Hey, listeners. Welcome back to another episode of Two Dads in Tech, where we talk about things that you think about but don't really talk about.
I'm Troy Monson, father of two, founder and CEO over at Demo, a place to evaluate software without jumping into a sales cycle.
And I'm Daniel Burke, husband, dad to two incredible boys, sales leader, LinkedIn lunatic, and Beehiiv newsletter evangelist. Thanks for tuning in. We hope you enjoy this episode.
Daniel, how about you say we go ahead and get into it? Let's do it. Hey, Daniel. Happy birthday, man. Happy birthday, dude. Hey, what if my neck, what if my neck looked like this? What if my chin looked like this?
If I was just like... If I just walked around like this. Like, oh, dude, that, yeah, [laughs] that's kinda cool. Dude, I look like Bob's Burgers. Wait, I go from WWE to wa- watch, watch me do Bob's Burgers.
[laughs] Oh, I love it. I love it. Oh, goodness. How's your birthday been going, man? Birthday's been great. Uh, birthday's been great.
My three-year-old unfortunately smashed and shattered a glass snow globe today, so that was fun.
But, uh, you know, every now and again, things just break in a, in a household of toddlers, and you just learn to live with it, so... But otherwise- Yeah... very good. How about yours? I'll tell you soon.
It- but he's sick too, right? Or he was? He is. He was- Mm... and is, and yet to come. Uh- Yeah... he, uh, unfortunately has walking pneumonia right now, so that's no fun.
Very sad to see a toddler of any age, a baby that's sick, can't do anything, and then they also can't do anything for themselves.
So, like, when you have a cold as an adult, you blow your nose, you hack up grossness, like you're, you're constantly, like, mitigating symptoms.
But babies and toddlers just, like, don't have the concept of doing that, so, like, they can't spit out grossness. They can't blow their own nose. They're just like, like- With... with sickness until they're done. Yeah.
And so I think it lasts so much longer because the symptoms are just, like, there in their face and in their head. Yeah. But he is getting better. Yeah. So it's good. Good.
Well, I'm glad he's better, and yeah, that, that is sad. So, uh, my birthday's been good. I woke up this morning at 4:30- Good... fed the newborn, and then worked out. Good. So I felt great. Love it.
Like I, I've been locked in this apartment that I'm in for a while because same with my toddler, he had RSV. We had to keep him away from the newborn.
Newborn and my wife were at the in-laws, and so they've been staying there. I've been staying here with the toddler. Dude, he's acting perfectly fine.
Tuesday and Wednesday he was so sick, but Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you would think that, like, everything's fine. But, like, we still don't wanna put him around the newborn 'cause RSV is very bad for newborns.
Yep. So, um, it's been a long four days of not being able to leave these four walls and just entertaining a toddler every- Yeah... single second of the day. Um- Yes...
so single parents that have your kids at home, like, shout out to you. That's huge. Um, but- Yes...
at the same time, dude, I just let him run naked and I wouldn't say he's fully potty trained at all, but he's peeing and pooping in the toilet, which is sick. Yes. So that's cool. Yes. And he loves it. I love that.
But- I love that... dude, it's, it's to the point where he wants to pee every four seconds now 'cause w- I give him a sticker every time. We put it on a sticker chart, and now he's just like, "I gotta pee."
So now he just wants stickers. Yeah. [laughs] He just wants to go pee. Uh, but it's all right. We're, we're learning. Everyone's healthy, um, now. I'm kinda, like, 90%. I still got this nasal stuff going on, but- Yeah...
um, yeah. I've been sick since the kid's been here. I've been sick for 11 days. The toddler's been sick for 11 days. Here we are. That's what I've just learned. My son just turned three yesterday.
Actually, we were in the doctor's office while he was having his sick birthday. And I've learned over the last three years that you're just in it. You're- Yeah...
gonna be sick pretty much constantly, particularly as they build their immune systems, like, with school-aged people and, you know, when they go to preschool and all that stuff. Uh, I talked to my friend the other day.
I was like, "Yeah, we've been sick for going on, like, six weeks now, basically since Thanksgiving." [laughs] Just, you know, everyone taking turns.
