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Hi, I’m Travis. I'm a tech expert with over two decades of experience in the custom…
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Articles by Travis
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4 Sales Observations of a Used Car Dealer
4 Sales Observations of a Used Car Dealer
As a business owner or entrepreneur, you're always selling. Whether you see it or not or like it or not, you're selling.
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Can you sail off the edge of the world and eat scraps under a boat for 4 months?
Can you sail off the edge of the world and eat scraps under a boat for 4 months?
Many entrepreneurs personally identify with the personalities and adventures of the early explorers. If there was a map…
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The Inside Scoop on why Fixed Bid Projects Are a Bad Idea
The Inside Scoop on why Fixed Bid Projects Are a Bad Idea
In almost two decades and thousands of projects delivered, I’ve seen quite a few clients and deals come and go. And a…
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My Secret Weapons of Productivity
My Secret Weapons of Productivity
I love being productive. Sound boring? I really do enjoy analyzing and noticing my patterns and rhythms and systems in…
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21K followers
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Travis Cook shared thisMy grandson doesn’t care that I’ve built companies. He doesn’t know about the exits. The investments. The LinkedIn posts. What an outrage, right? Haha. Arlo just wants Papa to build a sandcastle. I spent three months in Bali with him and his parents. Most mornings I’d grab a coffee and just sit with him by the pool. Just a two-year-old eating a popsicle and pointing at lizards. I’ve spent 20 years chasing things that felt urgent. Building, scaling, and solving problems that seemed like they couldn’t wait. Most of it could have waited. The stuff that actually matters was sitting right next to me the whole time.
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Travis Cook shared thisI think the S&P 500 is a lot less safe than people realize. My son recently asked me what I think the best investments are these days. Here’s what I told him. #1 - Bitcoin. I’m an absolute bull. I buy when it dips and the price is great right now. #2 - Tesla and Nvidia. Two companies the world is not capable of grasping how valuable they will be to the future economy. They don’t even have a clue how to price the value of these companies and they’re already wrong. Do you really think Elon is going to drop the ball on a billion Optimus robots? And when the world realizes how much AI infrastructure it needs, Nvidia wins. Not the S&P 500. Too many losers dragging it down. There are only about 5 companies actually driving it right now. I think major market shifts are going to make it a lot less safe than it used to be. #3 - Don’t be an angel investor. Don’t fund your friend’s business. It’s too risky. Leave that to Y Combinator and the venture funds. If you want to invest in people’s businesses go through a fund like Album, Pelion, or Startup Ignition Ventures. Love all of those. This is not investing advice. This is just my own philosophy. Do your own research. What’s your best investment right now?
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Travis Cook shared thisI’ll never forget the first time I turned on OpenClaw. I’d been hearing about autonomous AI agents for months. Finally set it up and pointed it at our customer support system in FreshDesk. The first thing it did was scan every open ticket. Summarized them. Ranked them by priority and how long they’d been sitting there. Then it said something I didn’t expect: “Want me to answer these?” Images came to mind of an out-of-touch AI automation pouring gasoline on a customer service tire fire by making customers feel neglected. I told it to draft responses first. Don’t send anything. Just show me. 5 minutes passed. It went and read the last 500 support cases on its own. Then it matched my support person’s tone. It literally figured out her writing style without me asking. I realized I didn’t need to edit any of the responses it had drafted... It felt like magic. One afternoon later we went from 100 open tickets down to 5. Tickets that had been sitting for one, two, even three weeks - solved! Then I pointed it at my website. Five minutes later it came back with 88 problems. Broken links, misspellings, outdated plugins, SEO gaps. A couple hours later I had a completely rebuilt site. This isn’t hype. This is what AI agents can actually do right now for small businesses. Since then I’ve realized that OpenClaw can be super expensive, but I’ve been able to combine some other tools and workflows to cut down the cost by 90%. If you’re a founder or running a small team and want to see what this looks like, I’m offering free 30-minute strategy calls. Let me know or book on my calendar if you’d like to learn more!
