Founder @ Hivemind: events, marketing & academy for the games industry.
Cyprus
Joined April 2023
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I started my business 2.5 years ago today. Since then, I’ve started 4 businesses.
Hivemind Marketing - Posted 2700+ for founders
Hivemind Academy - Consulting at 90% margins.
Hivemind World - €130,000 in 9 months.
Hivemind News - The media arm (podcasts, etc)
All to serve one problem: Growing your business with less time.
Ultimate goal: Buy businesses in games and scale them.
My 2026 goal was €1,000,000 in lifetime revenue.
Today we just crossed €737,000.
I’m going to be sharing a lot more of what’s happening behind the scenes over the next 30 days.
Expect:
> Building + growing a 7-figure business in the games industry.
> Mistakes I’m still making while building Hivemind publicly.
> What actually makes founder-led LinkedIn print $$$.
> Turning your expertise into content fast.
> How we improve our outbound system.
> Lessons from running IRL events every month lol
> Working hard while working with family (kids soon 🤞)
> How I plan to post on every platform and not go crazy.
I am committing to post every day for 30 days.
If that tickles your fancy, drop me a follow @phokou here. Also, I will accept every LinkedIn connection in the next 24 hours.
PS: Simply sharing what is working for me today. Comment what you want me to write more about :)
Inspired by @Jayyanginspires, thank you for the push!
I made £100,000+ gambling, 2017-2022.
In 2022, I became a recruiter £20,000/year.
Yep you read that right.
From 2017 to 2022, gambling became almost an enterprise for me, with long hours and good cash (search "bonus abusing" if you want the rabbit hole).
I was told to drop out of university to focus on it, but my heart wasn't in it, and I'd stopped learning and was very unsocial.
So I joined a start-up recruitment firm with trust in the law of large numbers. Do enough of what works, all will work out.
Then I moved to a gaming recruitment team, where I learnt podcasting and business development, earned 3 promotions and became top biller.
I handed in my notice in October 2023 after I'd stopped learning again and decided to move home to Cyprus.
I completed an intense Personal Trainer Qualification and planned to open a gym lol, but instead stayed on as a business-development consultant using my personal brand on LinkedIn.
In April 2024, I went solo and created Hivemind to help others do business development here, and I've been learning ever since.
2.5 Years later, that attitude led to:
1. Hivemind Marketing posted over 2800 times for CEOs
2. Hivemind Academy does consulting at 90% margins.
3. Hivemind World made €140,000+ in 9 months.
and ofc meeting my now fiancé in Cyprus.
Learning > Earning allowed me to build my dream life
But with 12 employees, I am laser-focused on optimising what we have now :)
Really excited about it, actually!
Things I am focusing on (again)
- Posting 5x a week on LinkedIn (Sunday Writing)
- 100 connections to ideal clients a week
- Starting 10 conversations every day by DM.
- Giving the team the training they need
no one will promote your business for you
no one will train your team for you.
If you feel like chasing that new shiny thing.
Instead, focus on doing what works, just MORE!
For my biz that is LinkedIn content + outbound.
Hope you hit all your goals this year 👊
Harry Phokou retweeted
@phokou has 22,000 followers on LinkedIn and 50 on X.
Which is strange, because his X profile does everything right:
- Banner shows him at a big event, which signals authority and community before you read a word
- Bio says exactly who he helps
- He's utilizing the location field and the link field
- Highlights filled out, which almost nobody bothers with
For someone who specializes in LinkedIn, it's impressive.
Then you read the pinned/intro post:
- Started the business 2.5 years ago
- Four businesses since
- Crossed £730K in lifetime revenue
- Here's what I'm sharing over the next 30 days
Very strong post which got 18.4K views.
And at the bottom: "I will accept every LinkedIn connection in the next 24 hours."
That line tells me that it's more LinkedIn-coded than optimized for X.
But 18.4K views and 50 followers in a few weeks is actually a GOOD sign.
People are interested, they want to see what he's made of and whether he follows through.
The problem he has isn't authority, he has plenty of that.
People just need to know more about him.
X runs on reach, trends, controversy, and storytelling, so that's what he should give them:
- What he thinks about the gaming industry
- Why he chose the gaming industry in the first place
- What the objections are in that space as a writer
- The specifics of what he actually does
And he doesn't need to write any of it from scratch.
His intro post alone could be chopped into ten pieces.
The age timeline is one post.
Each of the four businesses is its own post.
