In the Spotlight: A New Season!

Morning, friends - Logan here. We are back for season 9! I hope you had a wonderful end to 2025 and are ready to attack 2026.

This week kicks off Season 9, and instead of bringing on a guest, Evan Knowles and I sat down to reflect on everything that happened in 2025 - and share some big news about what's coming next.

If you've been following along, you know 2025 was a year of experimentation for me. I left Fooji at the start of the year to go full-time on Middle Tech and DevelopLex, tried to launch DevelopLou, tinkered with some consulting, and ultimately found my way to Valent, where I officially joined the team full-time at the end of November. Evan got married in October and spent the year taking Valent from launch to landing major enterprise customers.

This episode is an honest look at what it actually takes to build something from nothing. Evan put it bluntly: "It's not sexy at all." The uncertainty, the anxiety, the slow grind - it's a muscle you have to grow. For me, 2025 was the year I learned that scattered attention is the enemy of progress. Trying to do Middle Tech, DevelopLex, and launch a new brand in Louisville meant I didn't make the progress I wanted on any of them. That lesson - focus over optionality - is one I'm carrying into 2026.

We also get into the evolution of B2B sales in the AI era (spoiler: the fundamentals haven't changed as much as you'd think), the "Mission Critical" content series launching in February, and why Middle Tech will keep going even if it never becomes a big business.

What We Discussed:

The Unglamorous Truth About Startups - Evan and I get real about what building a company actually feels like - the anxiety, uncertainty, and why the stories of overnight AI success are outliers, not the norm.

Why I Joined Valent Full-Time - From angel investing to joining as a contractor to going all-in - the story of how I ended up on Evan's team and what I'm building there.

The Cost of Scattered Attention My biggest learning from 2025: trying to run Middle Tech, grow DevelopLex, and launch DevelopLou simultaneously meant none of them got the focus they deserved.

How AI Is (and Isn't) Changing B2B Sales Evan breaks down Valent's go-to-market approach - using AI for prospecting and personalization while keeping the fundamentals of grit, relationships, and cold outreach intact.

Mission Critical: A New Content Play As part of joining Valent, I'm spinning out the interviews I’ve done around energy into a new series, launching in February, It focuses on energy, defense, and advanced manufacturing - content I'm passionate about that also ties directly to the industries Valent serves.

Listen to the episode on Spotify

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts

We hope you enjoy this episode! If you have any thoughts after listening, feel free to shoot me a message at [email protected]

Have a great week, friends!

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