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"Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone."
"Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone."
In the corner of Victory Lap's River North headquarters hangs a framed poster that reads, "Life begins at the end of…
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Ryan Walker reposted thisHere’s some Friday optimism. First, the heavy part… Power structures across our society that have long profited by stripping agency from the people they’re meant to serve are showing cracks. It’s visible at the micro and macro levels. That’s good news, but as these systems buckle under their own weight, they’ll keep manufacturing division among us. The silver lining? Opportunities for real leadership are emerging as people (especially young people) reclaim their sovereignty. Fear and division are the old guard’s soup du jour. Remember: there are incredible, kind, principled people in every neighborhood. If you’re one of them, I’ll be cheering you on as you step into your power. ❤️
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Ryan Walker reposted thisRyan Walker reposted thisHappy 9th Birthday to Victory Lap A few reflections on this joyous occasion: 1. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Where did we get our enthusiasm from? Our alum and customers who've been the reason I get up in the morning. Thank you for trusting us 2. While I’m technically a "solo" founder, I’ve never been alone. Over the years, incredible leaders and friends have stepped in to help build, grow, and shape this company. Choose who you work with wisely as it makes all the difference. Kevin Bugielski Ryan Walker Lindsay (Weickert) McKay Keegan Chapman Dave Harkensee Ali Rojas Theodoros, Virginia Anthony Kimberly Griffiths James McGuinness Hailey MittelbergAzul CardahiRegis StoreyTammy VanceBrittany Graunke and so many more.. 3. The ups, downs, and everything in between have been balanced by my family. Today, that means three kids and a wife who’s not only a rockstar in her own career but the true backbone of our family. There’s no chance we’d be celebrating year nine or breaking every previous growth record this year without Meghan Bar So here’s to the people, the passion, and the purpose that make milestones like this possible. Onward to year 10.
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Ryan Walker posted thisDogmatism is one helluva drug. The habit of treating opinion like it’s the truth. Even when new evidence shows up. I get into trouble when I hold too tightly like that. Trusting your gut is an important skill. There’s also a line btw intuition and inflexible conviction. I’ve brushed off intuition a lot as an adult. As I get older, I see it as a spark. It points to a hypothesis that can be tested. With critical thinking, data, conversation. The hard pill usually isn’t the evidence. It’s the fear of being wrong. Mostly about opinions we tie to our identity. Staying flexible leads to understanding. Of others and of ourselves.
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Ryan Walker posted thisLife is a beautiful game where you’re both the main character and the final boss.
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Ryan Walker posted thisHere’s some Friday optimism. First, the heavy part… Power structures across our society that have long profited by stripping agency from the people they’re meant to serve are showing cracks. It’s visible at the micro and macro levels. That’s good news, but as these systems buckle under their own weight, they’ll keep manufacturing division among us. The silver lining? Opportunities for real leadership are emerging as people (especially young people) reclaim their sovereignty. Fear and division are the old guard’s soup du jour. Remember: there are incredible, kind, principled people in every neighborhood. If you’re one of them, I’ll be cheering you on as you step into your power. ❤️
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Ryan Walker reposted thisRyan Walker reposted thisYou're invited to the largest Agent Academy in Lindy history 🫵 Next Thursday we'll build 2 productivity agents every professional needs. Completely free. Most people will still be manually doing tasks in 2026 that AI could do today. Marvin Aziz and I have already taught thousands of people how to build AI agents, and it never gets old seeing their reaction when they realize it really is this easy. What you can expect: ✓ Your first AI agent working in 15 minutes ✓ Free Credits to keep building ✓ 90min that change how you work Want in? Comment "ACADEMY" + connect with me and my agent will send you an invite.
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Ryan Walker posted thisMetaphorical ass-kickings are prerequisites to fulfillment. Life tests and humbles. Sustained pressure exposes baseline character and forces a choice. Stay as you were or change for the better. If you can’t find gratitude when the deck is stacked against you, the good stretches won’t register as anything special. Stay in the fight.
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Ryan Walker reacted on thisRyan Walker reacted on thisYou ain’t seen your best days yet. The best is yet to come.