His outbound system could be ten posts on its own.
Or he skips that and goes straight to his LinkedIn archive. Just drop it into Claude, ask which ones would adapt best to X, make minor edits, and post them.
He has years of content he can leverage on 1 platform that's already worked, he just needs to redistribute that full cup onto X.
His LinkedIn is strong btw.
Profile, content, 22K followers, nothing to fix over there.
He has years of experience on LI but the skill just hasn't crossed platforms yet.
My advice to get him to 1,000 followers (and build a native X audience) in 90 days:
1. Post more, 3x a day.
2. Rewrite the pinned post for X. Same facts, but lead with the story instead of the revenue.
3. Post the origin story. Nobody over here knows him yet.
4. Assume nobody knows anyone. Every name needs a clause explaining who they are.
5. One idea per post, unless it's the pinned post or a highlight.
6. Remix the LinkedIn archive into 10 different posts.
So he's got the profile down.
He just has to keep showing up and tell people who he is.
10 months ago today, I started hosting events for leads. 31 unique sponsors now. If you're asking, "Should I host events?" Here are the positives:
• 2,200+ leaders hosted at our events
• 31 unique sponsors
• €140,000+ revenue, with no tickets sold
• FastSpring sponsored our first event
• They chose to sponsor us 5 times in year 1
• 4,100 newsletter readers, 70% decision-makers
• The team feels part of something bigger!!
• Set up to own our offline distribution for clients.
Here's the hardship:
• The stress has been real at times ngl
• I haven't had a holiday since starting this.
• I gained 10 kilos, then recently lost them
The lesson? The only reason this works is that we are serving the same avatar and the same problem. Helping service providers in gaming and tech sign their dream clients.
I have spoken to people trying to build new business units, but the issue is split focus. I could definitely benefit from focusing on 1 thing at a time, but I'm betting that solving the problem of signing clients in a 360 way (online and offline) is what will make us sustainable long-term.
If that sounds worth the effort, it will be the most fulfilling thing you do <3
I just signed a company valued at $100M+ for CEO content.
This was after 9 follow-ups on LinkedIn before a call.
They have 100+ employees and are CRUSHING it in the gaming space.
They already had great reach, so I pitched consulting to help them get the most out of their team at Gamescom last month.
Despite having 100+ employees, the CEO told me, "We don't have the in-house skill to grind this right now".
So this is what we are going to do over the next 90 days.
(context we posted 2,700 for founders in the last 2 years)
1) Stop wasting all the reach by fixing positioning.
They got great reach! 100+ likes on multiple posts! But the content had no call-to-action and the profile had no obvious next step. We'll convert their best blogs into resources people would happily pay for, and offer them for free in exchange for an email. That way, we can capture lurkers, not just likes, profile views, and comments. Look at my profile for an example. (email course + clear positioning)
2) Start telling the founder + company story.
Huge opportunity to tell the founder story AND their client stories, which are incredible for building trust with other founders who share similar journeys. A big chunk of the content right now "could" be written by someone else. We will add 2 posts a week which focus on content that builds trust and authority. This will compound all their outbound efforts. (they correctly message every qualified lead that engages with their content!)
3) Start sending 100 connections/week to Tier 1 clients.
They have so many huge wins that are easy layups! Sending 100 connections to their ideal clients. 30% accept rate, kind intro + pitch averages my business 10+ meetings a month. (That is only if you post good content.)
Now their marketing team does not have to split focus. Nice!
Getting your CEO to tell their story on LinkedIn literally compounds EVERY other activity you do.
You no longer rely on referrals.
Conversion rates go up everywhere.
Reply rates go up across the team.
You finally get inbound leads!
You may have the will to post on LinkedIn.
But without a kickstart or someone owning it end-to-end?
Chances are you will stick to posting about that conference..
TELL YOUR STORY. NO ONE WILL DO IT FOR YOU.
If you want to read exactly what I did to get clients for the last 2 years on LinkedIn, see here: grow.hivemind.world
Just hit 14,000 trophies on Clash Royale after visiting Supercell’s office last year 🎉
Also just deleted the app and said goodbye to my clan as I have nothing to strive for. 💀
Took 50 weeks.
Bathroom breaks are MUCH shorter.
My fiancé was very happy with this fact.
Anyone else do this with games?
Just me?
What is the easiest way to take my LinkedIn first connections and then follow them on Twitter? 11000+ connections
Already at 2000 longform views on YouTube now that I clearly seperated my business and gaming content. Feels so good!