And he has older kids, uh, I think his oldest is, like, 11 or 12, and he's like, "Yeah, you only have, like, 18 more years of it." And I was like- Mm. [laughs] But it is what it is. You just, you figure it out.
What are you gonna do? Dude, I was- I don't know... thinking this morning, um, what percent of quota do you think Brian Lamana is gonna hit this year?
I heard that his daily quota is 100% of everyone else's monthly quota, and if he doesn't exceed that, he doesn't eat dinner that night.
It's his own self-regulating way of disciplining himself and making himself into a rock star. Dude, that's, that's awesome. Uh, he's kinda jacked. Like, at least from the pictures- Huge...
or the videos that he puts, he looks ripped, so he must be eating a lot of dinners. There's a photo. He recently got married, I think less than a year ago, and I can't remember where he went.
I wanted to go with him, but he said, "No, no, no, this is only for my wife and I." He posted a picture on LinkedIn. I was like, "This is just shy of, like, shouldn't be on LinkedIn," but he is looking good, Brian.
That dog- Dude... has no idea what they're in for. You adopt a dog and that dog's gonna get... Oh, that dog is gonna get ripped. Just this huge D's dog walking around the Gong office with Brian.
[laughs] He's like, "Yep, that's Brian's dog." [laughs] Oh. Yeah, so- Oh... I, I feel like he's gonna hit, who knows? As a real answer, I think maybe around 300% this year. I think he's got a... I think he- Yeah...
mentioned he, uh, he struggled a little bit this year, but he still hit quota, like, whatever- Yeah... all that fun stuff. So, you know, struggle I guess is subjective, but, um- Right... he's gonna have a big year.
Gong's, yeah, Gong's fiscal year, or at least their fourth quarter, ends at the end of January I just learned. Mm.
So, you know, depending on how his Q4 has been to date, his Q4 is not over yet, so I think he has- Yeah... all the way up until the clock strikes on Feb 1st and-You know, I have no doubt he'll, he'll, he'll exceed quota.
Pro- I'm, I'm guessing closer to 200%, but 300 would be great. I don't know anyone that would be disappointed in a 300% run rate, but, uh, uh, maybe Brian would be. Maybe Brian. Yeah. He'd go home, he'd cry.
He'd be like, "Dude, I'm..." [laughs] Like, "What? I'm not gonna work out for six days now." [laughs] Every, every time he doesn't hit quota, he just goes into, like, maxes on the bench. He's like, "Freaking."
[laughs] Oh, he's a freak in nature. He's a freak in nature. He's huge. He's huge. Troy, I have a question for you. Hit me, man. Hit me. MQLs versus SQLs. What are your thoughts? Um, [laughs] so
I'm gonna take it a bit more vague than this, and I'm just gonna talk about marketing qualified leads in general. At the end of the day, everybody's going for qualified leads.
I could not tell you the last time that I had a marketing qualified lead come inbound and it was, like, a really hot lead. Like, they were in market. And that's not... I, I don't think that that's marketing's fault.
I think every organization is this way, to be honest, and maybe it's only because it's the organizations I've been in.
Maybe there are hotter companies like the Gongs of the world where VPs of sales go in there and they know exactly what they're gonna get, and boom, like that's a hot MQL, turn to SQL, et cetera.
I also think that every company measures MQL and SQL differently. So when I was at Proofpoint, we actually did not even do SQLs. It was you had a marketing qualified lead, and I guess did I qualify it or not? Yes.
You could then consider that SQL. But we didn't have, like, the actual abbreviation or nomenclature of this person is an SQL. It was just sales is working it or they're not. Um,
I think leads from marketing are typically bad. I don't think it's your fault now that I'm running demo and seeing the kinds of people that come to my site randomly, and I'm like, "I'm not spending any money on you.
How are you getting to my site?" It blows my mind. I have like military benefit specialist and all these random titles come to my site clicking on things. So if I was a...
I'm a demo site, so it's a little bit weird, but if I was a SaaS product and I just click on something, it's like, "Here's your [laughs] here you go, Daniel Burke, here's your military benefits specialist.
Go reach out to them." I don't know if it's their fault. So what I think is in general, marketing typically drives more bad leads than good. So I think that MQLs don't convert to SQLs as, at a high rate.
