Luke Tobin

Organic search traffic is dropping 30% to 50% across major brands. Buyers are searching directly inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude, but almost nobody tracks what those models say. Finn Elliott and I put £50,000 of our own cash in, survived 14 days of eliminations in a reality TV show called Launchpad, and built Heading in public. We already have 20+ paying customers on board. Today, Heading is officially live. The video is our launch video. If you want to see how your brand shows up in AI search, reply SEARCH and I will run an audit for you. Or check useheading.com.

I'm currently on Richard Branson's Necker Island, surrounded by some incredible entrepreneurs. And I'll be honest, I felt like the smallest fish in the room. Some have built much bigger businesses, had larger exits and achieved things I can only learn from. Naturally, the imposter syndrome kicked in. But within 24 hours, something changed. After speaking to founders from completely different industries, I came away with three or four ideas for Unusual Group that I'd never considered before. One conversation completely changed how I was thinking about an area of our business. It reminded me why stepping outside your comfort zone matters. You can't possibly create new opportunities if you keep putting yourself in the same environments, having the same conversations and thinking in the same way. Sometimes, you need to be the smallest fish in the room to realise how much bigger you can think. I'm sharing the full story, including the ideas I'm bringing back with me, in tomorrow's newsletter. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it: linkedin.com/newsletters/the…

You’re stronger than you know. In life, how many moments did you go through a rough moment and thought “this is the one that will break me” and… it didn't. Don't forget how many times you thought you wouldn't make it and yet, somehow you always did. Give yourself some more credit, don’t let anxiety take that away from you. 🔔 Follow @lukettobin for more mindset and success inspiration.

Do one thing today that your future self will thank you for 💙

Before my last exit in 2022, I went through two periods of serious burnout. Looking back, one of the biggest warning signs was my inability to switch off. When you're building a business, you're the centre of the wheel. You drive everything forward, and especially in the early days, there's no substitute for hard work. But I learned the hard way that there will always be more work to do. If you wait until everything is done to take a break, you'll never take one. Here’s what I’ve changed since, and what I tell early-stage founders: 1. Ring-fence your time off. Put it in your calendar and protect it like you would an important client meeting. 2. Stop waiting for a quiet day. There will always be another email, decision or problem waiting for you. 3. Start sharing the load. As you hire, give people real responsibility so the business doesn't rely on you for everything. You have to put the work in to build a business. Just don't forget you're human while you're doing it. 📣 Follow @lukettobin for practical advice on building an agency that's profitable, scalable and exit-ready.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve arrived or if you’re still on the way. Appreciate where you stand, look back and see how far you’ve come. 🔔 Follow @lukettobin for more mindset and success inspiration.

Everyone has ideas. Everyone has dreams. The world is full of brilliant people with brilliant plans that never happened. The difference between you and them isn't talent. It's this: they think about doing it. You actually do it. Execution is boring. It's repetitive. It's unglamorous. It's also the only thing that matters. 📌 Reshare for your network to help someone level up. 🔔 Follow @lukettobin for more mindset and success inspiration.

I’ve been sharing my journey on Launchpad (a reality TV show for founders), here day by day. Now that I’ve finally had some time to catch up on sleep, here’s a look back at the whole experience. Finn and I had met in person just two days before filming. 15 days of living in each other’s pockets, building under pressure, surviving eliminations and figuring things out as we went. We’d also put £50,000 of our own money into Heading. There was a lot riding on this. We didn’t make the final five, but here’s what we’re walking away with: → Heading officially launched → 20+ paying customers → Nearly $100K in annualised revenue → A couple of investment offers → Around 100 feature ideas from the teams using our product The experience was a roller coaster. We had some incredible highs, some tough moments and plenty of lessons along the way. However, the best part for me is getting to build this with Finn. We've seen the good, the bad and the ugly over 15 days, and I’m genuinely going to miss having him around all the time. We’re already back to work, pushing Heading forward and figuring out what comes next. Thank you to everyone at Stan, the mentors, the other founders and everyone who followed our journey. P.S. If you’re an investor who wants to be part of Heading’s next chapter, Finn and I would love to hear from you.

