The best LinkedIn Posts

I absolutely love Tatiana Sukhova's work.

I'm not alone. Her 'Solar Blur' post (below) racked up 6,700+ likes and half a million impressions.

Problem is, nobody knows what the heck SREFs are or how to use them.

So in the latest episode of "How'd You Make That F*cking Awesome Thing?", I spoke with Tatiana, and got her to show me exactly how she creates gorgeous imagery with Midjourney.

We covered:
- How to find the scroll-stopping SREFs
- Tatiana's "secret sauce" — her personalization code
- Animating and sharing SREFs for social

It was a wonderful conversation with an amazing talent.

You can find it on all the places, like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

I'll put a link down below.
...

Your team is already putting pressure on themselves; they already notice what they didn’t finish, what they could’ve done better, what they “should” be doing.

Now add to that whatever they’re dealing with at home and the state of the world.

People spend most of their waking hours at work. Don’t make their lives heavier than they already are.

They don’t need you to pile on.

They need you to notice what’s going right.

They need you to call out the progress.
The effort.
The follow-through.
The way they handled something difficult.

When you do that, they trust that you see their value; they trust that their hard work actually matters.

And when they feel like their work matters, they show up differently; they feel more energized. They take more initiative.

That’s why encouragement isn’t soft. It’s strategic - because it builds momentum. And momentum is what carries people forward, especially when things are stressful.

So if you want a strong team full of people who actually WANT to show up to work?

Lead with recognition and light.

agree?

The most successful people I know never chase money.
They chase being useful.
Money is a byproduct of value creation.
agree?

Confession time: ATS bots are real, I'm hanging out with them all week.
If you apply to a GTM or Ops role at Zapier, one of these bots will be reviewing your application.
Since none of us live in the same state, I'm so grateful for our annual Summits as a time to come together!!
P.S. if you want to join us next year, please check out our jobs page and apply ASAP if you see a strong match!

For seven years, everyone who Zoomed with me saw the same angle - me working out of my kitchen.

I raised three funds from that kitchen table, helped run The Chainsmokers, closed 200+ deals...all while sitting in the same spot where I'd eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.

And really, it worked. We were successful. But I definitely sensed some people were skeptical.

I think those little signals inherently change how people take you seriously, even if they don't mean for it to.

The bigger issue was that the kitchen was my office, so anytime I was in the kitchen, it still felt like work - and no joke this was the best and only location in my house for this all.

My girlfriend would never know if I was locked in or just grabbing coffee. It's hard to disconnect when your workspace is the same place you make dinner.

Now I've got an actual office in my new house, and while the setup isn’t even that different, the mental shift is huge. You can see the difference in these two photos alone.

When I'm in the office now, I'm locked in. It's like putting on a tuxedo - you just get into the right headspace faster because the space tells your brain "we're working now."

And when I leave and shut the door, I can actually disconnect. I'm done for the day. My laptop stays in there. I'm not in the kitchen wondering if I should be checking email.

Took me seven years to figure this out, and honestly there was something valuable about the scrappiness of it all early on, like "look at this guy raising money from his kitchen" kind of had its own charm.

But at some point you have to grow up and professionalize. That said, the golden photo of Mooshu in the background always worked like a charm. The Golden gang out here gets it.

I'm glad we're finally here! And I need a haircut - badly!

The UK tax system is poorly designed and sends money and talent to the USA, UAE and other countries. Here's what I'm seeing...

1. UK Pension contributions going into the S&P500.
One of the few ways to reduce tax in the UK is to allocate income into pension funds. At £50K per year, tax rates jump from 20% to 40% and at £100K per year there's a 60% wall that feels incredibly unfair. People at these cliff edges often choose to put money into their pensions but these funds don't typically go into building the UK, they go into the US markets to essentially inflate the values of established American companies. If the tax system wasn't so punitive, people would happily earn more, spend more and invest in the UK economy.

2. National Insurance rates have driven a boom in offshoring and automation.
I have seen countless businesses doing everything they can to move roles out of the UK. Not only are skilled foreign workers available for lower rates, they don't attract the 15% NI tax on top. As a result, they've decimated the local roles for customer service, admin, IT support, software development and media production. Add to that the push to automation which becomes more affordable as the real costs of employees rise. The government has prioritised its greed and inability to deal with inefficiency over workers getting jobs and pay rises.

3. The government has been brutal to young people who go to university. In a bid to reduce their unemployment figures, they encouraged everyone to go to uni and made it the standard. First it was paid for, then it was £3K per year and then £9K per year.... Plus interest. Typically a £27K loan with 7%+ interest, payable through higher tax rates has put a generation of young people into a situation where they can't get out of a negative financial position until they're in their mid 30s or later if they stay in the UK. It especially hits women who have kids and the interest keeps climbing. Many highly skilled young people have figured out the hack - leave the UK for a lower tax jurisdiction, earn more and keep more and then pay off the loan with the tax savings. Instead of using their skills at home, they go off to add value abroad.

When the government gets involved in trying to fix one problem, there's a good chance they'll create downstream consequences that are even worse. Systems-thinkers are needed to fix it but they are also the thinkers who can see how bad it is and steer clear.

Growth is not just about adding knowledge.
 
It’s about having the maturity to release what no longer serves you, and the humility to start fresh when needed.