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Clarity

Stuart MacDonald

Toronto, Canada Area

Advisor | Previously CMO FreshBooks.com, CMO Expedia.com & founder Expedia.ca, co-founder mesh conference. I help with business growth, strategy, marketing and leadership. Mentor at JOLT Accelerator, CYBF and passionate about your success. When can we talk?

$5.00/min

223

223 Calls

116

116 Reviews

35 minutes
Avg. call

Business Development Entrepreneurship Start-ups Growth Marketing Strategy SaaS Business Strategy B2B Online Travel B2C

Call me to talk about

Leadership, Growth & Growing Pains

I get it. Business feeling stuck? Hit a plateau? Not sure what to do next? I can help. Why? Because I've lived through a lot of it.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/224503

Business Strategy & Marketing

Expedia. Freshbooks. Dozens of other companies, large and small. Helping founders, partners, owner-operators, companies and teams get to the next level is my great love
and where I have the most fun.

https://growthhacker.tv?v=52&sp=0a9d2346e08190101bf2

Insight, Positioning, Strategy & Execution

Let's get to the root of your opportunity or challenge. Who are you for? What's the problem you solve? How do you build something profitable, sustainable and which matters to customers? Let's cut through the noise.

Answers 28
Reviews 116

Answers

Stuart MacDonald answered

I've been at a startup for 4 years, & promised equity but never received it. Company now profitable. What pitfalls should I avoid when pushing for it?

You're likely out of luck. If you think that it really was an oversight, have an adult conversation with the people and see if there's some kind of mutually beneficial resolution possible, recognizing that back-dating shouldn't be done. Perhaps there's some kind of adjustment to be made to the amount of equity you get today or something along those lines.

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Equities

Stuart MacDonald answered

What is the most effective way to sell / price a membership site? 1$ Trial, Free 30 days, paid fully up front etc...?

It really depends on what you're looking to offer, but generally you should allow people to try before they buy, encourage and help them while they try it out and then ask for the business.

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Membership Development

Stuart MacDonald answered

Does a marketing person always have to start his career with sales?

So the real issue isn't whether a marketing person should come from sales - it's whether the marketing person understands that their job is to actually help sell things. My definition of marketing is "profitably solving customer problems" so - baked in there - is understanding the customer and getting paid. The worst marketing people are those who feel very removed from the fact of the sale. Said another way, the best marketing people are those who understand their customers, do everything to deliver a product, package, price and promotion designed around them - and feel great driving revenue. Someone saying yes by buying is the ultimate validation of good marketing.

Marketing isn't simply an activity. It is part of driving to an outcome and that outcome is a sale.

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Marketing Strategy

Stuart MacDonald answered

What are some innovative ways to delight your clients?

Best way is simple: demonstrate you understand their problem, "get" them and are committed to making that part of their life better. Show them that with everything you do, say and build and they will love you and tell their friends about you.

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Entrepreneurship

Stuart MacDonald answered

When should a startup hire a BD person?

It clearly depends on the type of product, but generally speaking, you should be spend mosting of your money on making the product as self-serve as possible. An online self-serve model is the model which will grow fastest, so do that rather than designing for a requirement of human involvement in the sales process. Inside sales to convert trials, coaching of users, webinars to accelerate conversion - sure. But design around self-serve automation as much as you can.

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Start-ups

Stuart MacDonald answered

The best ideas come from solving a problem your market has. What are a few ways to position yourself in order to more easily spot these problems?

A lot of it is being observant - and doing research. Many businesses are based on solving problems the founder had him/herself (e.g. "this seems busted - there has to be a better way") or things they recognize because they are in that line of work (e.g. "man, this could be some much easier if thus and so happened"). That said, many other very successful businesses start from identifying a huge market area and looking for problems worth solving - and seeing if they can be, profitably.

Then you put a smart team against it and iterate.

There's no one right answer.

That said, simply using self reference criteria isn't often the right way to go. I spend a lot of time talking with founders or founding teams who are recent grads trying to do things for that market because they are most familiar with it, even though it might not be the best or most profitable fit, for instance.

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Entrepreneurship

Stuart MacDonald answered

How can we reward our top users without money and without appearing too big brotherish?

Something personal and/or something public. Recognition is inexpensive yet valued, so do something surprising which shows you appreciate them. Also, think about some other larger-scale activity like a meet up for drinks or something along those lines in a specific location. Even sending the invite is well received, even if they don't end up going. Plus, you get the chance to get live feedback and your customers can meet each other. Both good.

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Entrepreneurship

Stuart MacDonald answered

How do you find the right balance between setting up automated testing, code reviews, refactoring, etc. and staying lean/MVP minded?

Product should be light, simple, focused, constrained & fast. Remove the biggest pain of the identified customer problem and have the solution, visual identity and everything else demonstrate that's what you're doing. Resonate in a way that has the customers you're building for recognize themselves, their problem and the solution in all you do and how you do it.

Said another way, if it doesn't have a meaningful impact on solving the customer problem in a resonant way, in the early days it's just a distraction.

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Start-ups

Stuart MacDonald answered

Would you recommend outsourcing coders from India ….or where do you suggest?

The location is less of an issue than the fact that outsourcing brings with it a bunch of complexity and can require a lot of attention and management. Time zones, culture, timelines...all of these add challenges that go away when your team or providers are close at hand. Not to say it can't be done, but don't think that it will be super easy.

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Product Management

Stuart MacDonald answered

When fundraising at the seed / angel level, what factors are important? Eg. proving traction, vision, customer references etc. What is best?

It depends. Sometimes, a strong team with a track record and the plan to work against a big problem / category is all that's needed. Other times, you need metrics and proof of concept. Regardless, it's going to be the people which wins the day IMO.

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Fundraising

Stuart MacDonald answered

How do you know when it is a good time to start paying for PR?

PR is bedrock spend. I have been quoted in the New York Times as saying that if I only had $5 left I'd give it to the PR agency. It and paid search should be the first places you invest. That said, make sure that you have an agency partner you can work with well, "gets" you and values your business. Early stage companies are often not good fits for large PR firms and vice versa.

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Marketing Strategy

Reviews

Stuart was helpful and clarified my next steps!

Hin Lai Source: Clarity

Many thanks Stuart! Your insight and expertise opened a new world and direction for us.
Cheers, Tom
Ottawa

Thomas Doran Source: Clarity

Stuart was great! Clear, and very helpful based on my questions.

Greg Lepp Source: Clarity

many thanks..

Eddie Godshalk Source: Clarity

Completely useful, great insights and looking forward to working together.

Graham Campbell Source: Clarity

Good initial call.

Luke Jonas Source: Clarity

Wonderful call. Stuart provided insightful recommendations and helped me unlock some hidden truths I was struggling with about who I can empower and how. Looking forward to another call soon.

Louis Camassa Source: Clarity

Stuart was very helpful in providing a candid and balanced viewpoint on a product we're in the process of validating and shaping. Highly recommend

Marcus Taylor Source: Clarity

Very helpful

Anthony Cambece Source: Clarity

Stuart attended call on very short notice, gave good insights into launch strategies. Will definitely call back

Rajesh Podapala Source: Clarity

It was an excellent meeting, filled with valuable lessons. Thank you for your time Mr. MacDonal we appreciate it.

Abdullah Afraha Source: Clarity

Member since August 2012