Feb 29, 2016 · 21m · top-founders
Getting 20,000 Buyers for Your InfoProduct with Sean Malarkey of LinkedInfluence Ep 17
gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Host Nathan Latka interviews Inspired Marketing co-founder Sean Malarkey, who breaks down how his flagship course LinkedInfluence generated over $2 million from 20,000 buyers using affiliate partnerships, Facebook audience targeting, and continuous conversion optimization.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 46.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Malarkey firmly sets a boundary, refusing Latka's prompting about upcoming business changes until stakeholders are notified.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 3:57 Latka pushes for underlying drivers of business changesLatka refuses to drop the confidential topic and reframes the question to demand what underlying rationale is driving the strategic change.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 14:31 Malarkey breaks down Facebook audience elimination methodMalarkey educates the host on how he bypassed early Facebook Insights limitations by segmenting ad targeting to derive exact audience demographics.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 16:33 Latka drills down into revenue percentages and unit volumeLatka demonstrates sharp commercial intuition by calculating unit volume and isolating what percentage LinkedInfluence accounts for in the company's overall revenue.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sean Malarkey's Background and Early Dynamic with Nathan | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | The conversation begins with lighthearted banter and playful teasing, including Malarkey joking about an adult film background and recounting how Latka flipped out years earlier over a late conference call. | |
| Inspired Marketing Overview and Value-Driven Business Shifts | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | When Malarkey mentions confidential business shifts, Latka repeatedly pushes to find out what is driving the pivot, prompting Malarkey to defend the move as a value-driven simplification. | |
| The Creation and Initial Launch of LinkedInfluence | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Latka methodically questions Malarkey on the specifics of the LinkedInfluence launch with Lewis Howes, including delivery tech, launch revenue, and early networking tactics. | |
| Scaling LinkedInfluence and Affiliate Revenue Distribution | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Latka drills down on exact unit economics and affiliate attribution, prompting Malarkey to explain why tracking exact affiliate numbers is nuanced due to secondary word-of-mouth. | |
| Mid-Show Promotion and GoPro Giveaway Announcement | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Following a mid-roll giveaway announcement, Malarkey explains how he historically reverse-engineered customer demographic profiles using early Facebook Custom Audiences. | |
| Sales Page Redesign and Continuous A/B Testing | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | Latka presses for specific testing design variables and monthly customer numbers, while Malarkey details his sales page redesigns and A/B testing workflow in VWO. | |
| Nathan Latka's Audience Demographic Text Poll | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | The interview wraps up smoothly through the Famous Five rapid-fire format with reflections on business books, tooling, and self-acceptance. |