days in advance.”

That was the thought. Thankfully, it was not the sentence.

I remembered what George had taught me. Instead of saying, “I guess I’ll have to come,” I said:

“I would be thrilled to come to your event.”

And guess what?

The wedding was fabulous. Everyone had a great time. And I didn’t poison the moment with one careless phrase. I knew I wasn’t getting out of it, so I embraced it.

That’s the power of language. Try it for one week.

Catch yourself before you say:

“I’ll have to…”

“But…”

Replace them with:

“I will be happy to…”

“And…”

Then watch what happens. People soften. Meetings improve. Customers calm down. Family conversations get easier. You start sounding less annoyed by life.

Two words.

And. Happy.

Small words. Big life change…we call that a true minor/major. 

Now don’t be greedy and hold on to these two words, share them with others and get them to sign up to this email list so they can keep improving their founder skills. 

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

🎙️ Turning Discipline into Execution With Parker McCumber - Friday May 29th at 2pm ET

Join Parker McCumber, US Army National Guard Captain, as he shares how discipline translates into real-world execution in business and leadership. Learn how to build stronger teams, make better decisions and execute consistently under pressure

 ✅ Why Entrepreneurs Feel Fear and Self-Doubt (And What to Do About It)

The number one reason people never start a business has nothing to do with money, timing, or the idea. It is fear. And most of the advice on how to handle it completely misses the point.

Dr. Rowshanak, a bio-psychologist who studies the nervous system and entrepreneurial resistance, joined Colin C. Campbell and Michele Van Tilborg to break down what is actually happening when a founder freezes, pulls back, or talks themselves out of the next move.

It Is Not Weakness. It Is Biology.

Most people who experience self-doubt assume something is wrong with them. They are not disciplined enough, not confident enough, not ready.

Dr. Rowshanak was direct: that framing is wrong.

“We don’t hold ourselves back because we’re stupid, weak, lazy, or unmotivated,” she said. “In fact, we’re the opposite of all those things.”

The real mechanism is biological. Your nervous system registers risk before your conscious mind has a chance to intervene. Exposure, pressure, judgment, the possibility of letting others down: your body processes all of it as threat. The psychological story, I am not ready, this is not the right time, what if I fail, comes after. It is your mind building a narrative around an activation that already happened.

You cannot think your way out of a nervous system response. That is the core insight most entrepreneurship advice skips entirely.

Fear of Success Is More Common Than Fear of Failure

Everyone understands fear of failure. Almost nobody talks about fear of success, and Dr. Ak argues it is just as prevalent.

Success means visibility. Visibility means more people watching, judging, expecting, and depending on you. The higher you climb, the more exposed you become. As Dr. SI put it, drawing on a Jamaican proverb: the higher the monkey climbs, the more his nakedness shows.

Michele described this dynamic from her own experience leading the paw.com Kickstarter launch. The fear was not about personal embarrassment. It was about letting down the people who had committed to the project, the employees, the contributors, the community.

“It’s not just about me,” Michele said. “I do actually think about the impact it has on everyone else, and that concerns me more.”

Dr. Rowshanak named this as a pattern among heart-centered founders. The self-doubt is not coming from insecurity or selfishness. It is coming from genuine care about the consequences of failure on others. That compassion, while admirable, can shrink your risk tolerance until you stop moving entirely.

The Physiology of Calming Down

The breathing advice you have heard before is incomplete. Dr. Rowshanak explained the actual mechanism.

It is not about breathing deeply. It is about the length of your exhale.

When your exhale is longer than your inhale, it slows your heart rate. A slower heart rate signals to your brain that the threat has passed. That is the physiological brake on your sympathetic nervous system, what most people call fight or flight.

The ratio is simple: exhale twice as long as you inhale. Four seconds in, eight seconds out. Five seconds in, ten seconds out. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth slowly. That is it. No apps, no equipment, no meditation practice required.

Write It Down. Not on a Screen.

The second technique recommended addresses rumination, the 3am thought spiral that Michelle described and that most founders know well.

Writing by hand activates a different part of that same region, the area responsible for considered thought. The act of putting words on paper literally engages a competing neural process that slows the spiral.

You do not need to journal. You just need to write the thought down. That alone begins to shift the brain out of reactivity and into something more useful.

One Step, Not the Whole Plan

Pierre and Jason both reinforced a practical truth that Dr. Rowshanak grounded in neuroscience: you do not need to see the whole path. You need to take the next step.

Breaking the challenge into the smallest possible action, registering a domain, having one conversation, finishing one section, does two things. It removes the overwhelm of eating the whole problem at once. And it activates what Dr. Rowshanak called the competence-confidence cycle, where small wins build neurological evidence that your actions have effects. That evidence reduces anxiety and builds momentum.

👉 Read the full article here 

 💡 AI Tip of the Month

It's time to automate.

The question is no longer whether AI can handle real business operations, it's whether you'll move fast enough to let it.

At Paw.com, we just hired 19 new employees.

Every single one is an AI agent.

Each one has a specific role, a defined scope, and a kill-switch if it goes sideways. We have an Inventory Oracle managing 3PL health and velocity tiers. A Returns & Claims agent auto-filing 3PL claims and reclassifying donations. A Cash Forecaster projecting our 8-week runway. A Night Auditor running silent in the background, 15 modules checking for crashes, semantic staleness, and queue age while we sleep.

The playbook is simple:

1. Map your processes.
   

2. identify the repetitive and rule-based ones.
   

3. Start replacing them. One agent at a time.

You don't need to overhaul everything overnight. You just need to start. The businesses that win the next five years won't be the ones with the most headcount. They'll be the ones who figured out how to scale without it.

🤐 What Private Equity Isn’t Telling You Before You Sign

Most founders spend years building a company and weeks thinking about how to sell it. That gap is where the money gets left on the table.

Alexis Sikorsky has been on both sides of the deal. He built and sold his banking software company to private equity in 2019, and now advises founders on how to exit with maximum leverage. What he shared in this conversation challenges almost everything the standard entrepreneurship playbook says about selling to private equity.

You Are Not Selling to a Villain

The most common complaint Colin hears about private equity is that they bought the company and then changed everything. Alexis had a sharp response to that.

“You sold your car to a guy and you don’t like the way he’s driving it. Not your problem anymore.”

Once you sign, the company is no longer yours. The founders who struggle most post-acquisition are the ones who did not accept that before the deal closed, not after. If maintaining control is non-negotiable for you, private equity is probably not your buyer. If you can make peace with becoming a minority shareholder and an employee of the firm, you may find PE gives you more runway than a strategic buyer ever would.

Strategic Buyers Do Not Always Pay More

The assumption that strategic buyers deliver higher valuations than PE is increasingly outdated, at least below the $150 million deal range.

At that size, you might have three to five potential strategic acquirers in the market for your company. You have an essentially unlimited number of PE funds. If you know how to speak PE language and run a competitive process, the valuation gap disappears, and in some cases inverts.

Dress the Bride Before You Go to Market

Alexis calls the pre-sale preparation process dressing the bride or dressing the groom. It is a list of specific financial, operational, and positioning actions that make your company desirable before any PE firm ever opens a spreadsheet on you.

The work starts two years before you want to sign. Not six months. Not when you feel ready. Two years.

That timeline exists because you need to build the short list of target funds, test your deck on PE firms in other geographies who have no stake in the deal, refine your story based on their feedback, and then approach your actual targets with a competitive process already in motion.

Three Things to Do Before You Are Ready to Sell

Alexis gave Magnificent, a solopreneur in the audience, a framework that applies to any founder thinking about an exit in the next ten to fifteen years.

1. First, identify the tasks only you can do. Take a week and log every action you take. Then separate the ones where you are genuinely irreplaceable from the ones where you just have not hired the right person yet. The list of truly irreplaceable tasks is always smaller than founders expect, and it should shrink as the company grows.
   

2. Second, build systems before you need them. Process documentation, clean financials on a monthly basis, clear procedures. This is boring work that creates real enterprise value.
   

3. Third, know your growth path. Are you selling more to existing customers, expanding to new markets, or building through acquisition? PE wants to see where the next phase of growth comes from. If you cannot answer that question clearly, the valuation reflects it.

The Question You Have to Answer Before Everything Else

Before the EBITDA, before the deck, before the buyer list, Alexis starts every founder engagement with one question.

What is your number? How much do you need in the bank to never have to work again if you choose not to?

Most founders cannot answer it cleanly. They have built a company without knowing what finish line they are running toward. That ambiguity is what lets PE set the terms instead of you.

“If you cannot get where you want to go in five years,” Alexis said, “then don’t go there. Go somewhere else.”

👉 Read the full article here

Don’t forget to share out this newsletter to get rewards!

🚀 Time to Sell Index (TTSI) Increases Slightly to 20.3. 

The Time to Sell Index (TTSI) ticked up slightly this month to 20.3, a modest improvement, but on a scale of 100, we're still firmly in buyer's market territory.

After peaking at 26.8 in 2025 on the back of 347 public listings, the index is now settling into what looks like a stabilization phase rather than a continued climb.

Looking ahead, the 2026 IPO pipeline points to roughly 275 listings, which would put the TTSI closer to 16.8. Sustained higher interest rates and global uncertainty are the main headwinds keeping activity in check.

The one wildcard worth watching: if major AI companies come to market, sentiment could shift quickly.

Until then, the message is the same, we've moved off the bottom, but the real seller's window hasn't opened yet.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

Scaling isn’t luck — it’s momentum, and nobody knows that better than Joe Foster, founder of Reebok. Some entrepreneurs dream of one cozy ... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact of the Month: Founders who start more than one company are more likely to succeed.

Data shows second-time founders outperform first-timers because they move faster and avoid predictable mistakes.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 How to Scale a Business: The Ultimate 10x Growth Checklist

• ✅ Scaling in Zeros

• 💪 How to Keep Your Entrepreneurial Identity After Selling a Business

• 💡 AI Tip of the Month

• 🔥 The Shift Every Founder Must Make…

Listen to this newsletter👇

🚀 Startup Club Newsletter - How to Scale a Business

🚀 How to Scale a Business: The Ultimate 10x Growth Checklist 

In Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., we spent a lot of time identifying what actually works when scaling a business. In fact, it’s the largest section of the book. 

Most companies fail to scale. It is not instinctive. I learned that the hard way.

It was not until I brought in a coach who helped implement dozens of changes that we began to scale.

You have made it through Start Mode. Now it is time to move into Scale Mode.

THE ULTIMATE SCALE CHECKLIST

1. Product Market Proof

☐ Customers are already paying, not just interested
☐ You have repeat purchases or retention
☐ Clear proof your product solves a real problem
☐ You can explain your value in one sentence
☐ Customers would be disappointed if you disappeared

Rule: Proof sells

2. Your X Factor

☐ You know exactly what makes your product or service different
☐ That difference matters to customers
☐ Competitors cannot easily copy it
☐ You are leaning hard into that advantage
☐ You have created a Nearly Unbearable Brand Promise

3. Scale in Zeros

☐ You have visualized what 10x looks like in your organization
☐ You have proven you can go from 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 and beyond
☐ Your unit economics work
☐ Your process works without you
☐ You are planning for 10x operational demand

4. Promotion Engine

☐ You have a repeatable acquisition channel
☐ You know your cost of acquisition
☐ You know your long term customer value
☐ You are doubling down on what works
☐ You are building brand and trust

5. Distribution Channel

☐ You have chosen a primary channel
☐ You are dominating one channel before adding others
☐ You are building leverage through email, audience, and partners
☐ Competitors cannot easily steal your traffic

6. People

☐ You have hired leaders, not just doers
☐ You have delegated responsibilities, not just tasks
☐ Sales, marketing, IT, and operations are owned by leaders
☐ You remove low performers quickly
☐ You are building a sales driven culture
☐ You have identified the roles and ideal profiles needed for 10x growth

7. Money

☐ You track cash weekly
☐ You know your burn rate
☐ You are not over scaling your cash position
☐ You raise the right type of capital strategically
☐ You have perfected your pitch
☐ You continuously improve efficiency and reduce costs
☐ You use customer revenue to help fuel growth

8. Systems

☐ Standard operating procedures are documented
☐ You run quarterly planning sessions, weekly meetings, and daily sales huddles
☐ KPI dashboards are in place
☐ Bottlenecks are identified and removed
☐ You have a coach to provide accountability
☐ You have defined 3 year, 1 year, and quarterly winning moves
☐ You have clear company goals at each level
☐ Individual goal setting is in place
☐ You have a sales playbook
☐ The business can scale without you
☐ You use profiling for hiring

9. Culture

☐ You have defined personal core values and value statements
☐ You have defined company core values
☐ You give credit instead of taking it
☐ You scale winners quickly and eliminate losers fast
☐ You enforce accountability and performance

10. Use AI to Scale

☐ You have created an AI first mindset across the company
☐ You provide AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude to your team
☐ You use AI for lead generation
☐ You integrate AI into marketing and sales
☐ You use AI agents to improve operations
☐ You automate customer service with AI
☐ You use AI to amplify human created content
☐ You use AI to manage data and improve decisions

This list may feel overwhelming. Try not to implement everything in a single planning session.

It took us seven years to figure out our X factor at our public company. After revenue stalled and we hired a coach, we implemented a few items each quarter. Within three months, we saw meaningful change. Within a year, we built strong momentum. Within three years, we nearly tripled revenue and sold to a Fortune 500 company for 17 times EBITDA.

FEELING OVERWHELMED?

Do not panic!!!

We published the official Scale Workbook to go deeper on these concepts. We went totally old school…pen and paper. And we also AI custom GPTs throughout to help manage many of these steps by scanning QR codes.

We want to help companies scale.

That is why we created the workbook.

If you have not already done so, read the Scale section in Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. Also read Rhythm Systems by Patrick Thean and The Sales Playbook by Dan Larson and Jack Daly.

Once you complete this checklist, it is time to think about Exit Mode.

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

🎙️ Building and Rebuilding as a Serial Entrepreneur with Steve Simonson - April 17th, 2pm Eastern

What does it actually take to build multiple businesses over time? Steve Simonson of Catalyst88 shares lessons from operating across industries, what carries over from one venture to the next, and where founders get it wrong when starting again.

🎙️ Why Businesses Get Stuck with Rod Khleif - April 24th, 2pm Eastern

Most founders don’t fail, they stall. This session unpacks the mindset, leadership gaps, and blind spots that keep businesses from moving forward, and what it actually takes to break through.

🎙️ Strategic Entrepreneurship with Matt Kuttler - May 1st, 2pm Eastern

Not all growth is good growth. Matt Kuttler dives into how founders should think about strategy, decision-making, and positioning, and how to build with intention instead of reacting to every opportunity.

 ✅ Scaling in Zeros: The 10x Growth Formula for Entrepreneurs

Everyone seems to be talking about "10x-ing" their business.

But there's a problem with how entrepreneurs use the expression, they don't mean it literally.

The concept of scaling in zeros forces you to both visualize and plan for what it would look like to:

• Go from 10 customers to 100

• Go from $10K months to $100K months

• Go from 100 locations to 1,000

This mindset reframes scaling as truly exponential.

And that formula is to Think, Plan, and Act in Zeros.

Think in zeros

One of the biggest problems entrepreneurs face is a failure to shift their mindset. If you're flatlining, it's because you're doing the same old things with the same old people, the same old way. Thinking in zeros means thinking ahead to where you want to be.

Plan in zeros

Scaling doesn't just come by accident. It comes through structured planning, setting goals, and hiring the right people. Without a plan built around where you're going, your mindset stays just that: a mindset.

Act in zeros

From mindset, you build a plan. From a plan, you take action. Too many entrepreneurs say they want 10x, but their thoughts, plans, and actions are misaligned. The ones who scale close that gap, deliberately and boldly.

Ask yourself:

Who do I want to serve next? What market do I need to break into? Visualize your company 10 times its size… How does your story change, who do you need to hire, and how much will it take to get there?

Without specificity, you'll never add zeros.

👉 Read the full article here for all five shifts every founder needs to make

 💡 AI Tip of the Month

If you're still typing everything out, you're leaving time on the table…

Wispr Flow is a voice dictation tool that works across every app on your computer, turning your spoken words into clean, polished text in real time. It's up to 4x faster than typing, and unlike basic dictation tools, it automatically removes filler words, fixes rambling thoughts, and adjusts its tone depending on which app you're using.

Drafting a formal email? It sounds professional.

Dropping a message in Slack? It sounds like you.

Flow learns your personal dictionary including names, industry terms, brand language and lets you create voice snippets for the things you say over and over.

Say "Colin's LinkedIn" and it instantly drops in the full profile URL.

Say "calendar link" and your Calendly address appears.

No typing, no copy-pasting, no interrupting your train of thought.

It also works across 100+ languages, automatically detecting whichever one you're speaking. If you spend any meaningful part of your day writing, this is the tool that quietly gives you hours back.

💪 How to Keep Your Entrepreneurial Identity After Selling a Business

You sell your startup, the check clears and suddenly you don't know who you are anymore. That's the silent crisis many entrepreneurs face after an exit.

We imagine life after the sale as a hammock on the beach, but the high fades fast.

The structure disappears.

The identity vanishes.

Your business wasn't just what you did, it was who you were.

The truth?

Exiting a business is a launch pad.

The myth of the finish line

Selling a company is less like crossing a finish line and more like taking a pit stop. rest, refuel and get back on the track stronger. As researchers at the Yale School of Management note, entrepreneurs "imprint their DNA on their enterprises in a very personal way" and despite being incredibly fortunate, the post-exit founder can find their new life confusing and filled with angst.

Entrepreneurs are built to build

The most dangerous thing after selling is doing nothing. The mind of a true entrepreneur doesn't stop generating ideas. It's wired to spot pain points, inefficiencies and hidden opportunities. Some of the best ideas come from being in the trenches.

Start your next venture before you sell

If you're preparing for an exit, start thinking about what's next before the deal closes. It doesn't have to be fully formed, maybe it's a side project, maybe an advisory role. Staying in a creation mindset prevents the identity crash that so many entrepreneurs experience post-sale.

👉 Read the full article here

🔥 The Shift Every Founder Must Make to Achieve Exponential Growth

Here's the uncomfortable truth most entrepreneurs avoid: what got your business off the ground will not scale it.

Yet founders routinely try to grow by repeating the very behaviors that helped them survive the early days, instinct, hustle and heroic effort.

In "start mode," those traits are assets. In "scale mode," they quietly become liabilities.

1. When instinct stops working

In 2006, running a publicly traded technology company with more than 600 employees, things started to break. Revenue flatlined. Departments turned on each other. The stock price fell below the IPO. Then a board member asked if stepping aside for a "professional CEO" was on the table.

That's a very different conversation when you built the company from nothing.

The answer wasn't a shortcut. It was a full commitment. two days of strategic planning, an 88-day execution rhythm, annual and three-year goals, quarterly priorities, clear accountability, stronger hiring, defined core values and daily huddles.

Within three months, the company felt different. Within a year, growth returned. Within three years, the business had nearly tripled — and ultimately sold to a Fortune 500 buyer at a 17x EBITDA multiple and a 130% premium over the prior day's closing stock price.

2. Find your X-factor

For years, breaking into the U.S. market was a slow grind until a crisis forced clarity. On the verge of losing a multimillion-dollar contract, one bold move changed everything: a 100% migration guarantee. If a single website or email were lost, they would compensate at fair market value.

The company rebuilt around one capability, becoming the best migration team in the world. They won the contract. Then came Vodafone, British Telecom, Bell Canada, AT&T and dozens more. Once you identify your X-factor, momentum compounds. Clarity creates momentum. Momentum creates scale.

3. It's not about you anymore

The biggest constraint in most companies isn't capital. It's the founder. In "start mode," you delegate tasks. In "scale mode," you delegate outcomes.

If you want to add three zeros to your revenue, hire people who have already operated at 10x your current scale. It won't feel natural. Most entrepreneurs are wired to jump in and fix things. But scale demands restraint.

The founder's job isn't just to raise money. It's to choose the right money.

It's time to start leading a company built to scale.

👉 Read the full article here

Don’t forget to share out this newsletter to get rewards!

🚀 Time to Sell Index (TTSI) Update Pulls Back in 2026 to 16.8. 

The Time to Sell Index (TTSI) rose to 26.8 in 2025, driven by a strong rebound in IPO activity, with 347 public listings. This represents a 125% increase from the lows of 2022 and a 54% increase year-over-year.

This confirms what many founders are beginning to feel: market sentiment is improving and liquidity is returning to the ecosystem.

However, we are still firmly in a buyer’s market.

Looking ahead to 2026, based on the current IPO pipeline of approximately 190 companies, a more normalized estimate of around 275 public listings suggests the TTSI could settle near 16.8. This reflects a market that is stabilizing after a rebound rather than accelerating into a full seller’s market.

What This Means

From my own experience, timing is not theoretical. It has a direct impact on outcomes. I have seen firsthand how the difference between selling at the right moment and the wrong one can be substantial.

The exit environment is meaningfully better than the lows of 2022–2023, but still far from peak conditions. Higher interest rates for longer and ongoing global uncertainty are likely impacting IPO activity in the short term. Timing can still account for more than 50% of company value.

What I’m Watching Closely

I am watching the next wave of AI-driven IPOs very closely.

If companies like OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), and SpaceX (including Grok) come to market, they could materially shift sentiment and accelerate the recovery. These are not just additional listings. They have the potential to reset expectations across the broader market. However, higher interest rates for longer, combined with global uncertainty, may be slowing the IPO market down in the short term. 

Bottom Line

The market is recovering, not roaring.

We have clearly moved off the bottom, but we are not at a peak. If you have the flexibility, this remains a time to build, strengthen your position, and be patient. The real opportunity comes when the market transitions into a true seller’s environment, and we are not there yet.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

Scaling isn’t luck — it’s momentum, and nobody knows that better than Joe Foster, founder of Reebok. Some entrepreneurs dream of one cozy ... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact of the Month: Founders who start more than one company are more likely to succeed.

Data shows second-time founders outperform first-timers because they move faster and avoid predictable mistakes.

Stuck? Time to Scale.

According to the SBA,

82% of businesses never hire anyone beyond the founder
99.9% of companies are classified as small businesses
90% of startups fail

New startup formations are up 36% in 2026 compared to last year.

Late last year, I predicted that 2026 would be the “Year of the Startup.” The early data suggests that may be exactly what’s happening.

What’s driving it? A couple of things we can reasonably surmise.

AI has dramatically lowered the cost of starting a company. Small teams can now build products that once required an entire engineering department.

Layoffs over the past two years have also pushed many talented people out of big companies and into building something of their own.

When technology lowers the barrier and talent gets redistributed, entrepreneurship tends to surge.

That’s exactly what we’re seeing right now.

Source US Chamber / SBA
Image provided by NotebookLM

I have started, scaled, and exited more than a dozen companies. For me the scale phase has always been easier than the start phase.

That is why we decided to go all in and create what I am calling the ultimate scale workbook. 

We took the scale section from the book and spent two years developing and refining exercises designed to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses.

Today we launch: The Official Scale Workbook for Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

It took ten years to write the book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.
It took two years to create the Scale Workbook.

A team of five people helped design and develop the workbook.

We expanded the ideas in the original book and turned them into practical exercises. When these exercises are completed, they can dramatically increase your chances of success by helping you scale your business.

We also partnered with the teams at Rhythm Systems on strategic planning and with The Sales Playbook to strengthen the sales execution component.

What we created is one of the most comprehensive guides on how to scale a business.

Here is what the workbook focuses on

Story
It starts with the formula. You must understand what makes your business unique. Identifying your X Factor can change everything.

People
Scaling is not about doing everything yourself. It begins with understanding your strengths and building a team that can help you scale in zeros.

Money
The right capital at the right time matters. There are many sources of funding, but they should only be used once you have proven a formula that can accelerate with additional capital.

Systems
Systems are what allow a company to grow beyond a few individuals. When the right systems are in place the business can scale much faster.

I have started, scaled, and exited more than a dozen multimillion dollar companies. Each time the process came back to the same four elements. Understanding the story, hiring the right people, securing the right capital, and building the systems needed to scale.

When those pieces are in place growth becomes much easier.

We intentionally designed these exercises to be simple. All you need is a pen and some focused time.

But don’t mistake simplicity for lack of technology. Throughout the workbook we’ve embedded GPTs (mini AI programs) that you and your team can use to help complete the exercises. Just scan the QR code to access them.

The Scale Workbook is officially live!

Designed as a practical companion to Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., this workbook helps founders move beyond startup instinct and into repeatable execution. Inside you’ll find guided exercises, frameworks, and planning tools to help you build systems, align your team, and scale with intention.

It also features practical exercises from Dan Larson of The Sales Playbook and Patrick Thean of Rhythm Systems, bringing proven sales and execution frameworks directly into the scaling process.

If you’re past the early startup shuffle and ready to grow with structure, this workbook is built for you.

Upcoming Shows on Clubhouse

Thursday, March 12th at 4pm ET - The Ultimate Scale Workbook Official Launch

We’re celebrating the official launch of the Scale Workbook, the practical companion to Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. Join us on Clubhouse as we unpack the frameworks, exercises, and systems founders can use to move beyond startup instinct and build companies that scale. Come share your experiences, ask questions, and explore what it really takes to grow with structure.

