Mike Kamo

Co-founded NP Digital — bootstrapped to $100M+, 800 employees in 30 countries.

If you're scaling $1M → $10M+ and want a 1:1 call →

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

8 years ago I started NP Digital with Neil Patel and zero outside funding.

Today: $100M+ in revenue, 800 employees, 30 countries, just named AdAge Agency of the Year.

I take a few 1:1 calls a week with founders building the same way → https://t.co/HbqDmp8DqG

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

An employee asked me for a raise, I forgot.

A week later, my Claude Code dashboard caught it.

For Ubersuggest, I built a dashboard that shows me exactly what the engineering team shipped that week.

Plus what customers are saying. Complaints, requests, praise. One of the most important things to know in your business.

I also added a coach into it. Gives me a handful of things I'm missing as a CEO.

And a chat agent, connected to Zendesk, Slack, our whole system. I can just ask it questions instead of going to people for answers.

Someone had brought up a compensation thing with an employee. I completely forgot about it.

Weeks went on.

Then the coach told me: don't let this conversation sit. That person probably thinks you're avoiding it. They're waiting for a response from you.

I wasn't actually avoiding them, I just forgot about it. If Claude didn't remind me I probably would have done nothing until the employee brought it up again

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

In developer interviews I have candidates screen-share their Claude setup.

I don't hire engineers anymore unless they're using Claude.

Getting our own dev team there wasn't easy either.

We moved every engineer at Ubersuggest onto Claude Code.

You'd think every developer would just switch to a way more powerful tool.

But some developers love coding.

It's like telling someone who loves playing the piano, you don't have to play anymore, it's just gonna play the buttons for you.

That takes the fun away for some people.

Our head of engineering led the charge.

Most people who switched ended up loving it. It took the mundane, boring part of the job away.

A few never got on board.

Some eventually came around. Some moved on to a different company.

What worked was giving engineers autonomy. Use Claude however you want, within guardrails, working in our staging environment.

Now people build new skills every week and share them across the team.

Ubersuggest runs in about 12 languages. One of our devs built a translation skill. Ship a feature, hit the skill, it translates the new text into all 12 languages automatically.

That's the kind of thing that makes a whole engineering team faster and more creative.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

I never learned to code.

Four parts of my business now run without me.

Before that, I was on Claude Chat. Projects feature, add files, get some context.

But the memory wasn't great. Ask it something, and it wouldn't recall a session from a few days ago.

Search sucked too. Couldn't find what I was looking for.

Then I met a guy at an entrepreneur dinner in Vegas. He was deep into Claude Code. I thought it was cool, didn't think much more of it.

Then we started playing pickleball together. I gave him some pointers on his game.

After, he asked to see my Claude setup. He looked at it and said: "This is so amateur. You're basically on level zero of level 100 of Claude, and you need to move to Claude Code."

He had Claude give a breakdown of his own setup. I took that, brought it into Claude, and built something custom for myself.

First thing I built was my second brain. Set it up in Claude Code and Obsidian.

I broke every part of my life and work into its own project: Ubersuggest, AnswerThePublic, NP Digital, my personal life, all sitting under one workbench dashboard I click between.

I'm not a developer. I don't know how to code. I never learned how to code.

But anything you can imagine, you can just build it.

That's how I got into Claude Code.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

I save two to three hours a day with Claude Code, and I still have zero net time saved.

The time I save on those tasks, I spend on Claude Code.

So technically, today, there's no time savings.

I'm fine with that.

Claude Code is the best project management solution I've ever used.

Fully custom tailored to only the things I need to know. Most PM tools get so bloated with information you don't care about.

This one pulls in every conversation from every part of the business.

Engineering describes a problem one way. Product describes the same problem another way. Ops describes it a third way.

Claude has all of that context, and helps me solution architect the fix.

It's basically taking my brain and 10Xing it.

It's so much more thoughtful and powerful.

The real value is the visibility into everything I'm working on, and that's what makes me a significantly more effective boss, CEO, entrepreneur.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

The best hire I ever made wasn't looking for a job. He had a good one, was paid well, and had zero reason to take my call.

Most founders build their entire hiring process around people who apply. That's the trap. The people actively applying are the ones nobody is fighting to keep.

The person you actually want is employed, comfortable, and getting pinged by recruiters every week.. which means your job post will never reach them.

So the real skill isn't screening. It's convincing. You have to give someone a reason to leave a situation that already works for them. And "we have great culture" is not a reason. Every company says that.

What moves a great candidate is specific. The scope they can't get where they are. A problem more interesting than their current one. Where this seat puts them in two years. You have to know their world well enough to point at the exact thing their current job can't give them.

