Welcome to Signal // Noise — the newsletter read by CEOs, execs, and scrappy builders every Thursday. Each week, what I’m listening to, one insight, three links worth your time. Zero bullshit.

While I Was Writing Today’s Signal // Noise:

From sound to signal—let’s get this baby rolling with what’s on my mind…

One big idea, insight, or take — grounded in real work, not theory.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how the founder is the funnel — how customers, investors, team members, and press are all filtering their first impressions through you.

Founder-led distribution hit a nerve. So this week — and next — I’m doubling down on a similar theme: the founder’s real job in growth, marketing, & sales.

Let’s start with this quick fancy ass little statement:

If you’re a founder who’s led growth elsewhere, or has a strong marketing & acquisition background, then, awesome - you should be leading growth. Easy peasy.

But if you don’t have that background - then you need to ‘live’ something before you just immediately outsource.

Because offloading marketing & sales, pushing away the copy, the design, the landing pages, the cold outreach, saying things like “I need someone to just build the system”…

Can be exactly the wrong move.

Because if you’ve never been in the system, you don’t know what you’re hiring for.

And worse — you don’t know what’s working.

Let me give you a quick example:

When I took over Hampton, we had a bit of a unique scenario when we launched publicly: 10,000 people on the waitlist and what felt like unlimited demand.

I quickly hired a team beneath me, mostly to handle volume and to make sure everything didn’t break, while I focused on product & community.

On paper, we were covered on the marketing front (but TBH - I still should have delegated less!).

But even then — especially then — I made sure to drop into the sales part of the funnel.

I watched hours of our recorded interviews. I read every application. I changed the member acceptance criteria. I was cc’d on angry email chains, connected with each prospect. I joined live sales calls just to hear the questions and objections firsthand, and did sales calls myself (the first one I completely forgot to hit record, FML).

Why? Because I had to learn what our prospects were actually thinking.

From there, I continued to tweak — the copy, the email flows, the scripts. Was it perfect?

Of course not. But that’s not the point.

The point is: it was mine.

If it worked, I knew why. If it didn’t, I knew what to fix.

And that’s what real growth founders do. As Sean Ellis puts it:

Or as Jason Cohen puts it:

“Only a founder can truly figure out the first scalable marketing channel. It cannot be delegated.”

This piece from Gaurav Vohra is also worth a read — it nails how the best founders are obsessed not just with product, but with channel–message–market fit. That only comes from doing the work. From getting on the calls, getting rejected, fumbling through the funnel yourself.

And if you’re lucky enough to find something that works? Then you bring in the experts. Not to figure it out, but to scale what you’ve already cracked.

Next week, I’ll share a simple sales exercise a few founder friends were tossing around — it forces you to get brutally clear on what actually makes your thing great.

Dispatches from the field — lessons, stories, interviews, experiments.

Founders ask me this all the time — either for themselves, or for someone on their team who’s handling growth, landing pages, or emails: “What books should I read to get better at writing copy that actually works?”

I put together a list of 11 books that shaped how I think about headlines, hooks, persuasion, and performance marketing. Here’s the good stuff! — just the ones I’ve used over and over to grow businesses.

Here’s the thread:

Smart reads, sharp tools, or internet gems.

📰Fresh POV | Why a16z Ditched Delaware. Andreessen Horowitz just reincorporated in Nevada, citing growing “legal bias” against tech founders in Delaware courts—calling out what they see as judicial overreach into boardroom decisions. They’re not alone: Tesla, TripAdvisor, Billy Boy Ackman’s Pershing Square, have all quietly made the same shift. Whether you’re raising, acquiring, or staying private, the location of the game board is shifting under your cap table. Check it Out Here.

🤑 Money Rec | The Billionaire-Backed Bank Built for Startups. Palmer Luckey (Oculus, Anduril) and a crew of tech animals just launched Erebor—a digital-first, founder-friendly bank aiming to replace the hole SVB left behind. It’s designed for high-growth startups, crypto-native founders, and global operators who’ve outgrown old-school banks. Think stablecoins, compliance, and capital rails. Check it Out Here.

🧠 Smart hack | Bottled Up Potential. Since 2016, bottled water has outsold soda in the U.S. every single year. Today, over 80% of Americans buy into it—literally. If you're thinking about launching something new in the CPG space, don’t sleep on water or this crazy ass chart. It’s not just hydration—it’s habit, brand, ritual, and $48B of annual effing spend. Cactus water?! Check it Out Here.🤯

What’d you vibe with most this week?

Reply to this email and tell me — or don’t, and I’ll assume you’re too busy building a rocket ship (or stuck in back-to-back Zooms 😭 ).

Either way, hope your weekend’s got cold drinks, sunny skies, and zero Slack notifications.

Love yous.

Jordan