170 characters. That's all it took.
Frank Greeff built and sold Realbase for $180 million. Zero outside funding raised. He's now building Kinso AI, has 12 million monthly content impressions, co-founded Founders Table -- an exclusive network for Australian founders doing $10M+ in revenue -- and lives in Curl Curl on the Northern Beaches.
He replied almost instantly: "Best 170 character pitch I've ever written. Lets do it!"
Then he gave me his personal phone numbe 
r.
The Context
Here's what I knew before writing a single word. Tom Nosk had been on Frank's podcast "Chew the Fat." Tom does Instagram coaching. I do LinkedIn. Parallel authority -- different platform, same game. So I already knew Frank's world included people like me. I just hadn't shown up in it yet.
Frank moves fast. He's direct. He respects brevity and confidence above everything. If you send him a three-paragraph message full of pleasantries, he'll skim the first line and close the tab. He wants the point, and he wants it now.
That shaped everything. Ultra-concise. No fluff. Confidence-forward.
We're both in Sydney, too. I didn't actually know that when I sent the DM -- I thought he was in Brisbane for some reason. But the fact we were both on the Northern Beaches side of Sydney turned this from a remote thing into sitting across from each other in his living room.
Here's something Brooke -- a buyer's agent in Sydney -- said when I walked through this DM on a teaching call. She said: "It just feels really easy. It almost begs you to say yes, the way it's written."
And then she said something that kind of blew my mind: "It's an energy that you're like, oh, I want to know this person. Actually, it's how I found you -- when you were on that podcast."
The cold DM created the podcast. The podcast created the inbound.
Full circle.
The DM
Toms pod was dope. Thought I'd connect. Also think I might potentially be a guest that would be valuable. My pitch in 170 characters -- No.1 lead gen expert in Australia and No.1 in the world on all social media, $3.5M/yr LinkedIn biz 100% organic, I can fly to you
The Result
Frank's reply came at 1:04 PM. Same minute I sent it.
Best 170 character pitch I've ever written. Lets do it!
I said "LFG!" He said "Yewww."
Then this:
Ive got a free spot on Monday 24th 9am or 11am. Filming happens at my home Curl Curl on the northern beaches.
I said "Keen. 11am is great for me."
The next day -- 4:10 AM -- Frank messaged me directly and offered to flick across a calendar invite.
A founder who sold a company for $180 million didn't say "have your PA schedule with mine." He reached out personally.
I drove to his house the following week. We filmed the podcast. And he came back for a second one.
After the Yes
After Frank said yes, I didn't just sit back and wait for Monday. I kept sending useful content.
I showed Frank the Barley podcast episode -- something directly relevant to his world.
He replied: "Epic!"
I also mentioned the Chris Do one -- still waiting for that episode to drop. Frank said "Epic, sounds great."
Most people stop the moment they get the yes. They got what they wanted, so they go quiet until the meeting. That's a mistake.
The gift doesn't stop at the commitment. If you keep being useful after someone says yes, you're not a cold outreach person anymore. You're someone they actually want to talk to.
That's how a one-off podcast booking turns into a second podcast. And then a relationship.
The Play-by-Play
"Toms pod was dope."
Four words. That's the opener.
"Tom" -- first name only. Not "Tom Nosk." Not "your recent guest Tom Nosk on the Chew the Fat podcast." Just "Tom." That's insider language. It signals I actually know who he is.
"Pod" -- not "podcast." Casual. Peer-to-peer. The same way you'd say it to a mate.
"Dope" -- Australian tribal language. In Frank's world -- startup founder, builds in public, heavy on Instagram and content -- this register is perfect. It's how his people talk. It tells Frank's brain: this person is from my world.
And the most important part? It's specific. I named the exact piece of content. Not "love your stuff." Not "great content, mate." A specific reference to a specific thing. That's how Frank knows I actually consumed it.
"My pitch in 170 characters"
This is the structural move that made the whole thing work.
The constraint IS the proof. Think about it. If you can compress your entire pitch into 170 characters, you understand your own value at a depth most people never reach. Compression requires mastery. The limitation itself demonstrates the skill.
And for someone like Frank? This is crack. He respects brevity. He respects someone who can get to the point faster than anyone else in the room. When Frank read "my pitch in 170 characters," his brain went: this person respects my time AND they're confident enough to distil everything into one sentence.
That's not just a pitch. That's a performance of competence.
The 170 characters themselves
Five proof points. One sentence.
- "No.1 lead gen expert in Australia" -- geographic authority.
- "No.1 in the world on all social media" -- global authority. Bold claim. But that's the point -- boldness IS the signal. Either you believe it or you don't.
- "$3.5M/yr LinkedIn biz" -- revenue proof. You don't claim revenue figures unless they're real. Too easy to verify.
- "100% organic" -- method proof. In a world full of paid ads, this stands out. It's also a values statement.
- "I can fly to you" -- costly signal. Physical commitment. I'm willing to get on a plane to come to you. That's skin in the game.
Each proof point does a different job. Geographic. Global. Revenue. Method. Commitment. Five trust deposits packed into one line. Zero fat.
"I can fly to you"
This is the one most people miss.
Offering to physically travel to someone removes ALL friction. Frank doesn't have to go anywhere, coordinate anything, or rearrange his schedule around me. I come to him.
Turned out I didn't even need to fly. We were both in Sydney. But the willingness to fly had already done its job. The signal landed even though the action wasn't needed.
The Template: The Compressed Pitch DM
Use this when the recipient moves fast and values directness. They respect brevity. They don't have time for your life story.
Do your research first. Read their content. Understand how they communicate. Look at their last 10 posts and figure out whether you're writing to someone who wants detail and data, or someone who wants you to get to the damn point.
Frank wanted the point. So I gave him 170 characters.
The variation: The constraint frame works for any recipient. You can use "my pitch in one sentence." Or "the TL;DR." Or "the 30-second version." The specific format doesn't matter. What matters is the compression. Because compression signals confidence.
If you can't say what you do in one sentence, you don't understand what you do.
And the person on the other end can feel that.
170 characters. A reply in under a minute. A personal phone number from a founder who sold for $180 million. A podcast at his house in Curl Curl.
None of it was luck. It was research, compression, and knowing exactly who I was talking to.
Confidence.
Next: Chapter 9 -- Nathan Barry