the startups.com platform about startups.comCheck out the new Startups.com - A Comprehensive Startup University

Categories

Browse Search

Loading...

Request a Call $1/min

Expert

DP

Darian Parrish Innovation and productivity - let's make it happen

Seattle, WA

Seattle entrepreneur and 3x founder. Experience at Microsoft and industry depth in both Software and Finance. Intense focus on go to market planning and wartime operations.

$1/min

New Arrival

Request a Call Send a Message

saved 9 times

0

Calls

0

Reviews

Finance

Marketing Strategy

Early-stage Startups

Value Proposition

Member since April 2020

Areas of Expertise

DP

$1/min per minute
New Arrival

Go to Market Strategy

Darian Parrish • Seattle, WA
Created 5 years ago in Sales & Marketing

As a Chief Marketing Officer I have built marketing strategy from the ground up. This plan is one of the most critical components in determining the success or failure of your startup.

Darian Parrish Seattle, WA

New Arrival

Answers 14

Finance

Marketing Strategy

Early-stage Startups

Value Proposition

About

Experts

Answers

Support

Follow

the startups.com platform

Startups Education

Startup Planning

Reach Customers

Virtual Assistants

Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.

Clarity

Darian Parrish

Seattle, WA

Seattle entrepreneur and 3x founder. Experience at Microsoft and industry depth in both Software and Finance. Intense focus on go to market planning and wartime operations.

$1.00/min

—
0 Calls

—

0 Reviews

—

Avg. call

Finance Marketing Strategy Early-stage Startups Value Proposition

Call me to talk about

Go to Market Strategy

As a Chief Marketing Officer I have built marketing strategy from the ground up. This plan is one of the most critical components in determining the success or failure of your startup.

Answers 14
Reviews 0

Answers

Darian Parrish answered

How do I start a business where I can manufacture/design my own hybrid annuity?

You don't. But you can definitely build the product.

This is a crowded market where reputation is of critical importance. It is much easier to get a large sponsor to revenue share and handle distribution and marketing. Most of the insurance companies would be a good target for annuity products but asset management firms will bite as well.

If the product has merit(something unique and value add) I am happy to make intros.

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Insurance

Finance

Start-ups

Darian Parrish answered

How much money can you make from Clarity?

I don't know as I have not earned any yet. It has been just a few days since I have joined but I will make some observations.

1. Number of active users on Clarity is not clear(no pun intended).

2. Answers would seem the logical way to generate demand but are often asked by people who don't understand the need to invest in quality information and planning (might as well ask on Quora).

3. The should be a way to monetize messaging because some users tend to be more comfortable with the method of interaction.

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Clarity

Darian Parrish answered

Are there any dual-sided marketplaces where users could easily transact directly but don't?

As you mentioned, most marketplaces that have reoccurring transactions between the same parties seem likely candidates to move to direct transactions.

Common reasons why direct transactions don't happen:

1. Trust - Generally the marketplace has built a reputation(ex: Ebay) and will provide some confidence that the transaction will happened as planned. Sometimes formal insurance or guarantees are in place.

2. Convenience - Transactions often involve tax and do the parties really want to be responsible for calculation and remittance of this? It used to be that payments were a barrier(ex: how to get paid by credit card) but there are enough fintech payment solutions that this is not as large of an issue anymore.

3. The Network - Often there are other value added services of the marketplace that compound the more you use it. Whether this is suggestion algorithms or activity history that others can view. Think about a scenario where the other party needs to be replaced on short notice... would it have been easier if you were still engaged with the network?

These are some common ones but if you have a specific situation in mind where the friction to leaving the marketplace is low, I am happy to discuss potential solutions to keeping transactions on marketplace.

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Incentive Programs

Marketing Strategy

Customer Retention

Darian Parrish answered

How to make cash cow products in a shoestring budget with limited hours & part-time team while running high on passion? Tips finding seed investors?

Main recommendation is to focus on the top idea. For both your own benefit and for seeking investors. Investors will want an enormous amount of thought and effort used on accomplishing one goal/vision/product and not spread among multiple ideas(scatter shot approach).

