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Clarity

Kevin Oke

Calgary, Canada

I utilize my 15 years' experience as an entrepreneur and consultant across diverse industries to help businesses get unstuck, innovate and grow. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinoke/

I've founded multiple startups, have raised investment money and taken sales at a new B2B SaaS venture from $0 to millions. I'm a design thinker with a broad background and a knack for picking up on new markets and products, from games to online casino to educational technology to natural resources.

Brands I've sold to and worked with include Chevron, Disney, the University of Pennsylvania, Teck Resources, Nickelodeon, Barrick Gold, Arnold Worldwide and more.

I specialize in and am experienced with:

- Business Strategy & Analysis
- Product Strategy (from ideation to validation, prototyping to pricing and go-to-market)
- Innovation, Blue Ocean and Disruption Strategy & Execution
- Pivoting
- Digital Transformation
- B2B sales strategy and processes, funnel analysis and best practices
- Fundraising

Sound good? Let's chat, I'd love to hear about your business and how I could provide value.

$5.00/min

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Business Development Entrepreneurship Fundraising Product Strategy Business Strategy Early-stage Startups Innovation Consulting Digital Transformation Blue Ocean Strategy

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Sales Funnel Analysis and Process Recommendations for Early Stage Startups

Sales at an early stage startup are hard. You have a new product, it's unproven and you're still figuring out pricing, positioning and how to get people to respond to your emails. As a founder or co-founder, you might not have any sales experience, and now you're trying to figure it all out on the fly. Or maybe you're a little farther along and are starting to hire sales people, but don't have any processes in place and don't know where to start. Transitioning from being the one sales person to a team and needing to have a system in place isn't easy.

- Funnel analysis
- Value proposition
- Cold email reviews
- Processes and best practices
- Account management

I've been there, and I'm here to provide my experience and knowledge around selling and scaling as an early-stage startup.

Startup Advising

I'll use my over 15 years experience in startups, technology and consulting to give you feedback and ideas on your startup:

- Product Strategy: value proposition to customer discovery to prototyping, pricing and business model
- Competitive positioning and finding blue ocean
- Go-to-market strategy
- Sales processes, best practices and account management
- Culture building, to
- Positioning yourself for investors and an acquisition
- And more

Answers 3
Reviews 0

Answers

Kevin Oke answered

What's the first step to starting this business?

Long-time entrepreneur and consultant here. My experience is in software and tech but the below is applicable to any business.

Some thoughts and questions for you:

- In a commoditized market, price, speed of delivery, better customer service and trust from years of operation are common differentiators. How can you differentiate as a new entrant? Maybe focus on a couple of the products you listed to start ("niche down"), and do those products better than incumbents. Make that your obsession.

- Are there opportunities to innovate with your supplier relationships? Reducing how much and how long you have to hold inventory is of course advantageous. If you can reduce the amount of space you need for holding inventory, you can pass savings on the the customers.

- Speak to potential customers, what don't they like about their current suppliers? Speak to 100 restaurants/cafes/bakeries and look for common answers. Build a business around the most common answers with the highest revenue and growth potential. Do this before spending any money on inventory. Read up on "Customer Discovery" to learn more.

Good luck!

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Supply Chain Operations

Supply Chain Management

Business Strategy

Kevin Oke answered

How do I validate if there is a need for this business without building a full backend first

Before you spend any money on even a basic prototype - speak to potential customers, what do and don't they like about their current providers? Speak to 100 creative/design businesses and look for common answers. Build a business around the most common answers with the highest revenue and growth potential. Read up on "Customer Discovery" to learn more.

Good luck!

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Manufacturing

Design for Manufacturing

Business Ideas

Kevin Oke answered

I want to build a two sided marketplace for creative industries.

Some good answers here.

I would add that network effects can be a curse if you aren't careful:

E.g. say you can’t get sellers to pay for permanent placement on a listing app like yours, if they leave the app is less valuable to buyers, so then buyers stop coming. Less buyers means the app is less valuable to the sellers. It's a vicious cycle.

People using something lots doesn’t mean they’ll pay for it - whichever route you go, do as much research as possible so that when you open up the revenue taps, people will pay to use your service. People need to feel they can't live without it after using your service. Sell painkillers, not candy.

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Online Marketplace

Reviews

Member since June 2021