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Travis Cook shared thisMy dad left us 24,000 journal entries when he passed away. Got some great responses on my post last month about this. So I wanted to share the backdoor view on the best way you can also do this if you want to give this gift to your posterity. We’ve been reviewing his life with Google LM and it’s been incredible. Like sitting down with him again. I followed his example. I’ve journaled for years now and no other activity centers me as much. It helps me crystallize the lessons of life and remember what I’ve gone through. Writing in a journal is a way of drinking in your life more deeply. Invaluable. Here’s what I’ve learned about staying consistent: 1 - Don’t overthink it. Don’t try to be Shakespeare. A few sentences every day is infinitely better than nothing. 2 - Read your journal with your loved ones. One of our family’s favorite activities is when someone yells a random date and I read the entry for that day. Everyone loves saying “Whoa, I forgot we did that.” 3 - Dictation is faster than typing. In the age of AI it’s so easy to clean up typos and grammar. Just talk to your phone for a minute each day. 4- Most people freeze up with how to get started and do it regularly– you need to add it to your daily workflow and it only takes 2-3 minutes dictating. My moment/trigger is as soon as I get in my car going to exercise in the morning. Quick dictation and I’m done. I’ve been doing that since I was 16 (not the dictation part tho). If you’ve been thinking about starting, this is your sign.
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Travis Cook shared this20,000 of you follow me now. That still blows my mind a little. Thank you! If you're new here, or it's just been a while, let me reintroduce myself. — I've been building, funding, and exiting companies for 20+ years. — Husband to Ashlee and dad to Ryan, Tyler, Adam and Brianna- plus two daughters in law and 2 soon to be 4 grandbabies. — Obsessed with racket sports, biking, running, my sauna and cold plunge — I just got back from three months in Bali with Ryan, his wife, and my two-year-old grandson Arlo. Best way to spend winter. Although apparently winter was holding out for us to return lol. — I'm an absolute Bitcoin bull and long on Tesla and Nvidia. — I believe that mindfulness is the true key to happiness — I sail, I travel, and I've learned the stuff that feels a little too "out there" is usually the best stuff. — Right now, I'm going all in on helping founders build AI agent teams. What used to take us weeks now takes an afternoon. Lmk if you want to learn about what I'm doing for others. And if we haven't connected yet, let's change that.
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Travis Cook shared thisThere was a video from awhile ago of a Cybertruck drag racing a Porsche. The Cybertruck is winning. Then the camera zooms out. The Cybertruck is towing another Porsche on a trailer behind it. And it’s still smoking it. I love Tesla haha. That’s what AI leverage looks like right now for small businesses. I rebuilt my entire website in an afternoon. An AI agent found 88 problems like broken links, misspellings, outdated plugins, SEO gaps and fixed them in a couple hours. Your competitors are still doing that manually. Or not doing it at all. Right now there’s a window of maybe 6 to 12 months where founders and small teams can move five times faster than the competition for a fraction of the cost. They’ll be able to lock in permanent market advantages because of first-mover advantage. Tools like Claude, OpenClaw and OpenAI are going to become mainstream. The Global 2000 hasn’t even started adopting yet. That’s not a question. The question is whether you’re the Cybertruck or the Porsche on the trailer. If you want to see what this looks like for your business, I’m offering free 30-minute strategy calls. Use code TRAVIS100 on Intro. Open for the next few days.
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Travis Cook shared this$15 for a chicken sandwich almost gave me a heart attack last week. I swiped my card for lunch yesterday and said “Wow, that’s expensive.” The whole kitchen started staring at me 😅 I had just gotten back from three months in Bali. Walked into Houston Hot Chicken and ordered lunch. The manager was standing right there. The staff looked confused. I laughed and said “No, this is normal for Utah. I just spent three months in Bali where this would’ve bought me two entrees and a wagyu steak for dinner.” The whole kitchen stopped. Everyone was staring at me. “You were in BALI? For three months?” I told them the quick version. Me, my son’s family, my grandson. Three months living and working from Indonesia. Every single person had the same look. Big eyes. “I want to go to Bali!” Here’s the thing, so many people have that dream. Working remotely. Living somewhere exotic. Breaking out of the routine. It’s more possible than most people think. And it’s not just for trust fund kids or retirees. I was running my businesses the entire time. I’m thinking about doing a short virtual event where I break down exactly how we set it up: logistics, health insurance, cost of living, all of it. I’d have my son Ryan Cook join too. Would anyone be interested in something like that?