And I think that sales also [laughs] has this idea of I hate marketing. I hate marketing's leads. And I also [laughs] think that they think that they know better than marketing as well.
Um, so yeah, that's like my holistic- Yeah... thought of like marketing driving leads and what sales thinks. And salespeople are stubborn.
Like if people aren't in market right now, I know a lot of salespeople that were like, "No, I'm not working it." But they might be in market- Mm-hmm... you know, in six to nine months, which that's like a nurturer.
I think the salesperson that nurtures is the salesperson that wins. So I think like you grab those leads that could be a good fit down the road and you just nurture them. But some people are like- Yeah...
"Nope, bad lead. They're not ready to buy right now. No pain this second, so see ya." Yeah. That's what I think. Yeah. What are your thoughts with- Yeah. Okay. I don't want you to like go off on a rant like I did.
I didn't mean to, but what do you think? No, that's good. Uh, I think they both have their place and they both have their metrics for a reason.
I think any successful or any health- healthy organization has some measurable or feasible MQL and SQL. I do agree what you said about a typical sales org. They see not in market or 15-month contract at current vendor.
Well, close, lost, bad timing. Well, okay, there's more you can do than just that. I mean, the nurturer aspect I think is important. I think for MQLs and SQLs, the nurturer approach is huge. So what is it?
11% or 18% in market right now across the entire marketplace. I mean, it's some ridiculous number. Basically everything's nurturer. Yeah. Yeah, and I think it's even lower.
I think it's like 5, 3 to 7% is like in market for your solution. But this is really fun.
I just got a LinkedIn message and got distracted and looked at it while you were answering that, but I caught most of it, so apologies, but you'll like this. Yeah, you suck.
[laughs] And so Timothy McGuez, McGue- I, I hope I didn't butcher that. Timothy McGuez, Maguez, one or the other, "Is there an award for being the biggest fan of a podcast?
If so, how would one ask a host of that show for said award? Asking for a friend." Let's go, dude. Hey, thank you. We have one fan. Thank you. I love the one fan.
Imagine the entire stadium of a football team of choice with the whole thing filled seat to seat, shoulder to shoulder with that one single fan of ours. I mean, that's who we're performing for right now.
We are the halftime show of that one guy, and thank- This is for Timothy. This, and- Thank you, Timothy...
his, his tagline on LinkedIn is former basketball coach now crossing up the tech sales game, which is kinda fun too. So Timothy that's- That is cool... that's kinda right up my alley. Um, speaking of the podcast,
dude, we've had... It's been like a hot week for us this week when it comes- It has been a hot week... to the podcast. A lot of plays, over like hundreds. A hot, yep. Yep. A lot of plays.
We're- Hundreds of plays and a lot of DMs actually. I've received, as I know you have, I mean, Timothy, you are our only fan, but actually we've received DMs like what he just read of Timothy's.
I've received maybe five or six myself. I know you've received several.
People actually finding us and being interested in what I sell, which is Beehive, what you sell, which is Demo, saying, "Hey, I found you through Two Dads and Tech podcast.
I'm a dad myself," or whatever that connection is they make. "I love what you're doing. I loved this part of the episode," which is like, oh, sweet, they listened to the episode.
And then they somehow start talking to us about what we do, and I'm like, what a great kind of beautiful star alignment where a podcast leads to something else more naturally. Pretty cool.
Dude, we're gonna get so, so famous. I won't even respond to people- So famous... I'll be so famous.I'm gonna be, I'm gonna l- I, I'll block you immediately. If you DM me, just immediate block, rejection.
Well, I won't do that. I'll have my executive assistant make sure if you're worthy or not, I'll respond. Chances are I won't respond, I don't have time.
I'm famous, but- I intend on making Troy Monson my executive assistant. I would do that. [laughs] I should be. Um, quit demo. I have a question, I thought about this the other day.
What piece of technology do you think was ahead of its time? Two. AOL Instant Messenger, Skype. Oh, Skype's- No notes... a great one. I didn't think about that. That's right. Damn.
AOL Instant Messenger absolutely could have been Slack if it just- Mm-hmm... kept doing what it did in, like, what? 1998. Insane. Insane. Skype- Yeah... fumbled.