While it can be fun to have multiple projects/products(I have done this before) it is normally the limiting factor to success. Velocity and early traction matter a lot as investors have come to view this as an early indication of future success. If resources are limited but passion high just focus all the resources where the passion is highest.

Once focused getting seed investors will be much easier and there are sites to do so like AngelList and Keiretsu Forum. I will add more to my startup resources post here: https://www.quora.com/q/ovitxbmdfvzrujwk/Startup-Resources

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Product Development

Equity Funding

Early-stage Startups

Darian Parrish answered

How can I best showcase my web based service to up to 12000 potential customers as an exhibitor at a trade show before my startup has launched?

Lee's answer is great.

What I will add is that in this type of setting you should be able to convey your product/service value add in one to two sentences. Then lots of repetition/reinforcement. Therefore don't stress about short prep time. Add simple visuals if possible and a concise, clear explanation and this will be best.

You are just trying to generate initial interest and word of mouth spread. Details can follow but the main value proposition should ring like a bell - that is what matters.

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Trade Shows

Early-stage Startups

New Product Validation

Darian Parrish answered

How can I get data entry help for a newly started BPO company?

I would strongly consider automation where possible. It used to be cost prohibitive, especially in early days of the company, but now there are many out of the box solutions that can help.

Some of these exist on the major cloud providers like AWS Textract. Others are via API for products like Smartsheet. For bigger companies UiPath is a great solution.

Happy to help optimize as you want to scale and increase efficiency beyond humans.

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Early-stage Startups

BPO

Data Entry

Darian Parrish answered

How to launch a kitchen appliances brand online and become the biggest thing in the industry?

As Assaf mentioned, most of the magic is going to be in the marketing. Certain options like influencers are really only possible if you have a great product(which you think you do).

The other important thing to remember is most products are not a "one type fits all". I personally have both a Vitamix and a SharkNinja and use them for different things(of course I wish only one was needed). And for those who only have one there is not a clear winner as people of different requirements in regards to price, capabilities, and believe it or not looks.

Direct to consumer selling is much easier today than in the past especially if you are willing to sell on Amazon. Since you have the additional products you will want to make sure you engage your customer to have high repeat buyer conversion. This is generally done through both great product but equally or more important - great service!

Also if you anticipate your product being the next big thing in the industry why not get placement in retailers like Costco where customers will expect them to be? Happy to help further strategize on all the possibilities.

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Brand development

Early-stage Startups

Online Marketing

Darian Parrish answered

How does people survive this hardship

Most hardships are best survived by preparation. How to prepare? It depends on the context and goals.

For both home and business there is insurance of different types. This could be a financial instrument or just an ample supply of food.

What happens when it is too late to prepare for the current event? Prepare for the next event and the learning will likely be applicable to helping you survive. In general acting quickly and decisively is best. I am happy to help you come up with a plan if you provide further details.

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Leadership Development

Darian Parrish answered

I would like to speak to someone who specializes in working remotely. I do not see area. Can we discuss.

There are a lot of great free resources on the web for this that I can point you to. I am happy to discuss all the possibilities on a call.

Here is one to get you started from GitLab, a company that has operated 100% remote since founding: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Working Remotely

Information Technology

Darian Parrish answered

Can I efficiently sum/count total clicks/conversions from a separate table?

This is a question better suited for stackoverflow.

If you message me the schema for the two tables I could give you the exact query that you want.

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

MySQL

Darian Parrish answered

I am having a hard time proving to business owners the need for digital analytics for their website and digital marketing. How can I prove ROI?

Some others answers touched on this but what you need is a case study or customer reference.

If you don't already have customers do a theoretical case study that shows what is measured and how this translated into obvious actionables to improve customer conversion via the website. Hence the common phrase "actionable insights".

Don't under estimate how simple the pitch should be for the customer. Even if they are highly intelligent, the simpler and clearer the value proposition is the more likely you will get a yes. Because then the decision is more of a common sense conclusion and no further thought/time/research required before the sale can happen.

Schedule a call • Share • Flag

Digital Marketing

Online Marketing

Reviews

Member since April 2020