I treat a key hire like a sale, because it is one. I'm not waiting for demand. I'm creating it. And the close is the same as any close.. find what they actually want, then show them you're the one who can deliver it.

If you're only looking at inbound applicants right now, you're shopping from the bottom of the pool. 🎣

What's the best person you ever hired, and were they even looking when you found them?

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

We spent $100,000+ on Content Marketing early on and saw almost no results in the first year.

If you want hyper growth, everything has to be urgent BUT once you execute on a strategy, you have to be patient and sit back and make sure it works before you move on or call it a failed experiment.

We had a whole writing team. Paid translators. Published content every single day. For the first 12 months? Almost nothing.

Right at about that 14 month mark we started to see our blog traffic really start to grow. By about a year and a half, it just took off.

Eventually we were generating more than 5,000 leads a month from our blog.

The impatient part is what gets you moving fast. The patient part is what keeps you from killing something that's actually working... it just needs time.

Most people quit at month 6 or before.

That's the difference.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

Running a SaaS company in 2026 means your product team wakes up every Monday to a new AI capability that could make last week's roadmap obsolete.

We've had to rethink how we build — not just what we build.

Our engineers are using Claude Code. Moving faster than ever. The bottleneck isn't engineering anymore, it's vision and prioritization.

That's kept me closer to the product than I've been in years. Honestly, I think that's where a CEO should be right now.

The companies that figure out how to move at AI speed without losing focus are going to pull away from the pack.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

I told a founder his biggest problem wasn't the product.

It was his customers. Here's what I mean:

He built an AI tool to help entrepreneurs create LinkedIn content.

Good product. Smart positioning. Reasonable price.

But users kept dropping off.

He thought it was about results.

"Maybe they're not seeing ROI fast enough."

I told him: That's step two.

They're not even finishing step one.

Step one = creating content consistently.

Step two = seeing results from that content.

You can't get to step two if no one's doing step one.

Here's the thing:

He's targeting entrepreneurs.

That's a double-edged sword.

The good side? They can easily afford the tool.

The bad side? They won't spend an hour every week using it.

I'm the perfect example.

I signed up. I stopped using it.

Not because the product is bad.

Because I have too much going on. I make money from other things. I don't depend on my LinkedIn following to drive business.

So I don't prioritize it.

That's the entrepreneur problem:

They have budget but no time.

They have options so the ROI bar is higher.

They won't commit unless it's nearly effortless.

The lesson?

If you're building for busy people with existing income streams, you need to eliminate time friction completely.

Or pick a different customer.

Someone who has the time and the need to show up consistently.

Because a great product with the wrong audience behavior looks like a product problem.

But it's not.

It's an audience problem.

What do you think? Have you seen this in your business?

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

We give away way more content for free than our competitors.

And it's the reason we have millions of visitors every month.

Here's the math that makes it work:

Our blog at NP Digital gives away content that other agencies charge for.

We get millions of visitors to our site each month.

Only a tiny percent of those people actually get on a consulting call with us.

But here's what makes it worth it:

Those deals close for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sometimes over a million. Sometimes multi-millions.

97% of the free users will never pay us a dime.

But that 3-5% who do? They make it all worthwhile.

This approach matters even more when you're starting out.

You don't have the brand authority yet. Coming in and asking for money right away is harder.

But when you give away massive value for free, you build audience fast.

The more you give away, the faster you grow.

That top-of-funnel compounds. The pipeline fills. And the minority who convert pay for all of it with outsized deals.

So if you're debating whether to gate your content or give it away...

Give it away.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

I just talked a founder out of spending $10k/month on content.

Here's why.

He wanted to hire a full-service team. Script, film, edit, the whole thing.

I get it. It sounds ideal.

But here's the problem:

He doesn't have a personal brand yet.

Going from zero to $10k/month in content spend?

That's not irresponsible. It's just unnecessary.

You can get it done cheaper. Way cheaper.

My advice: Learn the system first.

Talk to someone who runs a great content process. Get ideas flowing. Understand how it all works.

Then build your own version for less.

I offered to intro him to the guy who's helped our company with content production. Not to hire him. Just to learn from him.

That conversation alone could spark the ideas he needs to execute this scrappy.

Early-stage founders need to protect cash and stay lean.

You can scale content spend later when you have traction.

But in the beginning?

Learn the model. Stay scrappy. Preserve your capital.

What's your take? Am I being too conservative here?

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

I just told a founder to stop trying to monetize his community.

Here's why...

