The Roast of Leadsie: Is This Self-Funded Onboarding Tool Standing The F*ck Out?

Leadsie, you are a clever little duck, aren’t you. Instead of drowning in PDFs, screen-shares, and emails trying to get access to their clients’ marketing accounts (like Meta, Google, TikTok, etc.), you give agencies one little link they can send to clients.

"One Link to rule them all,

One Link to find them,

One Link to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."

- Leadsie, probably

By the way, they've put together a fantastic offer for you in exchange for being good sports and sharing their secrets. I hope you'll take a look and maybe give them a try.

And, you’re not that little, actually. Your creators, Johannes and Robert, told me that “over 1,000 agencies” now rely on your tool to make their client onboarding faster. And you’re 100% self-funded. Me likey. I’m going to follow the four stages of the Stand The F*ck Out Methodology to analyze your brand:

• Stage 1: Insight Foraging. Have you uncovered what makes your agency owners tick?

• Stage 2: Unique Positioning. Are you giving them a reaaaaally good reason to choose you?

• Stage 3: Distinctive Brand. Is your brand impossible to forget?

• Stage 4: Continuous Reach. Are your best customers coming back for more while attracting new ones?

At the end of each stage, I’m also going to give you a score over 5 to see how you perform. 

Stage 1: Insight Foraging

You were born during lockdown, when your co-founders found themselves with more time on their hands. They wanted to build a tool for marketing agencies. But they didn’t jump to build what they thought the market wanted, only to crash and burn a few months later after after burning the f*ck out selling something nobody wanted. Non, non, non.

They spoke with hundreds of digital agency owners and found one pressing pain: getting access to clients’ marketing accounts. It might sound like a small thing if you’ve never tried to gain access to Meta Business Suite from a business owner who doesn't even know their own email address, but it’s akin to Frodo crossing the Mines of Moria while blindfolded.

Let’s also note that Big Tech does not make this easy. You see, ads are their cash cow; that’s how they've made billions. But it's not sexy. You know what's sexy to them? The Metaverse. Election interfering. Immortality. Huh. F*ck you, Big Tech.

Anyway, back to you, Leadsie. During your insight foraging process, you’ve answered the six questions to deeply understand the market. Nicely done.

• Job: What are your best customers trying to accomplish? Access clients’ marketing accounts.

• Alternatives: What other solutions are they currently using or considering? The constant back-and-forth between digital agencies and their clients.

• Struggles: What problems are they trying to solve? It takes too long, it’s frustrating, and it might cost them clients.

• Segment: What customer information is relevant to your brand? Digital agencies who offer at least Facebook Ads, with more than 10 employees, onboarding three new customers a month.

• Category: What other things belong in the same group as you? Client onboarding tool.

• Triggers: What specific events compel customers to act? I'll cover this in a bit.

I wish I had more bad things to say about your work here, but I can’t find any. You’ve uncovered what made agency owners tick with good ol’ fashioned detective work.

Verdict: 5/5. You’re an insight-foraging case study in doing it right.

Stage 2: Unique Positioning

Okay so you’re doing great so far. But don’t get too confident, okay? Because, in this stage, I want to find out whether you’ve done something good from the insights you’ve gathered.

To use more precise positioning lingo, have you used the insights collected to give agencies a compelling reason to choose you? Or is it just too convenient for them to keep doing what they already do? At the end of this stage, I must be able to craft a simple statement that describes your meaningful difference and unique positioning.

Let’s see. First, are you clear on the job your best customers are “hiring” you to do? Yes, access clients’ marketing accounts. I like that you mention it at the very top of your homepage. You’re not trying to be too clever. You’re not “revolutionizing client onboarding” or other outlandishly stupid claims like that. You're also not promising anything you don’t have direct control over, like increasing their revenue by at least 453.89%.

Next, do you understand the solutions customers use to access clients’ marketing accounts (getting the job done)? Again, oui.

You don’t fall into the trap of considering direct competitors like your real competition. Instead, you know from your insight foraging that most digital agencies rely on a manual process to onboard new clients, such as emailing clients with PDF instructions, sending a video with clear steps, or setting a screen-sharing call… Clients sometimes even share their personal logins (!). It’s like “banging your head against the wall,” says one of your clients.

I like that. I like the specificity of it all. I like how I can close my eyes and imagine what it feels like to do all this.

Alrighty... Next, do you consider marketing agency owners to be messy, emotional humans and not just cold, calculating machines that analyze everything with the logic of a cyborg?