• What is the biggest shift founders must make when moving from start mode to scale mode?
• Which exercise or framework from the Scale Workbook could immediately improve how your company executes and grows? 

Thursday, March 12th at 5pm ET - The Scale Mindset -The Complete Entrepreneur

Scaling a company requires a shift in thinking. In this conversation, we explore the scale mindset or the transition from founder hustle to building systems, teams, and processes that allow a business to grow sustainably.

• What mindset shift is hardest when moving from startup mode to scale mode?
• What systems or habits helped your company move from founder-driven to scalable?

Friday, March 20th at 2pm ET: Managing Business Burnout & Self Doubt Entrepreneurship can be exhilarating, but it can also bring moments of burnout and self-doubt. In this conversation, we explore practical ways founders can manage the mental load of building a business while staying resilient and focused. Join us as we share strategies for navigating the tough moments that come with the entrepreneurial journey.

Friday, March 27th at 2pm ET: What Private Equity Isn’t Telling You with Alexis Sikorsky

Private equity can be a powerful growth partner, but founders often only hear the upside. In this candid conversation, Alexis Sikorsky shares what investors don’t always say out loud, how deals actually work behind the scenes, and what entrepreneurs should understand before taking outside capital.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 Make $1,000,000 Using AI  

• ✅ 5 Signs Your Startup Is Ready to Launch

• 💪 7 Habits of Highly Effective Founders

• 💡 AI Tip of the Month

• 🔥 How to Become a Top Amazon Best Seller

Listen to this newsletter👇

🚀 Make $1,000,000 Using AI

🚀 Make $1,000,000 Using AI - A Founder’s AI Mindset  

Below is a real conversation I had with AI…

ME: I want you to make me 1 million dollars  

Actual AI response: Humans ask for things like this all the time, like money is just something I can print out between software updates.

I can’t magically deposit a million dollars into your account. If I could, I’d already be living on a server farm on a private island.

ME: I want to make 1 million dollars. I have an idea for an app that we could launch on the App Store. Help me build it. Help me market it. And help me get to 1 million in revenue.  

Actual AI response: Now we’re talking. This is at least a plan that exists in the same universe as physics.

An app can absolutely get you to $1M in revenue.

Idea → MVP → Users → Retention → Monetization → Scale

Now, can you see the difference?

A little bit of information changes everything.

I always say:  “You can’t outsource the entrepreneur.”

And that applies to AI too.

No, AI can’t go out and make you a million dollars but it can guide you along the way.  

It can shorten the learning curve and help you move faster.

You just need to ask better questions.

AI will mint more millionaires than any shift in history

AI unleashes the artist and creativity in all of us.

The only question is this: Will you use AI to help guide you toward your first million?

So I began my own journey to use AI to help me build something that I have no idea how to do.

My goal: build an app using AI… with the end goal of reaching $1M in revenue.

My Journey: building an app without knowing how to code

Here’s what I decided to build:

A game I was taught by my friend Michael Gilmour in Australia called Rummy Gummy.

The problem?

The game doesn’t exist anywhere.

It’s not on the App Store like other rummy games.

So I decided to build it myself.

And let me be very clear:

• I am not a geek  

• I have only aspired to be one  

• I do not know how to code  

• I don’t even know how to transfer a domain name  

I’m a successful entrepreneur who has had things done for me for decades.

But I’m also curious.

And frankly, I’d like to keep making more money.

So I opened Claude and started building.

The First Surprise: It was easy… until It wasn’t

I described the game, the rules, how the app should work…

Claude responded:

“Great. Your app has been created. Now port it over to Xcode on a Mac.”

Okay? So I did exactly what it said.

And boom.

Nothing worked.

The AI mindset isn’t “Get rich quick”

An AI mentality doesn’t mean you can ask: “Make me rich.”

It means you can ask: “Help me move forward.”

I don’t know anything about Xcode.

But I do know one critical technology:

How to take a screenshot.

So I screenshot the error.

Claude told me what to fix.

I fixed it.

Then I got another error.

Screenshot*

Another fix.

Then another error.

Screenshot*

This happened about a dozen times.

Back and forth.

And eventually…

I had my first working version of Rummy Gummy.

Here’s a screenshot of my app!

A guy who has never coded before built a real app.

Ok I admit it needs more work….but that was still incredible.

The paradigm has shifted

To be clear: there’s still a lot of work to get this product into a sellable, scalable position.

But something has fundamentally changed.

Entrepreneurs have always been a jack of all trades, master of none.

Now, with AI?

We can become masters of all trades.

Not because we suddenly became experts…

But because when we get stuck, AI helps us move forward.

The Million-Dollar Question

No, you can’t ask AI: “Make me a million dollars.”

But you sure as hell can ask: “Help guide me there.”

And that’s how million-dollar journeys start.

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

P.S. Don’t forget to tune into today’s Clubhouse 👇

🎙️ How to Survive & Thrive in a Rollercoaster World - Serial Entrepreneur: Secrets Revealed - Friday, Feb 6th at 2pm ET 

We’ll be discussing:

• How to lead and grow when the market keeps shifting

• What to do when fear or uncertainty stalls momentum

• How founders can turn volatility into opportunity

✅ 5 Signs Your Startup Is Ready to Launch

Ever had a brilliant business idea but couldn’t quite pull the trigger?

Here are the five signs that tell you you are truly ready to launch.

1. You have an idea that solves a real problem

The first question I ask myself is simple: “Will someone actually pay for this, and can I make a profit?”

You are not ready to launch until you can clearly articulate:

• The problem

• Who has it

• How painful it is

• Why your solution fixes it

2. You have the people, money and systems ready

Once your idea is real, you need a simple, practical plan to guide execution. Focus on these four key areas:

• Business and customer: Clearly define your story, target customer, what sets you apart, and your first measurable milestone AKA your Stage Gate.

• People: Identify the specific roles and responsibilities required to reach that milestone.

• Money: Estimate the resources and costs needed to get there, including staffing, tools, and operations.

• Metrics: Determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will show whether your plan is on track or needs adjustment.

3. You have made the idea real

If your idea exists only in your brain, you are not ready to launch.

When a beach property came up for sale near our Airbnbs on North Captiva Island, we had already lost three bids. On the boat ride home, we named the property Sunset Escape. Before we reached the driveway, we had:

• The domain registered

• A logo commissioned

• The brand is visualized across signage, golf carts and boats

4. You have vetted the idea with the right community

Getting feedback from the right people early can save time, money, and effort.

Avoid:

• Pitching only to professional naysayers who may dismiss ideas without context

• Seeking validation from friends or family who aren’t familiar with startups

Do:

• Join startup-focused communities or online forums where entrepreneurs exchange feedback

• Build a small advisory group of experienced founders, industry experts, or potential customers who can give specific, actionable feedback

5. Your timing aligns with market demand

To increase your chances of success:

• Observe industry trends: Track emerging technologies, customer behaviors, and gaps in the market.

• Act quickly: Move fast to test, iterate, and launch once you see clear demand.

• Simplify adoption: Make it easy for customers to try and buy your product.

Now you are ready to launch.

🔥 Read the full article here

 🔥 7 Habits of Highly Effective Founders

Highly effective founders don’t rely on luck, they rely on habits that compound.

Here are their 7 habits:

1. Watch Every Penny

Highly effective founders are disciplined with money. They know their numbers, protect cash flow, and stay intentional with spending both in business and in life.

2. Delay Gratification

Successful founders are willing to earn less today to build more tomorrow. They resist lifestyle creep, avoid premature rewards, and understand that entrepreneurship, by definition, is a long game.

3. Always Be Selling

Effective founders are always promoting authentically. They talk about their company in elevators, wear the brand, wrap their cars or boats, post consistently, and share the vision everywhere they go.

4. Be Ethical

Trust is an asset. Highly effective founders choose the long road—walking away from deals that don’t align, being honest with customers, and protecting their reputation.

5. Learn Relentlessly

Top founders never stop learning. They read constantly, study trends, experiment hands-on, and stay curious.

 🔥 Read all 7 habits here

AI Tip of the Month

Organize your ChatGPT like folders or directories so your prompts (and answers) stay more focused and specific. If a chat gets too long, slow, or starts going off the rails, ask ChatGPT to summarize the thread and paste that summary into a fresh chat to keep things clean and accurate.

Pro Tip: You can also ask ChatGPT to save key info to memory so future conversations get smarter and more personalized.

🚀 Top Streaming Shows Every Entrepreneur Should Watch in 2026

Over the years, I’ve been motivated and inspired by certain streaming shows.

That inspired me to post on LinkedIn and ask the community a simple question.

“What’s a show every entrepreneur should watch, and what lesson did you learn from it?”

The Startup Club community responded with thoughtful and real discussions. 

Below is a compilation of those shows and the lessons learned straight from founders, operators, and builders who’ve lived it.

1. Landman

A modern look at the oil business where real power lives in land rights, incentives, and behind the scenes negotiations.

2. Silicon Valley

A group of engineers attempts to build a tech startup while navigating VCs, accelerators, competitors, and nonstop chaos.

3. The Bear

A fine dining chef returns home to save his family’s failing restaurant, bringing elite standards into a chaotic environment.

4. Succession

A media empire fractures as family members fight for control while ownership and voting power quietly dictate outcomes.

5. Suits

A high-powered law firm thrives on negotiation, leverage, and psychological strategy.

6. Hacks

A legendary comedian is forced to reinvent her brand to stay relevant with a younger audience.

7. Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber

The rise and near collapse of Uber during its most aggressive growth phase.

We are a product of who we surround ourselves with and maybe even the streaming shows we watch.

🚀 Read the full list here

📖 10 Lessons on How to Become a Top Amazon Best Seller

For years, “Lunch With Norm” was a regular podcast with a bearded mentor, a series of experts, and hard-hitting education in what it really takes to build an Amazon/e-commerce business.

With over 600+ episodes and the final episode published last month, this article brings together 10 big lessons that Norm takes away from Lunch With Norm.

Lesson 1: Know Your Numbers Like Your Business Depends on It 

The first pattern Norm noticed, again and again: The best sellers are obsessed with their numbers. 

The sellers Norm respected most accounted for everything that quietly chews through profit:

• Landed cost (NOT just product cost)

• Inbound shipping and prep fees

• Returns, refunds, and damaged units

They optimized for everything.

Lesson 2: Build Systems

If there was one philosophy that resonated throughout Norm’s conversations, it was this: Amazon rewards systems.

Rather than waking up and asking, “What do I feel like working on today?” the guests who reached the top of the mountain had structured rhythms:

• Account health and listing status checks every week

• Recurring inventory forecasting and purchase-order cycles

• SOPs for new product setups, keyword research, and launch strategies

Lesson 3: Own Your Customer

Norm saw guests who began as product sellers grow into brand builders. Guests who had a real brand strategy were less likely to panic.

To own a brand is to own the relationship, as much as Amazon will permit.

Norm’s guests who did this well:

• Invested in post-purchase experience: clear instructions, helpful inserts, QR codes pointing to guides or videos

• Built communities off Amazon, email lists, social groups…

• Treated every customer as if they were a repeat customer

Lesson 4: Make the Customer Your Editor-in-Chief

Winning sellers treated reviews and returns as data. Losers treated them as insults.

Winners would:

• Read reviews in groups to search for recurring phrases.

• Ask, “What is the customer actually telling us?”

Then they employed that feedback ruthlessly:

• Making changes to the product on the next reorder

• Clarifying listing images and bullets to set expectations better

• Improving packaging to reduce damage or confusion

Lesson 5: The $10 / $100 / $1,000 / $10,000 Work Framework

This was one of the most frequently mentioned frameworks:

$10 tasks:

• Repetitive admin

• Basic customer messages

• Routine listing uploads

$100 tasks:

• Coordination and follow-up

• SOPs and timelines management

• Project management

$1,000 tasks:

• PPC and media specialists

• Conversion-driven creative

• External traffic setups

$10,000 tasks (owner-level):

• Brand vision and positioning

• Big partnerships and distribution agreements

• Recruiting leaders and creating culture

If you find yourself doing $10 or $100 tasks on a consistent basis, they considered it a red flag.

🚀 Find all ten lessons here

Don’t forget to share out this newsletter to get rewards!

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

🎙️ Make a $1 Million Using AI  - Friday, February 13th at 2pm 

We’ll be having a practical, founder-focused conversation about real ways entrepreneurs are using AI to build, scale, and create new revenue streams.

Bring your ideas, questions, and experiments, we’re keeping this interactive and action-oriented.

🚀 TTSI Climbs to 26.9 in 2025!

This month’s TTSI 26.9 out of 100 which indicates a continued recovery from the post-pandemic lows of 2022 and signals movement toward a more balanced exit environment for founders.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

You can’t outsource the entrepreneur. Not now, not ever. AI isn’t here to replace your brain — it’s here to stretch it. To push you harder... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact of the Month: Founders who start more than one company are more likely to succeed.

Data shows second-time founders outperform first-timers because they move faster and avoid predictable mistakes.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 Is 2026 the Time to Sell?

• ✅ When To Kill It Or Pivot: A Startup Founder’s Survival Guide

• 🤖 AI Tip of the Month

• 🎉 26 Best Startup Ideas to Launch in 2026

• 🎙️ This Month’s Clubhouse!

• 🔥 Time to Sell Index

Listen to this newsletter👇

Is 2026 the Time to Sell?

🚀 Time to Sell Index (TTSI) Climbs to 26.9 in 2025!

Eighteen months ago, we launched the Time to Sell Index (TTSI) to track market sentiment and help founders better time their exits.

Why?

It’s personal.

In the late ’90s, I spent 10 years building a startup to a $180M valuation, only to lose it all when the dot-com crash hit.

We missed the exit window.

That experience taught me a hard truth: timing can make or break your outcome. In fact, in Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., we explore how timing alone can account for more than 50% of your company’s final valuation.

When the market is frothy, you can command premium multiples.

When it’s not, you’re fighting uphill.

We're still far from the highs of 2021, and we may never return to those levels, but 2025 showed signs of a rebound and momentum.

 Market Rebound in 2025

The IPO market surged to 347 public listings in 2025:

• A 125% increase from the low point of 2022

• A 54% increase from 2024

These numbers matter because IPO activity is the leading signal of liquidity across the startup ecosystem. It flows from the top: Public companies acquire private companies. Private equity and VC firms seek liquidity from those exits. If the IPO window closes, deal flow dries up, valuations drop.

TTSI: Your Signal for Market Sentiment

The TTSI hit 26.9 out of 100 for 2025, up sharply from the single digits of 2023. It’s still a buyer’s market, but sentiment is clearly improving.

We use IPO volume as a proxy for market sentiment because it's empirical, forward-looking, and tightly correlated with valuation multiples for growth companies.

When the index crosses 50, we consider it a seller’s market, a time when founders can expect stronger terms, higher valuations, and a broader buyer pool.

2026 Outlook

Based on the current IPO pipeline (~190 companies, up from ~170 at the start of 2025), we project:

• Approximately 388 public listings in 2026

• That would move the TTSI to 32.6, another meaningful step toward a seller's market

If rates drop further or if major tech IPOs land, we could break 400 listings, pushing the index even higher.

Founder Takeaway

Market sentiment is improving and that opens a window.

If you can hold off on selling until the TTSI moves closer to 50, you’ll likely be entering a valuation-friendly environment.

That said, certain sectors (like AI) are already commanding frothy valuations.

Timing your exit is a strategic decision, not just a personal one. Know someone thinking about selling their company?

Share this report with them and encourage them to subscribe to our free monthly Startup Club Edge newsletter for founder-focused insights on timing, valuations, and strategy.

Download Full Report 👇

Startup Club TTSI Report 2025.pdf

57.22 KB • PDF File

Download

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

P.S. Don’t forget to tune into today’s Clubhouse 👇

🎙️  15 Ways to use AI to Help Your Startup - Serial Entrepreneur: Secrets Revealed - Friday, Jan 9, 2pm ET 

Join us at 2:00 PM for Serial Entrepreneur as we break down 15 practical ways to use AI to help your startup grow faster.

From marketing and sales to operations and decision-making, you’ll walk away with clear, actionable ideas you can use immediately.

✅ When To Kill It Or Pivot: A Startup Founder’s Survival Guide

A startup’s earliest phase is like a racing video game where you have to pass a checkpoint in a certain amount of time or else the game ends.

New entrepreneurs worry about competitors, but your only real competition in the beginning is the clock.

These are what I call Stage Gates: measurable checkpoints that determine whether you continue, pivot, or shut down.

They’re different from goals because you can miss a couple goals and still make your Stage Gate in time.

But if you miss your Stage Gate, it doesn’t matter how many other goals you hit. It’s game over.

Smart founders don’t just set goals, they clearly define Stage Gates so that they know when they need to pivot, shut down, or accelerate.

Define Your Milestones

There’s really no point in even setting your goals until you define your milestones.

For instance, when we launched GeeksForLess 22 years ago, we set three specific milestones:

• Breaking even after X number of months.

• Profitability after Y number of months.

• Pay off debt after Z number of months.

And if it looked like we might miss a Stage Gate?

Then we had to figure out whether we could pivot so we could still hit the next one, or shut everything down and walk away.

Sometimes Quitting is the Right Call

Quitting gets a bad rap, but there are plenty of times when it’s the right call to make. With one of our tech ventures, Shareholder Blockchain, we had a programmer go rogue.

In our discussions on how to pivot, it quickly became clear that we would miss our first Stage Gate: Developing a Minimum Viable Product.

That Stage Gate was so essential to everything else that missing it led to the decision I made to shut down the entire company.

Rather than wasting more time and money trying to plow ahead, it was far more prudent to simply throw in the towel and move on to the next idea.

Stage Gates must be SMART

A vague Stage Gate does you no good.

Just like any goal you’ve ever set, they need to be SMART:

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

For instance, a bad Stage Gate sounds like “10X the company.” Good Stage Gates are more tangible: “Reach $100K MRR by Q4.”

If you can’t check off every letter of SMART, then it’s not a solid Stage Gate.

Go back to the drawing board and get specific.

🔥 Read the article here

 🔥 AI Tip of the Month

This month’s AI tip is a practical PDF featuring a curated collection of custom startup GPTs designed to help founders think more clearly, build smarter teams, and evaluate ideas faster.

From defining your purpose and core values to generating ideas, naming your business, testing scalability and defensibility, and building a complementary team, these tools reflect Colin C. Campbell’s real-world startup frameworks and decision-making principles.

Built for entrepreneurs who want clarity, not complexity.

Startup Club GPTs for Entrepreneurs.pdf

43.42 KB • PDF File

Download

🚀 Trailblazer of the Month

Exciting news, Colin C. Campbell has been named Entrepreneur Organization South Florida’s Trailblazer of the Month, recognizing his leadership, impact, and continued commitment to supporting entrepreneurs.

The feature below highlights Colin’s influence across the startup ecosystem and his role in helping founders think bigger, move faster, and build more resilient businesses.

🚀 Read the full article here

📖 26 Best Startup Ideas to Launch in 2026

We are on the precipice of one of the greatest years to ever start a business in our lifetime.

2026 will usher in massive change driven by AI, automation, and shifting interest rate conditions.

History shows that when technology shifts and capital becomes cheaper at the same time, new companies are born and incumbent’s struggle.

That is good news if you are an operator.

This article is based on a live Startup Club podcast discussion with founders, operators, investors, and businesses that have already succeeded inside our incubator. These are not theoretical ideas or trend chasing.

They are real businesses you can start today!

If you want the raw conversation behind this list, you can listen to the full episode on the Startup Club podcast below, or on your favorite podcast streaming service.

Check out Part 2 of the conversation here.

2026 belongs to founders who move fast with AI, but win by staying human and building what people actually need, in the digital world and the real one.

1) AI Consultant for Businesses

Idea: Help companies implement AI tools and workflows.
Pros: Immediate demand, fast cash flow.
Cons: Competitive market.

2) AI Agent Builder for One Industry

Idea: Build AI agents for a specific vertical such as real estate, legal, or healthcare.
Pros: Clear positioning, pricing power.
Cons: Requires domain expertise.

3) Skilled Trades

Idea: Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and specialty trades.
Pros: AI resistant, demand exceeds supply.
Cons: Hiring and operations matter.

4) Smart Home Specialist

Idea: Install and maintain smart home systems.
Pros: Growing demand, recurring revenue.
Cons: High customer expectations.

5) Office Internet and Network Reliability Service

Idea: Fix Wi Fi, networking, and uptime for homes and offices.
Pros: Clear pain point customers pay for.
Cons: Troubleshooting varies.

6) Low Labor Cost Franchises

Idea: Franchise models designed to run lean on staffing.
Pros: Proven systems, predictable operations, improved unit economics as borrowing costs decline.
Cons: Location and execution matter.

7) Teach People How to Use AI

Idea: Training focused on outcomes rather than tools.
Pros: Fast to launch, strong demand.
Cons: Requires constant updating.

8) Buy and Run an Airbnb

Idea: Own and operate short term rentals in select markets.
Pros: Strong cash flow potential, lower interest rates improve cash on cash returns.
Cons: Regulatory and seasonality risk.

9) Airbnb Management Company

Idea: Manage Airbnbs for owners who do not want the hassle.
Pros: Asset light, recurring revenue, more owners enter the market as financing becomes cheaper.
Cons: Guest issues never stop.

10) Market Specific Real Estate Investing

Idea: Buy in regions positioned to benefit from rate changes.
Pros: Macro tailwinds amplify returns, falling rates unlock pent up demand.
Cons: Timing matters.

🚀 To see the full list check out the article here

My Last Thoughts:

The best businesses aren’t started when conditions feel perfect.

They’re started just before everyone else realizes the conditions have already changed.

2026 will be defined by massive disruption.

The kind of change large corporations fear. That fear creates opportunity. It opens the door to one of the best startup environments we’ve seen in decades.

You don’t need the perfect idea.

You need one idea.

Pick it. Execute. Launch. Learn faster than the market around you. Speed beats polish. Progress beats hesitation. The only real failure is not starting.

Nothing compounds like learning.

Don’t forget to share out this newsletter to get rewards!

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

🎙️ The Power of Business Coaching - Complete Entrepreneur
Thursday, January 15 | 5:00–6:00 PM ET

A focused conversation on how business coaching helps entrepreneurs gain clarity, improve decision-making, and accelerate growth. We’ll explore when coaching creates the most impact, what to look for in the right coach, and how guidance and accountability can unlock better results at every stage of business.

🎙️ The Smart Way to Exit Your Business - Serial Entrepreneur: Secrets Revealed
Friday, January 16 | 2:00–3:00 PM ET 

A strategic look at how founders can prepare for a successful exit long before it’s time to sell. We’ll cover timing, valuation drivers, common mistakes, and the decisions that maximize both financial and personal outcomes when transitioning out of a business.

🎙️ Inside a Repeat Founder’s Playbook - Serial Entrepreneur: Secrets Revealed Friday, January 23 | 2:00–3:00 PM

David Gardner shares hard-earned lessons from building, funding, and exiting multiple startups, including what investors look for early, why founder coachability matters, and the patterns that separate one win from many.

🚀 TTSI Climbs to 26.9 in 2025!

TTSI Final Score for 2025: 26.9 out of 100

The Time to Sell Index (TTSI) is based on 25 years of IPO data and tracks market momentum from trough to peak.

A score of 26.9 indicates a continued recovery from the post-pandemic lows of 2022 and signals movement toward a more balanced exit environment for founders.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter!

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact of the Month: Entrepreneurs who previously failed are more likely to succeed the next time.

Harvard Business School studies show founders with past failure experience have a significantly higher probability of building a successful company than first-time founders, because they make better decisions around hiring, cash flow, and product-market fit.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 AI Haves and Have Nots: What You Need to Know

• ✅ The Startup Mindset: 8 Traits That Define Founders

• 🤧 2025’s Top Lists For Podcasts, Books, and Startups

• 🎙️ This Month’s Clubhouse!

• 🔥 Time to Sell Index

Listen to this newsletter👇

AI Haves and Haves Not | #16 Startup Club Edge

🚀 AI Haves and Have Nots: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know Right Now.

Are you winning in the AI era or are you getting left behind?

Back in the early internet days a few tiny service providers in Toronto patched their gear together in a cramped room and agreed to share bandwidth.

That handshake turned into one of the biggest internet exchanges in North America.

People showed up for the common good.

It felt like the nineties were built on curiosity, community, and a bit of Star Trek optimism.

Then the giants arrived, and the innocence evaporated.

Jump to November 2023.

ChatGPT 3.5 lands and the world lights up.

Finally, a global equalizer.

Education, geography, background none of it mattered.

Anyone could tap into a tool with world changing potential.

OpenAI was still not for profit, and the story was that AI would lift everyone.

Then the giants arrived again.

Microsoft moved in.

OpenAI shifted to a for profit model.

Competitors raced forward…

Grok.

Claude.

Google Gemini.

