Simon Jalbert

Hey @tomkrcha – been trying to use Pencil but hitting "Error: Claude Code process exited with code 1" every time I submit a prompt. Claude Code works perfectly in terminal (v2.1.20, /doctor all green, macOS). Tried: reinstalling Claude Code, re-authenticating, restarting Pencil, simple prompts. Same error. Any known issues or fixes? Happy to share more details.

We got tired of spotting dealbreakers 2 hours into reading a CIM. So we built a proprietary CIM parser. IMO everyone in M&A should have their own. Drop in an anonymized CIM. Get back a go/no-go score against your own criteria, backed by the research you actually care about. 60 seconds. The key was connecting to databases we trust (DealStats, IBIS, etc.) and building guardrails to reduce hallucinations. Otherwise it's just confident nonsense. 47 deals hit our inbox last month. None fit - but we found out right away. Happy to share how we built it - just DM me.

Followed @Dobrenkz ' advice and built myself a Claude Code command center for my M&A business. Now when I drop a new deal into a folder, I get: - Industry research and comps - The company scored against my buy criteria (and what to double down on) - A draft offer with a few valuation scenarios - Who I know that could help me get smart on this - A view across all my deals to see what I should be working on next

I’ve MAYBE seen two good deals from brokers all year. Furthers my hypothesis that good deals mostly come through BD. Build a system, crank volume, go a little insane. 50 outreaches a day minimum.

I'm so bullish on what AI will become in the next five years that I wouldn't touch any knowledge work companies at this point.

Sent 639 emails to MSP owners and got a 9% reply rate. 7x our average. The level of personalization possible today is wild. - Sales Navigator: Build a targeted list - PhantomBuster: Extract owner and company info plus latest posts - Hunter.io: Generate & validate emails - Custom GPTs: Parse data & craft personalized messages - Instant.ly: Send out emails - Make.com: Automate the whole process Guaranteed increase in dealflow. Up next are personalized follow ups and cold calls.

We've been running different outbound approaches to find M&A deals over the past few weeks. I knew multi-channel would crush single-channel campaigns but didn't think adding a cold call as the last step would be so impactful.

Willingness to cold call is the defining characteristic of a successful deal flow system. That advantage vanishes in the next 12 to 18 months once AI gets good enough and everyone starts doing it.

What happens to SaaS when it's just as easy to create a product as it is to write a blog pots? The future is marketing and stickiness.

Always optimizing for optionality is so much more awful and insidious than it appears. Something happens when you start focusing on one objective/project instead of the usual 2 to 3 I see most people wrestling with. You obviously make more progress faster on that one objective, but you also tap into a wealth of ideas/networks/opportunities that simply wouldn't have happened if your brain was pre-occupied with a bunch of different stuff.

It's incredible how far you can get in life by doing the boring things that everyone is capable of doing. Showing up on time, following up with people, working long hours, keeping focused... People overcomplicate success so much that they lose the plot.

Want to start a business? Not sure what to do? Start with content. Always start with content.

Intensity is worth so much more than what the average person thinks it's worth.

Experimenting with a new biz validation stack: 1. Get new biz idea 2. Use AI to create 100+ blog articles about said idea 3. Track results with GA/Search Console 4. Collect emails from traffic 5. Launch new biz with built-in audience and authority