In other words, do you tap into the irrational reasons they would even buy a customer onboarding tool like yours? Because that’s usually something that competitors (direct or indirect) ignore. I call those reasons irrational struggles. Here’s a list of those we uncovered when working together.

Leadsie's Irrational Struggles

Control freaks

Controlling and organizing chaos.

• Stop keeping track of the latest changes in the tools used

• Avoid getting lost knowing which accounts we have access to and which ones we have (single source of truth)

Fewer decisions

Avoiding overwhelming choices.

• Avoid juggling between different methods to get all the access (One link to get all the access.)

“Look at me!”

Seeking recognition and wanting to be valued.

• Stop feeling like I’m left behind other digital agency owners

Reducing risk

Reducing risk, even if it means not using the best option.

• Avoid taking too long to prove their worth to their non-technical clients

• Avoid handling highly sensitive client personal data (in particular, their passwords and login info)

Power trip

Seeking superiority or at least "keeping up with the Joneses."

• Avoid feeling unproductive spending hours doing support/being a helpdesk for new clients

(Note: for a complete list of irrational struggles, head over to Chapter 5 of my book.)

And then, of course, you’re also touching on the more rational struggles like wasting new potential revenue from new clients when onboarding them or reducing the “time to onboard” (from signing the client to getting all access + documents together).

It doesn’t feel like a roast just yet, does it Leadsie? You're not getting burned, you're just getting a little tan from a comfy little sunbed with selectable UV Intensity, LED facial technology, touchscreens, cinematic sound, 52x UV body lamps. Hmmmmm, nice.

Where was I...?

Ah yes. This is where there’s a missed opportunity. Yes, you understand your customers very well. Sure, you intimately know what they’re trying to accomplish or what’s stopping them… but you’re too focused on the rational struggles. I mean, I get it; you want to be super clear about what your tool offers. But don’t forget... Humans are just a bunch of meat held by bones and powered by weak electricity signals.

One way to take advantage of this fact is to build an ignored struggle matrix. Let’s take your most potent struggles and plot them against the alternatives you’ve already identified.

"Something moves in the shadows unseen, hidden from our sight - it will not show itself. Not yet." —Galadriel

I know you’re worried that more copycats will flood your market, but trust me when I say those irrational struggles are rarely considered. Can you find a way to be more vocal about those?

For example, say you want to make sure digital agency owners understand that getting access to marketing accounts will speed up onboarding (that’s the rational side) and make them look cool to their team, clients, and peers. Can you appeal to their ego? Can you make them imagine what it will feel like? You don’t have to say it out loud, but you can imply it. I'll share more details about this in Stage 3.

Now, let’s move to defining your segment. It’s easily in my top 3 of “things I like to rant about to other marketers when I meet them at events.” Why? Because traditional advice on picking a niche is too restrictive, it focuses on arbitrary demographics or industries instead of the group of people who are much more likely to care about what you have to say and offer.

During your insight foraging, you defined your core segment as “digital agencies who offer at least Facebook Ads, with more than 10 employees, onboarding three new customers a month.” Problem is, I don’t think you’re focusing enough on the essential details that give you a distinct advantage against alternatives. Why would marketing agency owners be more inclined to choose you?

Here’s what you told me during our chat. Digital agencies struggle the most to get account access to clients who are essentially clueless about digital marketing. Those non-technical clients run more traditional (meaning, non-digital) businesses, like restaurants, pest control services, recruitment agencies…

Folks running those businesses don’t give a single f*ck about Meta Business Suite or Google Tag Manager. Digital agencies dealing with non-technical clients are the ones who need you, Leadsie, the most. So, I’d refine your segment to “Digital agencies onboarding at least three non-technical clients a month.” It’s brief, focused on struggles, and highlights your distinct advantage.

Okay, finally, are you in the correct category? Do you describe yourself in a way that your segment understands and wants? Or have you invented a term no one cares about?

You define yourself as a client onboarding tool, which is how your clients talk about it, judging by your case studies. It also seems to be an established category, which means there’s demand for it, which is also a good sign.

However, paying attention to the vendors featured, it touches on a much broader category than software to get access to ad or marketing accounts as a digital agency. Industries like financial services, healthcare, or education also use client onboarding tools to manage the entire onboarding flow, not just the getting access to marketing accounts part.

It’s a sign you’ve uncovered a nice little sub-category. As your type of product gets more mature and more competitors join your market, I have a feeling that clearly defining your sub-category will be needed.

