I help you do research right and become a more customer-centric marketer | 🇺🇦 🇨🇦

🤔 Making decisions based on gut rather than data? 
😕 Marketing efforts not giving you the ROI you’d hoped for? 
🤪 Trying to do your own customer research and feeling out of your element? 

Ask any successful marketer and they’ll tell you the key to growth is to know your customers. But from there the advice gets a little…well, fluffy.

I share tactical, no-fluff tips on how to do customer research right, so you can: 

- Uncover customer truths 💡
- Optimize your marketing and content ⚙️
- Drive business growth 📈

I have 13 years’ experience in market research and marketing roles, across industries and customer segments. I’m a big believer in no-BS marketing and love sharing actionable advice on how to do research right so you can quit winging it and start winning! 🚀

Bianca Johnston 🔮✨

Ex-VC of early stage startups. Then founded FounderProject, a venture fund run by students investing in student startups. 

The problem? The fund didn’t materialize as I’d hoped, and that hit hard. 

Yet, amidst the disappointment there was real impact. Hundreds of startups took flight, thousands of startup jobs were created, and the VC world took notice.

It became clear to me: while the right funding matters, the right talent can make or break a startup. That insight led me to create StackedSP, a talent firm for venture backed startups.

Fast forward a decade, StackedSP has helped founders and their startups hire thousands - from founding employees, to leaders. Today, those startups are industry leaders and have raised billions from top investors.

But it's not just about the hires. I actively invest in tech startups, and am a limited partner in venture funds. And, building community is crucial. 

Enter Unstacked Startups – a hub for startup founders and talent. There's a podcast, live events, and a newsletter called FounderMail.

My mission? Empower founders, and startups to build a better future.

Ilan Saks

One of the privileges of running a talent firm focused on venture-backed startups is that you sit at an interesting intersection.

You talk to founders about who they need. You talk to investors about what they're funding. You talk to operators about where they want to go next.

This week we brought 15 of those people into a room together.

No decks or agendas. Just drinks and honest conversation about what's actually working, especially around AI.

What stood out: the knowledge wasn't siloed. Someone shared their AI stack. Someone else asked how they set it up. 20 minutes later they're huddled in a corner still going.

That's the thing about small rooms with the right people, the learning compounds in ways that don't happen at big events with name tags.

This is what Unstacked Startups is becoming: a community where founders, investors, and the best talent in tech actually know each other.

Not through LinkedIn. Through rooms like this.

DM me if you want in.

Unstacked Startups & StackedSP | Backing founders & helping them hire elite talent ⚡

"I want to be one of the first two calls when the CEO is facing a hard moment."
- Chris Arsenault, Co-Founder of Inovia Capital

This is what true partnership looks like.

Not quarterly board meetings, or strategic advice when things are going well.

But being the person founders call when:
- They just lost their biggest customer
- There's a co-founder conflict
- An acquisition offer is on the table
- They need to soundboard in real-time

Chris measures success by this metric, and founders who have someone like this in their corner are miles ahead.

Throwback to the full episode with Chris on Optionality, AI, and Talent: https://lnkd.in/d9-fgrZh

What's the hard moment where you'd want someone in your corner?

"If you're hiring a VP of Engineering or CTO, what makes them valuable?"

Khang Tran's answer surprised me.

Khang built engineering teams at Uber, scaled teams at Sonder and HipCamp, and continues to build Eng teams at top startups.

His take on what separates great engineering leaders:

"It's not that they can code really well. It's not that they're really great at architecture."

"It's really about: can this person build a great team"

He breaks it down: 

- Do you know how to hire? 
- Can you close the candidates you want? 
- Can you do tons of interviews and spot the best? 
- Can you make the hard calls when someone isn't working out? 
- Can you build culture and figure out comp?

Technical brilliance and team-building are different muscles.

I've seen 10x engineers struggle to build a team of 3.

And I've seen leaders who haven’t coded much in years build high-performing eng teams.