We've been sold a version of 'the good life' that's mostly marketing. As humans we are wired for more. We want a bigger salary, a higher title, a louder lifestyle. We are in the never-ending search of the next best thing - the constant upgrade. Every time I scroll, I’m subconsciously comparing my behind-the-scenes to someone else’s highlight reel. It’s an exhausting game where the goalposts are constantly moving. But now I realise that peace isn’t something I’ll find in the next upgrade, it’s something I have to actively protect from the noise. I had to stop looking at what everyone else was doing and start looking at what I’ve already built. Here are 5 tips I use to protect my peace and stay grounded: 1. The Reverse Bucket List: - Once a month, write down 5 things you already have that you once prayed for. - It shifts your brain from acquisition mode to appreciation mode. 2. Mute the Noise: - If a specific account makes you feel behind or less than, mute them for 30 days. - You don't need to unfollow, but you do need to protect your subconscious from constant comparison. 3. The 24-Hour Want Rule: - Before making any non-essential purchase (the constant upgrade), wait 24 hours. - Usually, the dopamine hit fades, and you realise you’re already content with what you have. 4. Schedule White Space: - We schedule meetings and workouts, but we rarely schedule nothing. - Block out 30 minutes on your calendar for unstructured time. No phone, no goals, just being. 5. Audit Your Shoulds: - Take a look at your to-do list and cross out anything you’re doing only because you feel you should to keep up appearances. - If it doesn't add to your peace, it’s a candidate for removal. Success isn’t about what you add to your life. It’s about what you’ve managed to remove: Stress, noise, and the need for external validation. You’ve survived 100% of your hardest days to build the life you have right now. Protect your peace, it’s the rarest thing you own. Which of the 15 luxuries in this image is your non-negotiable? Let me know in the comments 👇🏻 🔔 Follow @lukettobin for more mindset and success inspiration.

There's a lot about the creator industry that I struggle with. I didn't start posting because I wanted to become a creator. I started because I'd spent years building businesses, getting plenty wrong along the way, and thought some of those lessons might be useful to other founders. But the more time I've spent online, the more I've noticed how easily success gets exaggerated. Revenue gets rounded up and the difficult years disappear from the story completely. I've even seen exit numbers shared publicly when I know they weren't the numbers that changed hands. My problem isn't really with the person posting it. It's what it does to the people reading it. You see enough inflated success online and it's very easy to start thinking you're behind, even when you're building something you're incredibly proud of. I don't think we need to make the numbers bigger to make the story worth telling. The real version is more interesting anyway. ♻️ Share this with someone building on their own terms. 🔔 Follow @lukettobin for the lessons I've learned building, failing, scaling and exiting businesses.

Earlier in my career, I wish someone had told me that every founder needs 3 key people in their corner. When I started out as a solo founder with very little capital, I was constantly busy, scrambling to stay on top of everything and trying to figure things out on my own. Looking back, having the right people to turn to would have made such a huge difference. Here are the 3 people every founder should have in their corner: 1. Someone who keeps you grounded. Someone outside your business who cares about you as a person, not your P&L or growth targets. Someone who helps you keep things in perspective. 2. Someone who's done what you're trying to do. If you want to scale or exit your business, find someone who's been through it before. Reach out and ask for advice. You'd be surprised how willing people are to help. 3. Someone who covers your blind spots. Find someone with expertise in an area you're not strong in. I have a private equity advisor on my own team because it's a world I didn't come from. Having the right people around you can make a huge difference when you're building a business. Who do you turn to when you need advice or support as a founder?👇🏻

Winners unconsciously upgrade their standards. Losers unconsciously downgrade them. That's not opinion. That's biology. 📌 Follow @lukettobin for content on how to level up.

Give yourself permission to become the person you've been waiting for. So many of us spend years asking for approval. Waiting until we feel more confident. The person you want to become isn't built by waiting for the perfect moment. They're built every time you choose courage over comfort. Stop asking whether you're ready. Start asking whether you're willing. Follow @lukettobin for more.