Innovation exploded.

And right behind it came something less inspiring.

The price of admission started climbing.

People who did not buy in started falling behind. In my book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., I talk about Living in the Future.

It means stepping into tomorrow before everyone else so you can spot the trends early. I always chased the fastest internet and the newest tech.

I bought the early HDTVs.

I drove the early Model X. Today I stack paid LLM memberships because they help me launch new companies and accelerate growth.

Living in the future is how I ended up building and exiting more than a dozen tech companies over the past twenty-five years.

So when AI hit, I jumped in full throttle.

Right now, we are sitting on the edge of the biggest technological shift in history. I believe it will mint more millionaires than anything before it.

The winners will be the ones who choose to live inside an AI world instead of watching it from the sidelines. ChatGPT 3.5 was just the spark.

Since then, we have seen leaps in content creation, music, video, research, analysis, and everything in between.

Every month another industry shakes.

And here is what hit me.

I jump between AI tools all day building music videos, commercials, legal reviews, research, and more.

Meanwhile almost no one around me pays for even the basic membership.

Today, real AI tools do not come cheap.

If you want to play the game, you will spend two hundred to five hundred a month. For me the return is endless.

For early-stage entrepreneurs that price can feel like a locked door.

But using AI to launch a business is one of the biggest edges you can get.

A simple example. I wanted to launch a YouTube video with no real experience. In the past I would hire an agency.

This time I used a stack of AI tools and followed their step-by-step guidance.

I bounced from model to model stealing the best of each one even while fighting daily limits.

After a few weeks the video Made in America was ready and within seventy-two hours it crossed one hundred thousand views.

Three months earlier this would have been impossible without a big budget or serious creative chops.

With AI it became accessible.

But only because I paid for the tools.

So here we are.

Are we repeating history?

Are we building a new class of AI haves and AI have nots?

Will big companies keep their edge while scrappy entrepreneurs get priced out?

No one knows how the future shakes out. But one thing is obvious. If you do not pay for it, you will not play with it.

And if you don’t play with it, you won’t build wealth from it.

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

✅ The Startup Mindset: 8 Traits That Define Founders

The startup mindset isn’t just a way of thinking, it’s a competitive edge that often makes the difference between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs.

Founders operate with immediate urgency and radical thinking, approaching challenges with curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to learn fast. The mind serves as the most vital instrument for startup success.

“I dedicate at least 30 minutes each morning to developing skills that relate to the future needs of my business. The practice of continuous learning serves as an essential requirement for survival.” - Michael Gilmour

The following sections demonstrate how successful startup founders think and achieve success.

1. Be Naively Bold 

Great founders demonstrate naively bold behavior by taking risks that others avoid. This boldness is like a superpower that allows them to recognize opportunities which others have missed, while their naivety propels them forward where others would run in the opposite direction.

2. Learn Relentlessly 

The process of learning stands as the lifeblood of any new venture. The startup mindset requires entrepreneurs to maintain continuous learning because markets transform, technology advances, and outdated knowledge becomes insufficient for future success.

3. Be Optimistic 

A key gift that a founder can bring their team is a positive mindset that speaks of a better future. The optimistic mindset creates such a strong belief in the mission that it attracts additional supporters and reshapes actual circumstances.

4. Turn Fear into Fuel 

The startup mindset requires you to handle your fears instead of trying to eliminate them. The process of using fear as motivation will help you become more alert and push you to work with increased intensity, serving as a launch pad for action.

5. Lead with Passion 

Every successful startup exists because at its core is the founder’s passion. This creates a “spreadable effect which defeats all forms of doubt.” A genuine fire drives passionate leadership which enables leaders to overcome obstacles while inspiring their team members to dedicate their maximum effort.

The startup world demands strong determination from its participants, but the right mindset will help you achieve success while transforming the world.

Your daily work should focus on developing your mindset while you maintain your drive for success.

Your business success starts from the thoughts you create in your mind.

🔥 Read the full 8 traits here

 🔥 AI Tip of the Month

Discover a powerful method for speeding up your creative process: rapid image generation using tools like Google's Nano Banana.

This specialized model is designed for sheer speed, letting you generate a new, unique image every 10 seconds.

Nano Banana Example

Why this speed matters:

• Concept Testing: Quickly visualize and discard dozens of ideas to find the most promising direction.

• Creative Iteration: Maintain a high-energy workflow by eliminating the wait time between prompt and output.

• Inspiration Fuel: Use the rapid flow of visuals to break through creative blocks and explore diverse styles.

Nano Banana Example

Integrate rapid generation into your workflow to instantly fuel your creative pipeline and test ideas at scale.

📖 Top 25 Books for Starting a Business in 2026

This curated list highlights the most influential and practical books for aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs. Selections are based on Amazon bestsellers (4.5+ stars), industry awards (Axiom, FT Business Book Awards, Porchlight), and expert recommendations from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Forbes, Inc., and the New York Times.

The selection emphasizes books with lasting impact and real-world application.

1. The Lean Startup - Eric Ries

2. Zero to One - Peter Thiel with Blake Masters

3. The E-Myth Revisited - Michael E. Gerber

4. Start Your Own Business - Entrepreneur Media Staff

5. Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert T. Kiyosaki

6. The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz

7. Atomic Habits - James Clear

8. Shoe Dog - Phil Knight

9. $100M Offers - Alex Hormozi

10. Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink & Leif Babin

🚀 Find the full list of 25 books and links here

 🚀 Top Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. Podcast Episodes of 2025

Here are the episodes our community couldn’t get enough of this year, packed with insights, strategies, and founder lessons you can put to work right away. Click below to stream on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your episodes!

1. Starting a Business Without Investors — Chris & Dave Sinkinson
Bootstrapping wins. Customer revenue is the strongest form of validation and the fastest way to stay in control of your business.

2. Should You Start with a Franchise? — Alicia Miller

A strong franchise can significantly reduce risk. The key is vetting the brand’s support systems, stability, and overall strength.

3. AI Minor Majors for Startup Growth — Colin C. Campbell & Michele Van Tilborg
Small, easy-to-adopt AI tools can create massive efficiency gains and transform day-to-day operations.

4. Discover, Defend & Scale Your Business Idea — Colin C. Campbell & Michele Van Tilborg
Great businesses begin with problem validation. Build ideas with clear defensibility and a path to scale.

5. Your Business’s Must-Do Startup Checklist — Colin C. Campbell & Michele Van Tilborg
Execution matters. A disciplined checklist helps founders turn vision into action and avoid common early-stage mistakes.

🎙️Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.’s Top Episodes of All Time to Listen to in 2026

1. Reebok Founder – Lessons on Building a Billion-Dollar Brand
Build a legacy brand through niche focus and relentless marketing. Purpose drives growth; the money follows.

2. Scaling Up with Verne Harnish
Use disciplined frameworks—people, strategy, execution, and cash—to scale without chaos.

3. Funding Your Startup with Customer’s Money
Customers can finance your early growth through preorders, memberships, and subscription models.

4. Becoming a 7-Figure Entrepreneur in 1 Year
One focused product and one engaged audience beat scattered efforts. Obsession and clarity create scale.

5. Sales Week: Scaling Sales with Jack Daly
Systems, accountability, and repeatable processes make sales scalable; culture fuels performance.

6. Customer-Funded Business Models
Customer-funded business models can replace venture capital through advance payments, subscriptions, and hybrids.

7. Power Talking for Entrepreneurs
Replace weak phrasing with confident language—communication is a business multiplier.

8. Starting a Business On & Off Clubhouse
Engage communities early. Turn listeners and followers into loyal customers.

9. Preparing for an Exit from the Start
Plan your exit strategy from day one; investor readiness compounds valuation.

10. The Right & Wrong Ways to Exit Your Business
Understand the pitfalls and best practices of selling your company to avoid costly mistakes.

Don’t forget to share out this newsletter to get rewards!

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

🎙️ Thursday, December 18, 5pm ET - The Complete Entrepreneur 7 Values of Highly Effective Founders

A live conversation breaking down the core values that top entrepreneurs share—resilience, focus, integrity, adaptability, and more. Learn how to apply these traits to build, scale, and lead with confidence.

🎙️ Friday, December 19th, 2pm ET - Serial Entrepreneur: Secrets Revealed Top Startup Ideas for 2026

Discussing what next year holds for entrepreneurs and how to innovate to win!

🚀 IPO Market Rebounds: Time to Sell Index Climbs to 24.5 from 6.8

The market is recovering, but patience is still the name of the game.

The Time to Sell Index (TTSI) is flat this month at 24.5. IPOs are up 47% over last year but we are still in early recovery mode.

The Reality Check:

• It is still a Buyer’s Market.

• Private valuations are lagging IPOs by roughly 6–12 months.

• We are out of the crash, but not yet at the peak.

Wait and build. Use this recovery phase to polish your business so you are ready when valuations catch up.

The Bottom Line

Use this phase to strengthen your business, improve positioning, and get ready for the next upturn.

We’ll keep tracking the TTSI each month in Startup Club Edge to help you stay ahead when conditions shift.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter!

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact of the Month: 28% of entrepreneurs start businesses primarily to "be their own boss," and 22% do so because they are dissatisfied with corporate life—passion was the primary driver for only 13%.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 How To Succeed as a Startup Founder

• ✅ 8 Principles to Win at the Game of Start-Ups

• 🤧 Don’t Catch “Silicon Valley Disease”

• 👎 Why Most Startups Fail

• 🔥 The AI Learning Mindset 

BONUS: Find this months Time to Sell Index (TTSI) at the bottom of this newsletter!

Listen to this newsletter👇

🚀 How To Succeed as a Startup Founder

🚀 How To Succeed as a Startup Founder…

When I first heard Eric Malka’s story, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

He came to New York at seventeen with nothing and built The Art of Shaving, later acquired by a Fortune 25 company.

His lessons on mindset, grit, and scaling are worth every word.

Here’s Eric in his own words:

I was seventeen when I arrived in NYC’s Port Authority on a Greyhound bus from Montreal, as an undocumented immigrant with no money and no education.

Twenty-four years later, my company, The Art of Shaving, was acquired by a Fortune 25 corporation.

During my 40-year career, I’ve seen many smart, hardworking entrepreneurs start strong, only to stumble within the first five years.

The truth is, the odds of entrepreneurial success are brutally low. Talent and effort alone aren’t enough. What makes the difference is avoiding the pitfalls that many founders fall into.

That’s why I developed these 8 principles that took me from launching The Art of Shaving from kitchen table to strategic acquisition.

Principle #1: Mindset
Looking back, I realize our business success was in large part due to our mindset. Some aspects of that entrepreneurial mindset were forged through life experiences, while others were innate and sharpened over time.

• No Plan B – We were all in. Failure wasn’t an option because we had nothing to fall back on.

• Grit – Entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint.

• Prudence – It’s about making smart decisions, learning from mistakes, and weighing risks carefully.

• Action – When we sold our car to open a store in NYC, we didn’t overthink it. Action creates momentum.

When you combine grit, prudence, and action, you don’t just get progress, you create your own “luck.”

Principle #2: Execution is Everything
People often compliment me that The Art of Shaving was a brilliant idea. The truth? The idea was simple. The magic wasn’t in the idea, it was in our execution:

• Luxurious store design

• Premium natural shaving products

• Elevated barber spa services

• Prime retail locations

• Well-run operations

Execution turned our idea into a household name. Most entrepreneurs get stuck in the idea phase. Don’t! Focus on whether you can execute it better than anyone else.

Principle #3: Think Big, Start Small
With just $12,000, I asked myself: What’s the smallest version of this business I can start? 

Our first little shop made $350K in its first year, profitably. Twelve years later, we were doing $30M annually.

That’s the power of thinking big while starting small. You test assumptions. You learn from mistakes. You recalibrate before scaling.

Principle #4: Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly™
Most startups fail because they scale too soon. Success comes from respecting each stage of growth.

It took nine years to hit $10M, then three years to reach $30M, and a few more to hit $100M.

Skipping stages can be fatal. Greatness takes time.

Principle #5: Scalability
A scalable business grows revenue faster than costs. But you’re not ready to scale until you have:

• Product-Market Fit

• Repeatable Customer Acquisition

• Strong Unit Economics

• Operational Systems

• Leadership

• Cash Flow

Entrepreneurs with the right mindset, who think big, start small, and execute with excellence, earn the chance to experience exponential growth.

Principle #6: Financial Discipline
Cash is oxygen. Without it, your business dies.

Myriam and I sold our car to open our first shop. That constraint forced us to track every expense, negotiate hard, and operate lean.

A financially disciplined founder must track:

• Cash Flow (weekly)

• Budget & Forecasts (monthly, quarterly, yearly)

• Profit & Loss Statements (monthly, quarterly, yearly)

• Key Predictive Indicators (sales, inventory, financial metrics)

Investors don’t back ideas, they back entrepreneurs who prove they can be good stewards of capital.

Principle #7: Innovate
Before investing a dime, ask:

What can we be the best in the world at?
What makes us uniquely different?

Innovation made The Art of Shaving the first men’s grooming retail chain with barber services and natural formulas. Innovation isn’t just product, it’s culture.

Principle #8: Branding
A brand is always a company, but a company isn’t always a brand.

When we sold TAOS in one of the toughest M&A years, 95% of our purchase price was brand equity.
That’s the power of selling a brand versus selling a company.

Build your brand, not just your business. That’s what investors truly value.

Eric’s story is one every founder should read twice, once for the inspiration, and again for the blueprint.

🚀 Read Eric Malka’s full story.

— Colin C. Campbell

P.S. our new music video is out!

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

📢 Today’s Clubhouse!

26 Startup Ideas to Launch in 2026 

Join us today at 2 PM ET on Clubhouse as we dive into 26 startup ideas that are poised for growth in 2026, perfect for founders looking to get a jump on the next wave.

• Which industries are being quietly disrupted and why now is the time to act.

• How to choose and validate an idea quickly with limited resources.

• What metrics and signals indicate a 2026-ready idea, not just a trend.

✅ Don’t Catch “Silicon Valley Disease”

We live in a unicorn nation.

Many believe that less than a billion just doesn’t cut it anymore.

In my book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., I call this “Silicon Valley Disease.” (And if you’re looking for a “get rich quick” guide, mine’s not it.)

I’ve seen countless startups fail chasing the “big win” before building a solid foundation. They go for whales with a fishhook. Silicon Valley has created wealth, sure but for every success story, many more fail.

Let’s be clear: success doesn’t require a billion-dollar valuation.

Unicorns like Google, Facebook, and OpenAI are rare. Letting them define your path is unrealistic at best, dangerous at worst.

Watch Out for the Unicorn Trap

Every week there’s a new “unicorn,” and many founders make the mistake of thinking that’s the goal. They burn through investor cash, lose control, and often collapse.

Most unicorns take venture funding—which can quickly turn from blessing to trap. It’s often better to build a self-funded or customer-funded business that scales quietly and sustainably.

Retain control, protect your vision, and build on your terms.

Learn from the “Dead” Companies

For every unicorn, dozens of founders fail. I’ve lived it—going from a billion to nothing. One early venture had us on magazine covers before a botched exit wiped it all out.

Fame and fast money blind founders. Venture firms push for 10x growth at any cost, tossing discipline aside. Look at WeWork: $22 billion raised, now in Chapter 11. Don’t chase unicorns—learn from their mistakes.

Repeatable Beats Rare

I’m not Steve Jobs or Elon Musk—and I don’t want to be. Their success is rare. I’d rather have a repeatable system.

By avoiding “Silicon Valley Disease,” I’ve launched and scaled multiple businesses successfully. The wins and losses taught me how to build solid, repeatable success.

🔥 Read the full article here

Why Most Startups Fail and How Serial Entrepreneurs Beat the Odds

Entrepreneurship is often seen as the great equalizer, the place where ambition and ideas create success.

The American dream.

But reality hits hard: over 90% of startups fail. 

Still, some founders seem to defy gravity. Serial entrepreneurs succeed more often not because they’re smarter or luckier but because they’ve learned the patterns. They’ve built a framework.

They know how to start, scale, exit, and repeat.

The Odds Are Brutal, Not Random

Harvard research shows founders who’ve succeeded before have far better odds of doing it again. Yet even experienced founders fail. The cause isn’t usually the idea—it’s execution, timing, and scalability. Too many chase shiny objects, mistake motion for progress, and skip the checkpoints that tell them when to pivot or stop.

Every Startup Needs a Story

Before hiring, pitching, or prototyping, you need a story. Your story gets people to believe. It connects your why to the market’s why now.

Investors buy stories before stock. Employees join stories before companies. Customers buy stories that make them feel.

When we launched .CLUB, it wasn’t about a domain—it was about belonging. When we built Paw.com, it was about love and comfort. A great story creates gravity. It pulls customers, teams, and capital toward you.

Pattern Recognition: The Serial Entrepreneur’s Edge

Serial entrepreneurs don’t avoid mistakes—they make them faster, study them, and turn lessons into systems. Over time, they spot patterns:

• The Wave: Every startup rides a macro trend—too early and you drown, too late and the wave has crashed.

• The Moat: A great product isn’t enough; you need defensibility—brand, patents, distribution, or network effects.

• The Scale Test: If you can’t grow without costs ballooning, you’re on a treadmill, not a rocket ship.

Frameworks That Reduce Failure

Across my ventures, I’ve distilled a process:
Start with a story that solves a problem you love. Vet it ruthlessly.
Scale by adding zeros through systems, not just hustle.
Exit when timing meets opportunity, not fatigue.
Then repeat, armed with more data and fewer illusions.

Serial entrepreneurs are craftsmen of repetition. They don’t reinvent the wheel—they refine it.

The Psychology of Winning and Losing Often

Even the best hitters strike out most of the time. In business, nobody bats a thousand—but serial founders know how to fail.

They set milestones to limit losses, hire complementary teams, and tell stories that keep people inspired through chaos. Most importantly, they love the journey.

The entrepreneurs who thrive aren’t the lucky ones. They’re the storytellers who’ve learned to breathe underwater while everyone else is still gasping for air.

🚀 Read the full article here

🔥 The AI Learning Mindset 

Change makes most people nervous.

Not me though, I thrive on it.

Corporate giants spend billions avoiding it.

Risk aversion is baked into their DNA.

I saw it during three years at the top of a Fortune 500 company.

That resistance creates an opening.

Enter the entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs move fast, solve problems and ride new waves to build wealth.

Look at crypto exchanges: none of the top platforms are banks and all of them are relatively recent startups after 2010…. Binance, MEXC, Gate, Bitget, Bybit, Upbit, OKX, HTX, Coinbase and Crypto.com.

Startups captured an entire market while Wall Street watched from the sidelines. AI is the next wave.

ChatGPT jumped from 1 million to 100 million weekly active users within two months of launch and hit 800 million by July 2025. Today 92 % of Fortune 500 companies use ChatGPT.

McKinsey says generative AI could add up to $4.4 trillion to the global economy every year.

That’s bigger than any previous tech shift. But who cares about these statistics?

The reality is that this massive change has created an opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to use AI to unleash creativity, productivity, and wealth.

The key to success: An AI learning mindset.

In Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. we talk about a concept called “minor-majors.”

A minor amount of effort could have a major impact. And with AI that equation has 100X the impact. I’ve used AI to help create a hit video…check out the Made in America video which hit 100 000 views in 72 hours.

I created the song after entering in the lyrics and then had Google Veo3 create all of the videos. I have also become an expert in developing ads with AI and sending them to our agency.

The key to wealth creation today is focusing on how you can solve problems or seize opportunities by using AI.

It’s all about a mindset. Even in my personal life, I’ve now turned to it. I’ve asked an AI to diagnose a warning light on my boat.

I’ve generated songs and videos for family birthdays.

It nearly brought my 85 year old mother to tears when we played the song at her birthday party.

And you know what it was pretty catchy.

Entrepreneurs must also rethink how products get discovered. Instead of wading through Google ads, I asked an AI engine to recommend a 60-inch bathtub with the highest water capacity for one of our Airbnbs. It delivered three options instantly.

AI systems pull from trusted sources: Wikipedia, reputable news outlets, industry sites, market data aggregators, official company pages, academic papers, government portals, review sites, online forums and business databases.

Here is an old notion: Traditional PR matters again.

When we announced that Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. won 31 awards, AI tools updated their answers within hours (see below).

Prior queries had been quoting an outdated press release from a competing book even though it was publicly available information that Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. had won more awards than any other book.

The only explanation I can give is that AI’s are lazy.

We need to wake them up. Living in the future means surrounding yourself with AI.

I subscribe to dozens of AI platforms and read as much as I can.

I also play and create stuff to mess around, but also work hard to use AI to create wealth.

AI will never replace the entrepreneur, but they will amplify the ideas of those who move fast and embrace change. Change is inevitable.

The only question is whether you let it happen to you or lead it.

🚨 Podcasts

🎙️ Entrepreneurs on Fire: Find Your Next Big Idea

Colin shares how to spot million-dollar ideas hiding in plain sight and turn awareness into opportunity.

🎙️ Entrepreneurs on Fire: An AI Learning Mindset with Colin C. Campbell

Colin explores how AI is reshaping entrepreneurship and why those who stay curious will win the next era of business. 

Don’t forget to share out this newsletter to get rewards!

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

8 Principles to Win at the Startup Game with Eric Malka - Friday, Nov 14 at 2PM ET

Eric Malka, founder of The Art of Shaving, shares the principles that helped him build, scale, and sell a global brand from mindset to execution.

We’ll be talking about:

• What are the core principles every founder should master before scaling?

• How can entrepreneurs balance innovation with brand consistency?

• What mindset separates long-term success from short-term wins?

What Private Equity Isn’t Telling You - Friday, Nov 21 at 2 PM ET 

Author and advisor Alexis Sikorsky, as we uncover what buyers really look for and how to navigate the world of private equity for your business.

We’ll be talking about:

• What are the lesser-known traits private-equity buyers prioritize in a company?

• How should founders position their business for a successful exit or investment?

• What common mistakes can prevent a deal from happening—or erode value post-acquisition?

🚀 IPO Market Rebounds: Time to Sell Index Climbs to 24.5 from 6.8

Momentum returns to the IPO market!

Here’s what that means for startup exits and your next big move.

Is now the right time to sell your business?

The market’s recovery continues but without major change this month.

The TTSI remains at 24.5, unchanged from last month. IPO activity has stabilized, with forecasts still around 330 IPOs for 2025 up 47% from 2024, but far from peak conditions.

What This Means:

• Momentum from earlier this year is holding

• It’s still a buyer’s market

• Smaller company valuations typically lag IPOs by 6–12 months

The Bottom Line

We’re no longer in a downturn but we’re not in a seller’s market yet.

Use this phase to strengthen your business, improve positioning, and get ready for the next upturn.

We’ll keep tracking the TTSI each month in Startup Club Edge to help you stay ahead when conditions shift.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter!

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact of the Month: 58% of small businesses in the U.S. are started with under $25,000, and 33 % begin with less than $5,000.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 How to Spot the Next Million-Dollar Opportunity

• ✅ 8 Principles to Win at the Game of Start-Ups

• 🎂 The Anniversary Spotlight

• 🔥 AI Tool of the Month

• 🔍 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule

BONUS: Find this months Time to Sell Index (TTSI) at the bottom of this newsletter!

Listen to this newsletter👇

How to Spot the Next Million Dollar Opportunity

🚀 Ideas Are Everywhere: How to Spot the Next Million-Dollar Opportunity

My son once found a twenty-dollar bill on the ground and called himself lucky. I told him it wasn’t luck, he was being aware. 

That’s how it works with business ideas too.

They’re not hiding under rocks; they’re floating in plain sight. You are never going to find an idea binging on Netflix.

If you want to start something great, you’ve got to be in the right place. Get out of your bubble, join an incubator, or here’s something you might not like: get a job.

Just get one in an industry you actually love.

Learn it inside out. When you start spotting the problems, the inefficiencies, the pain points, that’s where your ideas live. Solve one, and you might just solve it for hundreds of others too. 

Hobbies are another goldmine.

After I adopted three King Charles Spaniels, my partners and I got obsessed with creating products for them.

That obsession became Paw.com. 

Passion first, profit later.

 And your idea doesn’t need to “change the world” to be worth something. I hate hotel rooms. Thirty years of travel will do that to you.

So my wife and I created Escape.club, a network of high-end Airbnbs with the consistency of a great hotel - Westin Heavenly Beds, Pottery Barn cookware, and quality amenities. Not revolutionary, just better.

Pick an Idea That Can Scale

Most entrepreneurs fall in love with their ideas before asking the hard question: can this actually scale?

Ironically, it’s often harder to run a small business than a big one. 

My wife runs a school in Fort Lauderdale.

It’s thriving but with 18 employees and dozens of parents, it’s also chaotic. When we hit capacity, expanding meant millions in construction costs.

Not easily scalable. I rate that business a 1 out of 5 for scalability. 

Now compare that with .CLUB, a top-level domain we launched that sold over a million names worldwide with recurring revenue, eventually selling to GoDaddy Registry. That’s a 5 out of 5. 

