Testimonials

“As someone who’s spent the last decade framing ideas (as PM), I learned a masterclass from Wes Kao. We had a decent pitch deck and raised money. However, after Wes shared feedback on the deck yesterday, I wish we had talked sooner. I learned how nuanced changes in framing, visual, and word choices make the story 10x smoother and more powerful. More importantly, Wes is great at attributing those decisions to a simple set of principles. If you need to pitch or market something, don’t miss working with Wes.”

“Most people speak without too much thought, which often forces leaders to undo damage, backtrack, and clear up miscommunication. This is why I’m so thankful to have worked with Wes. She helped me be more intentional with my storytelling and transformed how I structure my communication. From team meetings to strategy proposals to giving feedback to my direct reports, I now have the tools to choose my words deliberately and craft my narrative. Her coaching didn’t just improve my storytelling - it expanded my leadership.”

“Our product is a highly technical, R&D-driven offering involving a multidisciplinary team (doctors, engineers, sales people, game designers).

We were so focused on solving the technical challenges that we lost why customers would get excited about our technology in the first place.

Wes helped sharpen our go-to-market and product launch strategy. She helped us articulate what we do and why it matters. This led to more clarity and less wasted effort across the business. Faster, more incisive decisions about what to do and what not to do. And more importantly, our entire team felt re-energized.

Most consultants think about only one area, but Wes keeps all our variables in mind. She helped us get creative without forgetting that we have business and technical realities.

Nothing can light up an executive’s mind like working with Wes. If you’re considering working with her, definitely do it. Especially if you’re at the point where you need to define your product to the outside world. Do the groundwork and when you’re ready to go to market, go to Wes.”

“Wes was phenomenal at helping us with our product launch and rollout. Launches will always be a scramble in some sense, but she is a freaking godsend. I appreciate her. Wes helped our team to step back and really think about what direction we should be heading in. Because of her thoughtful approach re: strategy and systems, we saved months from running around in circles. We were all able to confidently drive towards the same goal and grow our brand.”

“I started working with Wes for 1:1 executive coaching when I was promoted to CIO. Over the course of the year, I’ve become more confident operating at a higher level and engaging with other leaders in the executive. Wes brings a targeted, specific perspective to our sessions. She thinks deeply about what I’m trying to achieve and comes up with concrete suggestions that I am able to immediately apply to my work. Her suggestions work—and I have the results from happy stakeholders to prove it. I’ve learned how to assert a stance and lead people to where I think we should go. I’m less risk averse. There are things Wes taught me that I do regularly and have become muscle memory. She prompts me to record 3 takeaways at the end of each session, I now have a note file of lessons and insights that I review regularly and especially when I’m in need of inspiration. Wes is brilliant— it’s been highly valuable to work with someone that brings such a wide range of experiences, perspectives and passion to each session and I look forward to working with her again.”

“We hired Wes to build the messaging strategy and roadmap for two of our new brands. These brands were new waters and new territory for all of us, but they were crucial and we planned to invest heavily in these product lines.

Wes was able to take our vision of where we wanted to go, the assets we had, and the areas that we want to play. Then she helped figure out how we should position ourselves: how we should sound, what we should talk about on social channels, how we should look—all that and more. She really helped define and put a plan in place that was easy for our team to execute.

The result was stronger implementation across our channels, email marketing, website, and packaging.

And the best part: it wasn’t just “strategy” which then disappeared into the universe. She never left us hanging. She delivered actionable assets that we continue to use as guides and tools ongoing.”

“Wes delivered an excellent, extremely well-rated workshop on our largest stage. We were thrilled to have her as part of our Startupfest 2019 speaker lineup!

There was a thunderstorm and pouring rain that day, but the crowd lined up out the door waiting for her session. Wes’ talk was packed and the audience was engaged throughout. The feedback entirely positive, without exception, which is rare!

She’s great to work with too. She was conscientious and communicative. As an event organizer, I promise, that’s huge. As much as a good talk.

If you’re looking for a speaker who can bring energy and an interactive talk to your event, I highly recommend Wes. She’s 100% worth it—I look forward to working with her in the future.”

“Wes is a genius when it comes to crafting messaging and targeted stories. Her strategy in marketing and honing in on impact are second to none. I trust her immensely.”

“Wes is one of the few marketers I have met who has the mind of an engineer (and believe me – I have met many people in my time at Mozilla, Google, SU Ventures and beyond). She is logical, systematic, and brings rigor to a topic that is sometimes seen as fuzzy. I would hire her in about 1/10th of a millisecond. Seriously.”

“Wes opened my eyes to the idea that a negotiation doesn’t have to be a battle of logic. Initially, I was worried about what I should say and nervous about getting thrown off. Now, I can stay present in the conversation and still get my point across–even without notes. Wes is very good at what she does. She knows her field inside and out, and understands the complexities of difficult conversations when the stakes are real. When you have an important conversation you need to get right, Wes should be your go-to.”

“As a technical founder, I was initially skeptical of marketing. Wes helped us see that a great product isn’t enough. We needed a clear story to help customers and investors understand our technology. If you need clear messaging about why your product matters, you need to work with Wes.”

“Wes managed to get to the essence of my dilemma so I could make a smart decision for what was best for my company. It was extremely helpful to hear what my blind spots were in terms of marketing fundamentals. In combination with her concrete suggestions, it helped me to build a new mental model for how my team will approach marketing.”

