Darren Shaw
I'm the founder and president of Whitespark, a local search company with software and services that help businesses improve their rankings in Google. I started developing websites back in 1996 during my first year of university. I failed plenty of courses because I was skipping class to work on my HTML, CSS, and Javascript projects in the lab. Fortunately, people wanted to pay me to build websites, and in 2005 I started Whitespark as a web design and development company. In 2010 we stopped doing web development projects so we could focus on local search, and we launched our first SaaS software, the Local Citation Finder. We now offer multiple SaaS applications and services. When I'm not speaking at conferences, researching the latest in local search, or designing the next best local search application, I like to spend time travelling, skiiing, and dining with my wife and daughter in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Appears in 44 Episodes
44: Catch-up, Mustard, & Summer
Darren and Aaron catch-up on the last few months of business. Darren shares a new product and pricing ... and get's some "spicy" feedback on it.
43: User Feedback
Darren and Aaron discuss the benefits of user feedback. Do you know how your SaaS customers and users really feel? Ways to capture it, when to capture it, getting revi...
42: Off & Running
2023 is off to a fast start. Aaron and Darren catch up on what's happened to start the new year. New features, growth, marketing, demo challenges, and more.
41: 2022 In Review
A look back on 2022 and what took place for Leadferno and Whitespark. Features, sales, wins, challenges, hires, mistakes, and more are shared. We also look ahead to wh...
40: The Power of Momentum
Momentum is often cited as core to a company's growth. Aaron and Darren talk about at the power of momentum, when you have it, when you need to make it happen, how to ...
39: Positioning - "Why Choose You?"
A recent tweet from B2B SaaS positioning expert and author April Dunford had the takeaway of "why choose you?" from your product demo. Aaron and Darren discuss positio...
38: The Burn of Churn
Churn in SaaS is a negative force, harming your company's growth and long term success. Aaron and Darren talk about their churn and how to start reducing churn. There ...
37: SaaS Marketing in 2022 - Part 2
Part 2 on what Leadferno and Whitespark are doing for marketing in 2022. Aaron talks about exploring paid search, co-webinars and hiring a service for cold outreach to...
36: SaaS Marketing in 2022 - Part 1
Darren and Aaron talk about the SaaS marketing strategies for Whitespark and Leadferno in 2022. We covered marketing your SaaS features, podcast interviews and events....
35: Mining For Growth Opportunities
Looking internally at your data, customer behavior and more can surface growth opportunities for your SaaS. Aaron and Darren discuss how to find these growth opportuni...
34: All Aboard User Onboarding
User onboarding in SaaS is a critical part of the user experience. Aaron and Darren look at the process of guiding new users to find value with your software product i...
33: What To Do In 2022
A look ahead at what 2022 holds for Whitespark and Leadferno. Aaron and Darren lay out their hopes and wished for what they can build, accomplish, market and sell in t...
32: Just 6 Weeks
With just 6 weeks left in 2021 Aaron and Darren talk about what they hope to get finished by the end of the year. Leadferno is focused on their mobile apps and Whitesp...
31: SaaS Is A Marathon, Not A Sprint
It can be hard when running your SaaS to keep focused on the long game, that it's a marathon for success and not a sprint. While there are daily and weekly items that ...
30: Prepare to Launch
Aaron and Darren catch up after taking some time off from the podcast this summer. Aaron shares that Leadferno is ready to launch! Darren digs into where Aaron is at w...
29: Prioritize or Die
Prioritization might be the most important and most difficult thing in running a SaaS company. Aaron and Darren explore the challenges they have with how to prioritize...
28: Vision and Mission
Creating the vision and mission statement as well as core values for your SaaS company can have big benefits internally and externally. Aaron and Darren discuss the pr...
27: Plan the work, work the plan
Aaron has announced his new company is Leadferno, a business messaging app. Darren digs into Leadferno's plans as they have launched their marketing site and the plan ...
26: A Big Change
Aaron shares his big news that he's leaving GatherUp to start a new SaaS adventure! Darren and Aaron catch up to start 2021, and dive into Aaron's big decision and exp...
25: OK, 2020
Looking back on 2020, Aaron and Darren look at the many challenges of operating a SaaS company through a pandemic but still manage to find some of the bright spots.
24: Raising Prices
Darren is looking to raise his pricing for the first time ever. He and Aaron discuss the many aspects of raising your SaaS product's price, from the amount of the rai...
23: Course Correcting
What happens when you head down the wrong path? You build a feature or spend time on something that doesn't move the needle and then you need to correct your path. Aa...
22: SaaS Pricing - Is The Price Right?
Aaron and Darren catch up to end the summer of 2020. Darren is putting on a huge Local SEO conference with marketing benefits he shares and a recent bad experience wi...
21: Frameworks
Aaron and Darren catch up on business, summer, COVID and then take a dive into a feature framework Aaron created and has been using S.E.A. stands for Security, Efficie...
20: Big Launches & Big Challenges
Another COVID catch up as Darren covers his big launch of a long time feature completely redesigned and Aaron discusses some staff challenges with the dip in business.
19: Navigating The Unknown
Aaron and Darren share how things look for them personally and for their businesses during COVID-19 so far. Repetitive days, mind shifts, small wins, hard decisions, l...
18: Selling GatherUp - Part 3, The Transition
Part 3 of a 3 part series on the acquisition of GatherUp. Aaron shares about the transition of working for the company after the sale of GatherUp. What's different, w...
17: Selling GatherUp - Part 2, The Process
Part 2 of a 3 part series on the acquisition of GatherUp. Part 2 focuses on the process as Aaron shares the steps from verbal offer to LOI to purchase agreement and t...
16: Selling GatherUp - Part 1, The Why
Big news, GatherUp was acquired in November 2019. The first episode of a 3 part series on the sale of GatherUp, Darren interviews Aaron on "The Why" GatherUp sold, wha...
15: A Recap of 2019 and Looking Forward to 2020
Aaron and Darren look back over 2019 and look at a full year of podcasting, running the businesses, what they learned and more. Things wrap up with what 2020 might ho...