David Abbey

Over $22m raised. 70-person studio. Built on three hires with zero experience. Last week, I hosted Robbie Singh - CEO and Co-founder of Omeda Studios on my podcast. It was a long time coming. From a long-term client helping scale the team to becoming friends. The story of a streamer becoming a game studio CEO in 4 years. Launched Predecessor, which has been crushing it. One moment during the pod stood out to me. Early days, their network was their community. People would approach saying, "I'd love to work on this." No industry experience. Just pure passion for the game. Robbie took a chance on three of them: A competitive player who became their hero designer. A community member who handles all game balancing. An engineer who now does all hero development. All learned from scratch. All became the foundation of Omeda. But here's the ripple effect. The passion became infectious. When they hired experienced developers later, those new hires walked into a culture obsessed with the game. Not just working on it. Living it, breathing it. You can't mandate that energy in meetings. It comes from hiring people who genuinely care about what you're building. Robbie called it "divine intervention" when all three worked out. That wasn't luck. That was the power of hiring people who are already emotionally invested in your success. Industry experience can be taught. Passion like that can't. In an industry where inexperience struggles to break through, Robbie did the opposite. Are we overthinking hiring in games? This episode drops VERY soon... Packed with insights on scaling game studios, community-first development, and raising $22m+ in today's market.

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Wellness is increasingly a social activity, with employees seeking "third places" to connect beyond work or coffee shops. This trend shapes Wellhub's product development, driven by our vision to deliver wellbeing for every company, every employee, every day. Wellhub Challenges are gamified wellness initiatives, like step competitions, designed to promote healthy habits and foster team bonding among employees. And now, they just got a whole lot better! You can segment them by team, region, or group, easily inviting colleagues via a custom link or QR code. Challenges can boost a sales teams' energy, help new hires connect and support non-desk workers. I'm proud that our innovation helps companies invest in their people, leading to happier employees, lower turnover, and reduced healthcare costs. 🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e5g37Var

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15,000+ loyalty program members. Only 800 were actually engaged. That's the harsh reality Sarah faced when she called us at Vajro. She's the founder of a premium skincare brand, and she was bleeding money. "We're spending thousands on points and discounts, but customers still leave after two purchases." I've heard this story way too many times. Sarah was making the classic mistake: treating all customers the same. But here's what the data revealed → 60% of her revenue came from just 20% of customers. These weren't just buyers. They were SuperFans. So instead of chasing the silent 14,200, we focused on the passionate 800. Here's exactly what we built: → A mobile app that gave SuperFans VIP access → Personalized product recommendations based on purchase history → Early access to new launches through push notifications → One-tap reordering of their favorite products The results after 6 months? Those 800 SuperFans increased their average order value by 40%. Their purchase frequency doubled. But here's the real win: they started bringing friends. SuperFans don't just buy more. They become your marketing team. While competitors were still blasting generic discount emails, Sarah's SuperFans were getting personalized experiences that made them feel valued. The lesson? Stop trying to activate everyone. Start by activating the customers who already love you. Your SuperFans are waiting. The question is: are you ready to give them the experience they deserve?