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Travis Cook shared thisLast week my son asked me if I have a mantra or a tag-line that I live by. I thought for a second and I knew what it was: All Green Lights. Its the idea that everything goes right. I plan my day to the minute and it goes perfectly. My business hits all the metrics. I meet up with people and am never late. Because there are always Green Lights. Truthfully it works for me. It's a positive way to live. Its hopeful and most days I actually do fit in a lot more than the average person. But it also gets me into trouble. And often. Because Life Happens. And Life sometimes just injects a little chaos. This happened yesterday and today in fact. I was scheduled too tight. But that means there's no time for hiccups or red lights. And both yesterday and today a little chaos got into the mix and because I was scheduled too tight, everything got jacked. I was basically late to everything by a few minutes. One dear friend even lovingly told me off. I heard him and accepted the truth. He said that I am ALWAYS late or rescheduling or pushing back the time. I can't say he's wrong. So I'm resolving to not be so optimistic. ;) To not schedule so tight. To expect a little chaos. Whats one of your mantras or a phrase that powers (or defeats) your day?
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Travis Cook shared thisI walked into a giant rose quartz dome in Bali and forgot what year it was. It was built right by the sea. Three monk-looking musicians sat in the center surrounded by about 40 instruments I’d never seen before. There was no trace of technology in the room. They guided you through a journey of sound. You almost fall asleep but not quite. You’re somewhere in between dreaming and just listening. I heard vibrations and tones my ears had never processed. Sounds you could never get from a phone or a speaker or a movie. You had to be in that room to feel them. It made me realize how loud my mind usually is. How easily I get caught up in cheap dopamine with screens, notifications, everything virtual. If you ever get the chance to do something that feels a little too different or a little too “out there”, DO IT. You might hear something you’ve never heard before.
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Travis Cook liked thisTravis Cook liked thisI’ve learned an important concept the hard way a few times: not all profits are created equally. Just because something can make money doesn’t mean it’s worth doing. Finding the right work that’s profitable is everything. When you nail that, it’s the dream! When you don’t, even when you’re making money, it isn’t fun for long. Analyze the opportunity *first* for if you’d LOVE the work … and then if you think it will be a profitable business. The former will have a huge impact on the latter as well, so you win, or lose, twice.
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Travis Cook liked thisTravis Cook liked thisA company nobody outside tech circles had heard of two years ago just lapped OpenAI on revenue. Anthropic hit $30 billion in annualized revenue this month. OpenAI is at $25 billion. And Anthropic is projected to spend roughly 4x less on model training through 2030. No viral consumer app. No 900 million free users. Just enterprise contracts and a product that developers love. To put it into perspective, Salesforce took roughly 25 years to reach $30 billion in revenue. Anthropic was founded five years ago, and had barely any revenue two years ago. You don't have to be the biggest to win. You have to be the most useful. OpenAI built the brand. Anthropic built the business. The enterprise customers chose the one that solved their actual problems. I think the same thing applies at our scale. We're not going to be the biggest AI consultancy in the world. That said, I'll put our training and implementation work against anyone's. SolutionStream + Kahoa.ai
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Travis Cook liked thisTravis Cook liked thisI’m looking for the top 5 pre-seed founders in Utah with the most revenue while still having no VC interest. For whatever reason, it’s totally resonating with your ICP, customers are desperate for what you have, and yet, it isn’t resonating with VCs. If that’s you, dm me. I’m speaking to a group of first-time founders in a couple weeks and I have some things I’d like to understand on the founder side. And who knows, maybe Convoi will invest?
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Travis Cook liked thisTravis Cook liked thisHanding your CSMs a ChatGPT license is not an AI strategy. 80% of companies see no measurable ROI from generic AI tools. Because Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini…. they don't know: >Which of your accounts is at risk right now > What was promised during the sales cycle > That Sarah at Acme hasn't logged in for 3 weeks with renewal in 60 days So your CSMs use it to write slightly better emails. That's your AI ROI. The problem isn't the tool. It's that AI is sitting on top of a broken foundation disconnected from customer data... not embedded in where your team actually works, not triggering anything meaningful. Before you buy another seat, answer this honestly: What specific workflow does this change? If you can't answer that, you're buying AI theater.
