🌟 Note to all you gremlins that are taking the liberty to read this
If you’re the same kind of psychopath that I am, the first thing you Google when you hear about something horrific is who did it? Who are they? What’s their story? That’s because people care less about things and ideas, and more about the people behind them.
Welcome to Founders You’ve Never Heard Of - where we take a dive into learning about Founders that you probably have never heard of. We talk about what these individuals are building of course, but really, the goal is to get to know the human behind the magic. So stay tuned for the magic.
The Man
Jack Porter - Co-Founder of BirdDog
If I’ve learned anything from talking to founders, it’s that every one of them is incredibly high energy and positive. Jack is no different.
He’s got that calm energy that makes you think he’s chill… until you realize he’s waking up at 5:15 AM every day to take customer calls in Europe. Then you realize that “chill” might not be the best descriptor. I’m leaning more towards “dangerous” as cliche as that might be.
A few highlights from my convo 👇
Entrepreneur to the core: Co-Founder of BirdDog - a sales intelligence company helping reps find the right people to talk to, at the right time, and know what to say.
Location: Atlanta, GA
Fun Fact: Started flipping iPhones and surround sound systems in high school.
Bootstrapped: $1,500 from him and Noah, his co-founder, in July 2024. Every dollar since has come from revenue. Pretty fckn rad.
Philosophy: “As AI makes things noisier, human connection becomes more valuable.”
🚀 Jack’s Story - Blunt force sales
Right after graduating, he and his co-founder tried to build an investing platform - a kind of early-warning system for global investors to catch local news before Wall Street did.
They got 1,000 users.
They tried to charge $1.
Not one person paid.
Except two sales reps.
They told him, “We’re using this for prospect research.”
Then a sort of “lightbulb moment” when off for him and Noah and they realized ohhhhhhh shit, maybe there’s something here.
Within weeks, they pivoted from investing to sales intelligence. Jack started messaging 100 people a week on LinkedIn, DMing every single one. The first five customers came from those DMs. This is the kind of blunt-force sales that I see a lot of founders do in the early days.
Really reminds me of Hormozi’s framework of just “doing so much volume to where it’d be unreasonable for you not to succeed”
Today, BirdDog brings on 3–10 new customers a week, 100% inbound and word of mouth. No investors. No growth hacks. Just obsession, iteration, and a focus on real human conversations.
Long story short, they completely missed the mark with their first biz idea, but the feedback they got from that turned into what is now BirdDog.
🏆 The Golden Nugs
1️⃣ Patience beats speed.
“We’ve gone through so many micro-pivots in two years - product, positioning, pricing. You can’t fake your way through that with speed. You have to give the process time.”
He thinks the “move fast and break things” mantra is bullshit. Too many founders sprint toward scale before they even know who their customer is.
BirdDog grew slow on purpose. I guess “slow” is relative. Maybe slow compared to the mega venture scalers, but less than 2 years in and already closing enterprise deals is hardly slow IMO.
2️⃣ Freedom is the goal.
“My bosses in finance were making high six figures, but they couldn’t play golf on a Tuesday. That’s not success to me.”
If you’re playing a game and you don’t like what it looks like to “win”… you’re prob playing the wrong game. Jack was in finance before, and noticed that even the people who had “made it” were making a fuck ton of money, but were complete slaves to their role. Working 80+ hr weeks to stay on the treadmill.
When you ask: “what am I optimizing for?”, your path and your goals become a lot clearer.
3️⃣ Corporate jobs aren’t the enemy.
Cubicle life isn’t the worst thing in the world.
“You learn how buying committees actually work. Most young founders never see that.”
He’s the second founder I’ve talked to this week that gave this advice - get a job out of college. You learn how the game is played, and honestly you learn how shitty of a game it is to play. But the experience you get in a job can teach you the way or corporate America… and can really help you as a founder.
4️⃣ Great companies are built on rejection.
They failed with investors, flopped with users, and stumbled into the right market because they paid attention.
The market literally handed them their next idea. They just listened.
5️⃣ The human edge is the new moat.
“Everything gets noisier with AI. The human element becomes more valuable - not less.”
Outreach and cold calling/email processes aren’t dead - but they fucking SUCK to implement. It’s a lot of banging your head against the wall until someone bites. BirdDog’s entire GTM strategy keeps people at the center. Finding ways to connect with other founders, commenting on people’s posts on LI, and showing up in person is the new moat that BirdDog is building.
💬 Favorite Line
“You shouldn’t have to ask a grown man if you can play golf on a Tuesday. The freedom to do what you want, when you want to is the goal”
🎯 Closing Thought
I love stories like this because they remind you that most “overnight successes” start with rejection, broke founders, and a few DMs that worked.
Jack and Noah are proof that you can build something profitable, global, and meaningful - without venture money, without hype, and without breaking things.
Just building and listening to people. Crazy thought huh?
Thanks for tuning in as always. If you like these stories, be a peach and send it to a friend:)
Jordan Winston
Co-Founder @ Not Your Dad’s Media
Founder of this newsletter you’re reading
🌉 Background: was an AE for a while, hated that, built Pink’s which is an all encompassing home service company, built that, hired a CEO, now building Not Your Dad’s Media
👑 What’s Not Your Dad’s Media and why is the name so awesome? Ah I’m so glad you asked. Not Your Dad’s Media is a content and brand building machine. We build brands for founders that aren’t cringey and act as the arbiters of good views for your company, your voice, and your brand.
🙈 What you didn’t know about me:
I peel my bananas upside down, I apparently love to climb on tables, I love to put my thoughts in as many places on the internet as possible, and choosing a name for companies is my favorite thing ever
Till next time