Okay, we’ve got everything we need to craft a statement that describes your meaningful difference and unique positioning. I call this the unique positioning statement:

Unlike alternative(s), [area of focus] is the only category to solve ignored struggle(s) and get job done for segment.

I came up with this for you:

Unlike manual onboarding methods (screen sharing, email instructions, and password sharing), Leadsie is the only client onboarding software that takes the stress out of keeping up with tool changes, delivering value fast, and reducing early churn for digital agencies onboarding 3+ non-technical clients monthly.

I’ll be honest: this is usually the part where companies of your size struggle the most, but I think you’ve nailed your unique positioning.

Verdict: 4/5. You’re not different for the sake of being different; you’re solving clear problems that others are overlooking. But you could double down on irrational struggles and a more defined segment.

Stage 3: Distinctive Brand

Okay, it’s time to get sassy, Leadsie. I’m going to change my tone for this part. A bit like pitiful Sméagol turning into that conniving bastard Gollum.

*scratch throat* Gollum!... Gollum!...

Your branding is functional but forgettable. It blends the f*ck in. I mean… Whose hand is this? Mark Zuckerberg’s? You couldn’t find a creepier one?

You may have a strong positioning, but if you fail to get noticed, stick in people’s minds, and end up on their shortlist… It’s game over. This is why, at the end of this stage, I must be able to put together a one-page distinctive brand kit. Wish me luck.

Okay, first, are you uniting your segment against a common enemy instead of making it all about you? This is where the monster comes in. It’s meant to represent some of the problems your segment is facing. And then you, Leadsie, become the natural way to help them fight it.

This is why I was adamant about adding the “non-technical” component to your segment definition. It’s almost too easy to blame the slow, inefficient onboarding process for digital agencies' struggles. But is this really the cause of their struggles? Is Meta’s fault that an agency owner must wait weeks to access a client’s ad manager? I don’t think so.

Remember, digital agencies' clients aren't tech-savvy business owners who regularly use ad platforms. They're traditional business operators focused on running their businesses, not managing Facebook accounts. This isn't a problem to fix… It's reality. These business owners hired agencies precisely because they wanted experts to handle the technical stuff. And you, Leadsie, can help agencies work within this reality rather than against it.

I’m not being pedantic here because this is a big deal. Instead of pointing the finger at Big Tech for this particular issue, I believe it’d be far more powerful to focus their attention on the fact their clients are not tech-savvy, so they might not even know how to give you access.

Clear? Okay, moving on.

To help your best customers work within this reality, you must first acknowledge it with a point of view. I'll be honest; I think you can do much, much better. You need to take a stand against what is threatening your audience. This is how you build trust, the real kind. Think of it as your version of the Bat Signal. We can use the CHIPS Framework (head over to Chapter 9 - The Point of View of my book for more) to craft it.

Leadsie POV Using the CHIPS Framework

Common belief: what others tend to think or do

Marketing agencies expect their non-technical clients to give them access to their marketing accounts without any hassle.

Happen: what tends to happen as a result

But those clients don’t spend their lives in front of a computer as we do, so they’re not as comfortable sharing access, and other vendors usually manage those accounts.

Impact: how it's affecting your segment

This is frustrating for digital agencies who need access to do their work. Any delay in onboarding new clients can lead to losing money, time, and trust.

Proof: why others should believe you (logic, personal anecdotes, stories, stats…)

We talked to hundreds of marketers and built the tools that agencies need to get access to fast, even when dealing with non-technical clients.

Solution: what should be done instead

One link to rule them all!

It’s your raison d’être, if you will. And I’d love to see this signal more present in everything you do and say. For example, your demo video says that “even non-tech savvy clients can give you access to their accounts in just a few clicks.” But I don’t think I’ve seen you talk about it elsewhere. Try to infuse this core POV into everything you do. Repeat yourself ad nauseam.

Okay, let’s go a step further. Remember when I said your brand is functional but forgettable? Well, you can turn things around with spices. They are the tangible actions you take that bring your POV to life in a way your segment notices.

Cutting onboarding time from days (or weeks!) to seconds feels like magic to agencies and their clients. In other words, for them, it’s almost like you're too magically fast. It’s like in The Return of the King when Sam uses the soil and seed Galadriel gifted him to replant trees... and everything springs back to life in record time.

Here’s a little exercise I recommend: channel an alter ego that possesses the qualities you want to embody (being too magically fast, in this case). For example, your co-founder Rob was a Halo* champion in his youth. What would your brand feel like if we were to show how magically fast you were, using the Halo universe for inspiration? (*For the non-nerds reading this, Halo is a futuristic warfare video game.)