COVID came, every single person in the world was trying to virtually connect with their friends and family. Where was Skype?
And yet Zoom overnight became this raging success, and now of course Google Meets, and you have a million different solutions. Haven't heard the word Skype in years. They fumbled the bag. Dude, massive bag fumble.
I do think they have Skype for Business. It might have shut down. I don't know. I know they had it. They tried prob- [laughs] They probably tried in 2020, they're like, "Dang, we need to get in on this." Yeah. Yeah.
Um, wow. That, I didn't think of those two. What I thought of was the PSP. I thought the PSP- Ooh... a handheld screen device where you can play full games.
I was like, "Dude, this is-" Hold on, hold on, hold on, this is gonna be very funny. No, he's gonna grab it. Guys, don't tell him this. He just walked away. He's an idiot. Here's my PSP.
[laughs] Oh, that's [laughs] Why is this... What? Why was I so ready? I was so ready to show my PS5. I have had this thing in a box unplugged for at least nine months. Does anyone wanna buy this PS5 from me?
I don't know why I still have it. D- I haven't played it in so long. Dude, I actually might. I've been slowly wanting to get back into gaming. So do you... This obviously looks like you gamed at some point in your life.
Uh, since having two kids, it has just become so difficult. I have, it's literally been in this spin drift box next to my desk unplugged for at least most of 2024. Ah. Dude, I played a lot.
As soon as Liam was born I didn't play as much. It's hard. That's just what happens. It's hard. It gets harder. I don't know, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know when you have time.
And you [laughs] you had a post recently blow up. [laughs] I don't know what it was, Saturday maybe, Friday. You posted, it had to have been 23 times. [laughs] And every time- Oh, I-...
I got on that link- So many times... it was like three minutes ago, Daniel Burke, and it would be like something like, "Oops, I just farted." And then the next one would be like [laughs]
the next one would be like- [laughs]... "Hey, like this, I'm trying to see something." But that post final- I don't know if it's blown up before, but it blew up, blew up this time. It has. It has. Yeah, yeah. Dude.
I think this was, it blew up more than it ever has. It's gotten several hundred likes before, but for anyone listening or watching,
every probably two weeks or so, I post on LinkedIn and I say, "If you're scrolling LinkedIn at time, Saturday, Monday, whatever, like or react to this post."
And then line break, line break, "I'm trying to see something, dot, dot, dot." I don't understand why people continue to react to this post.
I have posted this exact series of words at least 40 or 50 times in the last several months. And without fail, every single time it gets thousands of impressions.
This last time it was like 50 to 100,000 impressions, and over a thousand likes in the first 12 hours.
It's so funny 'cause there's, uh, people who, like, haven't followed me yet or, like, just, uh, this is, like, their introduction to Daniel Burke.
It's like, "Whoa, I wonder what this guy's measuring," and they, like, comment. They're like, "Yo, tell us the findings." I'm like, "Oh, poor young innocent soul. There are no findings. This is not an experiment.
I'm just an idiot," but it's fun. And you have a cult of people that like it, and that always, like, Courtney Cook or whatever I think is her name, I always see her like, "Dude, stop doing this. It makes us so itchy."
She's so... She hates it so much. I even commented on my own post and I said, "React to this comment if you're one of the OG reactors-" Mm-hmm... to the trying to see something post.
It was the dumbest sentence I've written in a long time. Yeah. And I had like 100 likes on that comment. [laughs] Yeah. I saw that this morning. I was like, "This is the dumbest-" So funny...
"thing that I've ever seen in my life." So funny. Well, hey, you know [laughs] you know how to do it. And I, and it's, I was, like, showing my wife. I think we were, we w- w- we were able to go and grab lunch together.
The grandparents came over and they watched both the kids. Awesome. And so we went out, grabbed lunch, and did our grocery shopping. Kid-free, felt good.
But of course it seems just like, it seems like everything I talk about gets consumed with work or LinkedIn or, I gotta figure out some other hobbies. But I like golfing, but she hates that.
So, um- I also like golfing... I was literally scrolling through a post to her, and I was, like, scrolling. I was like, "Wait a second, this stupid post blew up? [laughs] Like, no, no way." Um, whatever. It's stupid.
