You've invested in marketing and technology. Your revenue hasn't kept up.
John Kirker creates the systems that turn marketing and technology into revenue, usually years before the market catches up. He works alongside leadership teams as an outside advisor who adds to what your team already does.
“More than twenty years later, he is still one of the first calls I make.”Damian Raffele, Veterinary Pet Insurance · More client letters →
Online revenue became 40% of all new sales. VPI was later acquired by Nationwide.
Thirty years of people who still call.
Relationships that last: twenty years with one client, eighteen with another, thirty with a third.
“When I met John, our website at Veterinary Pet Insurance was bringing in about $330,000 a year. Within four years it was bringing in $16.8 million, about 40% of all new sales, for the company now known as Nationwide Pet Insurance. More than twenty years later, he is still one of the first calls I make.”
Read the full letter
I had just been hired to run internet marketing at Veterinary Pet Insurance and was introduced to John by a close friend. The year before, the VPI website had brought in about $330,000. John and his team rebuilt it from the ground up: the quote engine, the enrollment process, separate experiences for pet owners, veterinarians, and breeders.
Within four years it was bringing in $16.8 million a year and had become about 40% of all our new sales. It helped make the company profitable, and that company is known today as Nationwide Pet Insurance.
What I would want another executive to know is that John thinks about the business first and the technology second. I have worked with him for more than twenty years, and he is still one of the first calls I make.
“I started working with John in 2008, when Legacy Digital was finding customers at home shows and I drove to deliver most orders myself. He moved the business online and laid out how, and today we serve customers across North America. Since our new system went live, revenue has grown about 10% a month. What I value most is his judgment: he understands how we really work, and he has always been candid about how we can keep growing.”
Read the full letter
I have run Legacy Digital since 2001, and I know the film and tape conversion business well. We serve everyone from Hollywood executives to families who need their legacy media digitized.
I met John in 2006 through a friend, and we started working together in 2008. At the time, Legacy was finding customers at home shows and fairs. We worked mostly in Southern California, and I drove to pick up and deliver most orders myself. John moved the business online, and he laid out how: the website, the advertising, the customer tracking, and a referral program. Today I only pick up and drop off the larger orders, and we serve customers across North America and in other countries.
Over the years we have kept refining our systems and our marketing by asking questions like: Which ads actually bring in paying customers? Where do orders stall? What makes someone trust us with the only copy of their family's memories?
The system we run on today came out of those questions. Customers get an instant estimate, place an order, and follow it from the day their media leaves home to the day it comes back. I can see where every order came from and where it stands, without digging through paperwork.
Since it went live in May, revenue has grown about 10% a month, and estimates and orders are both up.
What I value most about John is his judgment. He has taken the time to understand how we really work, and he has always been candid about how we can improve the customer experience and keep growing. He has also kept up with every change in his field over the years, including the newest AI tools, and brought them into my business as they proved themselves. Each one has made my marketing dollars work harder.
“John was one of the first people I brought in when Pinch was still an idea. I knew the medicine; he knew how to size the market and reach patients, and he helped build the plan to recruit providers. He didn't tell me what I wanted to hear, and he stayed with us from launch through our seed round and beyond. The thinking he did and his contributions over the first two years still show in how we operate today.”
Read the full letter
I was referred to John when Pinch was still just an idea. I'm a surgeon. I knew the medicine, and I knew what patients wanted. What I didn't know was market size, building a go-to-market plan, or how to work with developers to get a working proof of concept off the ground. John did, so he was one of the first people I brought in.
He didn't tell me what I wanted to hear. He was skeptical at first, pressure-tested the concept with people who knew the industry, and committed only once he believed in it. Then he did the work: the market research and the financial models. Together we built the plans for reaching patients and recruiting providers. He got our first site and booking experience into the market, and he stayed with us from launch through our seed round and beyond.
Pinch is now venture-backed and operating in ten markets. A lot of people helped build that. John was there before almost any of them, and the thinking he did and his contributions over the first two years still show in how we operate today.
“John built our first website in 1996. It was the first mortgage site with direct-mail tracking that showed who was responding, which mailing produced which lead, and distributed the leads to our team. He later created the first secure online loan application tied to desktop underwriting. The industry caught up years later. Thirty years on, he is still one of the first people I call.”
Read the full letter
I met John in 1996 through a close friend and advisor, Mark Sheer. John came to work with me in the mortgage business, and I quickly learned he was also building websites for other companies, and thinking about them differently than anyone I knew. He built our first site, LoanLink.com.
At the time there were no email marketing lists. LoanLink.com was the first mortgage website tied to the PIN ID direct-mail tracking system John and Robert Stover had invented. It could tell us exactly who was visiting the site, what they were looking at, and which loan officer should get the lead. We knew which mailing had produced which lead. Later he created the first secure online loan application connected to desktop underwriting, integrated with Calyx Point. That was 1996. The rest of the industry caught up years later.
Whenever I have a question about how technology should serve a business, John is still one of the first people I call. Thirty years on, that hasn't changed.
Early, every time the technology shifted.
The web, ecommerce, mobile, social and now AI. John was working with each one before most of the market.
John invented PinID: closed-loop attribution from direct mail to web to call center. Terminix ran its lead generation on it for more than a decade.
LoanLink.com: the first mortgage website with direct-mail tracking. It later added the first online loan application tied to automated underwriting.
Rebuilt petinsurance.com with VPI's team: four enrollment portals and a new quote engine. Online sales grew to 40% of VPI's new sales.
John invested in early mobile, commerce and social startups, years before those markets went mainstream.
Created the tracking, call center and CRM software for a regional home services company. Ad spend fell 62% while leads rose 160%.
Social, CRM and marketing automation systems put to work for advisory clients.
Generative AI put to work in client businesses, first for search, keyword and competitive research.
Creating software with AI for a venture-backed startup, years before the tools went mainstream.
Rathvane: board-ready intelligence where AI does the reading and every claim is checked against its source.
Specific numbers from specific engagements.
Ad spend down 62%, leads up 160%. Acquired by a national window and door manufacturer in 2022.
Read the case studyJohn's team at Stirling Bridge and VPI's people rebuilt petinsurance.com from scratch. Online sales became 40% of all new sales at VPI, now part of Nationwide.
Read the case studyPinID is a closed-loop system that runs from direct mail to web to call center. Created in 1995, it was Terminix's lead engine for more than a decade.
Read the case studyJohn worked with Pinch's founders on product strategy, the roadmap and go-to-market before it earned its first dollar. Pinch is now expanding into new markets.
Four ways in.
Every engagement works with the team you already have.
Strategy Session
Ninety minutes on one decision, opportunity or problem, with a written summary afterward. Money-back guarantee, and the fee is credited in full toward any engagement that follows.
What to expect, and the termsRevenue Architecture Diagnostic
A diagnosis of how your strategy, technology and revenue connect, with fixes ranked by revenue impact. Credited toward a retainer if you continue within 90 days.
Advisory Retainer
I work inside the decisions that matter most, with your executive team: weekly sessions, access at inflection points and a quarterly performance analysis.
Market Entry Intelligence
For a funded startup, or an established company entering a new market or launching a product: market sizing, a customer survey, competitive analysis and a go-to-market read, with every claim checked against its source through Rathvane. Single board-level questions can be scoped on their own.
What's included, and the termsFind your growth ceiling. Ten minutes.
I read every note personally and reply within 5 business days. If there's a fit, the next step is a 90-minute diagnostic conversation at no charge.