E99: Scaling up to a big exit with Alex McClafferty

We’re excited to announce that SEOMonitor has partnered with UGURUS as a sponsor of our show.

Unlimited WordPress tasks for digital agencies at a fixed monthly cost with UnlimitedWP, get 25% your first month with code “das2020” (sponsored).

Alex McClafferty coaches founders of SaaS and productized service companies. In 2013, he co-founded WP Curve, a 24/7 WordPress support service.

In 2016, WP Curve was acquired by GoDaddy, with Alex staying on to grow the business until 2018.

Alex fell into coaching entrepreneurs while he was on the GoDaddy team. He found that the more he helped others, the more doors have opened for him.

Episode highlights:

• The reason for the creation of WP Curve, its history, and the types of services the company provided.
• The pace change by the acquisition transition into GoDaddy.
• The typical wordpress and update requests over the course of a day.
• Why the value proposition affects the process on what is being delivered.
• The process of improvement in WP Curve and in GoDaddy and who was in charge of the different processes.
• The escalation between Alex and his chief product officer and what he learned from that conflict.
• The transition from Godaddy to productize.co and the role Alex plays.
• How productize.co helps people productize their services.
• What process Alex does to get people focused, on track, and to solving their problems.
• Tips on asking clients the “right” questions.
• Tips and approaches on advertising services.
• Best advice he’s ever received: “Are you building cashflow or are you building an asset?”
• Habit that contributes to success: Drive. (Be driven)
• Recommended book: Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
• Recommended tool: AirBnb and Superhost

Links:

• Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
• AirBnb
• Superhost
• Productize.co
• [email protected]

Quotes:

• “We needed to figure out how to scale in a nonlinear way.”
• “Getting back to the throughput was really getting very simple and very clear as to what the value prop was and making sure that we could deliver it really, really quickly.”
• “A huge cause of customer frustration is when expectations are poorly set.”
• “We did the bare minimum as far as processes went until it broke.”
• “If you don’t have volume like coming through and breaking that process, then you don’t really have a problem to solve.”
• “I just enjoy getting on the phone with founders and helping them solve their problems.”
• “I think simplicity is probably the lead issue that I solve for people.”
• “As entrepreneurs we want to push more and more and get bigger and bigger and better and better and that can get in the way of having a really good relationship.”

Takeaways:

• Suspend judgment to help the client focus on the outcome.
• Be very clear on expectations for setting a solid and thorough consultation.
• Be able to show proof from experiences and stories that will help the client consider the option.
• Make sure you have a clear value prop that’s in line with what you’re delivering.
• Make sure you’re not undercharging! Focus your pricing and value and not cost basis.