“Wes is a true industry leader. With passion and deliberate decision-making, she propelled our marketing strategy to new limits. She inspired us to challenge norms, yet remained conscious of industry trends.”

“Wes helped me brainstorm new and creative ways of accomplishing my goal that I would never have come up with on my own. The result? We came up with a great strategy for making the podcast a more interactive experience and the project was a huge success. People who need to think in creative, focused ways about how to achieve their goals, specifically in marketing and in strategic planning, would benefit from working with Wes.”

“Wes offers a focused, practical perspective on how to position your product. She takes the black magic out of growth, so you skip past the hype and cut straight to what works.”

“I reached out to Wes because we needed consumer-facing language for our new product.

Before Wes came in, it took too long to explain what our product did, and it sounded complicated and boring. We had a great product but didn’t know where we fit in the market.

We needed to define our story and boil down why we matter. Wes helped us shape the idea from raw content. She led us to simple, powerful options for how to tell our story and validate customer adoption.

We used to feel anxious about succinctly describing what we were doing internally and externally. Now it’s a pleasure to talk about, and the whole team is confident and focused on our shared mission.

This has fueled our pitches, go-to-market strategy, channel marketing, and business development efforts. Wes’ superpower is distilling complex offerings into targeted, memorable messaging that drives excitement. If we had brought her on earlier, we might be even further along.

Wes has made a huge difference in the way we do our work. Because of our sessions in the past 6 months, we sent our product narrative to our PR team. They used 90% of what my team drafted based on our sessions with Wes. Without Wes’ guidance, it would have taken us 10x longer.

Another example: A team of brand consultants did an exercise to try to prove that our launch team wasn’t aligned on product positioning. They said, ‘Everyone write down what your product does and why it matters to customers.’ To their surprise, everyone wrote down the same story! This was significant and I felt proud. It was because of our work with Wes that our team was aligned on tight, clear, memorable positioning.”

“When I first heard of Wes, I had the wrong impression that she was like an agency–that she would tell us ‘do this’ or ‘don’t do that.’ We’ve had that before and it didn’t work. The agency didn’t know our business like we know our business. Instead, Wes taught us how to think, and it was up to us to fill in the blanks. Wes had a completely different approach that was a more long-term way to handle our marketing and product launch needs ongoing. If we had her knowledge a year ago, we would have saved a lot of time and money. My only regret is I wish we had worked with her sooner.”

“I took lots of notes during Wes’ session because it was extremely valuable. I have been applying what I’ve learned from her, and I’m constantly positively surprised by the results. My team members (young and old) now have a much clearer picture of how to talk to customers and the media about our business and technology.”

“I was uncertain if working with Wes made sense for me, being that I have a full-time employer and a job that I love, in addition to my nascent online presence. But I realized a positive return on investment before our first real call thanks to her thorough and uniquely tailored prework. That alone was worth the price of admission.”

“Wes is one of the best I’ve ever worked with. I love how her brain works. She helped get our [supernatural] launch to a really good place.”

“I thought I knew marketing–until Wes started talking. I have never taken notes faster in my life and wish the session was recorded. Mind blown.”

“Wes has a brilliant mind! I wanted an outsider to bring in perspectives I wasn’t able to see myself. Not having come from a marketing background, I didn’t truly appreciate what marketing meant for my product until working with Wes.

The most valuable part was she brought in examples from other industries, which were surprising and insightful. I learned a tremendous amount from her analysis and case studies on how other brands positioned themselves to stand out, despite having similar formulas as other brands.

We zoned in on one functional area for a fairly broad product - going from super herb infusion targeting different functional areas to a mental focus product. Even though this wasn’t the direction we ended up going with, having Wes’ guidance with designing customer interviews and analyzing the industry helped with the final positioning—and helped me make branding decisions faster.”

“If you’re thinking about working with Wes, don’t hesitate. Hire her. Our consulting call was eye-opening, and I left with five pages of notes and actionable ideas to improve our online course operation—from acquisition to retention and brand. Highly recommended.”

“When our team was looking for a marketing expert for our upcoming product launch, Wes was the clear choice. We operate in a highly-regulated industry, and we needed someone who would avoid shortcuts that might damage our brand. Our launch team had a mix of 20 coordinators, managers, and senior leadership across four departments, and Wes’ powerful stories, exercises, frameworks, and analogies helped everyone get on the same page. The workshop was extraordinarily powerful and I highly recommend it.”

“Wes was a true thought partner for myself and my executive team in determining the strategy and tactics for launching our flagship Prof G Strategy Sprint.

She helped us design and deliver a low cost way to see if the product works and had value. This was valuable because it allowed us to see what offerings had growth potential before going all in.

After designing the product, Wes helped us find product-market fit in half the time and half the cost. And it’s a genuine product-market fit that’s meaningful and sustainable—not just ‘people will buy.’ But rather, ‘people will buy, buy again, renew, and tell their friends.’ It’s a long-lasting, true fit that improves your NPS score and creates fans.

Wes thinks and acts like a CEO. She makes sure all the elements are working and helped us build a stronger business in only months.

We were able to hold off on building needlessly, because she would point out ‘This is a lower overhead way to validate this concept.’ She helped get us to good decisions without rounding out edges. There were no compromised decisions. Just a high level of buy-in across the team. Team members were more bought-in and more excited, which led to better execution.”