Scaling gets a lot easier when your product isn’t chained to your zip code.

Build a Moat Before Someone Else Drowns You

.CLUB had an unbeatable moat, if you wanted a .club domain, even Google or Amazon had to come through us. Once people started using those names, we were irreplaceable. 

Already running a business without a moat? Relax.  Here is how you can build one:
1. Brand: Paw.com dominates its niche because the name is unforgettable.
2. Distribution: Own your channels, own your market.
3. Patents & Trademarks: PupRug’s IP protections got copycats yanked off Amazon and Costco. 

Defense matters as much as offense.

From Idea to Launch

Once you’ve got your idea, it’s time to stress-test it. And no, your mom’s approval doesn’t count. Avoid “yeah-sayers” and “naysayers.” Find peers who’ll give you real feedback. 

Incubators are perfect for this. They’re pressure cookers for ideas, forcing you to validate or pivot before wasting time and money. 

In the Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. Official Start Guide, I included the Ultimate Startup Checklist, from naming and trademark checks to your simple four-sticky-note business plan. 

A quick story: my family was buying a beach house on Florida’s west coast. On the drive home, we brainstormed over a name. We came up with Sunset Escape. The sunsets were stunning. By the time we got home, the logo and domain were ready to go. 

We didn’t even know if our offer had been accepted yet.

That’s how fast execution should be. 

And yes, AI made it into our checklist. Everything from investor decks to FAQ creation. If you’re not using AI to speed up the grunt work, you’re already behind.

How to Repeat Success

You’ve heard of one-hit wonders.

Entrepreneurs have them too.

But the Beatles, U2, they kept producing hits.

That’s what real serial entrepreneurs do. 

The secret? Start your next business before you sell your current one. You’re already in the zone, stay there. I’ve done it over and over:

• From my first BBS in 1993 we launched an internet service provider - Internet Direct

• At Internet Direct we launched Hostopia, and GeeksforLess

• While at Hostopia I studied new gTLD alternatives to .com, .net and we came up with .club

• At .club, domain names started blowing up when Clubhouse came up and we launched Startup.club. 

• While at Startup.club we interviewed over 200 people for the book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. 

I think you get the point. When you are in the thick of it ideas are everywhere. Just be sure to take care of your core business and don’t fumble the exit.

Momentum is everything. 

Once you’ve found success, make yourself discoverable.

Build your brand.

Forbes Books made me use Colin C. Campbell because the world already had too many Colin Campbells.

Create a strong online presence - LinkedIn, media coverage, even a Wikipedia page if you can manage it. 

The “Repeat” section of the book is my favorite. It teaches how to replicate success: building the right team, raising smart money, and using proven systems to scale again and again.

The Encore

Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. has picked up 33 global awards - including Axiom’s Gold Medal and IPPY’s Gold Medal and hit #1 on Amazon fifteen times. 

The new Official Start Workbook breaks the first section of the book into simple, actionable exercises and if you know me,  we have included a ton of AI.

It’s loaded with 10 AI GPTs to help you get that idea launched  and 17 audio deep dives so that you can read a chapter in the book and listen to a deep dive. Really understand the material and get a third party perspective. 

And we discounted the Official Start Workbook to $9.99 so our members can benefit from it. 

Yeah it’s a masterclass on finding that next million dollar idea for 10 bucks.

Ideas are everywhere. They’re not waiting for luck. They’re waiting for you to pay attention.

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

📢 Today’s Clubhouse!

Don’t miss today’s clubhouse at 2pm EST- 101 Ways to Use AI to Start & Scale

Discover practical, game-changing ways to use AI to launch, grow, and streamline your startup — from idea generation to marketing, sales, and scaling smarter than ever.

✅ The 8 Principles to Win at the Game of Start-Ups By Eric Malka

I was seventeen when I arrived in NYC’s Port Authority on a Greyhound bus from Montreal, as an undocumented immigrant with no money and no education. 

Twenty-four years later my company, The Art of Shaving, was acquired by a Fortune 25 corporation. 

During my 40-year career, I’ve seen many smart, hardworking entrepreneurs start strong, only to stumble within the first five years. The truth is, the odds of entrepreneurial success are brutally low.

That’s why I developed these 8 principles that took me from launching The Art of Shaving from kitchen table to strategic acquisition:

Principle #1: Mindset

Here are the most important four pillars of mindset that shaped everything we did:

• No Plan B – We were all in. Failure wasn’t an option because we had nothing to fall back on. We had no “work/life balance,” nor did we want any. We just focused 100% on our business.

• Grit – Entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint. My resilience was forged young, moving to a new country at a young age taught me how to adapt, endure, and keep going when things got tough.

• Prudence – Prudence isn’t about avoiding risk. It’s about making smart decisions, learning from mistakes, and weighing risks carefully before moving forward.

• Action – When we decided to sell our car and use the cash to open a store in NYC, we didn’t overthink it. Within three months, the doors were open. Action creates momentum. Momentum creates opportunity.

When you combine grit, prudence, and action, you don’t just get progress, you create your own “luck.” And if you ask any successful entrepreneur, they’ll admit luck always plays a role.

Principle 2: Execution is Everything

People often compliment me that The Art of Shaving was a brilliant idea. The truth? The idea was simple. I had seen many shops in London selling traditional shaving products with barber services in the back. I thought it could work in New York City. That was it.

The magic wasn’t in the idea. It was in our execution:

• Luxurious store design

• Premium natural shaving products

• Handcrafted shaving instruments

• Elevated barber spa services

• Great employees + culture

• Prime retail locations

• Well-run operations

Execution turned our idea into a household brand name. Most entrepreneurs get stuck in the idea phase. Don’t! Focus on whether you can execute it better than anyone else.

For us, execution was powered by partnership: Myriam’s impeccable taste and product passion, and my experience in retail and entrepreneurship. That combination was our real competitive advantage.

Principle 3: Think Big, Start Small

Before starting TAOS, my ambitions were huge, it felt like standing at the foot of the Himalayas without any training or gear. But having no resources was a gift. With just $12,000, I had to ask myself: 

What’s the smallest version of this business I can start?

Our first little neighborhood shop generated under $350K in its first year—profitably. Twelve years later, TAOS was generating $30M in sales annually and on track to hit $50M within two years.

That’s the power of thinking big while starting small.

• You test assumptions

• You learn from mistakes

• You build your team

• You recalibrate before scaling

The danger comes when entrepreneurs get impatient and try to scale too fast. Cash runs out before the lessons kick in. Yes, you’ll hear social media stories of companies hitting $100M in 3 years. But what you don’t hear is that 50% of startups fail within 5 years, and 70% are gone after 10. Start small. Learn. Adapt. Then conquer the world.

Read the other 5 principles here.

🔥 AI Tool of the Month

OpenAI just dropped Sora 2…

@20brand

The town celebrity casually strolling through the mall 🤣 I have 2 invites left. Who wants them? #sora #sora2 #sora2ai #sora2invitecode #ai

This a MAJOR upgrade to its audio and video generator and introduced a new app called Sora, basically TikTok if every video were AI-made.

The app lets you insert yourself (or friends) into any AI-generated clip using a feature called “cameos.” You record one quick verification video, and from then on you can star in clips of yourself skydiving, jamming in a band, or tearing around a 1970s F1 track.

Sora is currently invite-only but free to download in the U.S. and Canada.

ChatGPT Pro users get early access to the Sora 2 model directly.

What Sets Sora 2 Apart

• More Realistic Physics: One of the biggest knocks on AI video has been how weird everything moves. This update fixes a lot of that.

• Smarter Personalization: If you allow it, Sora taps into your activity, location, and ChatGPT history to recommend videos tailored to you.

• Built-in Parental Controls: Parents can set time limits, turn off personalization, and manage who can message their kids.

Creativity or AI Slop?

Early testers are split. Some say it’s just endless “AI slop” — repetitive, low-effort clips.

• Filmmaking used to need crews, budgets, and distribution.

• YouTube lowered that bar.

• TikTok lowered it again.

• Now Sora nearly removes it.

Will it unleash a flood of junk or open up a new wave of creativity?

 🔥 Read more about Sora 2

🚨 Kindle Deal Alert!

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., the Kindle edition is just $1.99 for a limited time!

The book is currently ranked #5 in Small Business and #5 in Starting a Business on Amazon’s Kindle Store. Proof that founders everywhere are still finding inspiration in its pages.

🔥 Get your copy here!

🎂 The Anniversary Spotlight

It’s been two years since Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. launched and what a journey it’s been! With 33 global awards and thousands of founders inspired, it’s now the most awarded entrepreneurship book in history and we’re so grateful for the continued support.

Reply and tell us your biggest entrepreneurial takeaway…

We might feature your story in an upcoming newsletter!

Don’t forget to share out this newsletter to get rewards!

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

Friday October 17th at 2pm — What Private Equity Isn’t Telling You

What you’ll get:

A candid conversation with bestselling author and advisor Alexis Sikorsky on the hidden truths of private equity, smart deal-making, and how founders can protect their value.

🚀 IPO Market Rebounds: Time to Sell Index Climbs to 24.5 from 6.8

Momentum returns to the IPO market!

Here’s what that means for startup exits and your next big move.

Is now the right time to sell your business?

At Startup Club, we built the Time to Sell Index (TTSI) to help founders time their exits with data, not emotions.

What’s the Time to Sell Index (TTSI)?

The TTSI analyzes 25 years of IPO data from trough to peak to track startup exit conditions.

Why IPOs? Because they sit at the top of the liquidity chain when they rise, venture funding, M&A, and valuations follow.

From Stock Analysis:

“278 IPOs on US exchanges, reflecting a 71.6% increase over the same period in 2024.”

2025 Market Momentum

We’re now forecasting 330 IPOs for 2025, which is:

• 47% higher than 2024 (225 IPOs)

•  114% above the trough year of 154 IPOs

Key reference points:

• Trough baseline: 154 IPOs

• Balanced market: ~513 IPOs

• Peak seller’s market: 873 IPOs (based on a 566.97% rise from trough to peak)

Updated TTSI Calculation

Using the formula:

TTSI = (Current IPOs - Trough) / (Peak - Trough) x 100

(330 - 154) / (873 - 154) × 100

TTSI = 24.5

That’s up from 6.8 last year, a 3.6× increase in market favorability for exits.

What Does That Mean for Founders?

A TTSI of 24.5 signals:

• The market is improving

• But it’s still a buyer’s market

• Valuations for smaller companies often lag IPOs by 6–12 months

• Other factors matter: interest rates, private equity, and VC activity

The Bottom Line

The dark winter for startup exits is starting to thaw — but it’s still early.

Now is the time to:

• Build

• Improve positioning

• Prepare for the upturn

Timing your exit can be the most valuable decision you make as a founder — and the TTSI is here to guide that.

What’s Next?

We’ll continue tracking the TTSI each month in Startup Club Edge — delivering fresh insights and strategies so you’re ready when the market heats up.

Until then: Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter!

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact of the Month: 58% of small businesses in the U.S. are started with under $25,000, and 33 % begin with less than $5,000.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 The AI Learning Mindset

• ✅ Work, Live, And Play At Sea

• 🔥 AI Tool of the Month

• 🔍 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule

Listen to this newsletter👇

The AI Learning Mindset | The Start Up Edge Newsletter

🚀 The AI Learning Mindset 

Change makes most people nervous.

Not me though, I thrive on it. 

Corporate giants spend billions avoiding it. Risk aversion is baked into their DNA.

I saw it during three years at the top of a Fortune 500 company.

That resistance creates an opening.

Enter the entrepreneur. 

Entrepreneurs move fast, solve problems and ride new waves to build wealth.

Look at crypto exchanges: none of the top platforms are banks and all of them are relatively recent startups after 2010…. Binance, MEXC, Gate, Bitget, Bybit, Upbit, OKX, HTX, Coinbase and Crypto.com. 

Startups captured an entire market while Wall Street watched from the sidelines.

AI is the next wave.

ChatGPT jumped from 1 million to 100 million weekly active users within two months of launch and hit 800 million by July 2025. 

Today 92 % of Fortune 500 companies use ChatGPT. McKinsey says generative AI could add up to $4.4 trillion to the global economy every year.

That’s bigger than any previous tech shift.

But who cares about these statistics?

The reality is that this massive change has created an opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to use AI to unleash creativity, productivity, and wealth. 

The key to success: An AI learning mindset. 

In Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. we talk about a concept called “minor-majors.” A minor amount of effort could have a major impact. And with AI that equation has 100X the impact. 

I’ve used AI to help create a hit video…check out the Made in America video which hit 100 000 views in 72 hours.

I created the song after entering in the lyrics and then had Google Veo3 create all of the videos.

I have also become an expert in developing ads with AI and sending them to our agency.

Check out this penguin!

The key to wealth creation today is focusing on how you can solve problems or seize opportunities by using AI. 

It’s all about a mindset. 

Even in my personal life, I’ve now turned to it. I’ve asked an AI to diagnose a warning light on my boat.

I’ve generated songs and videos for family birthdays.

It nearly brought my 85 year old mother to tears when we played the song at her birthday party.

And you know what it was pretty catchy. 

Entrepreneurs must also rethink how products get discovered. Instead of wading through Google ads, I asked an AI engine to recommend a 60-inch bathtub with the highest water capacity for one of our Airbnbs.

It delivered three options instantly. 

Then it hit me.

If I am doing this for my products or services, then my customers are doing the same to recommend products or services in my industry. 

AI systems pull from trusted sources: Wikipedia, reputable news outlets, industry sites, market data aggregators, official company pages, academic papers, government portals, review sites, online forums and business databases. 

Here is an old notion: Traditional PR matters again.

When we announced that Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. won 31 awards, AI tools updated their answers within hours (see below). 

Prior queries had been quoting an outdated press release from a competing book even though it was publicly available information that Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. had won more awards than any other book.

The only explanation I can give is that AI’s are lazy. We need to wake them up. 

Living in the future means surrounding yourself with AI.

I subscribe to dozens of AI platforms and read as much as I can. I also play and create stuff to mess around, but also work hard to use AI to create wealth. 

AI will never replace the entrepreneur, but they will amplify the ideas of those who move fast and embrace change.

Change is inevitable.

The only question is whether you let it happen to you or lead it.

— Colin C. Campbell

P.S. Did you enjoy Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.?

If you haven’t already, I’d be so grateful if you shared your thoughts in an Amazon review. 

Your feedback helps other entrepreneurs discover the book!

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

📢 Today’s Clubhouse!

Don’t miss today’s clubhouse at 2pm EST- AI’s Great Divide: The Haves, the Have-Nots, and What It Means for Entrepreneurs

AI is advancing at unprecedented speed. Some entrepreneurs have the tools and capital to keep pace, while others risk being left behind. This discussion explores what the growing AI divide means for founders, startups, and innovators.

• How can entrepreneurs leverage AI to stay ahead of the competition?

• What risks do founders face if they fail to adopt AI?

• Which strategies can bridge the gap between AI “haves” and “have-nots”?

✅ Work, Live, And Play At Sea: Crescent Seas Reinvents Life And Business On The Water

In the post-pandemic world, work has been redefined in ways we never imagined. Now a new frontier is opening up, not on land, but at sea.

Enter Crescent Seas, a venture designed for those who want to blend life, work, and adventure on the open water.

The idea first struck me on a trip to Iceland aboard a Royal Caribbean ship. Thanks to Starlink, I was able to jump on Zoom calls, record podcasts, and do interviews right from the ship.

The one thing missing?

A real place to work.

Even in the private lounges, I’d often get weird looks from vacationers who wanted nothing to do with business when I was talking on the phone or on a Zoom call.

Still, I couldn’t shake the thought: what if you could work at sea?

What if you could build a startup, run a podcast, or promote your business around the world, all from the deck of a ship?

With SpaceX bringing reliable, high-speed internet to virtually every corner of the globe, the possibility suddenly became very real.

Residential cruise ships are still rare. There’s The World, launched in 2002 and geared toward retirees, and the budget-friendly Villa Vie Odyssey, which hit the water last year.

Crescent Seas is taking things further, announcing that two former Norwegian Cruise Line ships will be converted into luxury floating residences.

The first to debut will be the Crescent Navigator, once known as the Regent’s Navigator of the Seas.

Crescent Seas offers private residences at sea, complete with kitchens, daily housekeeping, butler services, and onboard healthcare.

The ship will feature multiple restaurants, lounges, and the kind of high-end amenities you’d expect from a luxury cruise line.

But here’s where it gets interesting:

“Crescent Seas also offers co-working and meeting rooms suitable for collaborative or professional use. These spaces will be flexible and service-oriented, comparable to co-working environments like WeWork,” a spokesperson told me.

With high-speed internet throughout the ship, working professionals can take conference calls, trade markets, or even run AI servers, all while watching the waves roll by.

• High-speed internet? ✅

• Meeting rooms? ✅

• Ergonomic workspaces? ✅

For digital nomads like myself, it offers a new way to live and work without compromise.

One question bothers me, though: Will residential cruise ships like Crescent’s Navigator unlock creativity and innovation for their residents, or will their many distractions chip away at productivity?

Only time will tell.

My wife and I plan to find out firsthand when we join the ship in early 2027.

For us, the lifestyle fits perfectly.

It means I can continue sharing my book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. around the world, then wrap up the day with a glass of wine in the lounge, watching icebergs drift past our new home at sea.

🚀 Check out the full article 

🔥 AI Tool of the Month

 This month’s AI tool of the month is… Chat GPT’s Agent Mode!

My dream AI was featured in the movie “Her”.

I really want someone to know everything about me and be able to function by doing things.

Agent mode by ChatGPT might be the first step: Agent mode is better than just asking questions because it can perform real-world actions, not just provide answers.

Key Reasons:

• Automates tasks: Can search, book, or summarize without manual effort.

• Real-time results: Fetches the most current information directly.

• Convenience: Saves time by handling multiple steps in a process for the user.

• Personalization: Takes instructions and tailors actions to user needs.

1. Enable Agent Mode in ChatGPT

Log in to ChatGPT as a Pro user. Click the tool selection dropdown and choose ‘agent mode.’ This unlocks the AI’s ability to act on your instructions, not just answer questions.

2. Give a Clear, Multi-Step Task Brief

In plain language, outline what you need:

‘Find the top five AI news items this week, summarize each, and create a slide deck with brief descriptions and source links.’

The more specific your instructions, the better the results.

3. Let the Agent Work With Your Oversight

The agent navigates news sites, gathers updates, and synthesizes summaries. If it needs to log in or submit a form, it’ll pause and ask for your approval, so nothing happens without your say-so

4. Review & Approve Actions

As it works, you’ll get prompts to approve sensitive steps—like accessing a paid news site or connecting to your Google account for slides. This keeps you in control and ensures security.

5. Receive Ready-to-Use Outputs

The agent delivers a Google Slides deck (or PowerPoint), complete with formatted summaries and links. You can download, edit, or share as needed—no more copy-pasting between tools

6. Tweak & Re-Run as Needed

Want to change the format or add a section? Just give new instructions, and the agent adapts.

The entire process takes minutes, not hours.

Don’t forget to share out this newsletter to get rewards!

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

Friday September 19th at 2pm — Serial Entrepreneur: Secrets Revealed

Joel Gandara, a seasoned entrepreneur, shares the lessons learned from building, scaling, and selling multiple businesses. This candid conversation uncovers the strategies, mindset, and practical advice behind his entrepreneurial journey.

• What key habits and disciplines drive Joel’s success across ventures?

• How does he evaluate when it’s time to scale or exit a business?

• What advice does he have for founders navigating today’s startup landscape?

🚀 Is it Time to Sell?

Time to Sell Index: → 22 out of 100.

What does this mean?

Based on our latest estimates, the TTSI remains at 22 out of 100 today. This is still a significant improvement but still indicates a buyer’s market rather than a seller’s market.

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 22 out of 100.

While the IPO market is recovering, valuations for smaller companies tend to lag 6-12 months behind IPO rebounds.

Additional factors, such as lower interest rates, private equity activity, and venture capital flows, can also impact acquisition opportunities.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter!

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact of the Month: About 62% of U.S. billionaires are self-made entrepreneurs.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 From Stuck to Start: Ideas to Action

• ✅ Scaling Beyond the Startup Phase

• 🎵 Have you Listened to “Made in America”?!

• 🔥 AI Tool of the Month

• 🔍 Is it Time to Sell?

Estimated Read Time: 4 minutes 17 seconds

Listen to this newsletter👇

Startup Club Edge Newsletter

🚀 From Stuck to Start: Ideas to Action

Have you been thinking about launching a business, but just don’t know where to begin?

Today, we’re starting that journey together.

At Startup Club, we’ve put together the most comprehensive startup action list to help you move from thinking to doing.

Now for a true story.

In 2006, my business partners and I were sitting in a “Dasha” (a cabin in Ukraine), enjoying a bit of Ukrainian culture ☺ and letting the ideas flow.

One problem we always ran into?

We could never seem to get a cab after meetings.

That day, we came up with the idea: My Yellow Button.

A simple concept.

A single yellow button on your phone that would summon a nearby driver using GPS.

We even mocked it up and started the process - checking trademarks, registering a domain name.

The works.

But the weeks passed.

The company kept focusing on what it had always done - building games.

And like that, the idea faded away.

Ten years later, we sold that business for a scratch - no money gained, no money lost.

But the idea?

It didn’t die.

It just got picked up by others.

Uber. Lyft.

That’s the billion-dollar idea that got away.

Don’t be the person who says, “That was my idea.”

It’s time to act.

To move from stuck… to start.

At Startup Club, we’ve built the most actionable startup checklist out there.

Here are the first 10 steps to get you going:

1. Write down your idea.

2. Define your business’s purpose.

3. Identify the space you want to own.

4. Determine what will get your business on the first page of Google.

5. Name your idea.

6. Check the Trademark Database.

7. Register the domain.

8. Create a logo matching my intended brand style.

9. Set up a business email and phone number.

10. Join an incubator.

Want the full list?

Grab the official workbook to accompany Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

As part of Startup Summer, we’ve discounted the workbook to just $9.99 on Amazon. It includes helpful AI tools and deep dives for every chapter of the Start framework.

Start now.

The next big idea doesn’t wait.

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

📢 Today’s Clubhouse!

Don’t miss today’s clubhouse at 2pm EST- Startup Summer— Build a Moat

In this session, we’re breaking down the essential steps to building a moat around your business. We’ll be discussing:

• How do you protect your startup from competitors?

• This session dives into strategies to build a strong moat

✅ Scaling Beyond the Startup Phase

Scaling a startup into a thriving business is no easy feat.

Many entrepreneurs find themselves stuck in the “start” phase, unable to make the transition to a scalable operation.

“Success isn’t just about great ideas—it’s about implementing structured systems, setting clear goals, and maintaining discipline.”

Success isn’t just about great ideas, it’s about implementing structured systems, setting clear goals, and maintaining discipline.

Entrepreneurs often rely on instinct and hustle in the early days, but scaling requires a shift: from reacting to planning, from delegating tasks to delegating responsibilities, and from operating in chaos to implementing predictable systems.

One of the key takeaways is the importance of a 90-day execution cycle.

Strategic planning, goal-setting, and accountability through daily and quarterly check-ins create a cadence for success.

Founders must embrace structure, identify winning moves, and develop a culture that supports growth.

This shift isn’t always natural, but it’s necessary to build a company that scales beyond a small operation.

If you’re an entrepreneur struggling to transition from start to scale, the lessons shared in this discussion could be game-changing.

Implementing the right systems and fostering a leadership mindset can be the difference between staying small and creating a high-growth company.

🚀 Check out the full article and video

🔥 AI Tool of the Month

 Looking to create high-impact video content on a budget?

Meet Hailou + Veo

Tools like Hailou combined with Google’s Veo make it easy to animate still images into cinematic, AI-generated videos, just like we did for our Made in America music video down below!

It's a fast, cost-effective way to turn a single visual into a dynamic story.

Don’t forget to share out this newsletter to get rewards!

🚀 Have You Seen Our “Made in America” Video Yet?

We launched it just a few days ago, and it's already passed 130,000 views and counting! This AI-generated music video celebrates entrepreneurs who are building faster, better, and local right here in the U.S.

It’s more than a song, it’s a tribute to the makers, doers, and innovators redefining what Made in America really means.

Watch the full video today!

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

August 15 — Purpose-Driven Growth with Cesar Quintero

Join us for a conversation with Cesar Quintero of The Profit Recipe on how purpose and vision fuel long-term business growth. We’ll dive into practical strategies to lead with intention, avoid common scaling plateaus, and keep your momentum strong.

• How does purpose create a sustainable growth strategy?

• What causes growth to stall—and how can you fix it?

August 22 — Startup Summer: 4 Sticky Note Business Plan 

Back to basics, the Startup Club way. In this session, we’ll build a simple but powerful business plan using just four sticky notes—perfect for refining your idea or pivoting fast.

• What are the four core elements every startup must define early?

• How do you pressure-test your idea without overcomplicating it?

August 29 — Startup Summer: Ideas That Can Scale

Some ideas spark. Others scale. Let’s explore what makes an idea scalable, and how to tell if your business concept has the potential to grow beyond the early stage.