Now eveything split into
The Gaming Playbook - 80 episodes
The Business Playbook - 2 episodes
Thank you for all the love on the first two episodes with @Laraacostar and @MichLieben
Cooking so much cool shit right now.
Both online and offline.
The next 90 days will be crazy!
Do cool shit and talk about it, make money. Then do cooler shit and talk about that. Rinse and repeat. That explains how I'm building my dream life over the last 3 years in a nutshell.
Ty for the support!
This is @LaraAcostar
> Lara ran a LinkedIn academy, which I joined in Oct 2023
> Lara was the reason I started my agency.
> Lara has made over $3,000,000 from LinkedIn.
> Lara has 359,467 LinkedIn followers.
> Lara has coached 500+ people now on content.
> Lara built multiple 7-figure businesses from LinkedIn
> Lara grew her app, Kleo, to 60k/month in 60 days (no ads)
> Lara recently had 5,000 people watch her launch it live
> Lara made it to Forbes 30 Under 30
I recorded this the day before her viral Kleo Mastermind in London which brought over 100 entrepreneurs together.
Lara is guest #2 for The Business Playbook.🥳
Lara is great.
Be like Lara.
Episode 2 is live. Comment "EPISODE" and I will send you the podcast.
Something's coming..
October 28-30th. Cyprus. Save the date.
What do you think @JakezWard, @LaraAcostar and I are planning?
I have a new sister now that Zhanna Tushkina married my brother Theo Phokou.
I now officially have a new Phokou on team Hivemind as they both work in the business.
This was a weekend full of love. 10/10
Turns out we look so alike that my old housemate thought I got married.
Life is good.
In October 2023, I paid Lara £899.
It kickstarted my marketing journey and ultimately gave me confidence to start my business. Now my agency is 13 full-time, 100s of clients served, which is crazy to think about how time flies!
Here’s the timeline:
18: Moved from Cyprus to the UK to study.
19: Got lonely and dedicated myself to Tesco.
20: Discovered matched betting. Went all in.
21: Saved £50,000 and graduated university.
22: Tried my first business and burnt £15,000.
23: Worked in healthcare recruitment, >2hrs drive each way.
24: Discovered gaming recruitment and loved sales.
25: Became a top biller and moved home to Cyprus.
26: Started posting on LinkedIn. Month 3: $10K+.
27: Launched Hivemind World. Hosted 2000+ leaders.
28: Got engaged to my dream girl.
My 2026 goal was €1,000,000 in lifetime revenue.
Today we just crossed €757,000.
None of this would be possible without my family, who supported me from afar and are now part of the business with me <3
Today, I focus on two things:
1️⃣ Hivemind Marketing - Agency
Helping gaming founders and B2B service providers grow through LinkedIn, content, and outbound. Posted over 2700 times for founders now.
2️⃣ Hivemind World - Gaming B2B Events
Building a stronger gaming industry through curated events and interviewing the best of the industry. 8 events done this year alone.
I’m also committed to providing free education on business growth through my LinkedIn and podcast.
Hence why my audience is not just gaming..
Sooo I’m starting a new podcast next week on business. 👀
Recorded the first 4 episodes; comment below who you think I should interview next :)
I’m incredibly grateful.
If any of this resonates, welcome! Let's connect 🤝
P.S Sneak peek of upcoming episode with @Laraacostar, multi 7-figure in online sales through her personal brand.
I dedicated the last 2.5 years to this after posting 2,600 times for founders who otherwise wouldn't have posted. It is crazy how little competition there is when it comes to people putting their stories online. Embrace the Cringe and just ship!!
This is why my motto is: Make Money, Make Babies! I probably go another few years before I start trying for kids so anytime I don't spend now getting after it is time where I will not get that energy back. Why wait?
10 employees+ is my definition.
What's yours?
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@jakezward, @Laraacostar It's been a long time coming but these two were huge inspirations to me on how they just locked in to content and started cross-posting on all the socials. If you're new to me, definitely add them to your feed
Posted my first article on LinkedIn article targeting “Conference Marketing in 2026” and in 24 hours it's ranking on page one of Google.
LinkedIn is crazy good for authority right now.
Article pinned on my LinkedIn if you want to read it or just comment "conference" and I will send it to you.
all thanks to @jakezward for the title tip :)
ALT Jake Ward texting Harry Phokou about how the LinkedIn article is shown on the first page of Google