Russell Mikowski

The question "has this person done it before" is less relevant than whether they hire well, think quickly, and work harder than everyone else — because that is what it takes to keep up with how AI is changing SaaS go-to-market. The compressed version of the argument is that early-stage operating experience now reads as the stronger credential, and past headcount as a faded signal.

A two-line post contrasts what impressed in a CRO interview two years ago — "I've managed teams as large as 400 people…" — with what Mikowski says impresses today: "I've managed teams as small as two people…" It ends with hashtags, leaving the reasoning to the longer playbook post.

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AI may reduce the load for SDRs, account executives, and marketing managers, but Mikowski says it makes the job heavier for VPs of sales and marketing, CROs, and CMOs, because keeping up with the pace of AI-driven go-to-market is itself new work rather than saved work. The advice attached to that claim is transactional: remember it when negotiating your next comp plan.

"AI MAY make workloads less for SDRs, AEs, and marketing managers.

• But its NOT making workloads less for VPs of sales and marketing, CROs, and CMOs.
• In fact, its making them much heavier.
• Execs — remember this when negotiating your next comp plan!"

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What breaks through, in the post, is a short visual summary of how someone works, leads, communicates, and collaborates — attached to the application alongside the resume. This is the one place in the posts here where a named product is recommended and the reader is given a specific action, which makes it the clearest example of how a commercial message appears in the writing: a personal story first, the product as the resolution.

A friend applied to more than 500 jobs in 30 days and got few interviews.

• After the friend attached a PRISM personality profile to applications, Mikowski reports responses from hiring managers, interviewers asking about communication style instead of resume bullets, and people seeing the candidate as a person rather than a template.
• The post points readers to a free five-minute mini-PRISM assessment at SureCoach.ai and describes an always-on AI coach.

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Mikowski explicitly refuses close fits and outside recruiters, and asks for a direct message with a resume. There is a tension worth noticing: the same person who says playbooks are dead still requires 15 years of experience, so the point is about mindset and pace rather than discarding a track record.

"Must-haves (please only reach out if you check ALL these boxes - close fits will not be considered)" heads a checkbox list for the first US hire at a well-funded Middle Eastern banking and finance platform company. The post prefers an east coast location and states, "I AM the recruiter on this".

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The posts are short, taking the form of an opinion or a structured requirements list. One phishing-awareness prompt breaks from the hiring and revenue-leadership lane, showing an interactive style without suggesting a sustained interest in cybersecurity.

"Let's play 'spot the signs of phishing' in this email. Ready.... go!" carries hashtags for cyber security, SaaS, outbound, recruiting and phishing, but offers no analysis of the email.

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It is a strong starting point because it brings the audience, problem, and product together in one post.

Russell describes a friend who applied to more than 500 jobs in 30 days and got few interviews.

• The post argues that resumes do not tell the whole story: hiring managers are flooded, and many applicants submit similar ChatGPT-generated resumes.
• The alternative was attaching a PRISM personality profile, a short visual summary of how someone works, leads, communicates, and collaborates.
• Russell says this produced responses from hiring managers, questions about communication style, and the sense that the candidate was a person, not a template.
• The post promotes SureCoach.ai and a free five-minute mini-PRISM assessment.

For brands planning a campaign

For an HR tech, assessment, coaching, or recruiting brand, this is a concrete job-seeker use case. A campaign aimed at job seekers could show how to stand out in a crowded application process, with the assessment built into a real job-search workflow.

Newcomers can start here for a clear, contrarian view of what sales leaders need to prove now.

Russell challenges investors, CEOs, and executive recruiters who ask sales leadership candidates about their playbook and their plan to repeat a previous $20m to $100m ARR exit.

• The post says nothing is the same as it was ten, five, or even two years ago, making the idea of hiring someone who has done this before less relevant today.
• Russell argues companies need sales leaders who are smart, hire well, and work harder than everyone else because AI is changing SaaS go-to-market.
• The post also says AI may reduce workloads for SDRs, AEs, and marketing managers, but make workloads heavier for VPs of sales and marketing, CROs, and CMOs.
• Executives should remember that when negotiating compensation.

For brands planning a campaign

This is useful for an AI or SaaS company that wants thought leadership challenging experience-based hiring. A campaign could ask what revenue leadership looks like when past playbooks age quickly and AI shifts work toward senior leaders.

