Date: 2026-09-18, 8:58 AM EDT Granola: 46aa16da-bc8b-4c50-b904-c5b84938213c
Attendees
- Michael Houck (Rye Valley)
- Ben (team contractor, ~2.5 years, originally podcast manager)
Summary
Ben has accepted a full-time offer at qsbsrollover.com as Entrepreneur in Residence, starting October 17-19. He will help Series A/B founders who sold secondary build new ventures using QSBS rollover strategy. He and Michael agreed on a transition plan: Ben stays in Slack for occasional non-urgent tasks post-October 19, all recurring workday tasks hand off to others. One month of overlap to manage handover.
Key account at stake: Augment. Michael is in active expansion talks (Jolt for Noel + potentially 1-2 more Augment team members); if the contract grows, Blake takes full account management. Ben will continue Clipwing content review on an ongoing go-forward basis (low time commitment, he enjoys it, and Blake lacks the editing eye Ben has developed) until a Jolt-specific AM is hired.
Business context shared: Jolt has 5-6 new prospective clients this week using Ben as a case study; some Megaphone churn noted; Hockey Stick Builds also getting early interest. Roughly $30K spent on AI tokens over the last 6-7 weeks building out sites (largely non-recurring). Priorities for next 2 months: get Hockey Stick and Lore fully live. 2027 target: launch approximately one new agency per month.
Decisions
- Ben departs recurring workday roles on October 19. Stays in Slack for occasional non-urgent work.
- Augment account management transitions to Blake if/when contract expands (Jolt for Noel + others).
- Ben retains Clipwing content review on a go-forward basis until a Jolt-specific AM is hired. Blake does NOT take this over - he lacks the editing eye required.
- Jolt will hire a dedicated AM capable of reviewing a wide range of video content; role likely peers with or reports to Blake.
Action Items
- Michael: Send Augment proposal and next steps today (Jolt expansion for Noel + team).
- Ben: Share handover notes and transition recommendations by next week, covering all tasks needing new owners with suggested paths (Blake, Michael, or new hire).
- Michael: Think through who handles content-side of Augment/Clipwing long-term.
Notable Excerpts
“I need to fix lead volume on Megaphone side, but that’s a separate conversation.” (Michael)
“I probably spent like $30,000 on AI tokens [in 6-7 weeks]. A lot of those expenses won’t be recurring, which is nice.” (Michael)
“Once Hockey Stick and Lore are fully live… we can copy paste that now across a few different verticals… try to stand up maybe one agency a month in 2027.” (Michael)
“Blake not ideal for content side: lacks the editing eye Ben has developed.” (Michael, paraphrased from notes)
“If the best path forward is for me to still just handle that piece [Clipwing review], because it’s one less thing for you to have to think about, that’s something I could do on the go forward.” (Ben)
Full transcript available in Granola.