# Ayman Al-Abdullah

> I help 7 Figure Founders become 9 Figure CEOs.

## Pages
- [Contact](https://aymanalabdullah.com/contact/): Reach Ayman Al-Abdullah at ayman@agoge.consulting or on X. He coaches CEOs from $1M to $100M+ and sends monthly tips to 10,000+ founders.
- [About Ayman](https://aymanalabdullah.com/about/): Ayman Al-Abdullah scaled AppSumo from $3M to $80M in annual revenue as CEO from 2015 to 2021. He now coaches founders on leadership and delegation.
- [Now](https://aymanalabdullah.com/now/): Ayman Al-Abdullah coaches CEOs from 7 to 9 figures and is building Architect Mode, a new leadership framework. Updated June 2026 from Raleigh, NC.

## Articles
- [Interesting People 2024](https://aymanalabdullah.com/ip2/) — 2024-10-10: Andrew Wilkinson invited 100 of the world's most interesting people to Victoria, Canada for two days. Ayman almost didn't board the flight but went anyway.
- [Live Workshops](https://aymanalabdullah.com/live-workshops/) — 2024-10-11: With a 2+ year coaching waitlist, Ayman tried courses and group coaching before discovering live workshops. Half the room re-booked within 15 minutes.
- [My CEO Story](https://aymanalabdullah.com/ceo/) — 2024-11-21: CEO is a stressful job. Nobody really teaches you how to do it. Here's my story.
- [My Guesting on Kopywriting Kourse Podcast](https://aymanalabdullah.com/kopywriting-kourse/) — 2024-07-10: Ayman joined Neville Medhora to share his framework for $100M revenue, why core value proposition beats chasing trends, and how to approach AI.
- [New Money Talks Podcast](https://aymanalabdullah.com/new-money-talks/) — 2024-11-21: Ayman joined New Money Talks to discuss scaling AppSumo from $3M to $84M, the top scaling mistake, and why automating beats over-hiring.
- [14-Step Guide to Scaling Your Business](https://aymanalabdullah.com/scaling-your-business/) — 2025-02-11: Ayman took AppSumo from $3M to $84M bootstrapped. His 14-step framework covers customer retention, strategic hiring, and the founder-to-CEO shift.
- [A Journey of Sacrifice and Opportunity](https://aymanalabdullah.com/a-journey/) — 2025-02-04: Ayman Al-Abdullah's father left Iraq 40 years ago for a better life. Ayman used to say he came from nothing, but he is the product of that sacrifice.
- [The Ultimate Guide to Hiring an Executive Assistant](https://aymanalabdullah.com/ea/) — 2025-03-21: Most founders wait too long to hire an Executive Assistant. Ayman breaks down when to hire and the difference between a VA, PA, and EA.
- [The Futur Podcast: The Key to Big Profits](https://aymanalabdullah.com/the-futur/) — 2023-10-05: Ayman Al-Abdullah joined Chris Do on The Futur Podcast to discuss how serving specific customers, not everyone, drove AppSumo's revenue growth.
- [The Permissionless Approach](https://aymanalabdullah.com/the-permissionless-approach/) — 2025-05-02: In 2015, Ayman sent Noah Kagan a 53-second video pitch. No resume, just execution. That move landed the job and is still the right approach today.
- [The Most Critical Hire That Shaped AppSumo](https://aymanalabdullah.com/the-most-critical-hire/) — 2025-06-05: Ilona applied for email copywriter at AppSumo and became COO. Ayman Al-Abdullah explains what made this hire possible and why recognizing talent matters.
- [My 4-Question Test for Hiring](https://aymanalabdullah.com/hiring-test/) — 2025-07-29: Ayman's four-question hiring test: does the candidate raise the average, show real passion, fit the culture, and scare you to lose to a competitor?
- [How to Make Yourself Irreplaceable to a Founder](https://aymanalabdullah.com/irreplaceable/) — 2025-08-11: Working for a founder means different standards. Ayman outlines three rules: bring solutions, outwork their expectations, and move fast.
