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Business Development, Sales Alex Batdorf Business Development, Sales Alex Batdorf

How to Scale a 7-Figure Service Business & Fund a FinTech Company with Sophia Contreras Stone

Learn from Sophia Contreras Stone, founder of Indie Tech.

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"Entrepreneur is a synonym for salesperson and salesperson is the pedestrian term for storyteller." Scott Galloway


The startup ecosystem does not value service businesses enough. We love to hype up tech but here's the thing... Some of the best scalable businesses started out as services (think Mailchimp) Here's why - services businesses are innovation R&D labs giving you blueprints for scale.  

However, there's an art to learning what to lean into, and a part of that comes from mastering sales. This is where service companies have the upper hand over their pure tech counterparts.

Ready to learn how to master sales in way that doesn't feel icky?

What we'll brief you on:

  • How she built out her services company.

  • How she leaned into what was working to scale the services business to 6-figures then to 7-figures.

  • How mastering enterprise sales helped her make this move and a masterclass in how you can do it too.

  • How to build confidence in selling so you can slay your way to sales.

  • How she used the revenues from her service-based business to fund her fintech company.

HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING:  How Service Based Companies Can Scale & Mastering Sales

Founder: Sophia Contreras Stone | Company: Indie Tech | Location: Toronto, ON


Receipts before Indie Tech


"I grew up hella poor." Sophia started 2 years in community college and took out $100k in student loans to finish university abroad. Despite years of experience, she was only able to snag a sales job making $1700/month (before taxes!) and eating a slice of pizza for lunch and dinner. If you’ve ever been broke, you already know what’s up. My broke meals were PB&J or Ramen (with allll the spices) and lowkey... Today, I sometimes buy them as a comforting homage to the girl who got me here. What's your broke meal? Sophia later moved on from pizza slices into banking because that’s where serious cash was at. Little did she know, her selling prowess + insider knowledge of banking became a recipe for a dope-ass business.


Problem-solving

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably consulted at some point. Most founders have. That’s how I stacked a cool 5-figures to launch Get Sh!t Done. Sophia realized that there was too much red tape making it damn near impossible for consultants to work in a meaningful way with banks. Deals weren’t going to vendors who were the best. Instead, banks relied on the same pre-existing relationships (hmmmmmm... sound familiar?) Sophia quickly learned banks did not have systems in place to actively participate in the burgeoning gig economy. Meaning, they were missing out on 55 million opportunities to find the best folks to work with. That’s 34% of the workforce.

Solution


Initially, she offered a services company that acted as a "cooperative of independent consultants." This got the company to 6-figures but to scale, she knew that they had to remove the manual components. They evolved to a service vendor management system backed by AI to help banks go from simply finding commodified labor without the right expertise to a curated system that managed relationships from start to finish. She walks through her journey here.

Growing services Businesses to 6-figures


Did you know that 20% of Latin-owned businesses are in services? That’s exactly where Sophia got her start. Instead of obsessing over scale, she did a lot of shit that didn’t scale to learn what could. (Do things that don’t scale should be your motto pre-6-figures) However, to prevent herself from getting stuck in the weeds, Sophia methodically documented errythang! By talking to customers often, she identified key pain points that hadn’t been solved by the market that Indie Tech was uniquely positioned to solve. This is where service companies have a leg up. The one-on-one nature of the business gives you so much intel early on, whereas some tech companies fall short because they hide behind product and build blindly. If you ain’t talkin’ to your customers regularly, you’re wasting innovation.Get Sophia’s process here.

How Mastering Enterprise Sales moved her from 6-figures to 7-figures...


Relationships, not Transactions. Put it on a shirt! Sophia learned that the best sales technique was building relationships. Being human is the first step to mastering sales This is why she doesn’t even believe in sales titles. Sophia basically gives you a mini masterclass on sales by breaking down how to learn the dynamics of an organization, learn who is who, what questions to ask, how to get them to work together, how to secure SOW’s (Statement of Work) and MSA’s (Master Service Agreements). Have you ever heard of the 3-legged stool? You gon’ learn today! This is major for enterprise sales. Get the mini sales masterclass here.