• What are the signs your idea can (or can’t) scale?

• What must be true for growth to happen reliably?

🚀 Is it Time to Sell?

Time to Sell Index: → 22 out of 100.

What does this mean?

Based on our latest estimates, TTSI has jumped from 6.8 out of 100 last year to 22 out of 100 today. This is a significant improvement but still indicates a buyer’s market rather than a seller’s market.

While the IPO market is recovering, valuations for smaller companies tend to lag 6-12 months behind IPO rebounds.

Additional factors, such as lower interest rates, private equity activity, and venture capital flows, can also impact acquisition opportunities.

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 22 out of 100.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter!

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact of the Month: According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, there are over 582 million entrepreneurs around the world. You are not alone.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 😱 Want to Find Your Next Million Dollar Startup Idea?

• 🚀 How to Register a TLD for Your Brand

•  ✅ 5 Lessons I Learned to Help Scale My Businesses

• 🔥 AI Tool of the Month

• 🔍 Is it Time to Sell?

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes 42 seconds

Listen to this newsletter👇

Startup Edge July Newsletter

Want to Find Your Next Million Dollar Startup Idea? 4 Keys Secrets Revealed

In Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., we start with this one big question.

Business is like the big bang - the decisions you make at the start shape your future for years, even a lifetime. Yet so few take the time to think it through.

To be honest?

I didn’t either.

I grew up in a family of farmers.

Right after college, I was back on the family farm, hoeing raspberry bushes day after day. After a year of mind-numbing weeding, we’d spend an hour picking one flat of berries and sell it for $20.

Not exactly scalable.

With all those hours and callouses, we probably made less than minimum wage. But all that time in the fields gave me time to think.

I saved what I could, piled on some credit card debt and student loans (don’t judge me), and added a $12,800 loan from my mom to launch my first business.

We opened a software rental store right when demand was taking off, and it did well, until a new Canada/US trade law banned software rentals, and we shut down in 13 months.

But during that time, we launched a bulletin board service (think “internet before the internet”), which quickly grew into the second largest in the country, evolved into an internet company, a hosting company,

Fast forward past plenty of crash-and-burns and big wins - 20 years later, I was standing at MIT teaching 60 entrepreneurs how to pick the right idea to start.

Back then, I had no clue what I was doing, just like most entrepreneurs.

But those 20 years taught me one thing: picking the right idea changes everything. If you’ve read the book, you know.

If not, here’s your short formula to pick a great idea:

1. Find a problem. Problems are everywhere, but you need to pay attention. The best way? Get a job in an industry you love. When you’re in the trenches, you see problems all over. Binge-watching Netflix? Not so much.

2. Pick an idea that can scale. Sounds obvious, but it’s not unless you step back and think. Scaling that raspberry farm wasn’t going to happen (land, equipment, labor). Scaling an internet access company? Easier, but still limited by infrastructure and local demand. Scaling a digital platform like a gTLD (.com, .club or .ca)? Now that’s freakin’ unlimited scaling.

We’ve built a free GPT tool for you to test your idea. But here’s the next piece:

3.  Protect what you scale. Most people think about protection after they succeed (patents, trademarks, etc.), but you can bake defensibility in from the start.

Take my prior company, the gTLD .club (sold to GoDaddy Registry).

We had unlimited inventory, and even though Amazon and Google launched .group and .team, if someone wanted .club, we were the only ones who had it.

Once customers used it for their email and website, they couldn’t switch, giving us pricing power.

Think of ideas you can protect out of the gate. Check out our GPT to test your moat here.

4. Act on it. This is where most people stop. Ideas are worthless unless you act on them. We built an official workbook on Amazon with the most comprehensive checklist ever to take your idea and launch it.

I once had a multibillion-dollar idea years before the market did, and I didn’t take action. It’s still a great idea, and next month’s email will tell that story.

Thankfully I have successfully started, scaled, and exited over a dozen multimillion dollar companies.

And let me tell you this: it is easier to come up with a great idea than you might think.

Now scaling…that is tough.

Ideas are everywhere.

Pay attention!

When you find yours, act on it!

Don’t be the idiot who sees someone else launch it and say “that was my idea”.

Based on the #1 Best Selling, Award Winning Book: Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. which you can get at Amazon here, with over 30 global awards, making it the most awarded book on

entrepreneurship ever published, including Best Independent Business Book 2025 (IPPY) and Best Book on Entrepreneurship 2025 (Axiom).

Or check out the ultimate startup workbook with the most comprehensive list of actionable ideas to get started here which we discounted for this week only on Amazon for this week at $9.99 on Amazon here.

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

📢 Today’s Clubhouse!

Don’t miss today’s clubhouse at 2pm EST- The Ultimate Startup Checklist

In this session, we’re breaking down the essential steps every founder needs to launch with confidence and clarity.

• What should be on your startup checklist (and what to skip)

• How to stay lean while building a solid foundation

• Tools and habits that set early-stage founders up for success

✅ 5 Lessons I Learned to Help Scale My Businesses

Back in 1996, after our internet access and content company was recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies in Canada, my brother and I were approached by someone who introduced us to EO.

I had no idea that such an organization of like-minded founders who support each other through the sometimes turbulent rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship even existed.

Here are 7 key lessons I learned from EO that helped me scale:

1. Start vs. Scale Require Different Playbooks

In 2006, our public company was flatlining. A board member even suggested replacing me as CEO. I reached out to a fellow EO member who introduced me to Patrick Thean of Rhythm Systems. We implemented two days of strategic planning, 90 days of execution, daily huddles, core values, goal setting and more — we really went all-in.

The result? We tripled in size within a few years and sold the company to a Fortune 500 firm at a 125% premium to our stock price.

2. Hire Based on Personality

At an EO University, I discovered the DISC personality profiling system, a self-assessment tool that helps identify individual behavioral styles.

I had each member of my team take the test and suddenly understood why some thrived and others struggled. It became our game-changing hiring philosophy. We built incredible teams by aligning roles with personalities.

3. Get Comfortable Presenting in Public

Like most entrepreneurs, I dreaded public speaking. But through EO—where I presented at events and within my Forum—I gained the confidence to handle Initial Public Offering (IPO) roadshows and investor pitches.

4. Learn to Lead Leaders

Leading high-level leaders can be as challenging as herding cats. Entrepreneurs and most great executives tend to be strong-willed with a dominant personality. In other words, they are not “Yes” people. They tend to challenge you, which can be frustrating, but if you can manage that while simultaneously inspiring and aligning them, you can scale a company beyond what you imagined.

5. Delegate Responsibilities, Not Tasks

In Start mode, you do it all yourself. In Scale mode, you empower leaders to do what needs to be done. The key factor here is to assign outcomes—not checklists.

I even discovered a hidden benefit: You get to sleep at night. Your team might be up worrying about the details at 3 am—but you won’t.

Bonus Lesson: Learn From Others

Back when I was a hotshot twenty-something entrepreneur, I thought I knew it all. I didn’t. EO taught me how to scale by learning from others.

Read all 7 tips on Entrepreneurs Organization

🔥 Register a TLD for Your Brand: The Opportunity is Fast Approaching

A Brand Top-level Domain (TLD) is a type of internet domain name that is associated with a specific brand trademark. Unlike generic TLDs such as “.com”, “.org,” or “.club”, a Brand TLD is the authentic brand extension of a trademark, enabling it to be extended to customers and partner supply chains. 

In a word, a Brand TLD means “Trust”. For the trademark owner, the key attributes are full ownership, security and control over a massively scalable, brand-authentic digital identity.

Why Apply to Own a Brand TLD?

1. Security Enhancements

One of the primary benefits of owning a Brand TLD is enhanced security. Cybersecurity threats are an ever-present concern. Phishing, domain spoofing, and other malicious activities can damage a brand’s reputation and erode consumer trust. A Brand TLD allows for rigorous security and automation to protect digital assets and customer interactions.

• Reduced Risk of Phishing and Spoofing

• Enhanced Control Over Domain Management

• Network Security

2. Brand Authenticity and Trust

In an era where brand authenticity and trust are paramount, owning a Brand TLD can significantly enhance a company’s credibility and trustworthiness. Consumers are more likely to engage with brands that offer transparent and consistent digital experiences. A Brand TLD provides a clear and unmistakable indication of the brand’s identity, fostering a sense of trust among users.

• Consistent and Memorable Brand Messaging

• Professionalism and Legitimacy

3. Marketing Communications

Effective marketing communications are crucial for brand success in the digital age. A Brand TLD offers unique opportunities to enhance marketing efforts and reach target audiences. 

• Customized Campaigns and Subdomains

• Improved SEO and Online Visibility

• Enhanced User Experience

4. Return on Investment

The application fee to ICANN is projected at US$227,000. Including vendor services and internal resource allocations, the capital cost to apply will range from $300-$400K, depending upon your approach and the extent of your planning commitment. Ongoing costs are estimated between $75-$100K annually, varying with the scope of activities defined in your strategy. 

While the capital and operating costs may initially appear high, they are far outweighed by the long-term strategic benefits. The return on investment for a Brand TLD is compelling.

🚨 Learn how a gTLD can boost visibility, trust, and long-term value. → here

🔥 AI Tool of the Month

Want to create a hit song for your community, your startup, or even your significant other you can do it with an app on Mureka.

5 Tips to Creating a Hit Song with AI

1. Know your audience.
   If it’s for entrepreneurs, understand what motivates and inspires them. What moves them?

2. Pick a music genre you like.
   Do you love the ‘80s sound? Or maybe 2000s EDM? Choose something that resonates with you.

3. Write lyrics that connect.
   Start with a blank page – paper or digital. Don’t jump into AI just yet. You know your audience better than any model.

4. Use AI as an editor.
   Paste your draft into Claude or ChatGPT or just write it out in Mureka which has a pretty good editor. Let AI clean it up, then refine it yourself.

5. Drop it into Mureka.
   Run multiple versions until you’re happy. Mureka makes it easy to rerun variations though (frustratingly) it doesn’t let you edit an existing song… yet. They say that’s coming.

I wrote a song for Entrepreneurs on Fire.

I wrote one for Startup Club.

I wrote one for our 29th wedding anniversary, and I wrote one for my coach who runs a Fort Lauderdale Crossfit Gym called Riptide.  

I just can’t stop!

Bonus Tip:
When you’ve made a great song, you’ll know. I had one stuck in my head all night—and that’s when I realized AI-written songs could be as powerful as human-made ones. At least to the listener.

🚨 Check it this article out on Mureka

🚀 The Journey to CEO Success

This month's featured podcast: Live Friday, July 11th on LinkedIn Patrick Thean speaks to Randy Carr, CEO of World Emblem, who shares how he scaled his family business into the world’s largest patch producer—now making 1 million emblems a day for brands like Levi’s and Cintas.

Listen on LinkedIn, or stream the episode as a podcast! 

📅 This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule!

Startup Summer is our series designed to help founders spark ideas, launch fast, and build smarter—all season long!

Friday July 18th 2pm: Startup Summer: Catch a Wave and Launch the Startup

This session takes a look at why summer is the perfect time to start something new. We’ll explore the energy, focus, and freedom that can help founders go from idea to launch fast.

Friday July 25th 2pm: Startup Summer: Ideas that can Scale

Not all startup ideas are built to last. In this conversation, we’ll break down what makes an idea scalable, repeatable, and worthy of your time—and how to test your idea before you build.

Friday August 1st 2pm: Startup Summer: Build a Moat

How do you protect your startup from competitors? This session dives into strategies to build a strong moat—through tech, branding, community, and more—to defend your edge and grow with confidence.

🚀 Is it Time to Sell?

Time to Sell Index: → 22 out of 100.

What does this mean?

The IPO market's heating up but is it time to sell?

Based on our latest estimates, TTSI has jumped from 6.8 out of 100 last year to 22 out of 100 today. This is a significant improvement but still indicates a buyer’s market rather than a seller’s market.

While the IPO market is recovering, valuations for smaller companies tend to lag 6-12 months behind IPO rebounds.

Additional factors, such as lower interest rates, private equity activity, and venture capital flows, can also impact acquisition opportunities.

Read my full analysis here

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 6.9 out of 100.

🔥 Check Me Out on TikTok!

@startupclubhq

At 90 years old, Reebok founder Joe Foster shares the secret to lasting success. Not profit. Not power. Not prestige. Fun. Because when yo... See more

🚀 How to Support Startup Club

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter!

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur! We’ve got a great referral program!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

Entrepreneur Fact: Did you know Gen X own 49% of US small businesses. Baby boomers own 30% and millennials own 21%. 

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 😱 Your Rotten Tomato Score Is In…

• 🎙️ How to Launch a Successful Podcast in 2025

• 🚀 The Entrepreneurial Rhythm of Success

• 🔥 AI Tool of the Month

• 🤖 Start Up’s Core Values

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes 42 seconds

Listen to this newsletter👇

[ADD NOTEBOOK LLM]

🎉 Our brand new referral program is now LIVE! 🎉

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ THE REVIEWS ARE IN… SO WHAT’S YOUR ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE?

We’ve been getting some great feedback on our monthly Startup Edge newsletter, which got me thinking about something we all deal with: reviews.

Every issue we send out (just once a month) is packed with actionable insights—each one is basically a masterclass for entrepreneurs. But no matter how good your content or product is, you’re living in a review-driven world.

And like a Black Mirror episode, everyone’s judging everyone else.

No escape.

Why Reviews Matter More Than You Think

Reviews are your startup's social proof.

They’re powerful—and yes, sometimes a little terrifying.

Just ask any author who’s waited for the Amazon stars to start rolling in. I’ve been there with Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. and thankfully, we came out on top:

• ⭐ 4.8/5 stars on Amazon

• 🏆 29 global awards, including Axiom’s 2025 Entrepreneurship Book of the Year

In the book, we break down the importance of reviews with a simple equation:

Big Marketing + Bad Reviews = Flop

Great Reviews + No Marketing = Flop

Great Reviews + Great Marketing = Lots of Money 💰

Need proof? Look at Top Gun: Maverick—96% on Rotten Tomatoes and $1.5 billion in global box office.

Joe Foster’s 5-Star Review That Changed Everything

Back in 1979, Joe Foster - founder of Reebok - finally got three different pairs of his shoes rated 5 stars by Runner’s World. After 10 trips to the U.S. over 10 years, that one thing sealed a distribution deal.

Then, Jane Fonda wore his shoes on TV (and yes, she bought them herself).

Reebok went from $9 million to $900 million in just 4.5 years, becoming, for a time the #1 shoe company in the world.

Reviews + influencers = timeless winning formula.

5 Real-World Tips to Get Better Reviews

1. Make Something Great
   Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. took 10 years, 6 collaborators, 200+ interviews, and a custom cover. Those awards weren’t luck, they were earned based on years of just pure hard work. 

2. Ask for Reviews
   Reviews are like fuel. We own Airbnbs in South Florida and learned the hard way: one bad review early on tanked a listing. We rebuilt, earned 119 reviews, and now it’s rated 4.99.

Social proof = money. Lots of it.

(BTW, if you enjoy this newsletter, please leave us a review. And check out the book and podcast while you’re at it!)

3. Make It Easy
   Include direct links. Mention reviews on your videos and podcasts. Use QR codes if you’re in a physical space.

4. Showcase Your Praise
   We leaned into endorsements early even when we were unknown. To our surprise, we got incredible feedback. One awards founder said he’d never seen such endorsements for an indie book.

The result? Hundreds of reviews and a big boost in sales. People tend to follow other’s leads, and momentum builds on itself… so those early reviews and endorsements are critical. 

5. Promote Your Praise
   Announce wins on social media, newsletters, podcasts. At Paw.com, we highlight our 37K+ 5-star reviews in ads and on our site. It works.

Bonus: Listen to the Critics!

Negative reviews sting but sometimes, they tell you exactly how to improve. Before blaming the reviewer, look inward and ask yourself: Is there something we can do better?

Ironically reviews have been manipulated to the detriment of companies.

Anyone who has recently gone on a cruise or bought a car knows that the staff spend an enormous amount of time  asking for a 5 star review instead of giving the customer the freedom to give an honest review.

No one wants their waiter to get fired or lose commission.

Companies need to separate compensation and performance from reviews.

If the company knows they have bad reviews in a particular area they can work to correct that issue and actually create a more satisfying experience.

Always respond to a negative reviewer in a positive, professional way, showing you're willing to address the issue… unless the guy’s a total jerk.

In that case, still respond but stick to the facts and highlight the many others who had a great experience.

Keep it classy, even when they don’t.

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

🔥 TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE

Don’t miss today’s clubhouse at 2pm EST- 5 Stars or Bust: Why Reviews Make or Break You

In today’s market, social proof isn’t optional—it’s everything. Join us for a real conversation on how reviews can fuel (or kill) your startup’s growth, and what smart founders do to earn trust, drive sales, and stand out. 

🎉 Also in big news Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. received the 2025 Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medalist in Business, Career, and Sales

1440: Your Weekly Business Cheat Sheet

Expand your business and finance knowledge with 1440. Get clear, conversational breakdowns of the key concepts in business and finance—no paywalls, no spin. Every Thursday, 1440 delivers deep dives, interactive charts, and rapid market rundowns trusted by 100k+ professionals.

Sign Up Today

🎙️ HOW TO LAUNCH A SUCCESSFUL PODCAST IN 2025!

In an era of endless content and short attention spans, how do you create a podcast people actually want to come back to?

1. Launch With a Small Catalog, Not a Teaser

You only get one first impression. A single teaser episode might feel strategic, but it often backfires.

People who like your show will want to binge it. If there’s only one episode, they’ll probably forget about you by tomorrow.

Launch with at least three full episodes. Four or five is even better.

2. Record Practice Episodes Before Publishing

Your first episode isn’t supposed to be good. That’s the point.

Before going live, record two or three test episodes. Treat them like real ones but don’t publish them. Send them to two people who’ll give you honest feedback (not just compliments).

Look out for:

• Audio issues or echo

• Awkward pauses or filler words

• Over explaining or going off-track

• Boring intros or unclear segments

Fix the basics now. That way, when you do launch, you’re not figuring it out in front of everyone.

3. Start Strong: The First 30 Seconds Matter

No long intros. No rambling. No slow warm-ups.

Your opening line needs to hit fast. Listeners decide in seconds whether they’ll stick around. The first 30 seconds should make them lean in, not reach for the skip button.

Try starting with:

• A bold claim

• A surprising stat

• A question they’ve asked themselves before

• A story already in motion

Would this first line stop someone mid-scroll?

If not, rewrite it.

🎙️ Pro Tip:

Try my 4X Strategy: Do this in consecutive order:

1. Read your podcast’s transcript - Circle any overused phrases and filler words.

2. Listen to the audio - Where is it the most engaging? Are you speaking with different tones and speeds? Are there dead spots?

3. Watch a video recording of your podcast with no audio - Are you moving awkwardly? Do you look confident? Are you being expressive with your face?

4. Watch the full recording - What are your final thoughts?

Trust me, it’ll be uncomfortable but you will be able to see where you can easily improve. Good luck!

🚨 For all 10 tips read the full article → here

🔥 AI TOOL OF THE MONTH 

This month, we’re spotlighting VEO3, Google's new video generation model. Entrepreneurs can use VEO3 to turn scripts into high-quality videos, generate visual content for pitches, ads, or social media, and streamline creative production.

Take a look at this example below… And yes, this is AI:

Twitter tweet

🚀 THE ENTREPRENEURIAL RHYTHM OF SUCCESS

At Startup Club, we believe success doesn’t happen by accident—it’s built on intentional action, smart execution, and consistent habits.

Rhythm Systems’ Patrick Thean, CEO coach and author dives into how I used a disciplined planning rhythm to build and sell multiple startups, all with remarkable success.

And this is exactly what I did:

I committed to a Rhythm of Work.

I would think and work on the business for two days every quarter, then work the plan over the 13 weeks of the quarter. I used Rhythm’s Think Plan Do process.

Every quarter, my team:

• Built clear execution plans (the “how” of getting from idea to result)

• Aligned their short-term goals to carefully-crafted winning move strategies 

• Decided when to move on from what wasn’t working 

Learn how planning early and executing with clarity can position you for long-term success.

🔥 Read the full article → here

🚀 MY RECENT PODCASTS!

Startup Core Values with Colin C. Campbell

I joined, John Lee Dumas on Entrepreneurs on Fire to talk about one of the most overlooked keys to scaling a business: core values. In this episode, I break down how defining your startup’s values early on helps you scale the right way and avoid disaster.

The Journey to CEO Success

I joined Patrick Thean on The Journey to CEO Success podcast for an unfiltered look at the ups and downs of serial entrepreneurship. We discussed the real lessons, mindset shifts, and proven frameworks behind Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

📅 THIS MONTH’S CLUBHOUSE SCHEDULE!

Thursday 6/12 5pm- Grit or Quit? What Separates Winners from Wannabes

Join us for a real talk on resilience, mindset, and knowing when to push through—and when to pivot. This one’s for anyone chasing big goals and wondering what it really takes to win.

Thursday 6/26 5pm - Startup Leadership: The Raw, Unfiltered Truth

Leading a startup isn’t all wins and headlines. Join us for an unfiltered conversation with founders who’ve led through failure, rebuilt stronger, and know what it really takes to lead a team to success.

Friday 6/27 2pm- AI Minor/Majors for Your Startup — AI Growth Hacks OpenMic

From small wins to major breakthroughs, we’re diving into the smartest ways startups are using AI to grow. Join us on stage to share your tips, tools, and hacks—or just listen in and learn.

🚀 IS IT TIME TO SELL?

Time to Sell Index: → 6.9 out of 100.

What does this mean?

Buyers still hold the upper hand in 2025, keeping things challenging for sellers. However, early signs of recovery are starting to emerge.

With the IPO market gradually picking up, the environment for startups may soon begin to improve.

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 6.9 out of 100.

🔥 CHECK ME OUT ON TIKTOK!

@startupclubhq

At 90 years old, Reebok founder Joe Foster shares the secret to lasting success. Not profit. Not power. Not prestige. Fun. Because when yo... See more

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter!

You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think.

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🐟 I Found the Startup Secret in a Fish Shack...

• 🔑 7 Keys to Launch Your New Business

• 🌊 Catching the AI Wave!

• 🎉 This 1 Thing Will Change the Way MILLIONS Live

• 🤖 AI Driven Growth For Startups

Estimated Read Time: 7 minutes 13 seconds

Listen to this newsletter👇

Fish And Chips - The Monthly Startup Club Edge

🔥 TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE

Don’t miss today’s clubhouse at 2pm - AI in 2025 for Startups [OpenMic]

Come on stage and learn how startups can effectively leverage AI in 2025, featuring real-time insights, tools, and strategies shared by founders and experts navigating the evolving AI landscape.

🐟 I FOUND THE STARTUP SECRET IN A FISH SHACK…

When I was 16, we lived two doors down from a fish and chip shop.

We couldn’t afford the fish—just the chips.

On special occasions, we’d splurge and get the fish too.

And let me tell you—it was the best fish and chips you’d ever taste.

One day, I asked the owner his secret.

His answer was simple: clean oil. 

He changed the oil more frequently than his competitors, which made for a lighter, crispier batter.

But that wasn’t his only secret.

He’d also place his shops near schools to attract the lunch crowd.

Every business has that unique thing that makes it special.

I sometimes call it an “equation”.

He had figured out what made his shop successful.

But his true genius.

It wasn’t just about frying fish—it was about building a repeatable model (AKA Start. Grow. Sell. Repeat.)

You see, he explained “I am not in the fish and chips business, I am in the in the business of starting, scaling and then selling the fish and chip shop.”

His real product?

The business itself.

While others focused on building a lifestyle cash flow, he focused on the velocity of money.

Let’s break that down:

Option 1:

• He invests $300K to open a shop.

• It earns him $80K per year— very respectable and great return.

• After 5 years he can sell his shop for 600K, earning him 300K plus 400K in income or a total of 700K.

Option 2:

• Instead, he launches the first shop and in year two sells it for $600K, pocketing $300K profit plus his 80K of income.

• He then opens 2 new shops and then repeats the process one more time opening 4 shops and then selling them all in year 5.

And here’s the kicker—by selling, he paid capital gains tax (around 25%) instead of regular income tax (40–50%).

That’s a huge post-tax advantage.

This model works in Canada, the U.S., and most developed economies.

The fact is capital gains is taxed at a lower rate. So lets go in deep and look at a 5 year period:

That is 4X the Start, Scale, Keep vs. Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

Are you getting the idea here?

Now, let me add one more point.

Bad things can happen.

Halibut prices can surge.

Recessions hit.

Consumers cut back—maybe they just order fries. I've seen it firsthand.

I’ve held onto companies too long, only to watch valuations collapse after economic downturns.

In this newsletter, we talk about the TTSI – Time to Sell Index.

And let me tell you—it’s flashing red.

We didn’t sell our eCommerce company when valuations peaked, and now the industry has dropped over 50% in the past three years.

It is a very bad market to sell.

Having a third party data point you can track like Startup Club’s TTSI can help you make the right choices.