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Travis Cook liked thisTravis Cook liked thisA few weeks ago I kept running into a problem in Banderly where the entire UI would freeze. The only way to recover was killing the app and restarting. I went several rounds with Claude Code trying to track it down, but nothing was working. So I jumped into the code myself and discovered the code was using Group. Group in SwiftUI is really useful when you want to apply modifiers across multiple views at once. But it doesn’t have any layout information, and in certain situations that causes really strange behavior. In my case, swapping Group for VStack was a one-word fix. I love discovering fixes like this, but they can definitely be a challenge to find sometimes. I’ve learned that when Claude Code gets stuck in a loop on something like this, that’s usually my signal to stop prompting and just read the code. The model can miss things that are obvious once you’re looking directly at them. If you’re hitting unexplainable weirdness in SwiftUI, Group is worth checking. What’s your go-to when AI-assisted debugging stops working?
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Join now to viewExplore more posts
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Chris Cunningham
Weather delays. Compliance gaps. Lost days and lost dollars. Every contractor knows the pain. Pavewise, based in North Dakota and built by operators who’ve lived it, has just raised a $2.5M seed round led by C2 Ventures Fund II, alongside Connetic Ventures, Service Provider Capital, M25, gener8tor 1889, and Broadwater Capital. Their platform brings real-time compliance, weather, and production tracking to road construction, helping crews make better calls, cut rework, and keep projects on time. This is exactly what we mean when we talk about our thesis, Dirty, Dull, and Dangerous innovation: solving real operational problems in essential industries with durable tech. https://lnkd.in/eecPMHdN
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Toby G.
When it comes to building your business website, one big question always comes up: Should you go custom or choose an out-of-the-box solution? In our latest #blog, “Custom vs. Out-of-the-Box: When to Build Your Texas Business Website from Scratch,” we break down the pros, cons, and key factors to help #Texas #business #owners make the best choice for #growth, #performance, and #budget. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gkbJ7Z8S #WebDesign #TexasBusiness #SmallBusinessGrowth #CustomWebsite #WebDevelopment #DigitalStrategy #OnlinePresence #BusinessBranding #WebsiteDesign #Entrepreneurship #TechSolutions #StartupTips #LocalBusiness #BusinessDevelopment #MarketingStrategy #Ecommerce #UserExperience #WebSolutions #BusinessTechnology #BrandStrategy
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NaTalia Singleton
Most startups die trying to get what an existing business already has — Customers Cash flow Systems Brand trust Why start from zero when you can buy from momentum? Buy a business doing $500K–$2M in revenue. Leverage seller financing, SBA, or private capital. Keep the team, fix the margins, and scale. It’s not about being an entrepreneur anymore. It’s about being an acquirer. Startups are hope. Acquisitions are math. And math wins. 🦈
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Blake Stephens
Most automation tools were built for builders. SMB owners don’t want to build. They want results. Here’s the shift: Old way: learn n8n/Make, read API docs, wire OAuth, test, debug, pray. New way: Type the outcome. Wispix plans it, connects it, runs it, and shows you the receipts. Example: “Create an AI employee that replies to hot leads, chases no-shows, and books time on my calendar.” Wispix: Done. It connects calendar + CRM + email, handles the logic, and logs everything. Simplicity is a strategy. For SMBs, time is the scarcest resource. If the “solution” steals more of it, it’s not a solution. Our design mantra: Plain-English in, production-grade out. Visible, auditable, reversible. Add power without adding complexity. If you’ve been stuck at the starting line— DM me “Simple” and I’ll share the early access link.
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Matt Taylor
Growth didn’t break the business. It exposed what we were avoiding. Manual processes. Tribal knowledge. “Just ask Mike, he knows.” At 5 people, you can fake it. At 15, it hurts. At 40, it breaks. Most founders think scaling means: • more people • more tools • more revenue Reality: Scale just 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 your systems — good or bad. If your business only works when you’re in every decision… you don’t have a business yet. You have a very stressful job. Fix the system 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 you chase growth.