I know. And every time that happens I'm like, "Dang it, I should've plugged something." But I didn't. I- it's just, like, it's lit- literally idiocy. So anyways, it's fun.
Speaking of plugging something, let's do our AdQuick sponsor read. Today's sponsor is adquick.com.
AdQuick is an out of home advertising platform that simplifies the process of planning, buying, and measuring outdoor ad campaigns.
It connects advertisers with media owners, offering access to thousands of billboards, transit ads, and other OOH inventory across the US and globally.
AdQuick leverages data analytics and advanced targeting tools to optimize ad placements, measure campaign performance, and ensure maximum ROI.
The platform is designed for brands, agencies, and marketers, providing a seamless way to execute OOH campaigns efficiently, whether for local, regional, or national audiences.
If you're looking to get your own billboard, check out AdQuick..com. It's A-D-Q-U-I-C-K.com. They'll hook you up. Thank you, Adquic. Billboards are making a comeback. I actually- They are...
pay attention to a lot of them. It's like 1-800 law in your local city, and it's like, "The Hammer." You're like, "Yeah, I'm gonna call The Hammer next time I get a crash."
I saw one called Doody Calls yesterday, but it's spelled D-O-O-D-Y Calls, and it's a dude picking up dog poop.
I promise, I actually almost called this place as I was driving, because I have so much dog crap in my backyard right now. My dog, I have a Bernese Mountain Dog poodle. She's like 85 pounds.
Every time she poops, it's like, "Dude, come on. Why?" And so it's just everywhere. And we have to pick it up obviously, but I was like, "Wait, a solution exists where I don't have to pick it up?"
I am gonna call Doody Calls. Yeah. I don't know if they're local or national, but they're definitely local to Charleston. Isn't your dog shy?
Like, every time your dog has to poop, you also have to poop in the yard with your dog? Yeah.
Typically, even when my dog doesn't have to poop and I go into the bathroom, she poops on the floor right next to the bathroom while she's waiting for me. It's terrible. [laughs] No, what if... Oh, gosh.
[laughs] She would not last in this family- Oh... if she did that. Oh, man, yes. I have seen, what was it? Somewhat recently, local here, I also saw, "We pick up your dog's poop," or whatever on a van.
It's becoming a hot thing, and I- I-... I always join my Facebook neighborhood pages, and- Same...
when I lived in Austin, I joined into the neighborhood Facebook page, and one guy posted [laughs] and was like, "Hey, can I pay somebody..."
I can't remember the, the amount, but, "Can I pay somebody X amount to come pick up the dog poop in my yard? Are there any kids, high school kids, that just like-" Nice... "wanna make some extra money?"
I don't understand how people can care so much about another person's decision or what another person thinks or wants or perceives as value.
The amount of people that were like, "Are you that lazy that you can't even pick up your dog's poop?" And I was like, "Uh, like you're one, supplying-" No. "... money to, for somebody else, and you're just like..." Yeah.
It, it depends. How do you value your time? Is your value, is your time worth more than going out there and picking up the poop? [laughs] Anyway, it was ridiculous. It was this huge Facebook fight- Yeah...
and I was like, "All right." Yeah. "Anyways, I'll go pick up his poop with my hands." So I did. Yeah. It, it is, uh, it is something I'd be willing to pay $50 a week for someone to come- Yeah...
pick up my dog's poop, and I, I actually think that's reasonable. Like, I- it's not too expensive. It's not inexpensive. Probably takes him 30 minutes to an hour to pick up the whole yard. Yeah.
$50 for a 16-year-old, a, you know, junior in high school, that's great money. It's 200 bucks a month. Yeah.
I'm like, "Look, I, I think if you have the money to pay for it," and it's not laziness, it's, like you said, "I'm gonna do, with this 30 minutes I'm gonna make more money, or I'm gonna spend time with my family, or I'm grinding through the week.
I don't wanna pick up the dog poop." Who cares? Yeah. It has nothing to do with laziness. I agree. Well, hey, Doody Calls, you got a customer. Adquic- Doody Calls... book your billboards. Hey. That's right.
There's this thing on LinkedIn. I don't know how much social selling you do. I would assume that some part of your job is social selling, but there's this whole- Most of it. Okay, perfect then.
