#20 - Sam Jacobs

Hey all,

A year ago, we sat down with Sam Jacobs, the founder of Pavilion. He’s one of the largest and most consistent B2B voices on LinkedIn — so I was curious to hear how the last year has gone.

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Over the last year, Sam Jacobs hit 100,000 LinkedIn followers, launched new media properties, and moved across the world with a newborn, all while scaling Pavilion past $20M.

But when we checked in for a follow-up, the vibe wasn’t that of a victory lap. Sam shared an honest perspective shift:

“It’s not that any channel is dead. It’s just all 50 yards further away than it used to be.”

Reach was harder to come by. Even with consistent posting and strong content, the same inputs weren’t getting the same outputs. And after a shadow ban glitch tanked his engagement for weeks, it became obvious: relying on one platform was too risky.

So Sam is mixing up his approach

When the market changes, you can double down on what works or start to experiment with new plays. He’s choosing the latter, building a hybrid growth engine that spans across LinkedIn, email, YouTube, and newsletter infrastructure. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Rethink the role of LinkedIn

Sam’s still posting daily, but he sees LinkedIn’s utility differently. The algorithm limits how many of your followers actually see your content — so he’s treating it more like a billboard than a community.

He’s showing up and creating good content, but ultimately, he’s redirecting people to a space he owns off of the platform.

Step 2: Start owning the audience

Instead of hoping followers eventually convert, Sam’s built an engine to pull them off-platform right away.

Every time someone likes or comments on a post, it kicks off a Clay automation. The system enriches that person’s data and drops them into an email sequence tailored to the topic they engaged with.

“If it’s a Pavilion-specific post, the nurture sequence pitches Pavilion. If it’s a general post, they get something else. You don’t need one-size-fits-all automation anymore.”

It’s an aggressive move, but Sam’s betting that the people engaging with his content are warm enough to welcome a deeper relationship. And even if some opt out, converting just a small percentage of a large audience has the potential to meaningfully move the needle.

Step 3: Build real infrastructure

Sam’s launching Topline by Pavilion, a media brand built for B2B operators. Think podcast, newsletter, and YouTube show with production teams, segment planning, and a strong point of view.

“We’re not VCs talking about the market from the outside,” Sam said. “We’re in it. And we want to build something that reflects that.”

Topline also serves a strategic purpose: it’s a scalable way to grow Pavilion’s reach while insulating against platform risk. YouTube, in particular, is a discovery engine, and unlike LinkedIn, it doesn’t limit your access to your own audience.

But what about personal brand?

Even though he’s shifting approaches, there’s one thing Sam’s still bullish on: personal brand.

“There’s this idea that if the CEO is too much of the brand, it hurts enterprise value. And maybe that’s true. But what if your personal brand is worth a billion dollars? Then who cares?”

Sam and his team analyzed Pavilion’s membership and found that 25% of their 10,000+ members had interacted with his content on LinkedIn. That level of reach and trust doesn’t come from company accounts.

“You’ve got to be present where your customers are. If they’re on LinkedIn, be on LinkedIn. If they’re at Dreamforce, go to Dreamforce. You don’t have to be everywhere — but you have to be somewhere.”

There’s a lot we didn’t get to in this summary, like:

• Why Sam sees brand as the most durable strategy in a high-CAC world
• How AI is shifting what productivity looks like
• What go-to-market leaders are really up against right now

Give the episode a listen for the full scoop.

Next Guest:
Peep Laja, Founder of Wynter