Welcome to Signal // Noise — the newsletter read by CEOs, execs, and scrappy builders every Thursday. Each week, what I’m listening to, one deep dive, 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…
// The Signal
One big idea, insight, or take — grounded in real work, not theory.
You Can’t Sell What You Can’t Say
A few weeks ago I was catching up with a group of founders — all running super legit businesses. Think $10M+ in revenue, with teams, traction, and a pathway to scaling their companies.
But one of the convo topics was sales… Specifically:
“How the heck do we get better at sales?”
Not product. Not viral growth loops. Sales.
As in: how to clearly describe what you do, show how it solves a painful problem, and get someone to say “Fuck yes, I’m in.”
Again, these weren’t founders starting from scratch or folks that haven’t sold before.
Just founders who had hired a team, gotten away from the close, and who now wanted to sharpen things up.
Here are some notes and thoughts from that convo:
Some peeps tossed out recs — books like SPIN Selling or Influence, or more formal systems like Winning by Design. These are all good suggestions (although, I’ve never personally experienced Winning by Design, so I can’t vouch for it).
But something I liked even better — something fast, dirty, and useful:
A prompt from Jesse Pujji called the Demo Mastery Framework. It’s basically a GPT/Notion worksheet that forces you to write down, in plain English:
What you do
Who it’s for
What problem it solves
Why that problem is painful
And what happens when it gets solved
That’s it. Just the sharpest, clearest version of your pitch.
Nothing revolutionary, but you can finish the exercise in 20 minutes — and the effects can have a longer impact, IMO.
I gave it a shot last week.
Not because I’m trying to close more advisory clients (I’m at capacity), but because I wanted to see how good my own pitch was — especially when I wasn’t on a call.
I’ve been lucky so far - my career, network, etc, have spoken for itself. I’ve gotten readers & clients relatively easy - but at some point, I’m sure, I’ll have to actually sell 🤮.
And I had something half-written, half-baked… and I thought it was decent.
Then I did this Demo Excellence Framework.
The new version was instantly sharper. Simpler. More obvious.
It kind of forced me to cut the fluff, ditch the filler words, and say exactly what I offer, to whom, and why it matters.
👉 Here’s my version if you want to steal it (Google Doc)
If you’re a founder who’s still a little murky when someone says, “What do you guys actually do?” — or if your team handles all the sales and you’ve gotten rusty — do this.
Seriously.
Great sales isn’t always about pressure. It’s about precision.
📔 Field Notes
Dispatches from the field — lessons, stories, interviews, experiments.
On Building Media, Writing to Win, and Lessons from The Hustle
This one’s from the archives — a podcast I did with Brian Morrissey for The Rebooting, where we talked about my time leading media at The Hustle, what it means to be a publisher, and how we built a content engine that drove millions of views (and ultimately a big acquisition).
If you're a founder thinking about audience growth, media strategy, or how to write stuff people actually want to read — this convo still holds up.
🎧 Listen On Apple Podcasts (or wherevs!)
👀 A few Jawns to Check Out
Smart reads, sharp tools, or internet gems.
🧰 Try this | Test First, Build Later. This isn’t just for brand-new or first-time founders — it’s a great reminder for anyone launching something new, even inside an already-successful company or startup. Thinking about a new product? An upsell? A totally fresh revenue line? Too often we skip the scrappy validation phase and jump straight to shipping. This is a great gut check on how to avoid that trap, from Ben Yoskovitz. 👉 Check It Out Here.
🧠 Smart hack | Top Tools for Image-to-Video Generation. More and more founders are using AI tools for image-to-video; here’s a summary of their thoughts below.
Tool | Why It Stands Out |
|---|---|
Veo 3 (via Google Labs Flow) | Widely praised for video quality, prompt adherence, and especially its built-in audio generation (dialogue, SFX, music). Used inside Google’s Flow product with Ultra tier. Veo 3 Flash helps manage costs. |
Reliable all-arounder with occasional brilliance. Great for beginners via new chat UI; experts prefer the tools UI for control. Unlimited plan is considered best bang-for-buck ($100/mo). Strong on character consistency via References. | |
Called out explicitly as one of the best current models. Recommended without caveats. | |
New but promising. Leverages Midjourney’s image strengths—ideal if you're already in that ecosystem. | |
HeyGen / Hedra | Dominating the talking avatar niche (baby podcasters, lip-sync memes). Specialized, but powerful. |
💡Honorable Mentions:
Google Labs Flow: UI wrapper around Veo 3 with scene-building tools.
Luma: Cinematic aesthetic + a cool “Modify Video” feature.
Pika: Fun, but limited in pro/client use cases.
Higgsfield.ai: Surprisingly good with little input.
🩺 Health note | The Billion Dollar Health Stack. Here’s how one founder thinks about optimizing energy, mood, and sleep — oura rings, CGMs, NAD, blood testing, and more. It’s not fringe. This kind of full-stack health approach is quickly becoming the norm for high performers. I started using the Stelo glucose monitor this week and can’t stop checking it — wild how fast you get hooked. 👉 Check It Out Here.
Been staring at my STELO glucose monitor like it’s a crystal ball 🔮.
Got a favorite health hack, tool, widget?
Hit me back and lmk - I read and reply to every response.
Have a good weekend, you animals.
Love yous.
Jordan