It is a quick entry point for readers interested in lean teams and modern revenue leadership.

Russell contrasts two CRO interview lines. Two years ago, a candidate tried to impress by saying, “I’ve managed teams as large as 400 people…” Today, Russell suggests the stronger line is, “I’ve managed teams as small as two people…” The short post carries hashtags for CRO, SaaS, startups, AI, and recruiting.

For brands planning a campaign

This works as a compact hiring-market hook for a lean-team or AI-enabled revenue organization. Pair it with the longer AI and SaaS leadership post to give the audience both the punchline and the reasoning.

Russell is recruiting a Chief Revenue Officer to build North America from scratch.

• The role is the first US-based hire for a well-funded Middle Eastern banking and finance platform company.
• Must-haves include experience selling platform solutions to banks or credit unions, a first-hire mentality, comfort as the lone US operator, startup pace, and at least 15 years of sales leadership experience with a strong network for scaling go-to-market.
• The post says compensation is competitive C-level, autonomy is high, and the hiring company prefers someone on the east coast.
• Russell states, “I AM the recruiter on this,” and asks for direct messages with resumes.

For brands planning a campaign

This shows Russell working as a recruiter and hiring lead, not just a commentator. A fintech, banking SaaS, or employer-brand campaign could use it to illustrate the searches they run and the senior revenue roles they cover.

Open it for the style, and ask for the referenced email.

Russell posts a short invitation: “Let's play 'spot the signs of phishing' in this email.

• Ready.... go!”
• The post also carries hashtags for cyber security, SaaS, outbound, recruiting, and phishing.
• The email itself is not included; ask for it to assess the phishing signs and the exercise’s outcome.

For brands planning a campaign

This is a lightweight conversation starter for a cybersecurity awareness or recruiting campaign. Ask for the email before building a detailed campaign around it.

In one, a friend applies to more than 500 jobs in 30 days and barely gets interviews; Mikowski blames flooded hiring managers and near-identical ChatGPT-generated resumes.

• In another, they tell investors, CEOs, and executive recruiters to step out of the time capsule: asking sales leaders about the "playbook" behind two prior $20m-to-$100m ARR exits no longer predicts success, because nothing is the same as it was ten years, five years, or even two years ago.
• They also warn executives that AI is adding work for CROs and CMOs rather than removing it, and that this should be priced into comp negotiations.

For brands planning a campaign

A recruiting-tech, assessment, or sales-enablement brand gets a ready-made contrarian frame: conventional credentials and volume-based hiring no longer distinguish candidates. The argument serves the brand's interests rather than offering a neutral overview.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The post directs readers to a free five-minute mini assessment at SureCoach.ai and presents the product, including an always-on AI coach, as built "to help people like him." The placement leads with a personal story and presents the product as the resolution.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the clearest commercial integration in the posts and shows how HR-tech and assessment vendors can fit: a personal story that a product resolves, followed by a direct call to action. Brands in that category have a demonstrated route into their posts; brands outside it should not expect the same product-specific treatment.

Examples: Source 1

The position, consistent with the playbook post, is that early-stage operating experience is now the credential that matters — and past headcount is a faded signal.

A mirrored contrast statement: two nearly identical sentences with the number reversed, followed only by hashtags. The format works as a short post, not a long one.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for a brand selling to founders or early-stage GTM teams. The claim is a sharp opinion, not a data-backed finding, so a campaign should use it as a positioning hook rather than a cited result.

Examples: Source 1

The must-haves are narrow and explicit: selling platform solutions to banks or credit unions, comfort as the lone US operator reporting to a distant time zone, early-stage operating tolerance, and at least 15 years of sales leadership with a strong network to recruit and scale a team. The post says close fits will not be considered, asks candidates to send a resume by direct message, rules out outside recruiters, and lists an east coast location preference.

For brands planning a campaign

The strongest evidence in the posts for how their recruiting content reads: a concrete, seniority-specific mandate with buyer-relevant detail rather than generic advice.

• A company selling into banks, credit unions, or fintech GTM teams could feature as the hiring context.
• The post also shows the screening criteria a fractional-CRO or executive-search brief would be buying.

Examples: Source 1

The posts are short.

• The longest is the structured CRO job spec, with checkbox must-haves, hashtags, and a call to action; the shortest is a two-line contrast and a teaser inviting readers to spot phishing signs.
• The posts include no long-form essays, interviews, or video.