He's building a SaaS for a local service business (think scheduling, routing, customer management).

He asked me: Should I charge for a Skool community or keep it free?

My answer: Keep it free. Don't even think about monetizing it.

Here's the thing most founders miss:

You can't just compare the LTV of a community member vs. the LTV of a SaaS customer.

Because the SaaS customer translates into enterprise value at exit.

The community subscription does not.

Look at his competitor:

$6M in revenue.

Sold for $100M.

That's a massive multiple.

If you hit $6M in revenue from a paid Skool community?

You're not getting anywhere close to $100M at exit.

The math is simple:

SaaS companies sell for 10-20x revenue (sometimes more).

Community subscriptions sell for 2-3x revenue (if at all).

So what should you do?

Use the community and education as a funnel.

Give it away for free.

Get people in.

Build trust.

Move them to the software.

That's where the real enterprise value is built.

Don't chase the $50/month community revenue when you're building a $100M exit.

What's your take? Ever faced this decision?

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

I noticed Semrush does something smart with their product.

If you're logged in and someone else tries to use your account, it kicks you out.

One seat = one user.

But here's what happens after 2-3 times:

They lock your account completely.

You get a message: "Looks like you have more users than seats. Your account is temporarily locked. Schedule a call with our team to resolve this and we'll help you get the right plan."

Now you're talking to their sales team.

This isn't passive support. It's product-triggered selling.

They built the system to surface expansion opportunities based on actual usage behavior.

If you have a product, ask yourself: What user behaviors signal they need more than they're paying for?

Then build triggers around those moments.

That's how you create predictable pipeline from your product.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

"Won't they just do it themselves if I teach them all the marketing tactics?"

I get this question constantly.

I have a friend running a $10M remodeling company in Vegas.

Hired a marketing person.

Still came to NP Digital: "We don't know what we're doing. Just do it for us."

Service business owners don't want to learn marketing.

They want to pay experts who know their shit.

So teach everything. Show exactly what you do.

Make the complexity obvious.

They'll hire you for your expertise and to save themselves time.

Not run away and DIY it.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

I've closed deals for 20+ years.

Many salespeople talk themselves OUT of the sale. Here's how to fix it:

1. Stop talking so much

Salespeople want to prove value, so they info-dump.

Prospect checks out. Deal dies.

Be concise. Write your pitch, then cut words. Read it again, cut more. Read it again, cut more.

Like a copywriter editing sales copy.

2. Understand the root cause

I see founders selling solutions that don't match the prospect's actual problem.

That mismatch kills deals.

Ask better questions. Have a real discovery conversation.

Their goals, what's happening in their business, what they've tried, what worked, what didn't.

Dig deep.

3. Be likeable

People choose who they feel comfortable with.

Even at a higher price.

Find common ground. Be relatable.

Especially if you're working together long-term.

4. Always ask for the close

This tells you their buying temperature.

Where they're at. What to do next.

Skipping this step is a mistake.

5. Handle objections without being pushy

You asked for the close. They didn't close.

Now find out what's really stopping them.

Not the fake objections like "let me think about it."

The real ones.

Then give them time. Don't push too hard in that moment.

—

I've used these principles to close hundreds of deals personally and thousands indirectly via sales teams.

They work.

What's your biggest challenge with sales right now?

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

The most important people on my team are the self-educators.

I promote them faster than anyone else. Here's why 👇

We ran an AI contest at NP Digital.

The rules were simple: Build a tool using AI that's valuable for your work or the company.

Top 3 winners got cash prizes.

Here's what happened:

People built custom workflows, automation tools, GPTs for client work.

And we're still using some of those tools today.

That contest showed me something.

The people who are adapting aren't waiting to be told what to learn.

They're testing new tools regularly.
They're in online communities learning how others use the same tools.
They're coming to me saying, "Check this out. Look at this workflow I built."

My VP of Sales reads a new book every week. 52 books a year!

It's given him a wide perspective on sales, on dealing with different personalities, on handling situations in the sales process.

He's got tools in his toolshed that most people don't.

When I look at promotions, this behavior carries heavy weight.

The self-educators are already at the top of the company.

And when I see newer employees showing that same behavior, it tells me they're ready to move up.

Here's my own story:

When I started NP Digital, I made some really bad hires.

Wrong fit. Cost us time, money, stress, headache.

I realized I didn't have the recruiting skills I needed to build a big agency.

So I taught myself.

Read books on recruiting. Talked to recruiters. Interviewed them. Asked questions. Did hundreds of interviews.

That self-education process made me into a pretty good recruiter.

