Top 3 Market Data Needed for Business Plans
15 January 2023
Sean Howard is a creative and innovative entrepreneur based in Hamilton, Ontario. He founded Fable & Folly, the largest network of narrative fiction podcasts over a decade ago. He was frustrated with the lack of tools to help him manage and market the significant inventory of fiction podcasts he had amassed over the years, and so he developed his own tool to manage his business. Like any good entrepreneur, he saw an opportunity to extend this tool for the broader podcast market which was growing exponentially and saw many businesses struggling to scale their ad sponsorship operations.
So was born the idea for FlightPath software – a web-based software tool to help companies optimize the delivery, reporting, and sale-to-cash workflows for podcast sponsorships across platforms. This was an industry Sean understood well, but quickly scaling up a startup and selling software to large international entertainment companies was an area where Sean realized he needed some help.
“I needed to tap into the experience of people who had been here before, but I couldn’t afford high priced consultants” Sean said. “I wanted to find someone who was not in it for the money, but who genuinely cared about the success of my business. The Business Advisory Group was a perfect fit.”
The Business Advisory Group (BAG) is a collection of senior businesspeople who are looking to give back to the community in southern Ontario. They volunteer their time to provide business consultations to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses. Whether providing early startup advice to a company like Sean’s, growth advice to more mature businesses, or strategic advice to social entrepreneurs in the not-for-profit sector, BAG volunteers provide a listening board and actionable recommendations to small and mid-sized businesses looking to grow.
When Sean first contacted BAG he was looking for how to secure funds for some additional developers. But as he talked with his team of 3 BAG advisors, he discovered what he really needed was “bootstrapping advice”. Any potential funder is going to want to see a clearly defined value proposition, a clear path to revenue, and ultimately profitability. Robert, Bob and Brian from BAG challenged a number of Sean’s initial assumptions and helped him develop a much more streamlined path to a viable product. They helped him focus his messaging for both initial clients and potential funders, which has helped Sean raise significant initial funding and sign his first two lighthouse accounts. They helped him focus on the big rocks, and not get bogged down in the side shows.
“Engaging the Business Advisory Group was the single greatest decision I made in starting my enterprise SAAS startup” said Sean. “To suddenly have access to three successful, accomplished and senior leaders was nothing short of a godsend. It will be years before we can afford to have senior people like this on our team. Or so I thought. Trust me. Book a session. It’s the best ROI you will ever see.”