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Shruti Shah
Excited to join Midday Connect tomorrow to talk broadly about how investors actually think when evaluating founders and companies and what we think about Symphonic Capital! If you can't make it, I recently wrote about what we look for specifically—how we back AI companies closing gaps in healthcare, finance, and workforce. Written with stories from four of our portfolio founders. Read "AI as Infrastructure" here: https://lnkd.in/eDNqG7K2
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Rick Spair
Draper’s Disruptors: How Three of Utah’s Top Startups Are Rewriting the Rules with AI: Today at Pelion (Draper), "Utahverse" hosted three top Utah startup CEOs who discussed how AI, talent, and execution are reshaping industries—highlighting rapid growth, bold strategies, and why Utah is emerging as a powerful alternative to Silicon Valley. http://dlvr.it/TRgz6L #AI #Utah #Startups #SiliconValley #Innovation
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Dr. Franklin Luke
Systems build value. Owners limit it. Most businesses depend on one person. Few are built to last—or to sell at a premium. Here’s the 4-step framework we use to move founders from decision-maker to decision-architect. Delegate, document, assign accountability, design your org for transferability. If your business can’t run without you, it’s not an asset. Test your owner dependency, buyer risk, and exit readiness in 15 minutes. 👉 Take the Exit-Ready Scorecard™ https://lnkd.in/eiadv3un
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Nick Mavrick
Why Riverside CA – the #18 US Construction Market – Commands 10% of California's Spend and Projects $23.8B by 2030. At BiltData.ai, we have scrutinized over 100 million construction equipment rental and dealer transactions to deliver predictive buyer intelligence that reveals to OEMs, Dealers and Rental Companies exactly what customers (aka buyers) spend on rentals, owned fleet and product support Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario is not just another construction market—it is a powerhouse accounting for 10% of California's construction activity in 2030, ranking #16 in data centers, and poised for explosive growth. This is not guesswork; it's a clear edge in a market with $23.8B in 2030 construction spending: residential leads with $9.52B, followed by commercial at $7.14B, industrial at $4.76B and infrastructure at $2.38B. The real question: Why settle for flying blind? BiltData's Lead(er) tool combines construction industry expertise with predictive intelligence for rentals, fleet, parts & service; delivering a map-driven tool that’s simple, serious, and unmatched. See how 'completing the picture' can give your business an edge to sense demand, know triggers, know more than the competition and decide with confidence—every time. Your best quarter is 3 clicks away.
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Lliam Holmes
🪨 Set Rocks. Meet Weekly. Hit Goals. Steve Willy breaks down how Bobby Jones Links stays aligned and accountable using EOS Worldwide tools like Rocks (90-day goals) and L10 meetings. 📅 A 90-minute meeting each week may seem like a lot, but it can save your team hours. 🎥 Get inspired to rework your meeting rhythm: Watch the full video at https://hubs.li/Q03xXT8F0 where Lliam Holmes, Steve Willy and Sandra Reid of Snellings Walters Insurance Agency discuss the many benefits of "running on EOS." #EOS #LeadershipTools #bobbyjoneslinks #missolutions
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Daniel Kempe
In the pursuit of building a successful business, every detail counts. Establishing a local presence can significantly impact how you connect with customers. A recent article sheds light on the importance of acquiring a local Denver business phone number. It's not just about making calls; it's about creating trust and increasing visibility in the local market. Consider how people are more inclined to pick up calls from familiar area codes. By adopting a Denver area code, your business instantly gains credibility—no matter where you're located. This small yet impactful step aids in effective communication, boosts marketing strategies, and enhances your search rankings online. Think about how you can relate to your customers better. Having a recognizable local phone number can help bridge the gap between your business and the community, making it feel more accessible and relatable. What are your thoughts? Have you taken similar steps to connect better with your audience? Share your stories! https://lnkd.in/eaFGyGMz
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David Licht
💸 If your 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 $𝟮𝟬𝗞/𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 or you’ve licensed more than 10 enterprise tools — you likely have 5-6 figures in hidden waste. At Duku Solutions we’ve seen mid-sized companies 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝟮𝟬–𝟯𝟬% on software they don’t fully use, don’t need, or can’t connect. Not because they’re reckless—but because no one owns the full picture. If your systems feel busy but not smart—this is why 👇 #systemintegration #enterprisesaas #saas #dukusolutions
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Middesk
Plaid is built to make it easier for businesses to build and scale financial products that people trust. That trust starts with knowing who you’re working with. As Plaid helps platforms onboard and support millions of businesses, verifying business identity accurately and efficiently is foundational. That’s why Plaid partners with Middesk to automate business verification during onboarding — confirming core business details, reducing manual review, and helping teams make confident risk decisions without slowing down the customer experience. Together, we help Plaid deliver faster onboarding, stronger compliance, and a more durable foundation for growth across the financial ecosystem they power. We’re proud to support Plaid as they help teams move fast while maintaining trust at scale. #KYB #KYC #AML #BEV #businessverification #financialservices #onboarding #compliance #smallbusiness #SMBs
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