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Introduction

Justin Rashidi is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at SeedX, a data-driven marketing and business consultancy approaching its tenth year. In this episode of Inspiring Futures, he talks about his unlikely path from biochemistry student to entrepreneur, the tutoring company that taught him everything, and how SeedX grew from freelancing for a dairy farm to working with Fortune 500 clients.

Key Themes

1. The Tutoring Company: An Accidental MBA Waitlisted for medical school, Justin moved to New York, worked as a busser and bartender, and started tutoring affluent families. That side gig became his real education—lead generation, CRM, sales pipelines, hiring. He sold the company, which he now regrets: "I wish I never sold that company... that was a great company." Everything he does at SeedX traces back to what he learned there.

2. Problem-Solving as Growth After selling, Justin and co-founder Jacqueline freelanced for anyone who'd pay—starting with a dairy farm. "It wasn't like I set out to start this company. You solve enough problems, and then I found myself here."

3. Quality of Revenue He prefers longer sales cycles with larger clients who think in five to ten year terms. "The quality of the revenue is better. These people want to work together for five years."

4. Lead Generation as Core Competency Unlike agencies that wait for the phone to ring, SeedX actively generates leads. "I love when referrals happen, but I don't rely on referrals... we're out here generating the next lead tomorrow."

5. Systems Thinking Justin calls himself a "systems kind of dude." If it costs $20,000 to acquire a customer who pays $50,000 a month, the math works. "I don't care if it costs $2,000 to get a meeting."

6. Hiring for Passion He looks for people who read about SEO on Saturdays because it makes them happy. "What you actually want to hire for is people who want to be there."

7. AI Realism He pushes back on AI as a silver bullet. "You're going to save 50%? That's unrealistic. You still need people."

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