Episode Details

Can you build a B2B pipeline on LinkedIn with no ad spend, no cold calls, and no cold emails? Michael Kurson did exactly that, and he tracked every step.

Michael is the co-founder of FirstTouch, a platform that turns LinkedIn into a measurable go-to-market channel by attributing every comment, connection, and DM back to HubSpot. Before tech he sold something harder to move: hard seltzer, one three-hour liquor-store tasting at a time. He joins Justin Obey on Return on Reputation to explain why trust is the real product now, why the people are the brand, and how to earn attention on social before a buyer ever needs you.

This conversation is for founders, sales leaders, and marketers who believe what we believe: people buy from people they know, like, and trust, and the companies that lean into the personal brands of their founders and their team will outperform the ones hiding behind a logo.

What you'll learn:

• Why "digital eye contact" in the comments beats cold outreach every time
• The exact commenting routine that tripled his connection-accept rate (from ~20% to 60%+)
• Why your profile is the new landing page, and the website is not where buyers live anymore
• How AI search (AEO) is changing discovery, and the best question to ask in a first call
• Why AI-generated comments quietly damage your reputation
• How the people, not the logo, became the brand (Lovable, Clay, Whisperflow)

Questions answered in this episode:

• How do you build trust on LinkedIn without being salesy?
• What is the highest-ROI activity on LinkedIn for a busy founder?
• Is cold calling and cold email dead in 2026?
• How do you make LinkedIn drive measurable pipeline?
• What does reputation actually mean for a B2B company today?

Chapters 

0:00 Cold open

 0:25 From hard seltzer to software: what selling drinks taught him about trust 

4:30 The trust gap in the age of AI 

7:45 Micro-conversations and "digital eye contact" in the comments 

11:30 Talk less, win more: the 49% talk-rate rule 

14:00 Why almost nobody comments (and why that's the opening) 

16:00 What FirstTouch does: making LinkedIn measurable 

20:30 The anatomy of a comment that works 

25:00 Your profile is the new landing page 

27:30 Social as the new battleground, and AEO 

33:30 Human-in-the-loop vs automation 

38:00 67% attribution: when the light bulb goes on 

42:30 The people are the brand (Lovable, Clay, Whisperflow) 

46:45 If a busy founder had 8 minutes a day 

48:45 "LinkedIn is cringe" and the perfect-post trap 

49:40 If you're not on social, you disappear 

51:25 Rapid fire 

53:55 What reputation means