How To Make Word of Mouth Your Biggest Channel with Alex McClafferty | Horizons Pod cover art

How To Make Word of Mouth Your Biggest Channel with Alex McClafferty | Horizons Pod

How To Make Word of Mouth Your Biggest Channel with Alex McClafferty | Horizons Pod

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 Listen now on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple.—Alex McClafferty is a founder coach and serial entrepreneur who successfully exited to GoDaddy and previously held leadership roles at Canva, helping other founders scale without burning out.Here’s some of my takeaways from this week’s episode…1/ 🎯 Clarity Conquers All: The clearer you are on your product/service offering, the easier it is for customers to recommend you. WP Curve succeeded by being hyper-focused on a single, specific service rather than trying to be everything to everyone. Turning down enterprise clients and additional services kept the model simple and scalable.2/ 🎲 Risk Management > Revenue Chasing: Not every dollar is worth chasing. WP Curve deliberately avoided enterprise clients despite higher potential revenue because the risk profile didn't match their operational model. Focus on customers whose needs align with your core strengths.3/ 📊 Metrics Need Context: Raw numbers don't tell the full story. At Canva China, increasing feature launch rates from 45% to 90% came from understanding the organizational dynamics and finding the right leverage points (a simple checkbox in Slack) rather than just pushing harder.4/ 🔄 Accept the Sine Wave: High performers often work in cycles rather than maintaining constant output. Instead of fighting this natural rhythm, build systems that accommodate your peaks and valleys while maintaining consistent results.5/ 💪 Delegate at 80%: When handing off tasks, accept that others may only execute at 80% of your standard initially. The key is clearly documenting expectations and processes, then coaching toward improvement rather than maintaining control.6/ 🌱 Growth Through Specificity: For service businesses, narrow focus often leads to faster growth. Rather than charging flat rates, anchor pricing to measurable value (like ecommerce conversion improvements) to capture more revenue while delivering the same service.7/ 📝 "What Happens in Vagueness Stays in Vagueness": Unclear expectations lead to unclear results. Success in delegation requires crystal clear documentation of processes, expectations, and what "good" looks like.8/ 💰 Money Doesn't Change Everything: Financial success rarely delivers the emotional satisfaction founders expect. Focus on building something meaningful rather than chasing exits, as the internal validation you seek won't come from external success.—Where to find Alex McClafferty:* Alex's newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/founder-notes-7317123150717112321/* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-mcclafferty/—In this episode, we cover:00:00 Introduction and Early Success with WP Curve 03:04 The RESCUE Framework and Business Focus 05:37 Building WP Curve from Gmail to Acquisition 08:10 Turning Around Canva China 14:04 Physical Proximity in Leadership 15:51 Product Growth Strategy in China 27:11 Growth Teams and Product Development 31:05 Coaching Experience and Acquisition Stories 37:19 Leadership and Delegation Challenges 46:14 WordPress Market and Technology Evolution 54:52 Founder Psychology and Burnout 58:46 Quality Control and Team Development 1:05:38 Future of WordPress and AI 1:08:04 Money, Success and Personal Growth—Obligatory disclaimer: I've worked at YouTube and Google for about a decade in various marketing teams. Nothing I say in my personal spaces is necessarily endorsed by them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit horizonspod.substack.com
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