But there's this big thing on LinkedIn. When you're sending connection requests, do you add a note or do you not add a note? What do you do? I always add a note.
If I want to actually get that connection request, I'm always adding a note. And, and in many cases, I, this is one part of the sequence. So
I've already connected with them in email, or we just chatted on a quick phone call, or they came inbound, or I discovered something in their team or process outbound.
The note is a name drop or a quick connection to re-jog why I'm asking them to connect. I have 850 connection requests right now.
I actually delete a lot of them typically, so 850 is, like, after removing or accepting a lot. I, I can't possibly understand who I should accept. I can't accept everyone that asks to connect with me,
and I don't want to accept everyone that asks to connect with me. So I think that note is a very quick way to set yourself apart in someone's connection request inbox. Yeah.
I feel like I, I go about it the other way, in a hypocritical way, because I get a decent amount of connection requests 'cause I'm really famous, all that stuff.
Um, now that I get so many, it's hard for me to accept people unless they do add a note. But most people aren't actually, like, sitting there posting every single day on LinkedIn, trying to, you know- Yeah...
build their audience and all of that stuff. So I don't know. And, and most notes are sales pitches or, "Hey, let me add you to my network," or, "Hey, we have a few mutual connections.
I bet we can benefit from each other." Weird stuff like that where I'm like, "Yeah, um, no. I'd rather, like-" Yeah... "walk on Legos 16 times today." Terrible.
So what I look at, and I'm wondering if you look at this, because I've actually measured my connection request to the acceptance rate to sales leaders, okay? Okay.
But I've only measured it since I've become CEO of Demo, so I'm curious if you look at the title, because I do. When I see, like, VP of Sales or something, I'll quickly, like, glance at it.
I'm like, "Okay, that's a senior title." And then I'll go and look at their company. I'm like, "Oh, that's a good company, too. Approve." Yep. I have a 51.2% acceptance rate with me- That's awesome...
sending no note to a VP of Sales or Sales Director, things like that. And I was like- It's interesting... "Dude, that blows my mind."
But I think that if my title showed Account Executive, and there's nothing wrong with that. I, I love- Mm-hmm... being an account executive, but I think it would probably be maybe 9%, 8%, may- I don't know.
I'm just spitballing here, but do you look at titles? Like, are you more a- approving of CEOs? To be honest, I look... I, I, I think I weight where they are, what they do more than their title. Okay.
But I do look at both. And right now I don't even usually scan into their profile specifically, um, because there's so many. I'm just kind of like, "What do they do?" If their account's there, I'm checking it out.
I will say, I think what a lot of people have maybe missed about posting consistently and, and branding yourself on LinkedIn specifically, I don't have the data to support this, but it's a hypothesis that I think is accurateAs I have become more of a LinkedIn creator, and as I post more frequently in ways that get a lot of traction, reactions, impressions, my outgoing connection request rate has skyrocketed.
Yep. It's very rare, it still happens obviously, but it's very rare that I send a connection request that does not get accepted. And I, again- Interesting...
don't have the data to support this, I don't have the before and after data, but when I send a connection request, it is somewhat surprising to me if after 7 to 10 days that person hasn't accepted, unless they just literally never use LinkedIn, in which case I'm typically not asking them to connect anyways.
I'm going some other route. But I think there's a, there's a huge play there. Interesting. Yeah, I have no data to support that either. I would... I know. Like, does LinkedIn favor it? I have no idea.
But we have- Yeah... we've got a couple exciting guests that are gonna join us on this podcast soon. Yes, we do. And I'm pumped for it. Yes, we do. Are we name dropping them yet?
We- Or are we still, uh, we- we're working behind the scenes? We've got the verbals from both of them to be, uh, be a part, but I don't think we name drop them. I think for this episode- Yeah, yeah...
we- we have everybody, like, sitting there on the edge of their seat. They're like, "Oh my gosh, who's it gonna be?" That's right. Um... That's right. But I will say this, [laughs]
I feel like one of them is kind of obvious, but these two are, are names that are... And I think I can get a third one that's also a really big name on LinkedIn- Yeah...
where people want to learn more about them versus what- Yes... they read on LinkedIn. And I'm pumped- Yeah...
to have them because we're gonna be able to talk about just random things that people talk about at dinner, and people talk about at lunch and out with their friends, versus, "Hey, here's three tips to go break into new accounts-" Yeah...
