Alex Boyd, co-founder of LinkedIn analytics tool Aware, shares hard-won insights from running both service-based businesses and software products. Having closed millions in revenue through LinkedIn while building and exiting an agency, Boyd offers a refreshingly pragmatic take on the platform's role in B2B growth—and why complaining about LinkedIn's evolution won't pay your mortgage.
Key takeaways
• LinkedIn isn't mandatory, but it's effective for the right audience: If you're selling to professionals behind desks—marketers, HR, B2B decision makers—LinkedIn remains valuable. Plant managers and field workers? Maybe not your best bet.
• Content quality trumps delivery method: Whether you use an in-house team or agency matters less than having something genuinely interesting to say. The key is developing a strategic narrative using frameworks like the Challenger Sale approach.
• Manage expectations with reluctant participants: You can't turn a "3 out of 10" enthusiasm level into an "8." Focus on moving them to a 4.2 and adjust your expectations accordingly. Fighting this reality wastes energy and resources.
• Software relationships are healthier than service relationships: The constant cortisol spikes from cranky agency clients don't exist in SaaS. When software doesn't do something, it either does or doesn't—there's no personal judgment about effort levels.
• Stop fighting the algorithm, start curating your experience: LinkedIn has evolved beyond a resume site because that's what drives engagement and revenue. Instead of complaining, unfollow accounts you don't like and carve out your own corner of the platform.
Notable quotes
"Unless you are in a position of influence at LinkedIn or Microsoft, you're not influencing what LinkedIn is becoming as a product. There's no option where complaining about what it is or is becoming is helpful to your revenue goals."
"The main shift, regardless of how you handle it, is it's not about the company's page, it's about the people who work at the company and their interesting points of view."
"Most sales people are not going to participate in this. Do they need to? No is my position. But some will step up and say, this works for me, I want to do it more. Those are your social stars."
"The worst thing about running an agency is the cortisol spike of a client getting cranky. With software customers, the spike is much lower because no single customer relationship is make or break."
Summary
Boyd's perspective cuts through typical LinkedIn marketing noise with operational realities. His experience building Aware stemmed directly from gaps he encountered while using LinkedIn to drive millions in agency revenue—a classic "build what you need" origin story. The conversation reveals how successful LinkedIn strategies require accepting the platform as it is, not as we wish it were, while focusing on substance over tactics.
The discussion also explores the psychological toll of service-based businesses versus software products. Boyd's shift from agency work to SaaS wasn't just about scalability—it was about emotional sustainability and healthier client relationships.
Listen to the full episode above.