Michael Haynes shares his journey from large corporate strategy roles to building a practical go-to-market approach for small and mid-sized B2B firms. After years working in banking, consulting, and telecommunications, he saw firsthand how structured growth strategies helped large organizations scale. But when he transitioned to working with smaller professional service firms, he realized those same ideas rarely translated directly.

The conversation explores how Michael adapted corporate B2B strategy into something practical and actionable. Instead of complex research and large segmentation projects, he focuses on clarity. Identifying the right markets, understanding buyers, aligning services, and building cross-functional growth plans. The result is a structured yet realistic approach that smaller firms can actually execute.

Throughout the episode, Michael also reflects on leaving corporate, starting his own consulting practice, and the lessons learned along the way. From landing his first client to building a sustainable pipeline, the discussion centers on the fundamentals of building a growth strategy that works in the real world.

Key Takeaways

• Corporate growth principles still apply to small B2B firms when simplified
• Market clarity is the foundation of effective go-to-market strategy
• Growth comes from acquisition, retention, and expansion, not just new clients
• Choosing target markets is more powerful than trying to serve everyone
• Small firms need practical strategy, not enterprise complexity
• Builders must balance delivery work with intentional business development

What makes people actually use a product… and keep coming back?In this episode, Matt sits down with Tetiana Kobzar to explore behavioral design, gamification, and what it really takes to create products people love to use. Drawing from her background in development and product design, Tetiana explains how understanding human behavior can dramatically change how products are built, moving teams beyond feature-driven thinking into experience-driven outcomes.

They dive into the psychology behind engagement, how gamification works when applied thoughtfully, and why small UX decisions can have outsized impacts on adoption and retention. The conversation also explores how builders can reduce friction, create motivation loops, and design products that align with how people actually behave, not how we assume they should behave.

If you’re building software, digital tools, or user experiences of any kind, this episode offers a practical look at designing with human behavior in mind… and why that mindset often separates products that get ignored from products people genuinely enjoy using.

Key Takeaways

• Behavioral design focuses on how people actually behave, not how we expect them to
• Gamification works best as subtle motivation, not superficial rewards
• Small UX changes can dramatically improve engagement and adoption
• Feature-heavy products often fail without behavioral thinking
• Designing for momentum and habit formation improves retention
• Builders should start with user motivation before designing interfaces

Many great software tools begin with a simple starting point: a manual process that works.

In this episode, Matt welcomes back Joel Salomon to talk about the journey of turning his proven stock-screening framework into a scalable software system. After years of teaching clients his five-step process for evaluating companies, Joel began exploring how technology could help automate the research and deliver insights more efficiently.

What followed was a builder’s journey that many founders will recognize. From manually screening hundreds of companies each quarter to experimenting with AI tools and working with early developers, Joel shares the real-world challenges of translating personal expertise into working software.

Along the way, Matt and Joel unpack the lessons that come from building technology when you’re not a developer. The conversation explores documentation, outsourcing development, managing expectations, and the patience required to turn a good idea into a functioning system.

For builders thinking about turning their own processes into software, this episode offers a practical look at what that journey can actually look like.

Key Takeaways

• Many scalable tools begin as manual systems that prove themselves first

• Turning expertise into software requires translating human judgment into clear logic

• AI tools can accelerate research but still require careful verification

• Outsourcing development requires strong communication and iteration

• Builders often discover the real complexity of software during the building process