"or do better discovery." Like, this will be conversations- Yep... about these people that you have never seen before. Um- Yep... so I'm excited, man. I, I'm really excited. And you all should be too.
Well, I'm excited too. Timothy. Timothy, you should be excited. Timothy, you're gonna love these episodes. I think there, there's two guests we have lined up. Like you said, there's one or two others you have in mind.
I have one or two others in my mind that I don't think are the same as yours, although that would be really funny if they were. Uh, 2025, you're in for a treat.
We are Two Dads in Tech podcast, but we're gonna go way deeper. We're gonna talk about a whole bunch of stuff. We're gonna have a good time.
You know, what I've, what I've noticed and what I even had a quick interaction with, uh, Darren McKee on LinkedIn the other day is the people who are authentic, who don't put their posting strategy in this box of here's my playbook, here's 10 ways to get your next account, here...
Like, you're like, okay, like, that's... It's long form. People are scroll frenzy right now. It's like the, you know, the squirrel type of mentality of if I don't get your post digested in five seconds, I'm moving on.
That's why I'm actually treating LinkedIn a lot more like Twitter, where I'm just posting very short stuff. I'm posting a lot of memes.
I am probably one to every six posts saying something very much so in line with my actual role at Beehive, my sales leadership or thought leadership as a sales leader, something about, like, actual career driven stuff, but, like, most of my posting is not about that.
Uh, it works. Yeah. People will probably push back on this, but I can show you the proof of the number of people in my DMs that are absolutely in my ICP because of this posting strategy. Yeah.
And what's really interesting though about yours versus, let's say, mine, 'cause mine's pretty spot on. Like, I say the same stuff over and over. I totally get it. I know that.
I think a lot of people post about what their ICP cares about because they're trying to transact business through LinkedIn. Yep.
What you're doing is a lot different, where it's almost like I want people to know Daniel Burke. Yeah, I care about generating some business on here. Business will come with people knowing me.
And also, the, what you sell can be, like, these people that are the Brian Lamonas, the Darren McKees of the world.
It's not just like, "Hey, I'm gonna go sell to this VP of sales, so I need to talk about things that are salesy," or whatever. And then plus you do, like, 416,000 different things as well. But you, you...
Yeah, you have this really unique audience where it's like, [laughs] if you like stupid stuff, follow me. [laughs] Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And you love it. And, and it's fun. I do love it. Yeah. I do love it.
I'm like, look, life is way too short to put yourself in a box, so I, I operate really well when I'm pushing against the grain, and, and I think that's what LinkedIn's for, is a lot of people are falling in line, and I'm like, "Well, that's not fun.
Let me be different."
And of course, someone's probably gonna follow suit at some point, in which case, like, well, now I have to be different again because this is, like, the thing everyone's doing, and, you know, keeps you exciting, keeps you, keeps you fun.
Keeps you young. Do you have gray hairs, by the way? I do. I do. You probably can't see them right now because I have this beautiful fresh cut from my barber, if you can't tell. Yeah. But yeah, there, there are some.
There are some. Okay. Actually, some on my beard that- Oh, yeah... when it gets longer- Yeah... you can see them. But anyways, yeah. What about you? Are you getting salt and peppery? Yeah, I am. I am, for sure.
My, my uncle was all the way gray when he was 35, but I don't think I will be. Nice. Nice. But yeah, on the sides. No beard, I don't think. Yeah. Yeah. Here, look closer. I find one hair every now and again.
Yeah, let me see. Let me see. Come on. Yeah. Go closer, closer, closer. [laughs] Um- Hey, quick question. I, uh, I have a few questions here. There's a post that I saw on LinkedIn
by Sean Murphy, who coincidentally was the winner of the $50 giveaway we did for our YouTube subscribers, so shout out Sean Murphy. Okay. You've heard of 75 Hard, the challenge, right?
A lot of people do it at the beginning of the year. Yes, sir. He, he talked about the 75 Dad Challenge.
I thought this was awesome, and I'll just really quickly run through this, uh, as an idea for anyone listening, but also for Troy and I to discuss. The 75 Dad is seven daily tasks to make you a better dad.
