Road to $1M ARR day 17/60: what yesterday's fun actually looked like

Dec 4, 2025

Road to $1M ARR day 17/60: what yesterday's fun actually looked like

fomo. hype. more validations. and a 10km run.

Day 17 of the $1M ARR sprint.

So here’s what having fun as an entrepreneur mid sprint looks like: going to dinner with founder friends and accidentally closing a sales partner.

i went to decompress after 16 intense days. You know those dinners where everyone’s supposed to relax but you end up talking shop anyway? Yeah, that.

Except this time, my very good friend Tony (who happens to be the CEO of Metagora, the first startup where i was an intern then chief of staff)

Got so excited about what i pitched that he wants to intro me to his entire network of VCs.

Another validation of what we do at Earleads.

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The truth about being in this ecosystem is you never really turn your brain off.

You live what you do. The only way to balance the frenzy is mixing funny conversations with sales talk. That’s just how it works.

But the real breakthrough happened during my 10k run this morning.

i couldn’t stop thinking about yesterday’s demo call. Why did it work so well?

And then it hit me (meanwhile i literally bumped into some guy walking the opposite direction because my mind was so deep in this)

i’ve been selling services wrong this entire time.

For 2 years, i’ve pitched services like... services. Showing case studies, talking about processes, explaining deliverables, showing a deck…Standard agency stuff.

Yesterday i did something different. i pitched our service like a software product.

Like an actual demo call with screen sharing, live walkthrough, personalized to their exact situation (took me 2hours to prepare).

Not showing them what we did for other clients. Showing them what we’d do for them, specifically. And they actually saw the result LIVE.

I’ve demoed software products hundreds of times as chief of staff. i’ve been on the receiving end of hundreds more. i know exactly what makes them work.

Why wasn’t i applying this to services? Crazy how you always have something new to learn. Humbling.

The difference in reaction was immediate.

I am applying this to my whole business.

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Tony’s reaction confirmed it.

i’ve pitched Earleads to him dozens of times over the years. He always got it intellectually.

But when i showed him this new demo flow? His eyes lit up differently.

That’s when you know you’ve cracked something.

This approach changes two things fundamentally:

1-Conversion rate: when people see their actual problem being solved in real time (not someone else’s case study), closing becomes natural.

2-Pricing power: You’re not competing on service comparisons anymore. You’re showing unique value creation for their specific situation.

We’ve already been delivering this offer to existing clients through upsells. They trusted us enough to say “whatever you want to do, show us some results and we’re in.”

But this is the first time i’m selling it cold.

And it’s working.

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There’s something about momentum with less strain.

When you find clarity on something fundamental like how to actually sell what you do everything else gets lighter. The stress doesn’t disappear but it transforms into energy.

i can apply this framework to everything for the next decade. Every service, every pitch, every close.

That peace of mind is worth more than any single deal.

Tomorrow i’m mapping out this visual flow properly. Then applying it to every call next week.

The conversion rates are about to get interesting.

The ACV is about to massively increase.

I’ve never been this excited.

If you want me to elaborate on the specifics, i’m happy to (just answer to this update). But first i need to document it properly.

ARR: $622K → Target: $1M | Days remaining: 43

See you tomorrow 👊