Yo, I'm Corey.

I'm a marketing-first entrepreneur. It's my mission to help people with exceptional products, services, and content get the attention they deserve. I’m stair-stepping my way to entrepreneurship, building a portfolio of bets to optimize for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. I build lean, profitable, "default alive" businesses like Conversion Factory, Swipe Files, and SwipeWell. I've worked with 25+ startups on marketing and growth.

Get cutting-edge, occasionally crazy marketing ideas in your inbox every week 🚀

What I'm Working On

→ Swipe Files
Community, courses, and content to master marketing. It's a resource to help you get out of your echo chamber, connect with like-minded people growing their businesses, and do honest marketing.

→ Conversion Factory
The only product marketing agency for growing SaaS teams accessible on a subscription.

→ Hey Marketers
After a conversation with a SaaS founder, I decided the world needed a job board just for marketers. Read about how I built it using no-code tools in only three weeks. I then sold it, and then reacquired it a year later!

→ SwipeWell
Build a swipe file you'll actually use with a dedicated Chrome extension.

→ Founding Marketing
A practical book for founders and first marketing hires on how to grow a SaaS startup with limited time, budget, and resources.

→ CopywritingPrompts.com
Practice copywriting with free daily exercises using a prompt generator.

→ Retext
A macOS text expander that works everywhere, every time.

→ CountryLyrics.ai
Let ChatGPT write you song lyrics about beer, tractors, dirt roads, or Trump.

→ Work User Manual
Writing a personal user manual is the best way to help people work with you. It's also the first app I've coded myself.

→ Safehold
Keep track of students who come into your teen centers. Built originally for my church and now expanding beyond it.

→ Merit Job Board
A job board to match people looking to work at companies who hire based on merit and skills, not background.

→ Truelist
An email validation and verification service to keep your email lists clean and deliverability high.

→ Ogilvy
A text editor for conversion copywriting with built-in features to edit and use AI to brainstorm variations.

→ Learn Copywriting
A gamified way to practice copywriting exercises, get feedback on your copywriting, and build a portfolio of examples.

→ Indie Hackers of San Diego
Monthly meetup to meet others interested in building profitable, independent online businesses.

→ Default Alive
On hiatus: A weekly podcast with myself and my co-host Chris Spagnuolo on bootstrapping our startups from default dead to default alive.

→ Default Alive Ventures
On hiatus: Looking for a new home for your micro SaaS? We're buying.

→ Poker Bankroll Tracker
On hiatus: Mobile app built in Adalo to keep track of your poker sessions.

→ PartnerSpace
On hiatus: Manage all your partnerships and integrations under one roof.

→ Everything Is Marketing
On hiatus: A podcast that explores marketing in all its facets and dimensions through conversations with honest marketers, entrepreneurs, and even people who don't consider themselves marketers at all.

→ Cultivate & Keep
On hiatus: My good friend and I talk about what it means to be a man as a Christian, give life updates, and interview outstanding Christians.
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+ more (unveiling publicly soon)

Want To Collaborate?

I’d love to work together to speak at your event, host a webinar, be a guest on your podcast, contribute to your blog, or collaborate in another meaningful way.

Here are 10 topics I could go on for days about:

  • The five factors of growth for profitable SaaS businesses
  • Why customer research is the cornerstone of all marketing and how to do it
  • Why positioning is the forgotten piece of marketing strategy and how to do it
  • How to build a swipe file and why it's the key to unlocking your creative potential and doing outstanding marketing
  • What makes great copywriting and how to do it even if you’re not a copywriter
  • Why SaaS companies should aim to do marketing like a media company
  • How marketers can use mental models to be more strategic and do their best work
  • How I'm stair-stepping my way as an entrepreneur through multiple projects and businesses
  • Why SaaS metrics lie to you (spoiler: signup growth, LTV, churn are not what you think they are)
  • The playbook to get #1 Product of the Day on Product Hunt

Send me a DM on Twitter or email me at haines.corey[@]gmail.com

Favorite Tools & services

Business

Personal

Angel Investing & Equity crowdfunding

What I invest in

If you're an early-stage SaaS company raising an angel round or equity crowdfunding campaign, I'd love to consider investing. SaaS is my bread and butter, especially if you're serving categories like marketing, no-code, creator economy, remote work, crypto, or finance.

I also invest in funding entities that distribute Crowd IPAs and Class CF Units, e.g. Calm Fund and Backstage Capital.

How I can help you

One of my "superpowers" is the ability to be hyper-objective in critical thinking and problem-solving while also being kind and gentle with communication. I consider myself to be a friendly investor in the sense that I'm a friend first, investor second.

A distinct way I can directly add value to you is with anything related to marketing, launching, go-to-market, pricing, and revenue growth. This is where I nerd out and can work with you hand-in-hand.

I also love connecting people: potential partners, employees, industry experts, or other investors. I'm especially well-connected in the world of B2B SaaS.

I can also leverage my audience on Twitter (18k+), newsletters (20k+), and speaking opportunities across conferences, podcasts, and workshops.

Here are more of my thoughts on startup funding for SaaS.

Please email me or DM me on Twitter if you're interested in having me invest.

Other funding options I recommend
TinySeed
Calm Company Fund
Indie VC
High Alpha Studio
Collab Capital
WeFunder
Republic

More about me

I was born and raised in San Diego, California. I have a pug named Remy. I've fed Rhinos, hiked a volcano, and met Casey Neistat.

Motivation

I like the framework that Daniel Pink's book Drive introduces, which focuses on intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic motivation:
1. Autonomy — ownership, freedom, flexibility
2. Mastery — learning, building, skill improvement, focus
3. Purpose — live out your values, give back, inspire, encourage

Goals

Instead of legacy or luxury, I try to pursue maximizing relationships, experiences, and impact. Time is the scarcest resource, and it's best spent with family and friends. I try to remember optimize for experiences rather than things, because memories are more valuable than possessions. And life is boring when you're selfish. Having a positive impact on anyone and everyone around you is ultimately what matters most.

Fun

In my spare time, I love to do jiu jitsu and muay thai. I also play basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and spikeball. I'll take any chance I can to snowboard. I'll play any board games, role playing games, or card games... especially poker. I love animals, going to the zoo, and getting out into nature. And speaking of experiences, nothing can beat traveling and exploring new cities, food, and culture.

Learning

Every now and again I'll take baby steps to learning painting, cooking, programming, and MMA. I'm also fascinated by real estate investing, AI, alternative education, and sustainable giving.

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”