Serial entrepreneur amplifies technical expertise at two startups with OSP
With investor meetings and business development consuming his calendar, Rick Manelius partnered with OSP at DRUD and Atomic Form to transform one-hour interviews into sales-driving articles and investor pitch decks—without sacrificing authenticity.
How a Serial Entrepreneur Scaled Technical Content Across Multiple Startups
PhD technologist, C-level executive, and serial entrepreneur Rick Manelius partnered with OSP at two companies to transform technical expertise into sales-driving content and investor materials.
The challenge: When expertise becomes a constraint
Rick Manelius faces a problem familiar to many technical founders. In his roles as CPO at the Drupal agency DRUD and later as CEO at the Web3 startup Atomic Form, he possesses deep technical expertise and strong writing skills. He’s authored compliance white papers and can write 1,000 words per hour when focused. However, as an executive running a company, those focused hours simply don’t exist.
“Even finding those one or two-hour blocks is incredibly difficult,” Rick explains. “My team has been complaining because I've been saying we need these articles but never get to them. My time is thrashed with investors, business development, all of this.”
The stakes are particularly high in technical spaces where authenticity matters. In Web3, Rick notes that prospects can “absolutely tell if someone from a non-technical background is trying to write about technical concepts. It's so obvious that it's awful, and you get that sort of allergic rejection.”
Rick identified critical articles: sales assets that remained trapped in his head while urgent CEO responsibilities consumed his calendar. These weren't just marketing pieces, but essential tools for opening conversations and establishing credibility.
The solution: technical depth meets communication expertise
Rick partnered with OSP for comprehensive marketing content support across both his companies because of our technical credibility and emphasis on connecting value to business priorities. Our interview-based approach leveraged his existing knowledge while removing the time bottleneck.
“OSP really helps bridge that technical product prowess with effective communications,” Rick notes. “Very few people can cross that divide. It's rare for engineers to have both technical aptitude and communication know-how, and it's also rare for salespeople to be technical enough.”
At DRUD, OSP's scope expanded beyond articles to include planning, researching, building, and maintaining an investor pitch deck through multiple iterations. The CEO used this deck at numerous events and meetings, providing critical support for fundraising efforts.
For ongoing content needs, OSP streamlined the process for efficiency. Team members could interview Rick for just one hour and deliver content that was 70-90%ready to publish, requiring only his feedback rather than starting from scratch.
“OSP literally gave me a force multiplier,” Rick says. “They could get it all down, all the big chunks, and still sound like me. It was great, closer to perfect than I ever would have managed on my own. If I tried to perfect it, I would never do it … I'd never have the time to get it done.”
“I could reduce my time investment to produce quality content by 90% ... from ~10-15 hours to a 1-hour interview and 30 minutes of edits.”
The results: from bottleneck to business asset
The transformation proved valuable across both engagements.
At Atomic Form, OSP worked for nearly a year to establish essential sales and marketing content. “These became authority pieces, documentation, business assets,” Rick explains. “Our salespeople would reference them constantly. We've written articles that I've cited 30, 40, 50 times, and they open conversations. These are sales assets.”
The investor pitch deck at DRUD proved particularly valuable. It helped the CEO communicate complex technical concepts to potential investors across fundraising conversations and presentations.
OSP’s approach solved both the time problem and the authenticity challenge. Content maintained technical credibility while achieving the communication effectiveness internal teams needed for business development.
Perhaps most importantly, the model scaled Rick's impact. “I wanted to make sure that the delivery of content wasn't slowed down by me being the bottleneck anymore,” Rick says. “I could take a fraction of my time and ideally amplify my results.”
The partnership’s value is evident in its longevity. Rick’s choice to engage OSP at two different companies demonstrates the repeatable impact of technical marketing content done right.
Ready to transform your technical expertise into business-driving content? OSP's strategy and content marketing services help founders and CTOs scale their thought leadership without sacrificing authenticity or time.