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10 things I learned from Shopify President Harley Finkelstein this week 👇 These are the notes I took whilst listening to his talk: 1) The total addressable market for my product is oxygen Harley once dropped this in an investor meeting. Think bigger than you’re comfortable with. If your ambition doesn’t scare people, it’s too small. 2) Agentic Commerce will change everything  Shopify are building APIs to deliver every single product listed on over 2 million Shopify stores to every LLM. The infrastructure is being built for commerce to happen everywhere, automatically. 3) Everything is now a sales channel From social platforms to newsletters, every touchpoint can drive commerce. The most successful businesses today meet customers wherever they already spend time. 4) The cost of failure is now incredibly low When previous generations failed, they were tied into long leases and had teams of dozens of people. Today's entrepreneurs can test, pivot, and iterate with minimal overhead and maximum learning. 5) If you're building, place a lot of bets Diversify your experiments across ads, email, social content, partnerships, and new channels. The key is having multiple shots at success running simultaneously. 6) More people are starting businesses in the US than any point in the last 20 years We're in a golden age of entrepreneurship in America. It feels like the opposite of whart we are seeing in the UK sadly. 7) Collaborate unequivocally E-commerce isn't zero sum - it's positive sum. Success breeds more success. A thriving ecosystem benefits everyone, which is why collaboration trumps competition in the long run. 8) Tell people all your secrets Share your playbook openly. You're not competing for a slice of the pie - you're trying to bake a bigger pie that benefits everyone. 9) Business is really hard The truth few admit: it’s brutal, messy, and exhausting. Acknowledge it — then get on with it. 10) But unfair advantages are now democratised The tools, platforms, and opportunities that once required massive resources are now accessible to anyone. Business is still hard, but the playing field has never been more level. What resonated most with you? Drop a comment below 👇

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Episode 7 of the Summer Coworking Chronicles takes us to Venture Lane | Startup Hub.. We caught up with Kristina Gomez, GM at Venture Lane | Startup Hub / Pranav Kuber & Susan Conover from Piction Health™ / Matty Hogan from Pompeii Labs / Jeff Feldgoise from getIntro Kristina Gomez, Venture Lane’s General Manager shares.. Venture Lane is the #1 spot for B2B tech startups in Boston. They’re a Startup Hub that provides space with 70 companies and 150 members, run a Traction Accelerator, and have a community with 2,000 active members and a Slack with 3,000 members for self-service report and resources (including provider perks, events, etc.) ⚒️ What does Kristina love about building in Boston? ⚒️ It’s the two degrees of Kevin Bacon (separation) that makes Boston a special, close knit place to connect with people who can help your startup grow and move the needle. Pranav & Susan, Co-Founders at Piction Health™ share.. Piction Health is building the largest dermatology practice in the world with AI to improve provider productivity by 15x. They love the tight community and the fusion of healthcare & tech in Boston to build a real practice with real impact leaning on the startups that have come before them (like Pillpack). The engineering culture is great too! 👀 What startups should we be watching? 👀 viv for your v is a fun consumer oriented Boston company for women’s resources. UptimeHealth and Ayble Health are great startups to watch in the healthtech space too! Matty Hogan, Co-Founder & CTO from Pompeii Labs shares.. Pompeii Labs has been building AI agents for 2 years in the deep end of AI tech. Over the last 6 months, they’ve accumulated their consulting knowledge into a platform, where businesses can leverage the value of agents to increase operational efficiency. As a BC grad, Matty loves the communities he’s found to network and share ideas 👀 What should we be watching? 👀 The biggest value in AI is going to come from the intersection of AI and data. People that have proprietary or useful data to companies will create value. Where you’re giving AI good memory & access to data will create interesting companies. Jeff Feldgoise, Co-Founder & CEO at getIntro shares.. getIntro helps sales people get connected with the right decision makers in healthcare. They’re accelerating the sale of software and other things into healthcare institutions. Jeff loves the diversity of Boston - different industries, people, and the academic institutions add so much (as an MIT grad, he’s biased!). 👀 What should we be watching? 👀 Boston is a big healthcare town and they’re excited to help bring AI into the big healthcare institutions faster. There’s a ton of opportunity to bring new innovations into clinicians and patients’ hands faster. The summer tour continues and is brought to you by MGMT Boston and Rho!

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Equity crowdfunding is on track to reach $5.53B by 2030, growing nearly 18% a year. What excites me most: founders aren’t waiting for permission anymore. They’re raising directly from their communities, and investors are showing up to own a piece of the brands they love. At DealMaker, we see this transformation every day. Community capital fuels growth, builds conviction, and creates loyal shareholders who stay longer, spend more, and advocate harder. What’s happening goes beyond funding. It’s a shift in who gets access and who gets to build. I’ll be sharing more on how founders can harness this momentum. The next decade belongs to those who bring their communities with them.

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