Kiryl Artsymenia

Founder of ProofEngine and SalesBlackBox - hunting for revenue and sanity.
Human 24/7.

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@RoundtableSpace Does he know that?

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@maars_nina Exactly, show me the moooney 🤣

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

“I’d use this” is not a demand. A sign-up is weak evidence. A pre-order is stronger.
Here are 7 experiments founders can run before building: from smoke tests and fake doors to pre-sales and concierge MVPs. https://t.co/U6O6qMbqK3

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

I’ve noticed that in business networking, people sometimes struggle to believe something simple: when I meet someone, I’m genuinely trying to understand them. What are they working on? Where are they right now? Do they need anything? Maybe they will later. Maybe they don’t need anything at all, and we’ll just have a good conversation.

I get where the suspicion comes from. Too many people have tried to pressure us, screw us over, or use us. After a while, it’s easier to put up a wall and start treating other people like resources, too. But honestly, I’m fucking tired of it.

Recently, I met someone at a networking event. I suggested we grab a bite and get to know each other. He seemed like a good guy. He told me about the sales teams he builds and the problems he solves. We found some common ground.

I mentioned a client of mine: a young B2B SaaS company that had raised $1 million about three months earlier. They were working through their go-to-market strategy and sales. His immediate response was: “Great, introduce me.”

Hold on. We’ve only just met. Everything I know about your work comes from what you’ve told me. Why would I put my name behind you and ask my client to give you their time? I asked him to send me something that showed what he does, so I could share it with the client and see whether there was a fit.

After that, he disappeared. Maybe he was offended. Maybe something happened in his life. I don’t know. But I never got the material, or even a quick reply.

That’s what pisses me off. You can spend an hour telling me how good you are at your job, then vanish when I ask you for the simplest thing. An intro isn’t a contact I pull out of my address book. It involves two people’s trust, and I’m responsible for how I use it.

For some reason, I run into this especially often with people from my own background, fellow Slavs. That makes it even more frustrating. Please, stop treating every new connection as a shortcut to someone else’s clients. Sometimes the first step is just getting to know a person—and following through on the one thing they asked you to do.

An intro isn’t a reward for meeting me.

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

A jote on X bots.
I think I found a silver bullet or catchphrase to summon their cold, metallic soul/attention, if they have any. They do like every headline that starts with something like this: "7 experiments I tried," "3 books I read," "10 things not to do," and so on and so forth. If you use this in your tweet or article, they will swarm you with comments.

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@mshamilm77 Agree. Like one chain of shops (with decent velocity of course) to test.

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@mathiasvrb Better late than never. What are you building rn?

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@simplydt Cash is the king

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@attacomsian One and only

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

Okay, as I’m trying myself more in socials this is what I was able to squeeze for a Reel. I like it. Still there is some room for improvements (as usual), but it’s good.

Right now I’m exploring the setup up for personal content generation when you need to do the rest in solo: sales, product, hiring, pitching, etc. Currently I’ve combined Notion+Codex+Claude+Typefully. Would love to hear on other setups.

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

Quick update from me - as I found it easier to record a video (in the line with other videos) than to write something separate.

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@standotsui What is pivot?

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@pashov I just like what you do and who you are behind this.
🙇🏽

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@brill_media It’s pretty regular:
1. Routing/diagnosing call
2. Paid 2-week sprint
3. Bigger commitment

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

Top 3 Cringiest Stories That Happened to Me Over the Last Six Months of Working on Proof Engine

Over the last six months of working on Proof Engine, I’ve run into a few situations that made me want to close my laptop and go stare at trees for a while.

Not because someone didn’t buy. That’s normal.

But because sometimes people behave as if other people’s time, experience, and work have no value.

Here is my personal top 3.

Story 1. The venture fund that wanted us to believe in its idea more than they did.

An assistant of someone from a so-called venture fund reached out to me. She said the fund wanted to talk because they needed to test something.

I won’t disclose the details of the idea, the product, or the people. I don’t want to identify anyone.

We had a call. The person explained that they wanted to test a specific product hypothesis and were looking for a team that could do it.

I said: great, you came to the right place. Proof Engine is exactly about this - quickly building, testing, getting market signals, and understanding whether it makes sense to move forward.

I suggested we define the scope, timeline, budget, and prepare a proposal.

And then it got interesting.

He said: no, we are more interested in finding a team that believes in our idea, starts building it, and if everything goes well, we might invest in it.

At that moment, there was a short pause in my head.

Because you are a venture fund.

You have an idea.

You want to test it.

But you don’t want to pay to test your own idea.

You want some team to take on your risk for free, spend their time, people, energy, and resources, and then, if you like the result, you might consider investing.

Of course, I still sent a proposal.

Of course, the person said he would think about it.

Of course, he never came back.

The conclusion is simple: if a fund is not ready to vote with money even for its own idea, then it probably does not believe in that idea enough.

And maybe that is not a venture approach.

Maybe it is just an attempt to find a free team under a fancy label.

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

@brill_media Thanks, readjusting offers right now

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

Most B2B deals do not move because the call went well.

They move when the buyer has something useful to carry into the room you are not in: a memo, proof pack, risk answer, comparison, or internal decision artifact.

That is the idea behind this article. https://t.co/sFqRiz38RH

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

7/7
Read the series if your team is moving from AI demos to real workflows: agents that touch CRM, sales conversations, customer evidence, internal data, or operating decisions need a stronger system around them.

[Kiryl Artsymenia @howtokirill]

6/7
The Data Layer Is Becoming A Trust Layer
Why read it: when AI acts from company data, memory needs source, freshness, confidence, review, and decision context.
https://t.co/q2sxrBQ4SN