We were eliminated one round before the final five of a reality TV show for founders. But we’re walking away with nearly $100K in annualised revenue from a business that hadn’t even launched when we arrived. 14 days at Launchpad by Stan. Here’s how it ended:  → 10 teams went into the final elimination round. Only five would make it through. → We had two hours to prepare our pitch. → The judges said we’d been smashing it throughout the competition, but our business case wasn’t clear enough. → We were eliminated. My honest take? They were right, we could have pitched it better. With more time, we would have. But that’s the point of the competition. You’re deliberately put under pressure and judged on what you can deliver in real time. It was a fair call, and there’s a lot we can learn from it. Here are my four biggest takeaways: 1. If people can't repeat your business back to you, your pitch isn't clear enough. We had the traction, but we didn't communicate the business case well enough in the room. 2. Discomfort makes you move faster. In 14 days, we launched Heading, generated our first revenue and signed 20+ paying customers. 3. Two weeks of focus can change everything. Every founder should try spending two weeks a year focused entirely on the business. 4. Running a business rarely goes to plan. You start the day with five priorities, four fires appear, and you're lucky to get one done. You have to adapt quickly and keep moving. So, what are we leaving with? → Heading officially launched. → 20+ paying customers. → Nearly $100K in annualised revenue. → Around 100 feature ideas from the teams using it. We would have loved to make the final five and pitch on demo day. But we're proud of what we've built, and Finlay Elliott and I are going to pursue raising capital regardless. Thank you to everyone who followed the journey and gave us honest feedback! Checkout Heading here: useheading.com/

Burnout is real. It’s raw. It’s sobering. And it’s something many of us have lived through. So remember to make space for you, your body, your mind and your sanity. Here's 5 ways I stay ahead of burnout: Book in daily rest. → A walk. A sit down. Ten minutes of quiet. → Treat it like brushing your teeth. Non-negotiable. Say no to three non-urgent things this week. → The optional call. The webinar. The obligation. → You're already saying yes to plenty. Say yes to one thing that brings you joy. → The workaholic in you will fight it. Do it anyway. → Joy is fuel. Not a distraction. Get to bed 15 minutes earlier. → Those 15 minutes compound into hours. Your future self will thank you. Give yourself the first 30 minutes of the day. → Before the emails. Before the world starts pulling. Start fresh. Here's your reminder to put yourself on the list of things you're looking after this week. Because when you're rested, you don't just get through your week. You actually live it. ♻️ Repost this if you needed the reminder. 🔔 Follow @lukettobin for more on the growth mindset.

We have 36 hours to convince investors to back our business and we don't have a pitch deck yet. Day 11 at Launchpad. Here's where we're at: → We survived another elimination and are currently 4th on the leaderboard. → We're still closing deals and bringing in revenue every day. → Now, it's time to turn everything we've built into a pitch that gets investors excited about Heading. Our first draft is due in 90 minutes. Tomorrow, we pitch again, with major VCs next on the horizon. All while making sure our product and onboarding are where they need to be for our customers. Finlay Elliott and I met on LinkedIn, have known each other in person for less than two weeks, and have put £50,000 of our own money into Heading. Now we're building, selling and pitching under more pressure than ever. And while we're at it, we're hosting a webinar this Friday at 1pm BST.  Join us to learn how to improve your AI search visibility and outrank your competition. Every attendee gets: → An AI search audit for their brand. → An industry index report. → A 7-day free trial of Heading. Register here: useheading.com/events/is-ai-…

We hit #1 on a reality TV show for founders today, until a 15K deal knocked us back to 2nd. I’ve never felt more grateful to be here. Day 10 of Launchpad: → About an hour in first place. → A 15K deal from another team pushed us to 2nd. → We still closed a lot of deals, including an annual package. → So many calls that Finn and I had to divide and conquer. Somewhere between the calls, a trail run and teaching Finn tennis, I stopped for a moment of perspective. We met on LinkedIn and have known each other in person for less than two weeks. Not everyone gets to be put this far out of their comfort zone, figuring things out and being scrappy. That’s what being an entrepreneur actually is, and it’s a privilege. I’d lose first place a hundred times for that. Elimination day is tomorrow, with loads of deals right on the edge ahead of the 2PM revenue deadline. Would you take first place or this experience? If you want to help us stay in the top 10, see how your brand shows up in ChatGPT and other AI search tools with Heading: useheading.com

We are currently sitting in position 1 on the Stan Launchpad leaderboard, and Heading just passed 20 paying customers. Most of the house is caught up in reality TV theatrics and obsessing over daily rankings. It is easy to get distracted by the cameras, but a leaderboard rank will not keep the lights on after filming wraps. Revenue and paying customers are the only metrics that survive past this competition. Back to building a real business today. For a trial visit: useheading.com