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Ryan Walker reacted on thisRyan Walker reacted on this$48,330... One deal... One creator... paid to post on Linkedin!!! And honestly... nobody knows we've been doing deals like this!! Last quarter I quietly launched an offering at Citrine that I never announced. Dedicated management for creators with over 100K - 1M followers. I didn't do a launch post... I didn't do outbound... Within weeks, we had more demand than we could handle 🫣 So I did the thing most founders DON'T do when something starts working... I slowed it down. Got strict on who we accept. Built a waitlist. Started saying "let's wait" to people I would have literally diedddd to say yes to 5 months ago Why?? Because Citrine is 80% referrals, 20% inbound... so that means people are TRUSTING me, and I can't provide a weak offer. So.... we focused on hiring, coaching, and operational efficiency!! And it is paying off!! 🤑 Dariia Gerasymova (the outbound queen)) cold-sourced this deal and built a real relationship with the brand!! Elena Mita strategized and presented the proposal that closed it. The team is working together and the deals are getting bigger!!! This creator has $62,000+ in brand partnership bookings since quietly joining us....And we're just getting started 💅 So if you have over 100K followers on LinkedIn and you want a team to manage, source, and close brand deals for LinkedIn, newsletter, and other socials... Apply! We're opening 10 spots in September ⭐ Citrinecreators.co
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Ryan Walker reacted on thisRyan Walker reacted on thisWednesday Works! Your interview process is an audition for your company. We spend a lot of time evaluating candidates. But candidates are evaluating us too. Think about what a great candidate experiences during a hiring process: - They apply and don't hear anything for days - They have to coordinate interviews through multiple emails - They repeat the same conversation with 3 different people - They're waiting for feedback with no idea what's happening - They don't know what the next step looks like And then we wonder why great candidates disappear. The interview process isn't just how you evaluate talent. It's how talent evaluates you. That's why I love what Teamtailor is trying to solve on the candidate experience side. A centralized recruiting process makes it easier to keep candidates informed, coordinate interviews, communicate with hiring teams, and keep the process moving. Because your employer brand isn't just your career page. It's every interaction a candidate has with your company. Your interview process is part of the pitch. Make it a good one. #Recruiting #TalentAcquisition #CandidateExperience #Hiring #EmployerBrand #HRTech #Teamtailor
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Ryan Walker reacted on thisRyan Walker reacted on thisThe first person I hired when I started my agency Elabs in 2008 was a designer. His name is Jimmy Nordlund, and I hired him because of something that had been bothering me for years. Before the agency, I worked the way most teams worked back then. A designer made something beautiful in Photoshop, handed it over, and I built it. And we were both quietly frustrated with each other. Me, because the design didn't account for the messy reality: the customer with 47 characters in their company name, the empty state, the error that had to go somewhere. Them, because my implementation was never quite pixel perfect. We were both right. And the problem wasn't that we needed a better handoff. The problem was the handoff. I've come to think of it as knowing your material. A graphic designer working in print understands how paper takes ink, because that's what the work is actually made of. For product designers, the material is code and the browser and the real running app. Not a rectangle in a design tool. Knowing your material means you design solutions that survive contact with reality. It also means you and the developer are standing in the same place, looking at the same thing. Jimmy worked like that in 2008. With Photoshop. Johannes Leuchovius and Robin Rundkvist came shortly after, and I got to work with all three of them for years at Elabs. Getting to work with them again at Teamtailor is one of the best parts of this job. Now alongside Joe Wilcox, Johan Ekhager and Sebastian von Bischopink, and the developers they pair with every cycle, who care about the experience just as much as the designers do. What that way of working really buys you is ownership. Two or three people who can see the whole thing they're making, all the way to real users. No "not my job" gaps in the middle. That's how small teams have an impact way out of proportion to their size, and it's why we don't split people into narrow roles. We don't have back-end and front-end developers, we just have developers. And we don't have a separate UX designer, because UX is precisely where design and development meet. It's shared responsibility. Neither craft can be done well without real empathy for the person on the other side of the screen. Here's what's new: for a long time, working this way was rare and hard-won. You needed a designer who happened to also be comfortable in a codebase. Now, with AI as a pair, any designer with taste can work directly in the real medium, and spend the time that frees up with users instead. So we're looking for two to three product designers to join this team in Stockholm, Gothenburg or Linköping. If you're a designer who wants to build, not just specify, I'd love to talk. Link in the comments 👇
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Ryan Walker reacted on thisRyan Walker reacted on thisOur latest Employee Spotlight goes to Julie Maurer, Customer Success Manager! Julie is true tactician in her role and has established deep trust with our customers. She's also a dual threat- fluent in both French and English which has been critical is supporting our customers in Quebec. Julie has always been a beacon of positivity in the office and a willing collaborator with all revenue teams. We asked Julie what she likes about Teamtailor Chicago and she said "What I love most about working at Teamtailor is the collaborative culture. Teams genuinely work together and everyone is eager to learn, grow and support each other, making it a place where you can develop both personally and professionally." Thank you for all you do, Julie! We appreciate you. 🫶 #employeespotlight #teamtailor
Experience & Education
Licenses & Certifications
Honors & Awards
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2012-2017 Top 10 Revenue Producer (All-Time)
Groupon, Inc.