- [7 Green Flags of a $100M CEO](https://aymanalabdullah.com/100m-ceo/) — 2025-08-22: Ayman Al-Abdullah scaled AppSumo from $3M to $80M and drove $500M in client growth. Here are seven green flags that predict CEO success before it arrives.
- [AI and the CEO: 5 Tasks That Survived](https://aymanalabdullah.com/ai-and-the-ceo/) — 2025-09-17: After 90 days testing AI on every CEO task, Ayman found five things no CEO can hand off: vision, culture, exec hiring, resource allocation, and cash.
- [6 Things I Should Have Done Sooner as a CEO](https://aymanalabdullah.com/6-things-i-should-have-done-sooner-as-a-ceo/) — 2025-09-22: Ayman Al-Abdullah on six things he should have done sooner as a CEO: founder dinners, a coach, a head of sales, and no meetings before noon.
- [Amplify What Works](https://aymanalabdullah.com/amplify-what-works/) — 2025-10-23: Ayman Al-Abdullah on amplifying what works: AppSumo grew from $4M to $84M not by adding products, but by doubling down on its best customers and offers.
- [Stop Being Your Startup's Superman](https://aymanalabdullah.com/stop-being-your-startups-superman/) — 2025-10-23: Ayman Al-Abdullah on Superman Syndrome: if you are always putting out fires, you are the arsonist. Why founder CEOs must stop swooping in to save the day.
- [Why Most $1M CEOs Fail at $10M](https://aymanalabdullah.com/why-most-1m-ceos-fail-at-10m/) — 2025-10-27: Ayman Al-Abdullah on why $1M CEOs stall at $10M: each stage needs a different leader. At $0-1M you are a salesperson; at scale, a resource allocator.
- [The $150,000 Lesson That Changed Everything](https://aymanalabdullah.com/the-150000-lesson-that-changed-everything/) — 2025-11-08: Ayman Al-Abdullah on the $150,000 lesson from Tony Robbins: love your customer more than your product, and you will see the market shift first.
- [Why Keeping Wrong People Kills Teams](https://aymanalabdullah.com/why-keeping-wrong-people-kills-teams/) — 2025-11-15: Ayman Al-Abdullah on why keeping the wrong people hurts more than losing them. After Netflix's 2001 layoffs the office got better. A simple test for CEOs.
- [Win Sunday, Win the Week](https://aymanalabdullah.com/win-sunday-win-the-week/) — 2025-12-15: Ayman Al-Abdullah on winning the week on Sunday: a 30-minute session to book workouts, log wins, and recommit to 90-day goals before Monday.
- [Why Energy Management Beats Time Management](https://aymanalabdullah.com/why-energy-management-beats-time-management/) — 2025-12-05: Ayman Al-Abdullah on managing energy, not time: at AppSumo he cut meetings and matched work to peak hours, hitting $50M on 40-hour weeks.
- [The Marketing Stack Mistake Killing Startups](https://aymanalabdullah.com/the-marketing-stack-mistake-killing-startups/) — 2025-12-10: Ayman Al-Abdullah on the marketing stack mistake killing startups: buy speed at $1M, build systems at $10M. Most founders get the order backwards.
- [Founder vs CEO vs President vs COO](https://aymanalabdullah.com/founder-vs-ceo-vs-president-vs-coo/) — 2025-12-03: Founder, CEO, President, COO: what's the real difference? The former CEO of an $80M company breaks down what each title means and who actually does what.
- [Annual Plans Are Startup Suicide](https://aymanalabdullah.com/annual-plans-are-startup-suicide/) — 2025-12-12: Ayman Al-Abdullah on why SaaS annual plans can be a trap: a 10% discount on a 15% margin gives away most of your profit for cash you burn next year.