When everything is going great and you're making money, your instinct is to hold.

But that’s actually when you should consider exiting.

In my book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., I talk about launching your next business while running your current one—but only if it’s in coast mode.

Focus matters.

When you are ready launch that next company and prepare the first for sale…especially if the market is hot.

More than 50% of your valuation can be timing the market.

That has been proven over and over again in history through hundreds of years of economic cycles.

In fact, bored ape NFT’s had declined by 88% since there peak in 2022.

Yeah bad things do happen.

When the TTSI flips to seller’s market take it for what it is…but it is based on empirical data which we have looked at for over 25 years.

In the end, it’s not just about building a great business.

It’s about knowing when to move on.

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

🔑 7 KEYS TO LAUNCH YOUR NEW BUSINESS (FROM START. SCALE. EXIT. REPEAT)

The Art of the Start

1. Solve a Real Problem: Start by solving a problem for yourself, then scale that solution for others.

2. Fall in Love with Your Idea: Your passion will keep you going when the tough times hit (and trust me, they will).

3. Choose a Scalable Idea: Pick something that can grow fast and wide without you doing all the work.

4. Defend Your Idea: Be ready to protect your concept - intellectual property, branding, and a strong market position matter.

5. Partner with Opposites: Hire or partner with people who have complementary skills and different personality profiles - if you’re ops-minded, find a killer salesperson to balance you out.

6. Set Up a SMART Stage Gate: Create Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals (e.g. “Land 10 distributors by Sept 1, 2025”) - If you miss the mark, pivot or kill it.

7. Establish KPIs Early: Define your Key Performance Indicators from day one so you always know if you’re winning or just spinning.

Bonus Tip:

Join an Incubator or Find a Mentor: Entrepreneurs with mentors are 3X more likely to succeed - SCORE (in the U.S.) offers free mentorship programs, and local incubators can be a game-changer.

EXTRA Bonus:

Stock Up on the Right Books: Start with Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. Axiom Top Book of 2025 for Entrepreneurship. The ultimate guide for launching, growing, and selling a business.

🌊 CATCHING THE NEXT WAVE…

In the chapter Catching the Big Wave from Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., Colin C. Campbell emphasizes the critical role timing plays in entrepreneurial success.

Learning to spot the right wave can mean the difference between riding momentum or wiping out early.

Listen to a deep dive conversation above to learn more 👇

Catching the Next Wave Is Critical...

🛳️ LIVE AT SEA - HOW MILLIONS WILL CHANGE THE WAY THEY LIVE, WORK, AND PLAY

For thousands of years, humans have preferred to live in caves.

Places that are safe, warm, and familiar. A place called home.

Then came low Earth orbit satellite internet.

And suddenly, your “cave” doesn’t need to be tethered to a fiber optic cable, four walls – or even land.

Recently, a new company called Crescent Seas has announced plans to launch five new ships designed specifically for people who want to live and work full-time at sea.

According to them, Crescent Seas “redefines world travel by offering exclusive private residences aboard elegantly appointed ships.” 

Translation: luxury cruise life meets WeWork, with a splash of adventure and luxury. They have confirmed that they will also provide facilities for creators. 

Get ready to “Podcast”!

Like WeWork though, they have confirmed additional fees will be applied to access these facilities. 

Their first project? Converting the Regent Seven Seas Navigator into a floating condo with 204 apartments.

Credit: Bespoke Luxury Marketing/Crescent Seas

I sailed that ship a couple of years ago around Spain, Italy, and France.

My wife and I booked a 500-square-foot suite and joked about how amazing it would be to live on board full time.

Turns out — it’s not a joke anymore.

Crescent Seas plans to invest $50 million to transform the Navigator into a full-time residential ship.

Think less “cruise ship” and more “luxury condo with a view that changes daily.”

When asked about how it would be different from a traditional cruise ship, “One of the objectives of the redesign is to have the ship be more luxurious and residential friendly.

Many of the units will be updated and converted into units that provide more basic amenities for long-term residential use.

Plus, the common area on the ship will be redesigned to enhance the recreational areas.”

My wife and I have started mapping out what it could look like to live and work from the sea.

For the longest time, spotty internet was the dealbreaker.

But now?

Most major cruise ships have Starlink.

We’ve already booked four cruises over the next 12 months.

We have just launched a new Facebook Group called Live at Sea.

If you’re curious, dreaming, or already halfway packed, come join the conversation.

It turns out your “cave” doesn’t have to be stationary anymore.

Startup founders want to change the world.

We’re not just sailing into the sunset, we are navigating towards our new ventures and finding ways we can make a difference on this planet. 

🚨 To read the full article → Here

🔥 YOUR SEO STRATEGY IS FAILING…

Brought to you by Lunch With Norm

Here’s 5 Takeaways From This Lunch With Norm Episode:

1. Utilize Zero-Click SEO Strategies – Google is prioritizing zero-click searches, meaning answers appear without users clicking on a website. Optimize for featured snippets, FAQs, and Google Business Profile updates to still get traffic.

2. Leverage Press Releases for SEO & Authority – Distribute press releases to 400+ news outlets to get high-authority backlinks and boost rankings. These are safe, white-hat links that help establish brand credibility.

3. Automate Content Distribution – Use IFTTT (If This Then That) or Make.com to syndicate blog posts, images, and updates across multiple platforms (Google Drive, Medium, LinkedIn, Blogger, etc.) for automatic backlink generation.

4. Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile – This is critical for both local businesses and online brands. Post weekly updates, create events, and add product listings with shoppable links to drive free traffic to Amazon or Shopify.

5. Use Reddit & Quora for Backlinks & Traffic – Join discussions in relevant subreddits or answer Quora questions related to your niche. Insert valuable insights with natural links to your content to drive traffic and build authority.

If you want more tips about Amazon & eCommerce, check out the Lunch With Norm Newsletter 👇

Lunch With Norm

Your Amazon FBA & eCommerce Newsletter

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🚀 AI-DRIVEN GROWTH FOR STARTUPS!

In today’s rapidly evolving startup landscape, artificial intelligence isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a competitive advantage.

We sat down with David Hirschfeld, founder of Tekyz, and a seasoned AI strategist, to explore how AI can be the ultimate force multiplier for founders ready to scale.

From enhancing lead generation and automating workflows to improving team training and decision-making, the episode unpacked real-world strategies that go far beyond theory.

“What got you your first 10 customers won’t get you your next 1,000—scaling requires a new playbook, & AI helps you write it.” — David Hirschfeld

I shared how AI is integrated into his own entrepreneurial playbook—whether it’s generating private placement memorandums, crafting value statements through custom GPTs, or diagnosing business bottlenecks.

David expanded on the need for founders to identify root-level pain points before building, using AI tools to validate product-market fit early.

His Launch First methodology aims to reduce failure rates by ensuring founders find and focus on their most urgent, high-cost problems—those that real customers are willing to pay to solve.

Scaling isn’t a one-size-fits-all process.

And that’s where AI shines: as a strategic partner capable of uncovering hidden inefficiencies, customizing playbooks, and freeing up founders to think bigger.

Tools like Notebook LM, custom GPTs, and even visual AI can help automate everything from onboarding to content repurposing—giving startups the agility and intelligence to scale with precision.

Whether you’re building a team, securing funding, or simply trying to free up your own time, integrating AI into your processes isn’t optional anymore—it’s essential.

If you’re a founder, catch the full conversation on YouTube

📅 THIS MONTH’S CLUBHOUSE SCHEDULE!

Friday May 9th 2pm - ‘Startup Different’ with Chris & David Sinkinson

Chris and David Sinkinson, authors of Startup Different, share key insights from their book on building a multi-million dollar business by challenging traditional startup advice and embracing a new, data-driven approach to growth.

Friday May 16th 2pm - Data & AI to Propel your Business

We’re discussing how data and artificial intelligence can be strategically applied to drive business growth, streamline operations, and enhance decision-making for startups and entrepreneurs with Alejandro Martinez of Propelling Tech.

Friday May 30 2pm - ‘Big Money in Franchising’ with Alicia Miller

We’re joined by Alicia Miller, author of Big Money in Franchising Scaling Your Enterprise in the Era of Private Equity, as she breaks down how entrepreneurs can scale their franchise businesses and attract private equity in today’s competitive market.

🚀 IS IT TIME TO SELL?

Time to Sell Index:

Buyers Still Hold the Power → 6.9 out of 100.

2025 is still favoring buyers, making it a tough environment for sellers. That said, there are early signs of a rebound.

As the IPO market slowly gains momentum, the outlook for startups could begin to brighten.

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 6.9 out of 100.

🔥 CHECK ME OUT ON TIKTOK!

@startupclubhq

Your idea won’t come to life in silence🤫 It won’t grow in the shadows of your comfort zone... Inspiration without action is just a daydrea... See more

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every month. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

In this newsletter, find out the ultimate failure and why you need to learn the art of failing to be a successful founder.

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 Fail Fast, Win Big! [True Story]

• 🚨 Be a Contributor to Startup Club!

• 🎥 Streaming Shows Every Entrepreneur Should Watch

• 🎉 Top 3 New Books for Entrepreneurs in 2025

• 🌎 Help Volodymyr Walk Again

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes 13 seconds

Listen to this newsletter👇

Fail Fast, Win Big! The Monthly Startup Club Edge

🔥 TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE

Don’t miss today’s clubhouse at 2pm ET: Startup Ideas 2025

• Business Ideas – Launch, growth, and acquisition.

• Predictions – What does 2025 have in store for startups?

• Key Lessons – Branding, marketing, and scaling insights.

🚀 FAIL FAST, WIN BIG! [True Story]

Failure isn’t the end - it’s the formula.

At Paw.com, eight out of ten products we launch fail.

That’s not a typo.

We test. We launch. We cut.

The graveyard of ideas at paw.com is massive - but the two winners that break through?

They scale into multimillion-dollar businesses.

That’s the formula.

Fail fast. Scale big.

And yet, most entrepreneurs do the opposite.

They scale their failures and kill their winners.

I’ve seen it time and time again.

A few years ago, Michelle and I spent three years developing a product.

We finally cracked the materials - but we didn’t rush into manufacturing.

Instead of ordering 5,000 units and praying they’d sell, we launched a Kickstarter.

We spent $4,000 on a video.

If it hit, the agency would get an $8,000 bonus.

If it flopped, we’d move on.

That’s failing fast.

But more importantly, it’s failing safely.

The mistake most founders make?

They fall in love with their product.

You need to fall in love with your bank account.

If the data says it’s not working, kill it.

Don’t tweak for 6 more months. Don’t try to prove the market wrong.

Move on.

We’ve even run ads for products that didn’t exist yet - just to see if people clicked.

That’s how you test demand without burning capital.

And when we do find a winner?

We scale fast.

Amazon, Wayfair, Chewy, DTC…

Because if you wait too long, someone else will copy you - and they’ll launch your product before you do.

This isn’t about luck. It’s about systems.

Business isn’t about guessing anymore.

Test fast. Learn fast. Scale what works.

That’s how we’ve built every successful product at paw.com.

And that’s what we teach in Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

Want more? Check out this deep dive on why startups fail 👇

Why Startups Fail

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

🚨 ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT STARTUPS?

Become a Startup Club Official Contributor and share your insights, experiences, and strategies with our thriving community.

We are looking for Creators/Leaders to write, host shows or be a guest contributor for Startup.Club!

📢 Send an application email to Hello@startup.club 

🎥 STREAMING SHOWS EVERY ENTREPRENEUR SHOULD WATCH

In recent years, streaming platforms like Max, Netflix, Amazon, and Apple have revolutionized how we consume content. Binge-watching has become a cultural phenomenon. As an entrepreneur, I always look for valuable insights hidden within these shows - lessons that can inspire and shape how we lead, grow, and, in some cases, mitigate failure.

Here are my 5 ‘must-watch’ streaming shows every founder should check out to help sharpen their entrepreneurial skills:

5. WeCrashed

The rise and fall of WeWork and its visionary but reckless founder, Adam Neumann.

Lesson I Learned: In the book, Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., I coined the term “Silicon Valley Disease”—when a company raises too much money, loses focus on efficiency, and chases growth at all costs. This show is a cautionary tale of that exact phenomenon.

4. Shark Tank

Entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to a panel of investors.

Lesson I learned: Too many entrepreneurs give away too much equity too early. Why trade 50% of your company’s profits for just $50K? It’s like paying a lifetime tax on your business.

3. The Dropout

The shocking story of Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, who promised to revolutionize blood testing.

Lesson I learned: There’s a fine line between vision and fraud. It’s one thing to be a bold optimist but another to knowingly sell something that isn’t possible.

2. The Profit

Marcus Lemonis invests in struggling businesses and helps turn them around.

Lesson I learned: Turning a business around is often easier than you think. The key? Making tough decisions in the best interest of the company — not your friends or family.

1. Silicon Valley

A hilarious yet insightful take on tech startups and their challenges.

Lesson I learned: It takes a community to build a startup. While I run an incubator that’s more structured than the one in the show, the reality remains: no founder succeeds alone. It takes a village to raise a startup.

Final Thought

Will watching these shows make you a successful entrepreneur?

Of course not.

But if you take the time to reflect on their messages, you’ll find lessons of encouragement, caution, and insight - helping you navigate the wild world of entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship is a trade, just like any other trade, and learning that trade is the key to success.

These shows may be entertaining but they are also valuable insights into how to start, scale, and exit a startup.

To see the full list of shows check out my article - HERE

🎉 TOP 3 NEW BOOKS FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN 2025 [WITH EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]

Every great business starts with a story - and this year’s Axiom Business Book Award winners in the Entrepreneurship & Small Business category have shared some of the best.

These authors turned their real-world experience into powerful, practical books that inspire and guide entrepreneurs at every stage.

We caught up with them to learn more about what motivated them to write, the lessons they’ve learned, and the advice they’d pass along to fellow founders.

Q1. What inspired you to take the time to turn your entrepreneurial experiences into a book, and what story or lesson did you feel most compelled to share?

Colin C. Campbell: Quite frankly after 30 years as a serial entrepreneur with a string of failures and successes, it motivated me to share the formula of what works and what doesn’t so it can help others be successful in their startup journey. 

Alicia Miller: I saw a huge gap in understanding and felt the topic of private equity in franchising was so important it needed a detailed study. PE often doesn’t disclose its methods, valuations paid, and so on. It makes it more difficult especially for founders and franchisees to choose their optimal path. But the playbook is actually very straightforward and predictable. Valuation information and PE’s track record are available if you know where to look. 

Chris & David Sinkinson: We were looking for a way to “pay it forward” to our entrepreneurial peers. We were fortunate enough to have a successful outcome and wanted the same for others. To that end, we put together a book that chronologically detailed the experience of our company including our biggest wins and losses. We also wanted to check the conventional wisdom – what we call “startup myths” – that often do more harm than good. Hopefully others can learn from us and help reach their business dreams. 

Q2. Looking back, was there a piece of advice or unexpected lesson you uncovered while writing that you wish you had known earlier in your entrepreneurial journey?

Colin C. Campbell: Bad things do happen, so it is a good idea to Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat vs. Start. Scale. Fail. Repeat. 

Alicia Miller: When I was a multi-unit franchisee, I wish I had understood the impact of PE on franchise unit resales. PE is a buyer in some scale systems, not in others, and they pretty much avoid sub-scale systems altogether. All that activity, or lack of it, impacts exit multiples. At the time, I assumed I would simply exit to another franchisee when the time was right. Now I would prioritize investing in systems with more buyer activity and thus more deal competition…or systems with all the right signals to suggest it would eventually get there during my ownership period.

Franchise entrepreneurs also should understand PE re-trading, profit-seeking behaviors, and their track record in franchising before investing.

Chris & David Sinkinson: Absolutely. In a way, we wrote the book with this question in mind: what would we have wanted to know 10 years ago that we didn’t know then? There are a lot of surprising revelations – I think though that the biggest one for us was that you need to live up to societal expectations of what a startup “ought” to be if you want to be successful. Later in our business’ life we’d often use the conventional wisdom as a guide on what not to do. 

Q3. If readers were to walk away with just one actionable idea or mindset shift from your book, what would you want that to be?

Colin C. Campbell: Entrepreneurship is a trade like any other trade, and the key to success is mastering that trade. 

Alicia Miller: Don’t put up with information gatekeepers. Push to educate yourself and get the performance data you need before investing in, or launching, any franchise business. PE firms have a due diligence playbook that you can mirror to either make good acquisition choices yourself, or anticipate what these professional buyers will be looking for if you’re thinking about exit strategies. Using the professional buyer lens on your business is a terrific tool to think differently about your enterprise value creation strategy. It helps you get outside of yourself a bit to look objectively at the business and make smarter decisions.

Chris & David Sinkinson: Don’t look for validation in society or among your peers. Look for validation in the market. Drive to early profit and ignore the haters.

To read the full article visit → Here

🌎 HELP VOLODYMYR WALK AGAIN

At Startup Club, we’re committed to helping startups and making a real impact where it matters most.

Twenty-three years ago, my wife and I adopted our son from Kyiv, Ukraine. His mother was Ukrainian, and his father was Russian. 

We fell in love with the country and later co-founded GeeksforLess, a global IT services company, with my brother and a partner.

Check out my full story is here:

When the war broke out, we knew we had to take action. We raised money to help victims of Ukraine. 

Now, we need your help.

We’re rallying together to support Volodymyr (which, coincidentally, is also my son’s middle name) in his journey to walk again.

🚨 Read about his story → here

Startup Club and Colin C. Campbell are raising funds to help Ukrainian soldier Volodymyr, who lost both legs in combat, get life-changing prosthetics in the U.S.

We’ve raised $14,000 of the $28,000 goal.

100% of donations go directly to those in need — no overhead, just impact. Even $10 makes a difference.

🚨Donate here → HelpForUkraine.club 

🚀 IS IT TIME TO SELL?

Time to Sell Index:

Buyers Still Hold the Power → 6.9 out of 100.

2025 is still favoring buyers, making it a tough environment for sellers. That said, there are early signs of a rebound.

As the IPO market slowly gains momentum, the outlook for startups could begin to brighten.

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 6.9 out of 100.

🔥 CHECK ME OUT ON TIKTOK!

@startupclubhq

The biggest dragon we face as entrepreneurs isn’t the competition — it’s our own emotional state. The fear, the doubt, the outside noise ... See more

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every month. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 From Disaster to Gold [True Story]

• 🚨 Be a Contributor to Startup Club!

• 🔥 7 Steps to Creating a Kick-Ass Newsletter

• 📢 This Month’s Clubhouse

• 📈 Scaling Beyond the Startup Phase

Estimated Read Time: 4 minutes 23 seconds

Listen to this newsletter👇

March's Startup Edge Newsletter

🔥 TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE

Friday 3/7 2pm ET: The .Club TLD Story - Launch Your own Domain Extension

• Inside .Club – Launch, growth, and acquisition.

• TLD Opportunities – Build and monetize a domain extension.

• Key Lessons – Branding, marketing, and scaling insights.

🚀 FROM DISASTER TO GOLD [True Story]

In my 30-year career as an entrepreneur, I have experienced both the highs of partying like it’s 1999 and the lows of wanting to curl up in the fetal position and disappear shortly after the .com crash.

When crisis strikes, hiding and wallowing is not the answer.

It’s time to stand up and take leadership.

When the war broke out in Ukraine, my business partner Igor Nikolaichuk, who runs an 800-person IT firm, called GeeksforLess.com didn’t sit back and cry about it.

You can hear the in-depth story here👇

Russian forces advanced within a few miles of his office in Mykolaiv, southeastern Ukraine, just north of the occupied town of Kherson.

He took immediate action to protect and relocate as many people as possible.

In the U.S., we did our best to support these efforts by connecting employees with government agencies to secure refugee status.

We also launched a charity and raised tens of thousands of dollars, which has since become a registered 501(c) organization called Help For Ukraine Club.

Doing nothing in a crisis is not an option.

In 1996, we operated one of the largest internet service providers in Canada, based in Toronto.

We had hundreds of thousands of users who connected to the internet via phone lines using modems to access the “Information Superhighway.”

One morning, an electrical crew accidentally cut hundreds of our phone lines while installing power.

Our ISP was instantly shut down.

Restoring service required the telecom provider to send a team to splice each phone line back together one at a time.

If you’ve ever called a telecom for a repair, you know it can take days or even weeks to fix an infrastructure failure like this.

Within 30 minutes of the outage, I called all the executives into the boardroom.

I calmly stated that we were down for the count and that the survival of our company was in question.

Instead of merely informing customers that we were down—which thousands were calling to ask every hour—we issued a press release:

The Impact:

1. Almost every news channel covered the story, and a popular Toronto radio station mentioned our outage every 30 minutes.

2. The electrical company was embarrassed, and Bell Canada sent technicians who worked 36 hours straight to splice the lines.

3. Customers felt sorry for us and became more loyal to the company.

But the biggest impact…

We became the most recognized ISP in the country and later ranked as Canada’s 7th fastest-growing, then 3rd fastest-growing, company.

When external disasters strike, we can’t change what happens, but we can control how we respond.

You are not alone, and you’d be surprised how much customers, suppliers, and investors can help turn things around.

In some cases, like Internet Direct, you can even turn crises into gold!

— Colin C. Campbell

Here’s an old ad from Internet Direct from the 90’s

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

🚨 ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT STARTUPS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

Become a Startup Club Official Contributor and share your insights, experiences, and strategies with our thriving community.

Whether it’s lessons learned, expert advice, or inspiring founder stories, we want to feature your voice!

📢 Send an application email to Hello@startup.club 

🚀 7 STEPS TO CREATING A KICK-ASS NEWSLETTER

Most newsletters never get read.

They land in the inbox (or the junk folder), sit there, and die.

And if you’re reading this, I’m guessing yours might be one of them.

A great newsletter doesn’t just “share value”—it grabs attention, builds loyalty, and turns readers into customers.

That requires more than just good writing.

Below are seven steps I use myself to create a newsletter that’s impossible to ignore. I’ve included real examples for every step so you can apply them instantly.

1. Your First Sentence Decides If They Read or Leave

Most newsletters start with: “In today’s email, I want to talk about…”

Every time I see a variation of this, I die a little inside.

This is your one shot to hook your reader. What the hell are you doing?

Your first line needs to be so compelling that it could stand alone as a social post and get engagement.

Example:

Instead of: “Hey everyone, for this newsletter, I wanted to talk to you about what makes a great email.”

Try: “Your emails aren’t being ignored because of bad subject lines—they’re being ignored because they’re predictable.”

Test this: If your first sentence wouldn’t stop you from scrolling on social media, it’s not good enough.

2. Keep Them Reading Like a Netflix Binge

Ever lose track of time binge-watching a show?

That’s because every episode ends with a cliffhanger (AKA an open loop) that forces you to keep watching.

Your newsletter should do the same.

How to Create Open Loops in Your Emails:

• “I made a huge mistake last month… but it doubled my business. Here’s why.”

• “Most people think they know how to write a great email… but almost everyone makes this one mistake.”

• “Even if your open rates double, there’s one fatal mistake that will kill your conversions every time. More on that next time.”

If your email is easy to close without finishing, it’s forgettable.

Pro copywriters chain two, three, even four sentences together to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

TikTok creators do this too. Watch how they use multiple hooks within 30 seconds to keep people watching the entire video.

3. Pick a Side—No One Respects a Fence-Sitter

The highest-performing newsletters, brands, and thought leaders don’t try to please everyone—they take a stand.

Alex Hormozi said it best: “If you’re making content that no one disagrees with, you’re making content no one cares about.”

Your goal isn’t to be liked by everyone—it’s to build a loyal audience that aligns with your beliefs.

If your audience doesn’t know where you stand, you’re being too passive with your content.

The Contrarian Framework:

Find a popular belief → Flip it → Defend it with data or logic.

Example:

Popular belief: “Bigger email lists are better.”

Flip it: “Smaller lists convert better—here’s why removing 30% of your audience can make you more money.”

Defend it: “A list of 10,000 unengaged subscribers costs you more in ESP fees and skews your data. A 3,000-person list of hyper-engaged readers? That’s where the real money is.”

Test this: If your email doesn’t challenge at least one common belief, it’s probably forgettable.

🚨 If you want to continue reading the other 4 tips, read the full blog HERE

In the end, you need to make an email people miss when they’re gone.

A great newsletter isn’t just an email—it’s a habit.

If your readers don’t feel like they’re missing something when they skip yours, it’s not strong enough.

🎉 FIND US ON AMAZON’S BEST SELLERS LIST!

Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. continues to dominate the charts hitting 5th most popular book on Amazon for Small Business.

📈 SCALING BEYOND THE STARTUP PHASE

Most entrepreneurs get stuck.

98% of businesses never scale beyond a few employees. 

They build a business, grind every day, and eventually hit a ceiling where growth stalls, chaos takes over, and they spend more time putting out fires than actually moving the company forward.

That’s where scaling comes in.

Scaling isn’t about working harder—it’s about working differently.

This is something Patrick Thean, CEO coach and founder of Rhythm Systems, breaks down in detail.