Personally generated $30,000,000 in top line revenue and $10,000,000 in gross profit.
Annualized %-to-Target:
• 2016 → 329% (Net New Revenue)
• 2015 → 490% (Net New Revenue)
• 2014 → 457% (Net New Revenue)
• 2013 → 143% (Net New & Existing Revenue)
• 2012 → 122% (Net New & Existing Revenue) -
2016 #1 Revenue Producer - Heath, Beauty & Wellness Category
Groupon, Inc.
Ranked #1 in 2016 for total revenue attainment in the company's largest ($600M) category (Health, Beauty & Wellness).
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2016 Business Development Director of the Year
Groupon, Inc.
Voted by sales leadership as the Business Development Director of the year for 2016 as a part of the company's largest ($650M) category (Health, Beauty & Wellness).
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2016-2017 Business Development Sales Mentor
Groupon, Inc.
Volunteered as a founding member of the Business Development Sales Mentor Program.
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2014 President's Club Award
Groupon, Inc.
Annual award presented to the top 5% of sales professionals (400+ total) based on average %-to-target attainment across North America.
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2015 Q1 & Q2 "Deal of the Quarter"
Groupon, Inc.
Closed the company’s largest revenue-producing deals in Q1 & Q2 of 2015.
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2015-2017 Sales Team Lead
Groupon, Inc.
Elected by sales leaderships to serve as a Team Lead. Responsibilities included onboarding and mentoring new hires, as well as assisting in the management of day-to-day production.
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2014-2016 "Groupon's Finest" Award
Groupon, Inc.
Quarterly recognition for the top 7% of sales professionals (400+ total) determined by total percent to revenue goal and revenue generated. Recipient in consecutive quarters from inception and through it's existence (Q3 2014 through Q3 2015).
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You don't need a recruiting team. You need a recruiting method. Most SMB owners believe quality hiring requires a full HR department. It comes from watching large companies. But what makes them hire well is method and specialization, not headcount. The common alternative is worse. One HR generalist handling payroll, compliance, benefits, and recruitment at the same time. Everything gets attention. Nothing gets mastery. Recruitment becomes a side task. The model that works is different: 1. One specialized recruiter. 2. Trained with agency methodology. 3. Focused only on hiring. 4. Operating inside your company. This recruiter sources active and passive candidates, validates fit, and builds a pipeline that belongs to you. The result for the owner: 1. Less time in the process. 2. Better candidates at final stage. 3. A talent pipeline you own. Recruitment quality depends on who runs the process and how. That is accessible to any company willing to invest in method.
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Mike Anderson
A SKEPTICAL RECRUITER: "Mike, be honest. Will your Recruiter Billprint course really help me with BD?" ME: "Well, I just had my 9th agreement signed in the 6 weeks since launching Locked In Talent - and I use the exact templates, process, and approach I talk about in my own course." DATA (6 weeks): - 12 companies a week - 14 client meetings (HINT: not every meeting should lead to a fee) - 9 signed agreements (6 @ 25%, 3 @ 20%) 💯🔥 Bottom line - the BD training in the course is repeatable, scalable, and industry agnostic. Like hitting a fitness goal, you can have a membership, a trainer, and a program, but if you don't go to the gym and actually workout, then it's worthless. Q: Is it 100%? A: Absolutely not. It's sales and people. How could it be? Q: Well, what is 100%? A: If you don't do BD, you don't get clients. If you've seen enough of these posts and every time, you're like, "Freaking Mike! He won't shutup about his flippin course. Ughhhhh....but I do need to make a change..." ...then you know who you are. I'll even throw in a little one-day promo today since the Raiders are 1-0 and in first place! What's the promo? DM me. #TheRecruiterBillprint #BDGameStrong #AgreementsOnDeck #NowTimeToSnipeSomeCandidates
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