I’m Riz.
Forged in sales · Refined by marketing · Engineering to automate
For 15+ years I’ve helped startups, agencies, and small businesses grow. I’ve built two companies past $1M in revenue by focusing on what actually moves the needle. Let’s figure out what yours needs.
Fifteen years, receipts included.
Where the material comes from.
Built and sold a company
Co-founded Rewire Fitness, a sport-tech platform, and grew it through to acquisition by Wahoo Fitness. I’ve been on the side of the table where the budget is real.
Early at ZipRecruiter
Employee number 33, consistently in the top 10% of the sales team. Thousands of conversations with small business owners about what they could and couldn’t afford.
Techstars mentor
Mentoring founders through Techstars since 2022, and a two-time Techstars participant myself. I’ve seen what separates the companies that grow from the ones that stall.
I started in sales, which is why I write about marketing the way I do.
My first real job in tech was carrying a quota. I was the 33rd hire at ZipRecruiter, back when the whole thing still felt like it might not work, and I spent years on the phone with small business owners. Restaurant owners, contractors, clinics, agencies. People who noticed every dollar because every dollar mattered.
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That’s the part most marketing people never get. When you’ve sat with someone deciding between a job posting and payroll, you stop being impressed by campaigns that look good and produce nothing. You start asking a simpler question: did this make the phone ring?
I went from selling to building. I co-founded a sport-tech company called Rewire Fitness and grew it to an acquisition by Wahoo Fitness. I’ve built audiences from zero into the millions, taken two companies past a million in revenue, and spent the last decade running growth for consumer brands, DTC companies, B2B teams, and local service businesses.
Somewhere in there I also became the person friends called when their agency stopped making sense. They’d forward me a report and ask what it meant. Most of the time the honest answer was that it didn’t mean much, and nobody had ever told them that.
That’s what this site is. The answer I’d give a friend, written down, without the part where I try to sell you something first.
I run a growth agency too. That’s not a secret, it’s where the material comes from. If something I write points toward hiring us, I’ll say so plainly. Most of it points somewhere else.
Come say hello.
I’m most active on LinkedIn, and I read every message. If you’ve got a question about your own marketing, ask it there or reply to any newsletter issue.
Connect on LinkedIn