How to Build Confidence in Founder Sales


"You need to know that you’re the shit and your product is the shit" Sophia did not come to play! She reminds us that deference is not helping you and quite frankly, we gotta stop telling women to be humble. It's the system's way of saying - stay small. Hard pass. Give yourself all the flowers Sophia teaches you how she musters the courage and confidence to get in front of top executives and treasurers of banks. In the meantime, if you ever need a little reminder that you are the mothaf***in sh!t, you can borrow my hype song. Seriously - you’re welcome ;)

How to move from 7-figures to scale....


Sophia walks through how the services business allowed her to understand what they could patent and sell for scale - a supplier risk system that helps companies manage their supply chain. And guess what - she didn’t have to wait on a check from an investor to fund it because her investor was the service-based business. Check and mate Learn how Sophia made money moves by her damn self.


How You Can Support Sophia?


Sophia’s call to action - stop competing and start sponsoring each other. For her - collective impact starts at a community level. She wouldn't have been able to break barriers into businesses without her sponsors. We couldn’t agree more <3

SALES MOVES: Securing the REAL Bag

How to Acquire 150k Users Using TikTok for B2B & B2C

Did you know that TikTok had MORE traffic in 2021 than Google? Real talk - we're kind of here for it and more importantly, here for learning how to optimize the platform to drive sales. Check out how to drive sales via TikTok and how to get started below...


Here are some tools that will help you sell NOT die <3

  • Learn More About the 3-Legged Stool to secure the sale.

  • Wanna practice building Confidence in Sales. Check this out.

  • What should you sell? Data, not drama! Michelle breaks down how she scaled a multi-million dollar business in 3 years that's profitable by learning what to lean into and sell by listening to the data. Learn how to use her frameworks to lean into what you can sell.

  • Selling > Fundraising: Last week, Heather broke down how she was able to scale her company to profitability by focusing on sales that would later help her raise $3M from a place of opportunity later. Learn how she did it.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

Explore community membership here.


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Funding, Business Development Alex Batdorf Funding, Business Development Alex Batdorf

How to Raise $11M in 16 Months Post-Launch through Community with Betsy Fore, Tiny Organics

Learn how raise capital and build community with Betsy Fore.

You're viewing an archive of Get Sh!t Done Weekly Email Traction Briefings. Join free to receive your weekly 5-minute growth playbooks & grow alongside thousands of entrepreneurs

We’re bringing your very first Get Sh!t Done Traction Briefing - your weekly skimmable deep dive into specific tried & true traction strategies, tactics, tools, and templates used by women founders who have successfully scaled.

There's so much shit you have to figure out as an entrepreneur and so little time. We want this to be the one email you get that helps you figure it out and get it done.


Ready for your first Traction Briefing?

Founder: Betsy Fore | Company: Tiny Organics | Location: Chicago, IL

Dayyuuummm, girl! That's exactly how I felt when Betsy Fore, founder of Tiny Organics told me how quickly she was able to raise $11 Million in 16 months after launching!

Raising money is hella hard.

Raising a Series A is even HARDER, especially since many women founders don't make it past seed. Actually... who are we kidding? Women founders on the VC-track are barely getting pre-seed and seed funds.

My girl Betsy not only did it but is the first Indigenous woman EVER to raise Series A.


Problem

Only 10% of children are getting the recommended veggie servings per day and the majority of that is through French fries. Only 12% of American adults are metabolically healthy while 50% of adults are considered sick. I don't know about you but I'm jetting to the store to grab more veggies. BRB.


Solution

Baby and toddler meals created by Baby Nutritionists with fresh, nutrient-rich, &  palette expanding recipes. Seriously - we're kind of jealous of the babies ;)

From the Reservation to Toy Inventor to 100 Million Users w/ the founder of the Calm App to Wearables for Dogs.


Betsy had NO background in food. She actually got her start as a toy inventor. She's basically the Indigenous Thomas Edison. She then helped the founder of Calm grow his previous venture to 100 million users before building her first company, WonderfWoof to create wearables for dogs. She launched that company with a $50k grant then it was acquired 8 years later. Here's WHY this matters - like the founder of Calm - founders who raise a butt load of money quickly AND early, typically check one or more of these boxes: has a previous exit, grew another startup, employee #X at a high growth company (think of Paypal Mafia), trust fund (this is actually less likely contrary to popular belief), etc. Here's the thing - institutional investors are trying to derisk the investment as much as possible because early-stage companies are inherently risky. If you have no prior experience that signals you can be successful - you're probably not getting that much money that fast UNLESS you have TRACTION. The GREAT news is that Betsy breaks down how she launched both of her companies without funding initially from grants to personal funds.  