- [My Annual Ritual: Setting Up My Brand New MacBook Pro](https://aymanalabdullah.com/my-annual-ritual-setting-up-my-brand-new-macbook-pro/) — 2026-01-08: Ayman Al-Abdullah's annual ritual: a brand new MacBook Pro, no data transfers, a clean slate. If the setup makes him 1% faster, it pays for itself.
- [The Michael Dell Strategy](https://aymanalabdullah.com/the-michael-dell-strategy/) — 2026-02-09: Ayman Al-Abdullah on the Michael Dell strategy: a 16-year-old beat older newspaper sellers by using public records of recent home buyers, not grinding.
- [How We Beat Apple, Google, and Amazon on Revenue Per Employee](https://aymanalabdullah.com/how-we-beat-apple-google-and-amazon-on-revenue-per-employee/) — 2026-02-18: Ayman Al-Abdullah on how AppSumo beat Apple, Google, and Amazon on revenue per employee: every hire had to win or keep customers, or it was a not yet.
- [Pursue A+ Players](https://aymanalabdullah.com/pursue-a-players/) — 2026-02-19: Ayman Al-Abdullah on why top talent never applies to your job post. The best hires start as a conversation months earlier. Pursue A players, don't wait.
- [Why Your Best Salesperson Might Be Your Worst Sales Manager](https://aymanalabdullah.com/why-your-best-salesperson-might-be-your-worst-sales-manager/) — 2026-02-24: Ayman Al-Abdullah warns that promoting your best salesperson to manager often creates two problems: you lose your top closer and gain an untrained leader.
- [The Biggest Firing Mistake I've Made](https://aymanalabdullah.com/the-biggest-firing-mistake-ive-made/) — 2026-02-24: Ayman Al-Abdullah says the biggest firing mistake is waiting until the last day. Warn 6 to 8 weeks ahead, set checkpoints, and give people a real path out.
- [5 Questions to Figure Out What Kind of CEO You Are](https://aymanalabdullah.com/5-questions-to-figure-out-what-kind-of-ceo-you-are/) — 2026-03-05: Ayman Al-Abdullah's 5 questions help you define your CEO identity: do you start or improve, what is your top skill, and what is your personal end goal?
- [The Four Things Every CEO Actually Owes Their Team](https://aymanalabdullah.com/the-four-things-every-ceo-actually-owes-their-team/) — 2026-03-19: Ayman Al-Abdullah's CEO mandate is four words: Protect, Provide, Lead, Decide. Protecting a team means making hard calls carefully, not avoiding them.
- [Entrepreneurship Is Often a Trauma Response](https://aymanalabdullah.com/entrepreneurship-is-often-a-trauma-response/) — 2026-03-16: Many founders build from trauma around scarcity or instability. Ayman Al-Abdullah's one tool: time-block your genius hours and shut down completely.
- [AI Is Cutting Entire Job Categories, Not Just Bad Companies](https://aymanalabdullah.com/ai-is-cutting-entire-job-categories-not-just-bad-companies/) — 2026-04-01: Ayman Al-Abdullah argues AI is cutting entire job categories, not just weak companies. One A-player with AI now replaces 5 to 10 average employees.
- [The One Hill Doctrine: Why Working on Too Many Things Is Killing Your Business](https://aymanalabdullah.com/the-one-hill-doctrine-why-working-on-too-many-things-is-killing-your-business/) — 2026-04-01: Ayman Al-Abdullah's One Hill Doctrine: one must-have per quarter, fully staffed, nothing else gets priority until it ships. One project, one team.
- [Why Trust Matters More Than Performance When Building Your Team](https://aymanalabdullah.com/why-trust-matters-more-than-performance-when-building-your-team/) — 2026-04-16: Ayman Al-Abdullah maps four people archetypes: Star, Tune, Toxic, Salvage. A high performer with low trust is the costliest person on your team.
- [Architect Mode: The Three Eras of Leadership](https://aymanalabdullah.com/architect-mode-three-eras-of-leadership/) — 2026-04-23: Ayman Al-Abdullah maps three eras of modern leadership: Manager Mode, Founder Mode, and the emerging Architect Mode, where systems do the heavy lifting.
