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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?

$5.83/min

130

130 Calls

70 Reviews

36 minutes
Avg. call

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

Call me to talk about

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

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

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 70

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

When is it better to find a technical co-founder before developing an MVP vs. hiring a freelancer to build it for you, and vice-versa?

I push back on the premise of the question.

Before you look to find a co-founder or spend a cent on building something, make sure you've thought your idea through. Who are you for? What's the problem you solve? Are you clear on the insight you are working against and the positioning you will use when you bring the product to market? Many of the problems I end up working with founding teams on down the road can actually be traced to them having started out building something and then trying to figure out how to sell it, rather than starting with the need and a clear view of their prospective customer.

Spend your time and money there, first.

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MVP

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

What are the most important metrics early on for a B2B SaaS startup?

1) Site visitors (they can't try if they don't come)
2) Trials as a percentage of visitors (they can't buy if they don't try)
3) Purchases as a percentage of trials (if they don't buy, nothing matters)
4) Other engagement metrics like growth in positive social proof, repeat visits, newsletter signups etc. are fine but the first three are what really matter in early days.

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Start-ups

Reviews

Stuart provided excellent insight as well as some very valuable strategic advice on our start-up. Very easy to talk to and immediately understood our project. Highly recommended.

Matthew Gibbs Source: Clarity

Call went so well I booked a second one immediately after the first.

Jon Briggs Source: Clarity

This was my second call with "uncle Stu". His advice was just that of a wise sage who tells you exactly what you need to hear!

Paul Shantz Source: Clarity

In a word "Awesome". Stuart does a really good job of listening and trying to get to the heart of whatever you're trying to work on. He's very professional and responsive and of course he has the skills and background of a lifetime entrepreneur so the advice he gives is invaluable. I will certainly schedule him again and you should too!

Paul Shantz Source: Clarity

Stuart was great! He was straight to the point and gave me a push in the right direction! Highly recommended!

Sean Lamba Source: Clarity

Stuart advice helped my start up to re think about the positioning and focus, something hard to do in a dynamic startup enviornment.

Sahan H Source: Clarity

Stuart provided great value for me and I will setup another time to speak with him to review my progress.....

Emanuel Rose Source: Clarity

A+++

Barry Rabkin Source: Clarity

Great Call!

Jordan Schiller Source: Clarity

Stuart was excellent to visit with. An abundance of knowledge, and easy and friendly to talk with.

Tim Beason Source: Clarity

I had a very productive call. Stuart provided me clear insights about the question I had and as a good advisor pointed a bunch of risks that I and my team have to address. Wonderful talk!

Basil Kamyshanov Source: Clarity

Member since August 2012