One is eat as a family once per day. Two is exercise 20 minutes per day specifically to be a better dad. Three, no alcohol. Four, play with your kids.Five, work on a chore or project.
Six is call your parents, and seven is keep a daily reflection journal. I thought this was awesome. What do you think? I love that. I love that. I, I love it.
I think it's so easy to fall into this routine where you're just doing the same thing every day and, yeah, you might be with your kids, but you might [laughs] might also be making 16 posts on LinkedIn. So I, I love that.
'Cause there's a lot of things on that that I don't do. Like, my son, especially since the newborn's been here, my toddler eats kind of at, like, a different time.
He- he's really picky, so, like, we have to make him, like, the same five meals. And- [laughs] Same...
to coincide with the newborn's schedule, it's like he kinda eats alone, and I'm like, "Oh, that's kinda sad," but I hang out with him, right? Like, I sit there right next to him. I'm just not eating with him.
So I think that's an incredible challenge, and I think that I wanna try it. The no alcohol part would be hard, only if we go out with other friends and want- Sure...
to have a drink, but at the end of the day, we have a newborn. We can't really leave the house for the next two months. So- That's right... th- this might be possible. I'm down to try it i- if you are. Yeah.
No, I'm, I think some of those are, are like, "Oh, I need to do those anyways." Like- Yeah... if I'm not doing those, I'm, like, failing as a dad. Like, play with your kids, I shouldn't have to- Yeah...
I shouldn't have someone to have to, like, challenge me to do that. Like, I should actually just play with them because I'm their dad. But to your point, I mean, people, it's just g- so busy. I mean,
I, I feel like this stage of our lives where you're building a startup, you have two young children,
every day I'm, I'm wondering where's the time gonna come from for me to actually do everything I need to do, and- Yeah... um, yeah, I mean, it's, it's a lot. It's a lot. Yeah.
I know you have a hard stop here, but do you feel like at the end of the day you don't think you got as much as you should have done every day?
Lately I've been feeling at the end of the day like I should've spent more time with my kids. Mm. And that's, that's sad.
It's a, it's a realization for me even in the new year as I feel like I did a lot to improve health-wise in 2024, and now in 2025 I'm like... You know, I just got this new Garmin watch.
For those watching, you can see it. It's a fenix 8. I love it so far. For those listening, uh, I spent way too much money on a Garmin watch basically to tell me that I'm gonna die of stress. And I realized this.
After the first day, it showed sleeping hours of, like, no stress, a couple spikes 'cause my kids wake up in the middle of the night.
I kid you not, the moment I woke up, stress was at, like, the top, the very top of its meter for the entire day until I went to sleep again, to the point where Garmin said, "You need to recover and figure out a way to calm down."
Yeah. And I'm like, great to have, like, a, like, actual metrics to show how I've been feeling for nine months. Yeah. Or, yeah, really my entire adult life probably.
But yeah, I feel like I need to spend more time with my kids. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that. I think, I think I could too.
Easy to, when you're running a startup, all that stuff, doing podcasts, all these fun things, I think that it's very easy...
I wouldn't say for the kids to take a backseat, 'cause they still become a priority, and I, I think that ultimately what we're doing is we're working to try to provide a better life for them, but it does take away from, like, these moments while they are kids and, and things like that.
Yeah. It's, it's tough sometimes. It's, it really is tough sometimes. I've had four days at home with Liam all alone, and so, like, I deserve a break. But all that to say, I know you had a hard stop.
Where should everybody go to check out Two Dads and Tech? This is episode six. I think it... I, I love this episode. I think it was fun. So where should they go? Me too.
They should go to twodadsintech.com to see all of the different platforms. We're available on Spotify, on Apple, and on YouTube. If you listen to us, please subscribe. Please leave a rating or a review.
Those help other people who are not directly connected to us in real life learn about Two Dads and Tech podcast.
If you're looking to sponsor us, we're booking out until March currently, so please do, uh, DM us if you're interested. We have a lot in line for 2025. Beautifully said. Daniel, this was a great episode. Have a good day.
Enjoy the next- Troy, you too... the next call that you have. See you, bud. See you next time. All right. Bye-bye