- [7 Lessons From Being CEO of an $80M/Year Company](https://aymanalabdullah.com/7-lessons-from-being-ceo-of-an-80m-year-company/) — 2026-05-18: Ayman Al-Abdullah draws 7 lessons from scaling AppSumo to $80M: define success, play offense when strong, and know your numbers cold.
- [Founder Mode is dead. Long live Founder Mode.](https://aymanalabdullah.com/founder-mode-is-dead/) — 2026-06-16: Ayman Al-Abdullah on why AI is making Founder Mode obsolete and the Architect Mode that replaces it: the CEO designs the system instead of being it.
- [Why Most CEOs Should Actually Be Paid More](https://aymanalabdullah.com/why-most-ceos-should-actually-be-paid-more/) — 2026-06-24: Ayman Al-Abdullah argues CEO pay reflects replaceability, not hours. A CEO who grows a firm from $100M to $1B creates $900M in value.
- [The CEO's Firing Playbook: How to Handle Letting People Go](https://aymanalabdullah.com/letting-people-go/) — 2026-06-26: "You're fired." Two of the hardest words any CEO will have to say. I've fired dozens of people running AppSumo from $3M to $80M. I've never regretted a…
- [3 Things I Notice in CEOs Who Scale Past $10M](https://aymanalabdullah.com/ceos-who-scale/) — 2026-07-10: There's a pattern I keep seeing in CEOs who successfully scale past $10M. It's not about working harder or being the smartest person in the room. It…
- [Every CEO's 4 Phases of Evolution](https://aymanalabdullah.com/ceo-four-phases/) — 2026-07-23: Every CEO goes through four distinct phases in their career. Think of it like a sports career. You start on the court, and you end in the owner's box.…

## Categories
- [General](https://aymanalabdullah.com/category/general/): The posts that do not belong to one topic. Family history, headshots, and the things I wanted to write but could not categorize. "A Journey of Sacrifice and Opportunity" goes back 40 years, to when a young man left a small village in Iraq in search of a better life. That story shaped everything that came after.
- [Leadership](https://aymanalabdullah.com/category/leadership/): Leadership lessons from scaling AppSumo, coaching CEOs, and making a lot of mistakes along the way. "Annual Plans Are Startup Suicide" reflects how I used to think annual plans were genius. I was wrong, and I explain why. "The Marketing Stack Mistake Killing Startups" comes from watching a founder spend a hundred thousand dollars on Salesforce at one million dollars in annual recurring revenue. That kind of mistake sticks with you.
- [Media](https://aymanalabdullah.com/category/media/): Podcasts, interviews, and media appearances where I talk about what I have learned building companies. "New Money Talks Podcast" covers my conversation with John Melizanis and Kyle Russell about scaling AppSumo from $3M to $84M in revenue over six years. That story never gets old to tell. "Live Workshops" came from a tough decision I made last year. My 1:1 coaching business had a 2+ year waiting list, and I needed a way to reach more people.
- [Productivity](https://aymanalabdullah.com/category/productivity/): How I run my days, set up my tools, and try to get the most out of my time. "My Annual Ritual: Setting Up My Brand New MacBook Pro" might seem extreme to some. Every year, I start fresh with a new MacBook Pro. I explain why the clean slate matters.
- [Team Building](https://aymanalabdullah.com/category/team-building/): Building teams, firing people, and the stuff nobody tells you about managing humans. "Why Keeping Wrong People Kills Teams" starts with a Netflix story from 2001 that redefined how I think about hiring. Sometimes the right move is the hardest one. "The $150,000 Lesson That Changed Everything" is about the time I paid Tony Robbins $150,000 for coaching. What I got out of it was worth writing about.
- [Best Posts](https://aymanalabdullah.com/category/best-posts/): Start here: the handful of essays that best capture who Ayman is and how he thinks about scaling a company from $1M to $100M.