Short text posts led by audience identification, an opinion or instruction, and hashtags; recruiting posts replace opinion with a structured requirements list.

For brands planning a campaign

Build briefs for short, opinionated text posts. Nothing in the reviewed posts supports a campaign built around long-form video, a deep technical case study, or an explainer series.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5

The body contains no analysis of the email, and it is the only post outside the revenue-leadership and hiring lane.

Engagement teaser: a prompt with hashtags and no argument in the post body.

Treat this as a single thin data point, not a pillar. It shows occasional broader GTM and tech-awareness commentary, but cybersecurity is not a recurring subject in the posts.

For brands planning a campaign

A cybersecurity vendor should not treat one teaser as evidence of sustained interest or prior sponsorship in that space.

Examples: Source 1

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Both are recruiters sharing first-person LinkedIn commentary on how hiring and job search have changed, and both identify the flood of near-identical applications as the defining problem.

Smith's register is reflective and autobiographical, drawing on nearly three decades in corporate and RPO recruiting and ending with a move into HR at a regional behavioral-health provider.

• Personal history and local institutions carry the post.
• Mikowski writes shorter, sharper posts about revenue leadership and the executive search they run.
• Their candidate-side story ends with a product recommendation rather than a reflection.

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Both write for recruiting and talent-acquisition audiences and examine how the job market responds to external pressure.

Trieu builds long, structured arguments with numbered scenarios, lists of roles likely to gain or lose demand, and explicit pros and cons, then invites other practitioners to weigh in. Mikowski keeps posts to a paragraph or two, leads with an opinion or personal anecdote, and often closes with an instruction rather than an invitation to discuss.

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Both argue that candidates should assess employers as much as employers assess them, and both write practical, action-oriented posts that end with a clear next step for readers.

Edelman offers a reusable resource: categorized question banks, an instruction to save and repost, an infographic, and a prompt asking which question readers would try.

• The same post body appears twice, with only the closing hashtags changed, suggesting a template-and-repeat publishing habit.
• Mikowski rarely repeats a format; their candidate advice centers on one person's results and points to a tool.

Read original · Original 2

The reviewed work takes the form of structured essays: one asks whether the resume is becoming obsolete, then works through resumeless hiring with numbered pros and cons and a closing question for the audience; another maps how a prolonged U.S./Israel-Iran conflict would split hiring — which roles slow, which accelerate, and how candidate priorities and interview processes shift. The work suits a discussion document, webinar seed or debate prompt readers can answer, and buyers who value an even-handed case over a single-point opinion.

The writing keeps the author off the page.

• Unlike Russell's 500-applications story and live CRO search, it offers no documented search, client or product solved inside the narrative for a sponsor to point to.
• The analytical frame also yields two long pieces days apart in March 2026, giving buyers who want a steady short-post cadence fewer, heavier reads.
• A buyer seeking a commercial offer should ask what one is available.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The posts draw on personal history — sending a resume to a newspaper classified at AT&T Wireless in Dallas, and a 29-year recruiting career that has just moved in-house as HR manager at a regional community behavioral-health provider.

• They champion the same prepared, human, authentic approach that recruitment technology sells against.
• That fits an employer-brand, workforce-development or mission-driven hiring campaign, especially one aimed at a region or sector rather than SaaS buyers.

The recent direction leaves corporate hiring behind: the newest post is about a career change into a regional nonprofit, not SaaS or enterprise technology.

• The posts include no active client search, revenue-leadership commentary or product story.
• Cadence is thin too — the two posts are about three and a half months apart, in June and September 2026.
• Buyers seeking current B2B sales or CRO material should ask for examples; Russell's sales-leadership posts offer more of it.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The post offers a question bank grouped by whom the candidate is asking — recruiter, role, team, manager, company vision — in a saveable checklist, alongside a message that candidates should assess the employer too. That suits a campaign seeking immediate candidate action, such as a downloadable prep sheet or job-seeker challenge.

The two posts contain the same text, posted in December 2025 and April 2026.

• The register is coaching and motivational rather than operator-focused or analytical.
• Buyers seeking proof of hiring decisions or commercial outcomes should ask for it.
• Russell's material pairs a clear outcome — a candidate attaching a personality profile and getting hiring-manager responses — with a specific product, giving sponsors a working integration this alternative does not show.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2