Who You Know Matters.


We gotta start being real about startup success. Who you know matters. PERIOD. It's really annoying to make it seem like a founder with a Harvard network was scrappier than the state school kid. Nah. The quicker you can fill degrees of separation, the easier it is to get things done. Betsy identifies the #1 ways to build meaningful relationships - telling your story. But what if you don't have the network? Learn how Betsy broke down network barriers to form relationships with the founder of Calm, founder of Build-a-Bear, etc.

Growing 500% post-launch


We've said it before - traction makes everything else irrelevant. There's no silver bullet to growth. Instead, there's a series of experiments that teach you what to lean into for growth. Betsy made community core from the beginning and experimented products with 100 families prior to launching. This led to co-creating what the market wanted and building in customers who boosted the brand to drive 500% YOY growth post-launch. With those numbers, investors will flock to you. Learn how Betsy ran experiments with her community.


Community is Key to Organic Growth & Product Market Love <3


Her focus on community organically grew the company into a multi-million dollar empire in less than 2 years (pre-funding) That initial test with 100 families not only drove revenues but also partnerships. Communities are powerful marketing engines! Each community member is a walking build board when you are solving a need and serving them with care.  This landed her partnerships with Michelle Obama's organization and landed her on Oprah's Favorite Things. Judith also breaks down how creating product market love helped her raise $130M. I think they're on to something ;) Learn how to leverage community to grow organically and build lovable products.

Pathways for Indigenous Founders.


We truly believe women are major to scaling impact and Betsy is living proof of not just growing for growth's sake to get "unicorn" status but rather growing for impact and lifting as you rise. In just 2 years of being in business, Besty and 2 other Indigenous queens are funding other Indigenous founders because true queens create more crowns. Follow her for updates.

Final Take - Community is the New Moat


Let's be clear - randomly starting a Facebook, Slack,or Discord group that no one asked you for is not the business! Community is all about intention and it's hella work. If you're like me (when I actually had a Facebook) you get invited to so many groups and side-eye because 90% aren't adding value. If you feel community is the way to go, get the full breakdown below. We've also listed Traction Tools below to help you build community with intention.

TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Here are some tools that will help you grow with community.

Community Growth Myths: Hint: Communities do not run themselves.  

  • "Call your girlfriend Customer" (Robyn voice) Too often, founders build without checking in with their customers consistently. When was the last time you spoke to your customer? If you had to think about it, you're not talking to them enough. Put together a list of 5-10 of your top customers and reach out to them to schedule quick 15-min calls to get feedback. Here are some questions to ask and here are some incentives you can offer.TIP: Consumers lie to themselves often. This is why sending surveys don't always get to the heart of their needs. So start dialing!

  • How to Become a Better Listener - before you get on the phone, you'll need to listen better instead of searching for what you think is the answer. Learn how.

MONEY MOVES: State of Funding

Why Women STILL ain't getting the bag: "VCs are more comfortable hosting events dedicated to helping underrepresented founders than actually funding them... Instead of writing checks, investors engage in so-called virtue signaling, observed these frustrated entrepreneurs." Among many other reasons. Investors - stop wasting founders' goddam time. We need transparency. Be honest about where you stand and give feedback when you can. Don't be a f**k boy/girl/person. Women Founders - Focus on building traction instead of waiting on a check. Your best investor will ALWAYS be your customer.

  • Where Women Founders are Gaining Ground in VC: This is a dope interactive article that shows you what cities and verticals are picking up steam

  • Learn How to Fundraise from Outreach to Closing Checks here.

  • Turn an Investor "No" into a Yes: Yep. It's possible and necessary for you to protect your time. Learn how.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT & OTHER TRACTION TIPS....

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

Explore community membership here.


GET YOUR WEEKLY 5-MIN TRACTION BRIEFINGS SO YOU CAN GROW

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