His systems have helped turn startups into multi-million-dollar businesses and even unicorns. And after implementing his approach myself, I can tell you—it works.

So let’s break down the key shifts that help entrepreneurs stop operating like firefighters and start running a business that scales.

1. Stop Delegating Tasks—Start Delegating Responsibility

In the startup phase, everything runs through you. You make the decisions, handle the fires, and get things done. But that doesn’t scale.

At some point, you need to build a leadership team that can make decisions without you.

✅ Instead of assigning tasks, give leaders ownership over areas of the business.
✅ Train them to solve problems without you rather than waiting for direction.
✅ Shift from being in the weeds to setting clear outcomes and accountability.

If you’re still involved in every detail of the business, it’s not a business—it’s a job. The goal is to make yourself unnecessary.

2. Build Systems—Not Just Sales

Most entrepreneurs focus only on revenue, but if your business doesn’t have the right systems, scaling just creates a bigger mess.

Here’s what separates scalable businesses:

A clear strategy—Where are you going? What are the biggest levers for growth?
A goal-setting system—Break down annual, quarterly, and individual goals.
A cadence for execution—Weekly check-ins, quarterly planning, and daily huddles.

At Hostopia, we saw flat growth for years—until we implemented these systems. Within 90 days, revenue started climbing again. In two years, we sold for 17X EBITDA.

The secret?

We stopped making random decisions and started running the company on a structured system.

3. Think in 13-Week Sprints

Forget long-term business plans. Things change too fast. Instead, plan your business in 13-week cycles.

Each quarter, ask yourself:

✅ What’s the #1 goal that will move the company forward?
✅ What are the top 3-5 priorities to hit that goal?
✅ Who owns each priority?

Set goals, execute, and review every 90 days. The companies that scale fast are the ones that operate with intensity and focus.

Final Thoughts

Not every entrepreneur wants to scale—and that’s okay.

But if you do, understand that it’s not a passive process.

1️⃣ Delegate responsibilities—not tasks.
2️⃣ Build systems that drive execution.
3️⃣ Work in 13-week sprints for faster progress.

🚨Find out the other 2 → here

📅 THIS MONTH’S CLUBHOUSE SCHEDULE!

Friday 3/14 2pm ET: Scaling Smarter — The Art of Scaling Business with AI

• Smarter Scaling – Leverage AI for business growth.

• AI Strategies – Automate, optimize, and scale efficiently.

• Key Insights – Tech-driven expansion without burnout.

Friday 3/28 2pm ET: Purpose, Profit, and Process with Author Cesar Quintero

• Purpose-Driven Growth – Align vision with business success.

• Profit & Process – Build a scalable, impactful company.

• Leadership Insights – Create traction and long-term value.

🚀 IS IT TIME TO SELL?

Time to Sell Index:

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 6.9 out of 100.

While 2025 is shaping up to remain a strong buyers’ market and a challenging one for sellers, there are early signs of a recovery.

With the IPO market gradually picking up, conditions for startups could start improving.

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 6.9 out of 100.

🔥 CHECK ME OUT ON TIKTOK!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every month. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 Execution With Goal Setting [True Story]

•  🔍 Is it Time to Sell?

• 🍿 Top 10 Movies for Entrepreneurs

• 💰 Funding Your Start Up the RIGHT Way

• 🔥 Entrepreneurs on Fire

Estimated Read Time: 4 minutes 23 seconds

🚨 Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. is in the running for International Impact Book Awards – Author of the Year!

If this book has inspired your entrepreneurial journey, cast your vote here!

Listen to this newsletter👇

Execution With Goal Setting | Startup Club Edge Newsletter

🔥 TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE

Today at 2pm ET - Serial Entrepreneur: Secrets Revealed - Open Mic: AI in 2025

Join us on stage to share your tips, strategies, and predictions for AI in the entrepreneur world this year!

🚀 EXECUTION WITH GOAL SETTING [True Story]

My brother and I were running a public company when a board member came to me and said, "Colin, we need to start looking for a new CEO."

That threw me back.

I had founded the company, and now a board member was trying to oust me.

We’ve all seen this story before—think Steve Jobs getting kicked out of his own company.

"We need to bring in professional leadership," he continued.

And truth be told, the wheels were coming off the bus.

Sales were flatlining, departments were constantly fighting, and the ultimate killer—our share price had fallen about 20% from our IPO price.

I called a friend who introduced me to Patrick Thean, the founder of Rhythm Systems.

Coincidentally, I was heading to Vegas for an event he was attending, so we agreed to meet up.

The Conversation That Changed Everything

"Patrick, I just need to get the board off my back. Your coaching and training services are great, but my team will never buy in. Just help me fix a few things and convince the board we’re managing this company properly."

His response?

"No. I can’t do that, Colin. Unless you go all in on implementing growth systems—including two days of strategic planning, setting annual and quarterly company goals, and defining individual objectives—I can’t work with you."

It was like a patient telling a doctor, "I don’t need to eat well or work out, just give me a pill to lose weight." The truth is, there are no shortcuts.

The Turning Point

We agreed to do it properly.

And HOLY SHIT—it worked.

Within one quarter, we saw meaningful results.

The internal fights died down, and we actually started hitting our goals.

Within a few quarters, our sales started climbing—and did they ever climb.

In just three years, we more than doubled our revenue.

In fact, we did so well that our stock, which was trading at $4.55 per share, skyrocketed to $10.55 per share.

That led to one of the most successful exits of my life.

Of course, timing played a role.

We closed the deal just one month before the Lehman Brothers collapse in August 2008.

That’s why, as a founder, you need to think about when to sell as part of your Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. formula.

Scaling Is a System, Not Just Instinct

Entrepreneurs like to think they can do everything by instinct.

The reality?

The vast majority of companies in America fail to scale. And most of the time, the entrepreneur is the bottleneck.

The difference?

Having the right systems in place.

We talk about a lot of systems in Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

The system we used to scale that company—and the one we still use today—is called Rhythm Systems.

🔥 A Special Offer for Startups

I recently met with the CEO of Rhythm Systems to explore whether their platform could be opened up to startups, not just large enterprises. At first, he was hesitant.

Then he realized—it’s a journey. Every founder who chooses to scale can do it, but many don’t have the funding to implement these systems.

Until now.

Startup Club has negotiated a flat $500 fee for the first year to help you take your startup and ramp it up.

🚨 To get access, go to → click here

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

🚀 IS IT TIME TO SELL?

Time to Sell Index:

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 6.9 out of 100.

While I wish the outlook were more optimistic, 2025 is still expected to be a strong buyers’ market and weak sellers market.

However, we are beginning to see early signs of a recovery, which could indicate better conditions for startups as the IPO market slowly rebounds.

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 6.9 out of 100.

How Did I Get This Result?

We analyzed the last three trough-to-peak periods and take the average to determine the percentage increase in IPOs from the market bottom to the top.

Based on the estimated number of IPOs in 2023 (154), the market would need to reach 873 IPOs for a strong sellers' market and 435 IPOs for a balanced market.

This calculation is based on an average trough-to-peak percentage of 566.97%.

For 2025, our estimate is 204 IPOs, indicating a modest recovery.

The gap from a strong sellers' market (873 IPOs) remains significant, with a shortfall of 719 IPOs.

Other factors will also influence IPO activity, such as lower interest rates, which may facilitate more affordable acquisitions, private equity deals, and venture capital funding. Additionally, even when the IPO market begins to recover, there is typically a 6-12 month lag before smaller businesses experience rising valuation multiples.

The Formula:

Average Trough-to-Peak Percentage=671.43%+458.06%+571.43%3=566.97%Average Trough-to-Peak Percentage=3671.43%+458.06%+571.43%=566.97%

• Trough (2023): 154 IPOs

• Estimated 2025 IPOs: 204

🎙️ START. SCALES. EXIT.[ TAKE SOME MONEY OFF THE TABLE ] REPEAT.

I had the chance to sit down with Entrepreneurs on Fire to talk about something I’ve lived and breathed for decades—building, scaling, and exiting businesses.

I’ve been through the trenches.

I’ve taken companies from zero to multi-million (even billion) dollar valuations. I’ve also seen deals collapse overnight, wiping out everything in an instant.

If there’s one thing I know, it’s that entrepreneurship isn’t a one-shot game—it’s a trade you can master.

Here’s What I Shared with John:

1️⃣ Don’t quit on your control when you’re exiting.
One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is assuming the deal is done before the money hits their account. I’ve been burned by this, and I see it happen all the time. Until the check clears, you’re still in the driver’s seat—so act like it.

2️⃣ Timing is 50% of your value.
A great business sold at the wrong time can mean leaving millions on the table. I talk about how understanding market cycles, industry trends, and knowing when to pull the trigger can be the difference between a life-changing exit and a missed opportunity.

3️⃣ Entrepreneurship is a trade we need to master.
If we think of it this way, we will be confident when we launch a company and that we will also be confident to launch another one after that.

📌 Check it here — I promise it’ll change how you think about business.

🍿 TOP 10 MOVIES FOR ENTREPRENEURS 

Looking for inspiration on your entrepreneurial journey? These movies are packed with business lessons, resilience, and the hustle every founder can relate to.

• The Social Network (2010)

Synopsis: The rise Mark Zuckerberg and how launched he launched Facebook one college at a time to eventually become one of the greatest social media sites of our time.

Key Lesson I Learned: Idea’s are worthless. Acting on them is the key. Just ask the Winklevoss twins.

2. The Greatest Showman (2017)

Synopsis: P.T. Barnum’s rise from poverty to start what became the traveling circus. It’s a story about relentlessly following your dreams and embracing what makes us different. 

Key Lesson I Learned: Even when things go really bad you can rebuild. It takes a village or community of diverse people to raise a startup. 

3. Steve Jobs (2015) 

Synopsis: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs rebuilds Apple

Key Lesson I Learned: Don’t be shy about how you launch your startup. Be bold. And believe in your vision. 

4. Money Ball (2011) 

Synopsis: Billy Beane, Oakland A’s manager, uses data and analytics to win.

Key Lesson I Learned: Everyone has innate bias. Focus on the results by your people and not how quirky they might be. 

5. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Synopsis: The rise and fall of Stratton Oakmont, a stock brokerage, and their founder Jordon Belfort.

Key Lesson I Learned: Don’t piss off the regulators. And creating a sales playbook with scripts for your sales people works.

To see the full list check it out here → here

💰 FUNDING YOUR START UP THE RIGHT WAY

Thinking about venture capital for your startup?

Many entrepreneurs assume that securing VC funding guarantees success, but statistics show that 75% of VC-backed startups still fail.

🔑 The key is understanding whether your business is a fit for venture capital.

If rapid scaling and network effects are critical to your business model, VC might be the right path.

However, for many startups, alternative funding sources—such as angel investors, bootstrapping, or customer revenue—may be a smarter approach.

We also explored negotiation strategies when dealing with VCs, the importance of warm introductions, and why building traction before seeking investment is crucial.

For founders looking to raise capital, understanding your market, refining your pitch, and targeting the right investors can make all the difference.

With the current economic climate, 2025 could bring a shift in investment trends. As interest rates and IPO activity fluctuate, founders need to weigh their options carefully before jumping into venture funding.

The right funding, at the right time, for the right situation, can be the ultimate game-changer for a startup’s success.

Watch the full interview with Ira Weiss of Hyde Park Venture Partners → here

🔥 CHECK ME OUT ON TIKTOK!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every month. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

Happy New Year! 🎉 Welcome back to the monthly Start Up Club Edge Newsletter and our first official issue of 2025. Join the 1 million+ entrepreneurs in this community!👇

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 📅 Today’s LIVE Clubhouse Episode

• 🚀 How to Start Your Business [10 Action Steps]

•  📚 The 25 Must-Read Books for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

• 🔥 AI Tip of the Month

• 🔍 Time to Sell Index [TTSI]

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes 39 seconds

Listen to this newsletter’s deep dive 👇

🔥 TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE

Today at 2pm EST - Lean Startup, Rich Exit with Dr. Kenan Sahin

• How can entrepreneurs prepare for a successful exit while maintaining growth?

• Key steps in transitioning from a lean startup to a thriving, established company

• Essential Strategies for Building a Scalable Business

🚀 How to Start Your Business [10 Steps to Take Action Today]

When I first started my business right out of college in 1993, almost everyone around me told me that I was making a mistake.

They said I should become a lawyer or accountant and make more money.

Instead, I started by selling vegetables at markets until I was able to save enough money to launch a retail store for software.

Sometimes in life, taking the easier path is not the better path.

I knew deep down that I wanted to run my own business.

Was it slow at first?

Absolutely.

I spent days on end hoeing on the family farm, wearing a Sony Walkman, and earning the first dividend of my career—blistering, bloody hands.

It was just the beginning, and that is how I thought of it.

Here are 10 tips to get you started on your path to creating wealth through launching a startup:

1. Get Over Your Fear and Make the Leap

Fear of failure is natural, but remember, every entrepreneur faces it. If you fail, it’s a learning lesson. If you succeed, you’re well on your way to creating wealth. Doing nothing will eventually create a sense of loss. It’s time to take the jump.

2. Ideas Are Everywhere

Your million-dollar idea might be hiding in plain sight. Pay attention to problems people face daily. If you’re struggling to find anything, get a job in an industry you love. Ideas are everywhere when you’re in the thick of it. If you experience an issue, chances are others are experiencing it too.

3. Vet Your Idea with Everyone Except the Yeah-Sayers and Nay-Sayers

You need real feedback—not just head nods or criticism. Talk to unbiased friends, industry experts, and even skeptics. They’ll help you refine your plan and avoid costly missteps. Seeking advice is a sign of strength, not weakness. You’d be surprised how many people in your network want to see you succeed.

4. Define Your Why – Your Purpose

What drives you? Is it freedom, impact, or financial success? Understanding your “why” will keep you going when times get tough. Business is tough—it’s a roller coaster of highs and lows. To get through the tough times, you need to focus on something you love. For me, it’s pets, which is why I invested in Paw.com. We create products for pet parents and their pooches. Trust me, it’s been a wild ride.

5. Take Action – Don’t Wait for Someone Else to Beat You to It

Ideas are great, but execution wins the race. Too many entrepreneurs sit on their ideas, only to see someone else launch them. Build your prototype or minimum viable product (MVP) now. Even if you don’t plan to launch for a year, take the first step today.

6. Pick a Great Name, Domain, and Logo Now

Names and visuals matter! For example, Tiff’s Treats nailed it with cookiedelivery.com.

If you have a budget, you can get a good name for under $2,000. Choose a name that reflects your brand and secure the domain immediately. Don’t overthink it. Use platforms like 99designs or Fiverr to create a logo and get moving.

Once, my family brainstormed a name for a beach house on the way home from an inspection. We bought the domain and had the logo made before even finalizing the deal. The name? SunsetEscape.club — reflecting the stunning Gulf of Mexico sunsets.

7. Set Up a Stage Gate – Pivot or Kill It at the Right Time

Think of a stage gate as a checkpoint. Set specific goals, like breaking even within six months or launching an MVP in three months. Be prepared to pivot or stop if you miss the mark. Sometimes the best decision is to kill a losing concept rather than dragging it out for years.

8. Create a 4-Sticky-Note Business Plan

Forget 50-page plans. Focus on a concise, actionable, and adaptable four-sticky-note plan.

Why sticky notes? They force you to be succinct and stick to the point. This method is detailed in Chapter 15 of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. It emphasizes practicality, particularly for startups.

9. Join an Incubator

Incubators offer mentorship, funding, and networking. They help you test ideas, refine processes, and make valuable connections for customers and funding. Surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs accelerates learning and helps you avoid beginner mistakes. It takes a village to raise a startup.

10. Use AI to Get the Business Off the Ground

AI tools like ChatGPT can help draft business plans, generate marketing content, and analyze data quickly.

There’s an “AI for that” for almost every business need. Think like Tony Stark with his Iron Man suit—time to strap on that AI suit and launch your startup.

BONUS: Learn Everything You Can about Startups

Entrepreneurship is a trade like any other, and you need to master it. Check out the top books for founders to read in 2025, which we’ve compiled for you in the next section of this newsletter👇

Starting a business doesn’t have to feel overwhelming.

Follow these steps, stay focused, and most importantly—take action today!

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

🚀 Best 25 Must-Read Books for Aspiring Entrepreneurs in 2025

1. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

2. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters

3. The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau

4. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber

5. The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki

6. Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.: Serial Entrepreneurs’ Secrets Revealed! by Colin C. Campbell

7. The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime by MJ DeMarco

8. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk

9. The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup by Noam Wasserman

10. The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

11. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki

12. Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur

13. Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz

14. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz

15. The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf

16. Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson

17. The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you by Rob Fitzpatrick

18. Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

19. The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman

20.Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

21. The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The Tell-it-Like-it-is Guide to Cleaning Up in Business, Even if You Are at the End of Your Roll by Mike Michalowicz

22. The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christensen

23. The Lean Entrepreneur: How Visionaries Create Products, Innovate with New Ventures, and Disrupt Markets by Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits

24. Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days by Chris Guillebeau

25. The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone

What is your must-read book?

Reply to this email and let me know!

🔥 CHECK ME OUT ON TIKTOK!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

Sora by OpenAI creates AI-powered videos that bring your ideas to life, from explainer videos to promotional content, all tailored to your brand. It also offers tools for content creation, streamlining workflows, and data-driven insights.

Perfect for entrepreneurs looking to scale marketing efforts, boost engagement, and save time.

DISCLAIMER: Startup Club and it’s AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. They are not a substitute for the expertise of a qualified lawyer. 

📅 THIS MONTH’S CLUBHOUSE SCHEDULE!

🔥 Serial Entrepreneurs: Secrets Revealed:

Friday Jan 17th 2pm ET - Building Investor-Ready Businesses with Ira Weiss

• What do VCs look for in startups seeking funding?

• How can founders build lasting investor relationships?

• How does market timing influence venture capital success?

Friday Jan 24th 2pm ET - Journey to CEO Success with Patrick Then, CEO of Rhythm Systems

• How can CEOs balance short-term goals with long-term vision?

• Tips for building a culture of accountability and execution

• Effectively measuring and sustaining organizational growth

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every month. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

P.S. Here is the Time to Sell Index [TTSI]

Now is NOT the time to sell.

Focus on buying or building.

Colin C. Campbell here, welcome back to StartUp.Club’s December issue. Join the 1 million+ entrepreneurs in this community!👇

IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 📅 Today’s LIVE Clubhouse Episode

• 🚀 Small Moves Make Big Results

• 📈 Minor, Major Growth Hacks [Activity]

• 🔥 AI Tip of the Week

• 🔍 Three Keys to Creating a Successful Vacation Rental

BONUS: Find the current score of the Time to Sell Index [TTSI] at the bottom of this newsletter.

Estimated Read Time: 7 minutes 32 seconds

NEW FEATURE! Listen to this newsletter’s deep dive 👇

Startup Club Newsletter Audio

🔥 TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE

Today at 2 pm EST! Killer Networking for Startups with Wali Shareef 

What you’ll learn:

• Building Meaningful and Authentic Connections

• Leveraging Social Media and Digital Tools for Networking

• Networking in High-Stakes or Challenging Environments

🚀 SMALL MOVES MAKE BIG RESULTS

People always ask me, “What’s the secret to building a successful business?” 

They think it’s all about three magic steps.

Spoiler alert: It’s not. 

Success is about the small moves—what I call Minor/Majors—the little things that pack a major punch.

Here’s a story to prove it:

My son finally had his first in-person college class (thanks, pandemic).

I asked him where he sat.

His answer?

“Front row, closest to the professor.”

Boom!

That’s a Minor/Major right there.

It cost him nothing, took almost no effort, but it changed everything.

He stayed laser-focused, connected with the professor, and more importantly surrounded himself with the over achievers who over years have become his friends and connections.

See what I mean?

Small moves.

Big results.

It cost him nothing to sit in the front row.

It took a minor effort — maybe a few extra feet of walking to get to the front row, yet it will have a major impact on his life. 

We call that a Minor/Major or Growth Hack!

After last month’s incredible newsletter we decided to build upon it by delving into how Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. and the stories in that book can help us win.

We came up with 70 Minor/Majors to:

1. Help do small things to Start a business. 

2. Figure out easy hacks to Scale a business. 

3. Learn how little things can help you Exit a business successfully.

4. Replicate it all and Repeat again.

I challenge you to complete the activity below.

Simply circle 10 Minor/Majors that you will implement in the next 90 days.

Time to get started.

— Colin C. Campbell

MINOR/MAJOR GROWTH HACKS [Complete This Activity]

Instructions: Circle 10 growth hacks you will implement in the next 90 days. 

START - Build the foundation for your business.

1. Leverage Free Tools: Use platforms like Canva or HubSpot for content and CRM.

2. Create a "Why" Video: Share your mission in a short, engaging video.

3. Micro-validate Ideas: Test ideas with small surveys or polls.

4. Engage in Local Networking: Attend meetups to connect with partners and customers.

5. Tap Into Student Talent: Collaborate with college students for mutual benefits.

6. Host Free Workshops: Teach a skill or topic to attract potential clients.

7. Create a Landing Page: Validate product ideas by tracking interest with signups.

8. Participate in Niche Communities: Engage in subreddits or forums related to your industry.

9. Collaborate with Micro-Influencers: Partner with small, targeted audiences.

10. Join Free Incubators: Apply for university or local incubators for mentorship and resources.

11. Hack Your Name and Branding: Use simple tools to check trademark availability and secure a memorable domain name.

12. Document Repeatable Processes: Write down workflows early to ensure consistency as you grow.

13. Visualize Your Target Market: Identify customer personas and build your brand around them.

14. Explore Idea Incubators: Join programs that provide support and feedback for startups.

15. Barter for Resources: Trade skills or products with other entrepreneurs to get started without large expenses.

16. DIY Marketing Materials: Create basic posters or flyers to promote locally.

17. Engage in Early SEO: Set up key phrases your audience searches for on your website.

18. Launch Surveys: Use tools like Google Forms to collect feedback on your idea.

19. Start Content Marketing: Write blog posts about your industry to gain early traction.

20. Test Ideas with Free Ads: Use small-scale campaigns on Google or Facebook to gauge interest.

SCALE - Grow your business through optimization, engagement, and partnerships.

21. Repurpose Content: Turn blogs into videos, infographics, or bite-sized posts.

22. Optimize Google My Business: Increase visibility with accurate and complete listings.

23. Automate Email Retargeting: Set up follow-ups for abandoned carts or inquiries.

24. Leverage Social Proof: Highlight testimonials, reviews, and case studies on your website and social channels.

25. Host Live AMAs: Engage directly with your audience in Q&A sessions.

26. Implement Chatbots: Use free tools to provide instant customer support.

27. Cross-Promote: Collaborate with complementary brands to expand reach.

28. Build a Community: Start Facebook or LinkedIn groups to foster customer engagement.

29. Launch Referral Programs: Incentivize customers to refer others with discounts or perks.

30. Tap Into Seasonality: Create campaigns for holidays or events.

31. Carry Stickers or Swag: Use portable branding tools like stickers or T-shirts at events.

32. Create Viral Videos: Follow the “Catch, Keep, Wow” formula for engaging content.

33. Hack Google Images: Create visuals that journalists or bloggers can reuse, boosting your brand’s visibility.

34. Become a Podcast Guest: Use services like PodcastGuests.com to get featured as an expert.

35. Affiliate Partnerships: Set up affiliate programs to incentivize creators to promote your products.

36. Host Micro Events: Organize small VIP gatherings during trade shows for networking.

37. Use Trade Shows Effectively: Wear branded shirts, ask questions during sessions, and share booth space to cut costs.

38. Optimize SEO Tags: Identify key search terms and update website meta tags accordingly.

39. Hack Social Media Trends: Ride hashtags or trending topics to increase engagement.

40. Expand Through Customer Feedback: Develop products based on what your customers need most.

EXIT - Maximize valuation and preparing for a successful handoff.

41. Document Metrics: Keep detailed records of financials and KPIs to attract buyers.

42. Package Repeatable Processes: Create clear documentation for systems to appeal to potential buyers.

43. Enhance Customer Loyalty: Build strong relationships with thoughtful gestures or exclusive benefits.

44. Sell Additional Products: Offer upsells or complementary products to maximize revenue.

45. Highlight Scalability: Emphasize your business’s growth potential during negotiations.

46. Keep Operations Transparent: Streamline processes and make them easy for a new owner to understand.

47. Run Limited-Time Deals: Boost sales temporarily before selling to show financial health.

48. Prepackage Marketing Assets: Hand over ready-to-use campaigns and materials for the buyer.

49. Network Actively: Attend industry events to build connections with potential acquirers.

50. Evaluate Competitors: Study competitors’ exits to understand market valuations and trends.

REPEAT - Leverage experience to launch your next venture efficiently.

