Harry Roy McLaughlin

I have helped raise tens of millions for startups in the past. It is a specialty of mine and I love helping out whenever I can. You can see my personal investor database (with emails, LinkedIn URLs and more, at www.2i.vc)

The value of bootstrapping is often not understood and not properly valued. This seems to be changing though, which is a good thing. Nothing beats building a business from zero to something.

This is one of my favorite things to do in the world. I just love the challenge of figuring out how to drop conversion rates and increase funnel optimization. I get a rush from every penny saved, every step removed, every metric improved.

I founded an AI Copywriter as a side gig. Probably enough said there. . .

When Excel's 1,048,576 rows isn't nearly big enough, you are probably working on some data science project. Time to fire up R. . .

The subtle art of pushing the envelope of experimentation and marketing. . .

Problem Interview, Problem Interview, Problem Interview, Problem Interview, Problem Interview, Problem Interview, Problem Interview, Problem Interview, Problem Interview. It sucks, I know, but it has to be done, it has to be data-driven, and it should never end.

IT IS THE FUTURE!!! I learned Bubble in a weekend and could confidently build almost anything to an MVP stage within a few days. I can't imagine what a team of No Code guru's could accomplish working together like as a well-oiled dev team. It needs to be in the toolkit of every startup or growth focused team.

Far too many times have I seen companies burn far too much money without ever proving out product-market fit. Sadly it can usually be done without spending much (if any) money.

Remote work is not the same as in the office, so you have to work very hard to make sure remote teams are as effective as face-to-face teams. Most managers were never trained for this, and it is certainly a perspective shift. How do you build the same rapport? How do you keep staff accountable? How do you keep them motivated? The shift to remote work opens up amazing opportunities, but it also opens up many risks that need to be expertly navigated.

Sales needs to be data-driven, and far too often it is not. The good thing about sales teams is that they are good at selling products. The bad things about sales teams are that they are also good at selling their results to management (especially if bad). Setting up indisputable KPIs, tracking metrics that matter, and creating a culture of motivated sales growth is so important to early-stage companies.

Using Adobe Analytics, I gain valuable insights for projects & side gigs by tracking user behavior, identifying trends, and optimizing conversion rates. This data-driven approach ensures that I continue making data-driven decisions.

I started using Ahrefs in 2016 when I was working on SEO for a Fintech company, and I could hardly live without it now. The insight you can draw from it are amazing.

There is almost nothing more important than having good data when it comes to growth, and Amplitude is essential in tracking key metrics in your app/websites/funnels.

You can learn a ton about landing page optimization just by looking at ClickFunnels landing pages. Russell Brunson (CEO) is also someone to watch. He know's his stuff and you can learn a ton from watching his youtube videos.

Used this on a number of test brands. Not a big fan of chat popups though.. . .

To date, FB is (sadly) still one of the most effective ad platforms. That being said I have been having great success on Snap and TikTok recently. I have helped spend many hundreds of thousands of dollars on FB and know it better than most.

Of course you need to know Google Analytics if you care about your website, your funnels, you market... Needs to be in everyones toolkit.

Screen records can give you insights that you normally would miss. I have wasted so many hours trying to debug a funnel, and then simply checked the screen records and found my answer within seconds. Record all funnels is the lesson here.

HubSpot’s CRM platform has all the tools and integrations you need for marketing, sales, content management, and customer service. Each product in the platform is powerful alone, but the real magic happens when you use them together.

Used to use this on some of our test brands. I know it well, but not the biggest fan. . . .

A must for any dev team. Employing Jira, I can effectively manage projects & side projects by organizing tasks, tracking progress, and collaborating with my various teams. It helps me streamline workflows, ensuring timely delivery and success. Love it.

I've used Mailchimp for a number of brands and startups — from a small fintech startup, to a 1.4 million person mailing list, getting in the weeds and setting up the automation funnel has huge payoffs, and MailChimp is a great platform for that

I have scaled many a chatbot ads using Manychat. . .

I have used Mixpanel extensively and am a huge fan. Nothing beats it on flexibility and ease of use, and I have used it to its most success in optimizing conversion funnels.

My go-to CRM when the budget is tight and you just need something that integrates well with your tech stack. Easy to use/automate with Zapeir or Integromat, and wont break the bank.

So important to track what people are doing, especially for remote teams. Trello can certainly help with that.. . .

Leveraging TweetDeck, I built a 30,000+ audience in just a few weeks via targeted content curation, efficient monitoring, and timely engagement. Harnessing trends (new cycles) and connecting with users quickly fueled our rapid growth.

So so so useful for so many things. Would be hard to run a company (or a growth team) without it.. . .

I always just thought Zoho was just a CRM, but boy was I wrong. It is a beast that does everything most businesses would need (payroll, sales tracking, screen records, analytics, reporting...). Sadly it is never best in class at anything it does, but it is nice to have it all in one place.