You've invested in marketing and technology. Your revenue hasn't kept up.
Your company grew and evolved over time. Some of the moves were planned. Other times you were building the plane while it was in the air, patching things as you went to keep clients happy. That leaves gaps between marketing, technology and the sales process, and when you're in the business you don't notice them. That's what I look for, with your team, so the company runs more profitably.
The fit is a company doing $10M to $100M, working directly with the CEO, alongside the leadership team you already have.
“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.
How the $3B+ adds up: Terminix alone accounts for more than $500 million, estimated from one campaign's own tracking, and that's only the part on record. The rest is VPI, MortgageSites, Legacy Digital, a Southern California window and door manufacturer, and the many companies that ran on PinID. An estimate, not an audit.
Thirty years of people who still call.
My clients have always found me through relationships. Why do they stay? Because I care. I spend their money like it's my own. I save where I can, and I help them grow. And I'm competitive, so I help them position and outwit their competitors.
“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.”
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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.”
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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, 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.”
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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.”
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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.
Specific numbers from specific engagements.
What the company had, what I did, and what happened. "Attributed" means the number comes from tracking built into the work, not from a survey or a model.
The problem. Legacy Digital converts film, tape and photos for everyone from studios to families. It had grown online for years, but orders still ran on paperwork, and it was hard to see where each one came from or where it stood.
What I did. Designed the system the business runs on now: an instant estimate, online ordering, tracking for every order from the day it leaves home to the day it comes back, and attribution on every ad, with AI tools brought into the marketing as they proved themselves.
What happened. After launch, revenue grew about 10% a month, 42% in the first four months, with estimates and orders both up. We've worked together since 2008.
The problem. In 2008, with the housing market pulling back, a Southern California manufacturer and installer of vinyl windows and doors was spending $160,000 a month on advertising and hemorrhaging cash, and they had no idea what was working, what wasn't, or what they should be doing differently. It put the company in a precarious position at the worst possible time.
What I did. Set up full tracking and attribution systems for every advertising and revenue source, so for the first time they could see what each dollar brought back, then moved the money from what wasn't working to what was, and cut spend at the same time. Then the rest of the revenue operation: revamped the call center and wrote the scripts, wrote the lead tracking and distribution CRM the company still runs on, followed every lead to a client and every client to a referral, changed the offers, and found new places to advertise.
What happened. Ad spend fell 62% while leads rose 160%, conversion rose 20% and the average sale grew 20%. That was the residential side, and it steadied the company. The growth to nearly $100 million came later, on a national dealer network the company built itself, and a national manufacturer bought it in 2022. Eighteen years on, we still work together.
Read the case studyThe request. A heat map: enter a zip code, see where termites were being reported. Easy.
What I did. Asked whether they had a database of homeowners in those areas. They did. So we mailed everyone around a reported street with a free inspection offer, knew who they were when they came to the site, and when a visitor didn't request an inspection, had a call center follow up.
What happened. A national campaign that ran well over a decade, with more than $500 million in revenue attributed to it.
Read the case studyThe problem. Veterinary Pet Insurance's website brought in $330,000 a year from 1,355 applications, and it wasn't very good.
What I did. Put a bid together, and with VPI's team rebuilt it: separate front doors for pet owners, policyholders, vets and breeders, a quote engine, enrollment, payments and automatic renewals with card-expiry alerts, and systems to keep customers after the sale.
What happened. $16.8 million a year online within four years, 40% of all new sales. VPI is Nationwide Pet Insurance now.
Read the case studyThe ask. Jacob, a surgeon, had an idea, a friend who could build the site, and the rest still to work out.
What I did. Pushed back first, and pressure-tested the concept with people who knew the industry. Then the market research, the financial models, and the plans for reaching patients and recruiting providers.
What happened. Pinch is venture-backed and operating in ten markets.
Four ways in.
Each step has one purpose. The first is free and decides whether there's an engagement at all. The rest are for a decision, a diagnosis, or the years after.
Fit conversation
You describe the situation, I ask questions, and we decide together whether there's a worthwhile engagement. If there isn't, I'll say so.
Strategy Session
One defined decision, a private working session, and a written recommendation within three business days. Money-back guarantee; the fee is credited in full toward any engagement that follows.
What to expect, and the termsRevenue Architecture Diagnostic
Thirty days inside the business: a prioritized assessment of where marketing, technology and the sales process stop working together, with the estimated impact, an owner and a next action for each fix. Credited toward a retainer if you continue within 90 days.
Advisory Retainer
Helping leadership carry the plan into decisions and execution: weekly sessions, access at inflection points and a quarterly look at whether the numbers moved.
Market Entry Intelligence
For a funded startup, or an established company entering a new market or launching a product. Two packages: a Market Read from $12,500, or the full Market Entry Plan from $25,000 with a fielded customer survey and the go-to-market plan. Every claim checked against its source through Rathvane.
What's included, and the termsTell me where growth stalls. Ten minutes to describe it.
What are you doing now? What have you tried? What were the results? Why?
I read every note personally and reply within five business days with a time for the fit conversation, or a straight answer that I'm not the right person. I'd rather not take your money just to take it.