51. Refine Your Playbook: Build a toolkit of successful strategies from past ventures.

52. Use Existing Systems: Reapply operational frameworks and workflows from prior businesses.

53. Reinvest in Education: Take courses or workshops to stay ahead in your field.

54. Launch in New Markets: Expand into different geographic or demographic segments.

55. Track A-Players: Keep strong relationships with key employees for future ventures.

56. Leverage Old Networks: Reconnect with former partners or investors.

57. Test Fast, Fail Cheap: Quickly validate ideas to minimize risk.

58. Build Pre-launch Buzz: Use waitlists, teasers, or exclusive offers to create anticipation.

59. Start with Low-Hanging Fruit: Pursue easy wins to gain momentum in new ventures.

60. Learn from Failures: Document and analyze past mistakes to avoid repeating them.

61. Run Parallel Experiments: Test multiple ideas simultaneously before committing resources.

62. Focus on Customer Retention: Develop products that solve evolving customer problems.

63. Expand Through Licensing: License successful products or services to scale without heavy lifting.

64. Build an Affiliate Network: Create a system to expand your audience through third parties.

65. Offer Consulting Services: Use your expertise to help others while funding your next project.

66. Explore Side Hustles: Use smaller ventures to test markets or ideas.

67. Repackage Old Successes: Turn past achievements into educational content or templates.

68. Tap Into Passive Income: Create resources like eBooks or online courses.

69. Leverage Content Archives: Repurpose past blogs, videos, or presentations for new projects.

70. Always Be Learning: Join free podcasts, webinars, or communities to find fresh ideas.

🚨 BONUS: Brainstorm with your team an additional 5 not on this list that you can implement in the next 90 days. 

🚀 WHY CUSTOM GPTS ARE A SUPERPOWER FOR TECH-CHALLENGED ENTREPRENEURS!

AI is transforming the startup world, making it easier for anyone—regardless of technical expertise—to create business plans, logos, presentations, legal documents, and more.

Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Midjourney are enabling entrepreneurs to do things that once required specialized skills.

Top Uses for Custom GPTs:

1. 🔍 Interpreting Legal Contracts: Upload a contract, ask questions, and even draft amendments. It’s a more streamlined approach than manually cutting and pasting, though always double-check for accuracy.

2. 🔥 Content Creation: Tailor a GPT to match your writing style by uploading your own work, so it generates content that feels like you.

3. Design & Marketing: Create logos, social media posts, and promotional material—without needing a designer.

4. 💰 Lead Generation: Share your custom GPTs with clients to offer personalized tools and resources, helping grow your business.

Creating and Using Custom GPTs:

Setting up a custom GPT is simple.

With a paid OpenAI membership, you can easily define specific tasks, industries, or styles.

Whether it's for personal use or to share publicly, creating GPTs is as easy as answering a few questions, and the process is fast—within minutes, you could have your own mini software solution.

Branding and Monetizing:

Once created, you can brand your GPT with a domain name (many are still available for under $10) and promote it via a landing page.

While OpenAI has mentioned future payments for creators based on user engagement, for now, it's a great tool for lead generation.

For example, offering free startup-focused GPTs and linking to your book or services can create opportunities to monetize.

To read the whole article, check it out here → Full article

🔥 CHECK ME OUT ON TIKTOK!

@startupclubhq

What does it take to start, scale, and exit multiple successful companies? Colin C. Campbell has done it all. From co-founding some of the... See more

🤖 AI TIP OF THE MONTH

DISCLAIMER: Startup Club and it’s AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. They are not a substitute for the expertise of a qualified lawyer. 

🔑 THREE KEYS TO CREATING A SUCCESSFUL VACATION RENTAL

The vacation rental industry has exploded over the past decade, offering travelers unique places to stay and property owners exciting revenue opportunities.

But what sets a successful vacation rental apart from the sea of options?

Whether you’re just starting or refining your approach, these insights can help you stand out.

1. Master the Guest Experience 🔑
   

   At the heart of every successful vacation rental is an exceptional guest experience. In the end, people remember how a stay made them feel—comfortable, welcomed, and cared for.

2. Prioritize Design and Maintenance 🔑🔑
   

   The look and functionality of your rental can make or break your success. Traveler’s are drawn to properties that are both visually appealing and well-maintained.

3. Ace Your Marketing Strategy 🔑🔑🔑

   With millions of vacation rentals available, a strong marketing approach ensures your property doesn’t get lost in the crowd.

To read more about the three keys, read the in-depth article → HERE

📅 THIS MONTH’S CLUBHOUSE SCHEDULE!

🔥 Serial Entrepreneurs: Secrets Revealed:

Friday, December 13th 3pm EST - CEO of NicNames.com Andriy Khvetkevych

What you’ll learn:

• The Future of Digital Identity: What do Businesses Need to Know?

• Balancing Business Success and Social Responsibility in Entrepreneurship 

• Protecting Ideas and Innovation

Friday, December 20th 3pm EST - 2024 in Review 

What you’ll learn:

We are sharing our favorite moments of the year & looking ahead to 2025! What new trends can we expect? What’s staying in 2024, and what changes are you making in the new year?

🔥 The Complete Entrepreneur Show :

Thursday, December 12th 5 pm EST - Where do good ideas come from? 

How can we ideate successful ventures and recreate past wins? Join the brainstorming session to learn more!

Thursday, December 19th 5 pm EST - The Cost of Doing Business

Long hours and the stress of entrepreneurship– is it worth it? Let’s discuss the financial and personal costs of owning a business.

🏆 START.SCALE. EXIT. REPEAT. WON BIG AT THE 2024 GOODY BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS!

• Colin C. Campbell is a Top Impact Author Winner for the 2024 Goody Business Book Awards for his book, Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

Pick up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. → HERE

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every month. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

PS here is the Time to Sell Index [TTSI]

It doesn’t get much worse than that.

Now is NOT the time to sell.

Focus on buying or building.

Welcome back to StartUp.Club’s November issue! Make sure you subscribe and join the 1 million+ entrepreneurs in this community. 👇

In this newsletter you’ll find:

• 📅 Today’s LIVE Clubhouse Episode

• 📈 Micro Moves, Major Wins [7 Tips]

• 🔥 To Scale or Not to Scale [Free GPT Access]

• 🔍 Who Should You Vote For This Election…

• 🔥 Tech's Newest Favorite AI

Estimated Read Time: 7 minutes 32 seconds

Exciting news… Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. is offically a BookFest award winner!!

Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to a fellow entrepreneur.

TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE 👇

Friday, Nov. 1st 2pm ET - Stephanie McKenzie, Brand & Leadership Development Expert.

Brand & Leadership strategist Stephanie Mckenzie shows how to build a successful plan to get your business noticed!

🚀 Micro Moves, Major Wins: How Michele Van Tilborg is Flipping the Script at Paw.com

Earlier this year, Michele Van Tilborg took the reins as CEO of Paw.com.

It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park – eCommerce has had a rough ride post-pandemic.

But Michele had a plan. When I asked her how she was going to turn things around, she said: “100 micro moves.”

In Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., we talk about dozens of small move you can make that

have a major win.

We call them “minor/majors”.

These are the low-key moves that create major ripple effects.

Here are some of my favorite minor/majors that have delivered:

• Leverage Your Customers for Promo: At a school my wife and her business partner run, we printed open house signs and asked parents to post them on their lawns. It worked so well, we never had to do it again.

• Logo Everywhere: Sure, this might embarrass my family, but I slap our logo on everything – from my daily shirts to my car and even my boat. It’s almost free advertising and I can’t tell you how many people say, I saw your Paw.com car.

• Front Row Mentality: I once asked my son where he sat in college on his first day of classes in 3rd year as his first two years were done in zoom. He proudly said, “Front row, right by the professor.” He stayed engaged and surrounded himself with the best. You really are who you surround yourself. One small decision in your life could have major impact on your success. 

• Sit in the Front: I take the same approach at trade shows – front row, merch on. Half the time, the speaker gives us a shoutout, and again, it’s all free.

• Daily Sales Huddles: At one of my companies, we launched an 8-minute daily sales huddle.

Each person answered three questions:

1. What’s your top priority today?

2. What was your victory yesterday?

3. Are you stuck?

 And guess what, the #1 question that changed behavior the most was…

 “What is your victory from yesterday?”

How do I know this because I had to the come to the table every morning with a huge victory to impress the team.

It changed my behavior!

Here’s how Michele’s been making micro moves at Paw.com:

• Embrace Offshore Talent: She outsourced a daily cartoon design after our U.S. based designer left, slashing the cost to 20% of what we’d been paying.

• Renegotiate Everything: From software to shipping, she left no stone unturned. Michele even got our shipping expenses cut by 20%.

• Slash Unnecessary Costs: She combed through every subscription and expense, cutting anything non-essential without impacting quality or customer experience.

• Ask for a Bigger Cut: She even negotiated with one of our vendors to boost our commission from 30% to 50%. Sometimes all it takes is asking.

• Switch a 2% Cash Back Card: One of her smartest moves? She switched our corporate credit card to one that gives 2% back on every dollar. Since we spend millions on ads with companies like Facebook, we make almost $200K in additional profit just by using the right credit card.

• She setup Goal Setting on Rhythm Systems: Rhythm Systems recently setup a goal setting platform for $500 dollars per year to help startups build strategy and set goals for themselves and their employees.

  (insert rhytm systems pic here)

• Setup affiliates: Oh, and if you’re a Startup Club member, Michele set up a 20% discount for you. Just use code STARTUPCLUB.

The best part?

None of these moves hit quality or service.

Individually, they might seem small, but together, they’re turning Paw.com around.

My All-Time Favorite Minor Major… AI for Growth.

There are so many AI tools that can supercharge your business, helping with contracts, marketing, strategy, and more.

Think of it like Tony Stark strapping on the Ironman suit suddenly, you’re supercharged.

Minor/majors – whether it’s using cashback cards, getting a free shoutout, or optimizing every part of the business – these moves add up.

And when you start locking these down, you’re setting your business on the fast track to scaling up and staying competitive.

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

🔍 WHO WILL SUPPORT YOUR STARTUP THIS ELECTION? 5 REASONS TO VOTE FOR EACH CANDIDATE 

Whether you are Democrat, Republican or Independent you might consider voting. If you do here are five reasons to support each of the two candidates running for president:

Reasons to Vote for Vice President Kamala Harris

1. Funding for Startups: Harris supports increased access to grants and loans, particularly for underrepresented founders, fostering a more inclusive startup ecosystem.

2. Affordable Healthcare: Plans to lower healthcare costs can benefit small businesses by reducing the financial strain on employee benefits.

3. Climate Tech Support: Her environmental policies include incentives for green tech startups, promoting innovation in sustainable industries.

4. Broadband Expansion: Proposals to expand internet access could open markets and boost remote operations for digital startups.

5. Tax Incentives for Innovation: Harris supports tax breaks for R&D, making it more affordable for tech-focused startups to innovate.

Reasons to Vote for Former President Donald Trump

1. Deregulation: Trump advocates for reducing regulations, which can simplify compliance and lower costs for startups.

2. Lower Corporate Taxes: Aiming to cut taxes, Trump’s policies could increase cash flow for early-stage businesses reinvesting profits.

3. Infrastructure Investment: Planned investments in U.S. infrastructure may open opportunities for startups in construction, tech, and logistics.

4. Skilled Immigration: Supports expanded work visas, potentially aiding startups in accessing top talent from around the world.

5. Energy Independence: Trump’s focus on U.S. energy could reduce operational costs for energy-intensive startups, especially in manufacturing.

At startup club we are neutral and will not endorse either candidate.

We do however, believe it is important that all founders and those working for startups get out and vote to support a strong startup environment.

Live, Work, and Play at Sea: Fast Internet Revolutionizes Cruise Life

The world changed dramatically in 2020 with the pandemic. Suddenly, working from home became the norm, “Zoom meetings” took over, and we all traded business attire for comfortable loungewear.

Fast-forward a few years, and that flexible work-life has become something many of us appreciate: working wherever and whenever we want.

Last year, while cruising on Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas in the North Atlantic, I was amazed to find high-speed internet, courtesy of SpaceX’s Starlink—a low-orbit satellite network that’s as fast as it is revolutionary.

For those of us used to struggling with frustratingly slow, unreliable satellite internet, Starlink is a game-changer.

With high-speed connectivity now spreading across cruise lines, Royal Caribbean’s Chief Information Officer says they’re “all in” on high-speed connectivity to keep guests connected no matter where they are.

This shift brings up an intriguing question: could this be the start of a new era where anyone can work “wherever” and “whenever”—even in the remote North Atlantic?

The idea aligns with the mission of Start Scale Exit Repeat, which explores how tech shifts reshape our world.

From internet access in the 90s to the cloud era, every shift has transformed our work and lives.

Today, the rise of high-speed global internet and AI are poised to unleash the next big shift—enabling us to “Live, Work, and Play” anywhere in the world.

My recent experience got me thinking about the future of workspaces at sea.

Imagine cruise ships equipped with private offices and coworking spaces, allowing guests to tackle their workday amid incredible views.

In fact, my wife and I took the plunge and invested in a condo on the upcoming Storylines MV Narrative, a unique residential ship designed for full-time global living and working.

Set to launch in 2027, this ship offers shared workspaces, a recording studio, and at-home connectivity, combining luxury travel with a remote work-friendly environment.

Storylines’ CEO explains their commitment to high-speed internet, with plans for Starlink to ensure “at-home, at-work levels of connection.”

Are we witnessing the next leap in remote work culture?

Imagine closing a deal while sipping cocktails overlooking Alaskan icebergs.

With this new way of living, it’s clear the 9-to-5 office has transformed forever.

Want to see how Starlink and global connectivity could change your lifestyle?

Check out the full story here to learn how to work from anywhere—even at sea!

Tech's Newest Favorite AI – Notebook LM

Recently, I did a video on custom GPTs, which I think is another game-changer, another massive opportunity.

And today, I’m here to tell you about something new from Google. It’s called Notebook LM.

Notebook LM is incredible.

You just go into it with your Google account, and it lets you create notebooks for personal use or even for broadcasting on podcasts or other channels.

Here’s a quick example—I took one of my chapters from Start Scale Exit Repeat, uploaded it in just 10 seconds, and then clicked “generate.”

That’s it. In no time, it created an entire podcast.

So if you’ve got any proprietary data, this could be huge.

To give you a little more context, we’re planning to take all 58 chapters from Start Scale Exit Repeat and make them available as Notebook LM deep dives.

You’ll be able to read a chapter, then click for a podcast version of that content if you want to go deeper. Imagine getting all those startup hacks, tips, and tricks delivered as audio.

Want to see what Notebook LM can do for your startup?

Watch the full video here and explore how you can make AI work for you.

🔥 TO SCALE OR NOT TO SCALE [FREE GPT INCLUDED]

Do you keep running your startup as a lifestyle business or do you scale it?

Most companies in America fail to scale, but let me tell you this.

There is a formula to scale.

I've done it dozens of times, but it's very different than starting your business.

Your instincts may have got you through starting your business, but they're not going to get you through scaling.

You need to operate very differently at scale versus start.

Your story needs to change.

Your people need to change.

Your funding needs to change.

And it's time to let systems help scale your business.

There are dozens of strategies we outline in the book Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat.

From finding what makes you unique and different with your X Factor, to transforming you into a sales driven organization, to funding the company the right way.

 🚨 Grab the free GPT to rate your scalabilty here 🚨

📅 THIS MONTH’S CLUBHOUSE SCHEDULE!

Friday, Nov. 8th 2pm ET - Jose Moreno, Founder and CEO of Neulight.

What you’ll learn:

Join us as we dive into the journey of Jose Moreno, Founder and CEO of Neulight, exploring his insights on innovation, leadership, and building a successful company from the ground up.

Friday, Nov. 15th 2pm ET - Randy Bast, FocalPoint Business & Executive Coach.

What you’ll learn:

Tune in as we chat with Randy Bast, Certified FocalPoint Business & Executive Coach, uncovering his expert strategies for empowering leaders and accelerating business growth.

Friday, Nov. 22nd 2pm ET - Ewell Smith — Founder ‘Close the Deal’.

What you’ll learn:

In this episode, we speak with Ewell Smith, founder of Close the Deal, to uncover his proven techniques for driving sales success and closing deals with confidence.

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every week. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

Do you have a topic you’d like me to dive into? Reply back to this email and I’ll see what I can do.

— Colin C. Campbell

Welcome back to StartUp.Club’s October issue! If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe and join the 1 million+ entrepreneurs in this community. 👇

In this newsletter you’ll find:

• 📅 Today’s LIVE Clubhouse Episode

• 📈 My 10 Year Journey to Create Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

• 🔥 How to Build Your Business’s Core Values [Access to Free GPT]

• 🛠️ Build a Moat: How to Defend Your Start Up!

• ✅ This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule

BONUS: Find the current score of the Time to Sell Index [TTSI] at the bottom of this newsletter.

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes 47 seconds

Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to a fellow entrepreneur.

TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE 👇

October 4th @ 2pm ET - "Winning Moves for Startups" Patrick Thean, CEO of Rhythm Systems on Serial Entrepreneur hosted by Colin C. Campbell

What you’ll learn:

• Strategic Execution: We look at executing strategic plans in startups, and the importance of creating a rhythm for sustained growth and success.

• Startup Pitfalls: The common mistakes startups make in their early stages and how Patrick Thean’s "Winning Moves" can help avoid them, focusing on measurable outcomes and goal-setting.

📈 My 10 Year Journey to Create Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

Yup, you heard that correctly.

I spent 10 years writing this book, which is based on my 30-year career as a serial entrepreneur.

In 2012, I was invited to speak at MIT for the Entrepreneur Master’s Program because I had successfully started, scaled, and exited companies throughout my career.

I was nervous as hell when I showed up.

Here I was, teaching 60 of the top startup founders in the country how to scale their companies.

I had recently broken my leg skiing and walked in on crutches... but what began that day was the start of something huge.

I had to figure out what I’d done repeatedly, and then explain it to the attendees. And what I discovered was incredible:

At each stage—Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat—the founder (me) had to learn to run a completely different kind of organization.

The story, people, money, and systems shifted dramatically between each level.

And I don’t mean small changes.

I mean massive shifts in thinking by the founder.

📚 Story: From starting with a story about solving a problem, to scaling with an X-Factor—something unique and different.

✅ People: From delegating tasks during the startup phase, to delegating responsibilities while scaling. You hire great leaders who have dominant profiles and instincts.

💰Money: From raising money through begging, borrowing, and hustling, to scaling by securing the right money for the right situation.

🚀 Systems: From implementing basic systems and KPIs, to scaling with goal setting, quarterly planning, daily huddles, sales playbooks, and more.

I had also learned the keys to building a successful company included 3 things:

1. Make it scalable (ScaleRatingAi.com)

2. Create a moat around it (StartupGPT: MoatBuilderAi.com - I talk more about this below in this newsletter too.)

3. Catch a wave (See Chapter 3 – my favorite chapter in the book)

Yeah, the book took:

• 10 years

• 200 Interviews

• 30 Illustrations

• 58 Chapters—written for the ADHD entrepreneur.

• 4 Color-Coded Sections

• 180 Callouts

But the results in the first year were huge!

We received 13 awards including:

And 15 #1 best selling positions on Amazon including:

I will leave it with the closing lines of my book:

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

🔥 HOW TO BUILD YOUR CORE VALUES [FREE GPT INCLUDED]

Scale your culture…

The culture of an early startup can be really fun.

It's late nights, pizza, free flowing everywhere, creativity, and lots of energy.

Everyone knows exactly how to behave in the environment.

You know, you're hitting the point in your company as it scales.

When someone starts to say, remember the good old days, the company just is not the same anymore while they're right.

The company's not the same.

Even so, scaling your culture can be one of the easiest, lowest cost ways to increase the success for your business.

Core values are a reflection of who you are in your company.

Core values are the guardrails guiding the decision making process throughout the life of the business.

During my struggles at Hostopia, I had the opportunity to read the book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits,

And I discovered how effective value statements can be in defining your culture.

I learned how core value should be something people actually use day to day.

It becomes the language of the company.

I also learned how they should form the basis for hiring, firing, driving growth, customer service, rules of engagement, And all the other areas of major decision making when you are trying to scale, you really need to bring your team together to define your values.

What I call pillars at Hostopia.

We had three pillars.

1. Respect and recognize greatness.

2. We spend it like our own.

3. When our customers succeed, we succeed.

You can see how they're common phrases.

And they can have such an impact on the team because they are memorable.

They become the language of the office.

Unlike mindless mission statements hanging on a wall, these have become part of our lexicon, ingrained in our thinking, and therefore are our guideposts for decision making. On that note, knowing your personal values is a great place to start.

I’m sure we all remember these posted in every office in corporate America.

Who wants to dedicate their life to a project that's incompatible with their own values?

What are my personal values, as an example?

I came up with six that are key for me.

1. First and foremost is my health.

2. Do it really well, or don't do it at all.

3. Live in the future.

4. Integrity over money.

5. And carpe diem.

6. Seize the day.

You can see how some of these personal values have transferred into company values as well.

In one of our companies, we had a value called do crazy things, not stupid things, which really comes from the same message as carpe diem or seize the day.

Scaling your culture is the least expensive thing you can do to scale your business.

 🚨 Grab the free GPT to build your customer values here 🚨

🚨 THE REVIEWS ARE IN!

Reviews for Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. are in!

Check out what readers have to say!

⭐️ What I like most about this book is its no-nonsense approach. It doesn’t just give you theory; it offers tried-and-tested methods for each stage of the entrepreneurial journey—from launching your first startup to scaling operations and eventually exiting with a profit. 

⭐️ Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. is an outstanding guide to entrepreneurship! Whether you're a seasoned business owner or just starting out, this book is packed with practical insights and real-world strategies that are invaluable. The author, who is a successful serial entrepreneur, breaks down complex concepts into actionable steps that anyone can follow.

⭐️ The writing is engaging, and the advice is straightforward, making even the most daunting aspects of entrepreneurship feel manageable. This book is not just a one-time read; it's a resource you'll return to again and again as you navigate your entrepreneurial journey.

⭐️ Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. is an outstanding guide to entrepreneurship! Whether you're a seasoned business owner or just starting out, this book is packed with practical insights and real-world strategies that are invaluable. The author, who is a successful serial entrepreneur, breaks down complex concepts into actionable steps that anyone can follow.

We also are the recipient of the Nonfiction Book Awards Winner and 5 stars from Literary Titan 🎉 

🛠️ MOAT BUILDER: HOW TO DEFEND YOUR START UP

It’s well-known that half of all businesses fail within the first five years.

For many entrepreneurs, we spend much of our time “playing offense” for our startup—closing the big deals, finding investors, and brand building.

But just like in sports, you can’t win with only a great offensive strategy—you have to know how to play defense, too.

You might have a scalable idea…but can you defend it long enough to allow it to scale?

In many cases, startups fail because they fail to build the necessary protections.

In the book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat, I call this idea “building a moat” around your business, just like kings built moats around their castles to protect them from invading forces.

So, let’s take a look at some of the “moats” you need to build to protect your startup so that you can extend your runway and set yourself apart from the competition.

1. Domain Name

2. Legal Protections

3. Distribution

4. Exclusivity

But how do you build it with these pillars?

Read the full in-depth article → here 

Check out my Moat Builder GPT and let me know what you think.

📅 THIS MONTH’S CLUBHOUSE SCHEDULE!

October 10th @5pm ET - Is Stress a Bad Thing? - The Complete Entrepreneur hosted by Michael Gilmour

What you’ll learn:

• Harnessing Stress: Explore how stress can be both a positive and negative force in entrepreneurship, driving performance and innovation when managed correctly.

• Stress Management Techniques: Discuss practical strategies for entrepreneurs to manage stress effectively, turning it into a tool for growth and resilience rather than burnout.

October 11th @ 2pm ET - Tim Ash, Author of "Unleash Your Primal Brain"

What you’ll learn:

• Neuroscience of Decision-Making: Tim Ash’s insights on how understanding the primal brain can enhance decision-making processes and strategic thinking in business.
  

• Human Behavior in Entrepreneurship: Discuss how entrepreneurs can leverage knowledge of human behavior to improve marketing, customer engagement, and team leadership.

October 18th @ 2pm ET - Ira Weiss, Partner with Hyde Park Venture Partners

What you’ll learn:

• Venture Capital Insights: Highlight Ira Weiss’s perspective on what venture capitalists look for in startups and how entrepreneurs can position themselves for successful funding.

• Scaling Startups: Discuss the critical factors that help startups scale and attract venture capital, focusing on market potential, team dynamics, and financial health.

October 25th @ 2pm ET - Dr. Kenan Sahin, President and Founder at CAMX Power

What you’ll learn:

• Innovation in Energy Storage: We explore Dr. Kenan Sahin's work in energy storage technology and its impact on the future of renewable energy and entrepreneurship in the clean tech space.

• Entrepreneurial Vision: Dr. Sahin’s journey as a serial entrepreneur and inventor, focusing on the importance of long-term vision and continuous innovation in building successful companies.

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every week. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter!

Have a topic you’d like me to dive into? Reply back to this email and I’ll see what we can do.

— Colin C. Campbell

PS here is the Time to Sell Index [TTSI]

It doesn’t get much worse than that.

Now is NOT the time to sell.

Focus on buying or building.