John

Head of Partnerships @trykashu

[John @johnpolimeni]

The best deal I ever closed, I closed by being willing to walk. Not as a bluff. I'd actually made peace with losing it.

Funny thing about leverage: the moment you stop needing the yes, you start getting it. If you're chasing something this week, the calmest person at the table usually wins it.

[John @johnpolimeni]

Bill Campbell coached the founders of Apple and Google and never kept a cent or a share for it. The Google stock he was given, he gave away. People asked why he would pour that much into other people for free. He would say the real measure of your career is the people you helped along the way. The best in the world all leaned on the same guy, and his whole secret was caring about the person more than the deal.

[John @johnpolimeni]

Founders feeling the squeeze: this isn't you. Prime rate jumped from 3.25 to 8.5 since 2022. The 2021 capital playbook isn't broken because you got worse. The cost of money more than doubled. The ones rebuilding their capital stack now are the ones I'm rooting for.

[John @johnpolimeni]

We are not the biggest team in this fight. Not even close. But we answer faster, we ship faster, and we actually care whether the small business owner on the other end makes it. Some days that is the entire edge.

[John @johnpolimeni]

I would rather be the small loud team that scares the incumbents than the big comfortable one waiting to get disrupted. Comfortable is just slow wearing a nicer suit.

[John @johnpolimeni]

Watching a small team outwork a giant in real time is the most fun I have ever had at a job. No politics, no layers, no waiting on a committee. Just a few people who decided the big guys were not as untouchable as everyone assumed.

[John @johnpolimeni]

Most companies are not built to move. They are built to defend. We are not defending anything yet, which is the entire advantage. The faster we move, the harder it gets for anyone to figure out how to compete with us.

[John @johnpolimeni]

Nobody respects the guy who talks about the gym more than the guy who quietly just looks like he goes. Same thing in business. Stop announcing the grind. Let the results do the announcing.

[John @johnpolimeni]

The richest people I know treat credit as a tool. The brokest people I know treat it as free money. Same product, opposite outcomes. The line between them is one question, does this purchase make me money or cost me money.

[John @johnpolimeni]

People ask why six of us think we can beat banks with a century head start. Because they have to protect what they built and we have nothing to lose by outworking them. Conviction beats comfort every single time.

[John @johnpolimeni]

If you cannot do one hard thing before 9am, your day owns you. The hard thing does not have to be a workout. It just has to be something you would have avoided if anyone gave you the option.

[John @johnpolimeni]

The gym at 5am is not about the workout. It is about winning the first argument of the day with the version of you that wanted to stay in bed. Win that one and every decision after it gets easier.

[John @johnpolimeni]

Some people use credit just to survive the month. Others use it as a weapon to move faster than everyone still waiting on a bank. Same limit, completely different life. The only difference is whether anyone taught you the second way exists.

[John @johnpolimeni]

Six of us. No corner offices, no dress code, no permission needed to do something bold. We are coming for an industry that thinks small business owners should be grateful for scraps. Bet against us. I dare you.

[John @johnpolimeni]

The best business move I made this year was teaching a friend how to use credit the way the wealthy use it. Three months later his cash position doubled. The only difference between him and the people still struggling was one conversation he was lucky to overhear.

[John @johnpolimeni]

Most people think following up is annoying. The truth is the person who follows up is usually the only one who actually wanted it. I have won business for no reason other than I was still there when the other guys got bored and wandered off.

[John @johnpolimeni]

I have never regretted being generous early in a relationship. I have regretted being stingy early more times than I can count. The cost of giving first is almost always lower than the cost of the deal you never got because you came in grabbing.

[John @johnpolimeni]

The best business relationships I have are with people I would still take a call from if we never did another deal. That is the whole test. If the relationship only exists because of the transaction, it is a subscription about to get cancelled.

[Miles Pietsch @milesipietsch]

quarter mil in TPV from the bottom of a canyon yesterday

shoutout @elonmusk

[John @johnpolimeni]

The best negotiation advice I ever got was to figure out what the other person needs to tell their boss. Half the time the deal is not about the deal. It is about making someone look smart to the person they answer to. Solve that and price stops being the fight.