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Every page and article on Ayman Al-Abdullah in one place, organized by topic.

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.

7 Lessons From Being CEO of an $80M/Year Company : Ayman Al-Abdullah draws 7 lessons from scaling AppSumo to $80M: define success, play offense when strong, and know your numbers cold.
Why Most $1M CEOs Fail at $10M : 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.
My 4-Question Test for Hiring : 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?
14-Step Guide to Scaling Your Business : Ayman took AppSumo from $3M to $84M bootstrapped. His 14-step framework covers customer retention, strategic hiring, and the founder-to-CEO shift.
My CEO Story : CEO is a stressful job. Nobody really teaches you how to do it. Here's my story.

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.

AI Is Cutting Entire Job Categories, Not Just Bad Companies : 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.
Entrepreneurship Is Often a Trauma Response : Many founders build from trauma around scarcity or instability. Ayman Al-Abdullah's one tool: time-block your genius hours and shut down completely.
The Biggest Firing Mistake I've Made : 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.
Why Your Best Salesperson Might Be Your Worst Sales Manager : 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.
Pursue A+ Players : 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.
How We Beat Apple, Google, and Amazon on Revenue Per Employee : 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.
The Michael Dell Strategy : 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.
A Journey of Sacrifice and Opportunity : 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.
Interesting People 2024 : 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.

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.

The CEO's Firing Playbook: How to Handle Letting People Go : "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…
Why Most CEOs Should Actually Be Paid More : Ayman Al-Abdullah argues CEO pay reflects replaceability, not hours. A CEO who grows a firm from $100M to $1B creates $900M in value.
Founder Mode is dead. Long live Founder Mode. : 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.
7 Lessons From Being CEO of an $80M/Year Company : Ayman Al-Abdullah draws 7 lessons from scaling AppSumo to $80M: define success, play offense when strong, and know your numbers cold.
Architect Mode: The Three Eras of Leadership : Ayman Al-Abdullah maps three eras of modern leadership: Manager Mode, Founder Mode, and the emerging Architect Mode, where systems do the heavy lifting.
Why Trust Matters More Than Performance When Building Your Team : Ayman Al-Abdullah maps four people archetypes: Star, Tune, Toxic, Salvage. A high performer with low trust is the costliest person on your team.
The Four Things Every CEO Actually Owes Their Team : Ayman Al-Abdullah's CEO mandate is four words: Protect, Provide, Lead, Decide. Protecting a team means making hard calls carefully, not avoiding them.
5 Questions to Figure Out What Kind of CEO You Are : 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 Biggest Firing Mistake I've Made : 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.
Annual Plans Are Startup Suicide : 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.
The Marketing Stack Mistake Killing Startups : 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 : 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.
Why Most $1M CEOs Fail at $10M : 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.
Stop Being Your Startup's Superman : 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.
Amplify What Works : 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.
AI and the CEO: 5 Tasks That Survived : 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.
7 Green Flags of a $100M CEO : 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.
How to Make Yourself Irreplaceable to a Founder : Working for a founder means different standards. Ayman outlines three rules: bring solutions, outwork their expectations, and move fast.
14-Step Guide to Scaling Your Business : Ayman took AppSumo from $3M to $84M bootstrapped. His 14-step framework covers customer retention, strategic hiring, and the founder-to-CEO shift.
My CEO Story : CEO is a stressful job. Nobody really teaches you how to do it. Here's my story.

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.

New Money Talks Podcast : Ayman joined New Money Talks to discuss scaling AppSumo from $3M to $84M, the top scaling mistake, and why automating beats over-hiring.
Live Workshops : 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 Guesting on Kopywriting Kourse Podcast : Ayman joined Neville Medhora to share his framework for $100M revenue, why core value proposition beats chasing trends, and how to approach AI.
The Futur Podcast: The Key to Big Profits : Ayman Al-Abdullah joined Chris Do on The Futur Podcast to discuss how serving specific customers, not everyone, drove AppSumo's revenue growth.

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.

The One Hill Doctrine: Why Working on Too Many Things Is Killing Your Business : 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.
My Annual Ritual: Setting Up My Brand New MacBook Pro : 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.
Win Sunday, Win the Week : 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 : 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.

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.

Why Keeping Wrong People Kills Teams : 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.
The $150,000 Lesson That Changed Everything : 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.
6 Things I Should Have Done Sooner as a CEO : 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.
My 4-Question Test for Hiring : 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?
The Most Critical Hire That Shaped AppSumo : Ilona applied for email copywriter at AppSumo and became COO. Ayman Al-Abdullah explains what made this hire possible and why recognizing talent matters.
The Permissionless Approach : 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 Ultimate Guide to Hiring an Executive Assistant : 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.