The best do both. But if I had to pick one for a leadership role? I'm betting on the builder.

🎬 Hit play, Khang explains it better than I can.

#UnstackedPod #StackedSP #EngineeringLeadership

Stop hiring specialists.

That's the counterintuitive advice from Andy Sen, CTO of unicorn AppDirect, who's spent years scaling engineering teams globally.

He's seeing something shift in real-time:

"AI is bringing about a resurgence of generalists. We're already at the point where somebody who's not a specialist, using an AI tool, can design something, build it, and have a finished product out there."

The old model: 5 specialists on one team.
The new model: 5 teams of generalists with specialists jumping in to "polish."

Andy calls this becoming more "talent fluid" — engineers who can shape-shift across backend, frontend, product thinking.

We are also seeing this shift at StackedSP. The best early-stage hires right now aren't the deepest experts. They're the curious generalists who can wield AI as a force multiplier.

What's more valuable to your team right now — depth or adaptability?

🎧 Full conversation on the Unstacked Startups podcast: https://lnkd.in/dy7yhJfD

#UnstackedPod #StackedSP #HighAgency #10xTalent #AIinHiring

Most founders underestimate how early talent decisions compound.

Great founders don’t treat hiring as a checklist.
They treat it as infrastructure.

Whether it’s a VP of Engineering or the first non-technical hire every person shapes:
• culture
• standards
• velocity
• future hiring quality

Early teams don’t just execute work, they define what “good” looks like for everyone who joins next.

This is why “we’ll fix hiring later” is one of the most expensive lies in startups.

Check out Foundermail for more on how to get early hiring right: https://lnkd.in/gbVjDQVB

#startuptalent #earlyhiring

Many founders obsess over ideas.

The best ones obsess over people.

Every breakout company I’ve seen had:
• A founder who could recruit talent before traction
• Early hires who were operators, not passengers
• A culture that filtered out low-agency behaviour fast

Ideas pivot.
Markets shift.
Talent compounds.

If you’re struggling to hire right now, it’s usually not a sourcing problem.

It’s a clarity problem.

Do you actually know:
- what “great” looks like in this role?
- why a top 1% person would join you?
- what this hire unlocks 12 months from now?

Most hiring stalls not because founders can’t find talent 
but because they can’t clearly articulate why the right person should care.

Clarity attracts talent.

Check out the latest edition of Foundermail for more startup talent related insight.

Open article: FounderMail #17 Edition: Your Only Early Stage Moat by foundermail.substack.com

FounderMail #17 Edition: Your Only Early Stage Moat

One line from my conversation with Andy Sen that stood out: 

"Your company's strategy is downstream from your culture."

After 16 years as CTO at AppDirect, Andy's seen teams scale from 3 people in one room to 1,000+ across the globe.

His take on AI and talent:

We're witnessing the resurgence of the generalist. Instead of 5 specialists on one team, Andy sees a future of 5 generalist-led teams with specialists jumping in to "polish" the work.

He called it being "talent fluid"... the ability to shape-shift and adapt.

Thanks Andy for the conversation and for always keeping the bar high. It was great catching up after all these years.

🎧 Full episode link below
#UnstackedPod #StackedSP #HighAgency #10xTalent

AI isn’t replacing strategy - it’s reshaping how teams think, build, and solve problems.

In this episode, Ilan Saks sits down with Andy Sen, CTO of AppDirect, to unpack lessons from years in e-commerce, remote team building, and leading through rapid change. From why culture drives strategy to how AI is bringing back the generalist, this conversation is a grounded look at leadership in an evolving talent landscape.

Listen now and explore what it really takes to build adaptable, future-ready teams.

https://lnkd.in/eE5xw7gM

taplio

The Battle

Bianca Johnston 🔮✨

Ilan Saks

Followers

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taplio

The Battle

Bianca Johnston 🔮✨

Ilan Saks

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ilan Saks's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreIlan Saks's LinkedIn Performance