Issue 022: How FinTech Startup Unit21 Generated Millions with a Printed Book, Non-Obvious Behaviors That Will Kill Your Startup, and More

We also talk about personal brands vs company brands, and how to handle upset and aggressive customers.

February 12, 2025 | #022 | Free Version

Hi friend and happy Wednesday!

Welcome to Startup Blitz, a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights you can use in your online business.

This week, we discuss –

📕 How Unit21 generated millions with a printed book

👥 Why you should focus on building personal brands inside your company

💀 Non-obvious behaviors that will kill your startup
😡 How to handle upset and aggressive customers

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How FinTech Startup Unit21 Generated Millions with a Printed Book

Unit21 is a no-code platform for detecting and managing fraud. As part of their marketing strategy, they decided to create the Fraud Fighters Manual. It’s a comprehensive guide that equips fraud fighters with knowledge and strategies to combat fraud.

This book positioned Unit21 as a thought leader in fraud prevention. It also contributed to millions in sales in just six months.

Unit21 partnered with content marketing agency Animalz to create the book. While using ebooks as lead magnets is common, few see the success Unit21 achieved.

So the Animalz team shared how they did it and how you can do the same:

Collaborate with Industry Experts to Boost Credibility & Reach

Unit21 interviewed experts from top FinTech companies and included their insights in the manual.

Fraud prevention is a niche field with limited publicity. Experts don’t get much opportunity to share their views. So they were eager to participate.

Featuring well-known fraud experts boosted the manual’s credibility and expanded its reach. Each contributor brought their own audience to whom they could later promote the finished book.

Make the Manual With Many Collaborators

Creating the manual took several months. It involved multiple writers, editors, and a project manager to ensure consistency and quality.

The process started with an outline of key topics provided by Unit21. Then Animalz interviewed fraud fighters for 30-60 minutes on each topic.

Plan Distribution Meticulously

Unit21 used the interviewed experts’ networks to build hype for the book’s release. They asked each contributor to share a LinkedIn post teasing their writing, nudging followers to the landing page.

The LinkedIn posts drew thousands of click-throughs, translating into valuable leads for Unit21.

Unit 21 also encouraged each contributor to publish their contribution on their company blogs with links to the book’s landing page. This grew the organic backlink profile for the Unit21 domain.

How Unit21 Used the Book as a Sales Tool

The popularity of the book positioned Unit21 as a thought leader in fraud prevention. Many were impressed that Unit21 had written a real book.

The sales team started using it to start conversations with prospects. They were even offering to hand-deliver printed copies. This personal touch worked. Four out of five prospects who received the book tried Unit21.

The demand for the book was so high that management had to limit how many copies the sales team could distribute.

Why You Should Focus on Building Personal Brands Inside Your Company

Companies should prioritize building personal brands within their teams.

It’s not just about encouraging employees to be visible on social media. It’s about making them “personal brands first.”

Here’s why:

People want to hear from real people rather than faceless brands. When a brand is linked to a person, it feels more relatable and trustworthy.

Look at TikTok. The top accounts aren’t cat videos. They’re real people posting personal contents.

Tesla spends $0 on advertising. Yet Elon Musk has over 50 million followers. His personal brand drives attention to Tesla.

People want to watch Gordon Ramsey, not just a cooking show.

If you run an agency, you’ll benefit particularly from this. Clients want to hire the best expert. They don’t want to hire a company name.

Most agencies would get 10x the results by promoting their personal brands rather than their company.

You can also think of it like pro sports. There’s the team brand and the athlete’s brand.

Teams build their athletes’ brands and profit from merchandise sales. In return, star athletes elevate the team’s brand.

The same goes for companies. When key people have strong personal brands, it boosts the overall brand.

Non-Obvious Behaviors That Will Kill Your Startup

PostHog is a product analytics suite that helps engineers analyze, test, observe, and deploy new features. They also have a great newsletter where they share their experience running the company.

Recently they shared some eye-opening insights about behaviours that can destroy startups. Here are a few key ones:

1. Waiting “One More Week” to Ship Something

“Just one more week” might seem harmless. But this attitude extrapolated out over months or years means way less momentum.

The sooner you get a feature into users’ hands, the sooner you learn if they’ll use and value it. Now you can use that extra week to improve your feature based on real user feedback.

Plus, quick updates delight users.

2. Not Trusting Teammates

Startups rely on speed to compete. But speed is impossible when team members don’t trust each other.

Micromanagement and second-guessing create bottlenecks. And bottlenecks kill momentum. Trusting your team is essential for fast decision-making and growth.

3. Giving Mostly Positive Feedback

Constantly giving positive feedback while avoiding constructive criticism is harmful. Constructive feedback, when given with good intent, drives improvement.

Without it, inertia sets in. And inertia is the enemy of growth.

4. Not Following Up with Customers

When someone gives you feedback about your product, respond with something useful – a pull request, an issue about how you’ll address their problem, or a thoughtful note asking them for more context.

Failing to do so will teach them not to share more feedback in future. If and when you do ship a fix, or the new feature they wanted, let them know.

5. Obsessing Over Competitors

It’s easy to get sucked into believing competitors have some grand insight you’re lacking. “Why are they doing that? They must know something we don’t!”

But in reality, companies make decisions for all sorts of reasons—rational or irrational—that you can’t see from the outside.

Don’t ignore competitors, but don’t let them dictate your strategy. Focus on what makes sense for your users.

These behaviors are easy to overlook. But they can quietly kill your startup’s momentum and growth.

PostHog shares even more insights in their full article. Check it out to learn more about avoiding these common pitfalls.

📖 Book of the Week: A Complaint Is a Gift by Janelle Barlow

This week, I want to highlight A Complaint Is a Gift: Recovering Customer Loyalty When Things Go Wrong by Janelle Barlow.

In this insightful book, consultant and executive coach Janelle Barlow shares a simple yet powerful three-step formula for handling customer complaints.

In one chapter, she shares how to handle upset and aggressive customers. Her practical advice has been super useful for me. I think you’ll find it valuable too!

“Acknowledge that the customer is upset but not necessarily focus on their words if they are trying to bait you.

“The question “When did you start treating your customers like dogs?” is designed to pull you into an argument. You could respond to them by saying, “I’m very sorry that we’ve offended you. We shouldn’t have done that.”

“If customers say, “If you cared even a tiny bit about your customers, you wouldn’t have such stupid policies,” they are baiting you to say, “But we do care about our customers.” Defending yourself will only give your customer more ammunition to continue doing Then why . . . ?” and the battle will rage onward.

“A better way to respond is to ask a question about their attack. You could say with curiosity, “I’m very sorry. What happened that makes you think we don’t care about you?” This question will surprise them. They expect a defence, not a question. If you do not defend yourself, it is more difficult for customers to continue their assault.

“It’s also critical to accept the angry person for who they are and what they are expressing at the moment. People tend to get stuck when they sense you don’t accept where they are. They want you to hear them. Your acknowledgement can help them change and soften their tone.

“Once they start to become more rational, you can help move your customers to a more positive emotion. With anger, this means if you do not acknowledge their anger or somehow respond to it, they will probably just get angrier.”

Thanks for reading. I hope you have found at least some of these tips helpful.

Until next week!

Sayed Bin Habib

Co-Founder, Startup Blitz

Follow me on LinkedIn / Website

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