Oct 1, 2026 · 34 min · 10 segments
In this episode, Jen Kelly shares how a company unlocked $22 million in pipeline by refining lead nurturing and sales strategies. Paul Graham discusses growth mindset, customer diversification, and…
Paul H. GrahamHostJennifer KellyGuest
Yeah, I mean, part of that's just creating like a revenue engine, right? That has, you know, profit fueling it and not just, you know, top line.
And I think that's, you know, part of then the opportunity, right? So it's not just turning over any rocks, right? It's turning over the best rocks.
At least from my experience, it's also understanding, like, who is your best ideal customer, right? So think of reducing, um, you know, CAC.
Okay, sorry, cost of acquisition, right? Um, keeping lifetime, you know, value high, cross-sells, up-sells.
And as you're growing your company, like, okay, you know, where are you maybe over-leveraged with clients and maybe, you know, could expand in others? Um, and that, you know, ability of like maybe they need a different offer, right? To then come on board to help, you know, diversification of customer, so that way you're not, you know, overexposed to say, "Hey, 60% of our business comes from this one client." There was a, you know, kind of friend of mine of sorts I was talking to.
Their biggest client pulled out for, you know, unknown reasons of sorts to share, but it's just like, okay, well now what, right?
So those sort of things are really, I mean, I was gonna say fascinating, but [chuckles] if you're in that driver's seat, it's, you know, it's like losing a wheel.
So, you know, how, how do you think about, like, overexposure to certain customer types and, you know, is it balancing more of what you have, getting more new and, and going and not doing as much of what works and, and test? Or is it, hey, staying tu- tried and true, and let's just get results before we start testing things?
I was talking to someone the other day about testing, and- You know, testing, experimenting, it sounds so innovative and it sounds like the right thing to do, but what, what you have to understand is sometimes your tests are gonna fail, and sometimes your testing is gonna feel like it's not going anywhere, or that-
... you burnt a, a bunch of money to learn something that you didn't really wanna learn, right? So I wouldn't throw around that phrase lightly.
... going to test, like go all in, test it, and then know this has come out really great.
So I think, uh, having the stories, um, out there in the business community about what you just shared, you know, we were ready for an exit and our biggest client left and-
I think those warning signs are something that, uh, founders really need to pay attention to in, in diversifying their, uh, their customer set.
Some of this, to be quite honest, you could, you know, talk to a founder all day about that.
Yeah, I mean, part of that's just creating like a revenue engine, right? That has, you know, profit fueling it and not just, you know, top line.
And I think that's, you know, part of then the opportunity, right? So it's not just turning over any rocks, right? It's turning over the best rocks.
At least from my experience, it's also understanding, like, who is your best ideal customer, right? So think of reducing, um, you know, CAC.
Okay, sorry, cost of acquisition, right? Um, keeping lifetime, you know, value high, cross-sells, up-sells.
And as you're growing your company, like, okay, you know, where are you maybe over-leveraged with clients and maybe, you know, could expand in others? Um, and that, you know, ability of like maybe they need a different offer, right? To then come on board to help, you know, diversification of customer, so that way you're not, you know, overexposed to say, "Hey, 60% of our business comes from this one client." There was a, you know, kind of friend of mine of sorts I was talking to.
Their biggest client pulled out for, you know, unknown reasons of sorts to share, but it's just like, okay, well now what, right?
So those sort of things are really, I mean, I was gonna say fascinating, but [chuckles] if you're in that driver's seat, it's, you know, it's like losing a wheel.
So, you know, how, how do you think about, like, overexposure to certain customer types and, you know, is it balancing more of what you have, getting more new and, and going and not doing as much of what works and, and test? Or is it, hey, staying tu- tried and true, and let's just get results before we start testing things?
I was talking to someone the other day about testing, and- You know, testing, experimenting, it sounds so innovative and it sounds like the right thing to do, but what, what you have to understand is sometimes your tests are gonna fail, and sometimes your testing is gonna feel like it's not going anywhere, or that-
... you burnt a, a bunch of money to learn something that you didn't really wanna learn, right? So I wouldn't throw around that phrase lightly.
... going to test, like go all in, test it, and then know this has come out really great.
So I think, uh, having the stories, um, out there in the business community about what you just shared, you know, we were ready for an exit and our biggest client left and-
I think those warning signs are something that, uh, founders really need to pay attention to in, in diversifying their, uh, their customer set.
Some of this, to be quite honest, you could, you know, talk to a founder all day about that.
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