LinkedIn took away my blue tick

Key takeaways

• Platform risk is real. Algorithm changes took people from 10,000 views a post to hundreds doing identical work. Build the audience, but never let a rented platform be your only channel.

• The routine: build the target list, send bare connection requests, follow up with something useful, then start a real conversation weeks later.

• Beat AI slop by feeding the model your actual life. David voice-recorded his story, jobs, businesses, and lessons into a context file he updates yearly. The drafts reference things unique to him, then he adds a diary-style take on what he’s seeing in market.

• Attribution is invisible. A booked call came because a chief executive who never liked a post forwarded David’s profile internally.

• Consistency compounds like the gym. A kilo of muscle takes a year. Most people quit LinkedIn after two weeks of three likes.

• Vulnerability travels. Regan’s posts on imposter syndrome and mistakes get quiet messages from people who never press like.

When you’re building your profile on someone else’s platform, you have got zero control over that.

David Fastuca, co-founder and CEO, Ricavi

Every leader knows they should be doing it. It’s one of those things that’s really hard to measure and to know if it’s going to return, and when.

David Fastuca, co-founder and CEO, Ricavi

What actually happened with the blue tick?

LinkedIn removed it and, when asked, said David Fastuca’s post formatting was clickbait. Specifically, a line break after the first sentence to prompt the “see more” click. David’s response was that a paragraph would have prompted the same click. LinkedIn’s response was that he could be welcomed back another time. He shrugged. It was a nice-to-have. The real point is what it demonstrates. Reach on a platform you don’t own is a gift the platform can withdraw without explanation, and it does, regularly, to people doing everything right.

What’s the routine that still works?

Manual and unglamorous. After his most important task each morning, David opens the list he’s built of people Ricavi can genuinely help and sends 20 to 30 connection requests with no message. If they accept, they’ve decided he’s worth knowing. The follow-up isn’t a pitch. It’s the podcast link, on the basis that anyone into podcasts will find value there. A few weeks later he’ll ask which episode they enjoyed. From there a conversation can start on something they actually like.

Regan Barker does the opposite on the follow-up, sending a simple question. David finds that icky. She gets good replies. The lesson is to pick the approach that sounds like you.

How do you write content that isn’t generic?

Front-load the context. David spent a few weekends recording his life story into an AI context file: childhood jobs, businesses, failures, what shaped him. Now when a tool drafts a post, it references things only he could say. He then adds a diary-style take on what he’s seeing in market that week and edits lightly. Regan’s version is candour. Posting about doubt and mistakes brings quiet messages from people who never engage publicly.

Neither of them can forecast when it pays off. A call landed in David’s calendar because a chief executive forwarded his profile to a colleague. No connection, no like, no trace. That’s why the only real advice is to give it time, measured in months, and to accept that how you do anything is how you do everything.

Questions this episode answers

How do you grow a LinkedIn following for sales?

Connect with a defined list of right-fit people every day, follow up with something useful rather than a pitch, and post original perspective consistently for months. Results arrive on the platform’s timeline, not yours.

Does LinkedIn content generate B2B pipeline?

Yes, unpredictably and often invisibly. Buyers forward posts and profiles internally without ever engaging publicly. Treat it as time in market, not as a campaign.

How do you stop AI-written posts sounding generic?

Give the model your real context. David Fastuca recorded his full personal and professional history into a file the AI references, then adds his own weekly take before publishing.