The pattern is clear:

The people who keep learning are the ones who keep winning.

Always bet on the self-educators.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

We've hired hundreds of top performers building NP Digital to 1,000+ employees.

First I start with our core values Think Big, Own it, Have fun. Filter all candidates through those values. For us it looks like:

1. Think Big (For Clients)

Most agencies say: do your SEO, run paid ads, here's the checklist.

Top performers ask: what can I do OUTSIDE my scope to help this client win?

They think beyond the contract.

That's how you stand out.

2. Think Big (For Themselves)

I don't want people who are fine staying in the same role for 10 years.

The best hires are constantly asking:

• How do I get to the next level?
• What do I need to learn to go from manager to director?
• Where's my career path?

Stagnant people build stagnant companies.

3. Own It

We're marketers. We experiment. Not everything works.

When something fails, top performers are the FIRST to say:

"This is what I tried. It didn't work. Here's what I learned."

They never pass the buck.

They look in the mirror and ask: what could I have done better?

That's how you grow.

4. Persist Through Rejection

My VP of Sales has a 25% close rate on enterprise deals.

That means when we put 100+ hours into a pitch...

We still lose 3 out of 4 times.

That's brutal.

But he doesn't care. He knows 1 out of 4 will say yes.

That's enough to keep going.

5. Constant Learning

The best people I've hired are always learning.

Always consuming content about their weak spots or where the industry is headed.

They train their brain to learn all the time.

That ROI compounds fast.

6. Delusional Optimism

I give them a target that seems almost unattainable.

They say: "Yeah, I'll figure it out."

Even if they hit 80% of that crazy goal?

That's way better than setting a mediocre target and hitting it 100%.

Self-confidence is a cheat code.

—

Here's what I've learned building teams:

Your core values should filter for these traits.

Every hire gets measured against them.

That's how you build a team that scales to $100M+.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

How I plan my year (and actually execute):

Most people overcomplicate this.

1. Find the ONE thing

Not ten priorities.

One.

The thing that drives the biggest impact.

I combine two inputs:

Current data from the business.
Where the market is heading.

2. Make it specific

For Ubersuggest this year, users would run reports, get insights, then leave for weeks.

They'd implement elsewhere.

So our ONE thing became: implementation.

Keep users in the product by helping them implement, not just analyze.

3. Prioritize everything around it

We added all features to the roadmap for the year.

Categorized them by Priority: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3.

Implementation features? All Level 1. (highest priority)

Put dev teams into pods.
Each pod owns their set of Level 1 features.
Built a Gantt chart for launch dates.

4. Track what matters

Watch the metrics that tell you if the bet is working:

• User session recordings
• Time on app
• Return frequency
• Average revenue per user
• Lifetime value

Most plans fail because people try to do everything.

Pick one thing.
Structure everything around it.
Track if it's working.

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

If you own a Saas business this Steve Jobs quote is a great one.

He said: You don't win by just building great tech. You start with the customer experience.

Jobs admitted he made this mistake many times. Built really good technology... and nobody used it.

Doesn't matter how good your tech is if people don't use it.

We are now hyper focused on customer experience.

Here's what we're changing:

Old way: Drop users into our tool with 50 features. Let them figure it out.

New way: Guide them step-by-step the second they land.

→ Enter your website
→ Do this now
→ Create content
→ Promote it
→ Track performance
→ Done

10 minutes later, they've set everything up and content is being created.

They actually FEEL the value.

Most people using our tool don't know what they're doing. And that's fine.

Our job isn't to build more features.

It's to walk them through getting results fast.

More features ≠ better product.

Clear path to value = better product.

If you're building a product, ask yourself:

Are you starting with the technology or the customer experience?

[Mike Kamo @mikekamo]

I've heard "we already have an internal team" hundreds of times.

Early on, I'd back down. Felt like a dead end.

Now? It's an opening.

Here's what I say:

"That's great that you have a team. But I'm looking at your rankings... and you're not showing up. You have the resources but the results aren't there.

Why don't we team up?

We'll handle the areas where you need help. Your team keeps doing what they do well. We fill the gaps."

The shift: Stop positioning as a replacement.

Start positioning yourself as a partner.

Enterprise clients with internal teams aren't looking to fire people. They're looking to finally get results without the internal politics of admitting the current approach isn't working.

You acknowledge their team. You point to the performance gap (the data doesn't lie). You create a path forward that doesn't require them to blow everything up.

Does it work every time? No.

But when you reframe from "us vs. them" to "us + them," you preserve the relationship and create a real path to a blended engagement.

The results speak louder than the org chart.