One thing’s for sure... It would look better than this:

This is just one angle I thought about. But the possibilities to express what makes you stand the f*ck out are endless. And that’s something direct competitors will struggle to replicate.

Next, look at your assets (think colors, shapes, sounds, words, characters…). They are the last ingredient of this stage, and it brings everything together. Or at least it should. But, mon dieu. You're blending the f*ck in so much you could slap any logo on it, and no one would notice the difference. And then, your product screenshots look weirdly outdated.

With Robert's Halo background, we could inject some serious personality. Think futuristic vibes, neon accents, and that techy edge that screams "We know our shit" without going full cyber-punk. I’m not saying go completely bonkers with it. Still, you want to find that sweet spot between being recognizable as a company selling a client onboarding tool and being super distinctive so that no competitors copy you.

Leadsie’s Possible Asset Types

A color (or a color combination)

Neon blue, maybe?

A logo or shape

A Ring. Definitely some sort of ring.

Something with a face (a character or spokesperson)

I like seeing your co-founders' faces on video, but maybe add some futuristic treatment to it so they look like cyborgs from the future? Same for your about page? I don't know. It might be fun.

A sound

There’s this famous music from Halo. Could you get some inspiration from it?

A short phrase

One link to rule them all! Perfection.

About Your Name (Bonus Reality Check)

Let's address the elephant in the room… "Leadsie" as a name? It's not terrible, but it's not doing you any favors either. I’m not a brand naming expert, even if I came up with names I’m proud of (like Everyone Hates Marketers or Stand The F*ck Out). But I know someone who is: Alexandra Watkins. She wrote the book on it. In it, she mentions the seven attributes of brand names that blend the f*ck in.

Spelling challenged: looks like a typo

Copycat: resembles competitors' names

Restrictive: limits future growth

Annoying: seems forced, frustrates customers

Tame: feels flat, descriptive, uninspired

Curse of knowledge: speaks only to insiders

Hard to pronounce: confuses and distances customers

Looking at this list... “Leadsie” is definitely restrictive (the “lead” part implies lead generation, which is not something you do), not that easy to spell (is it “Leadzie” or “Leadsy” or “Lidzy”), and tame as f*ck. (Like the name Norbert. Who calls their child Norbert? Psychos.) You’ve been successful despite your name, so you don’t have to change it because I said so. But I have a feeling you could grow even more with a name that stands the f*ck out.

Okay. We have everything we need to put together a distinctive brand kit that gets you noticed.

Leadsie's Distinctive Brand Kit

Message: what to say

Build rapport by naming the monster. Show how it’s causing ignored struggle(s) by sharing your POV. Tease the job and how life looks like with the monster defeated. Introduce the category and the features. Your narrative could sound like like this:

“Agencies deserve better than playing tech support for business owners who’d rather bring the Ring to Mordor themselves than figure out Meta Business Suite. We believe that’s reality—your clients aren’t lazy; they’re just not marketers.

Imagine: no more PDF instructions, no more “Who still has the password?” fiascos, no more feeling like a second-rate IT helpdesk. One link, one click, one big sigh of relief. Your clients see you as a pro, and your team sees you as a time-saving wizard.

Leadsie is the client onboarding software built specifically for agencies who onboard non-technical clients every single month. Think Halo-level speed—faster than Master Chief can reload—and you’ve got instant access to ad accounts, analytics, and more.”

Behavior: How to Act

Spice: “Too Magically Fast.”

We want people to say, “Wait, that’s it?” after seeing how quickly Leadsie can grant access.

• Action: Don’t just claim you’re fast. Shock them with how effortless it is. Show the “holy shit” moment every chance you get. Make it a spectacle.

• Inaction: Never make the process of getting access slower.

Branding: How to Build Memories

See Assets above.

Verdict: 0/5. Sorry not sorry. This is your biggest opportunity to stand the f*ck out. Nothing comes even close. It’s time to put on your big boy pants and show those copycats who's boss.

Stage 4 - Continuous Reach

Phew, we’re nearly there. I want to find out if you’re showing up to the right people at the right time—even if they’re not currently looking to improve their onboarding. At the moment, your continuous reach is mi-figue, mi-raisin (part good, part bad).

Let’s start with triggers, one of the most overlooked customer acquisition concepts: people don’t take action unless something causes them to. In other words, a digital agency owner could have been frustrated with their slow client onboarding for years (the struggle) without doing anything about it. It’s only when they’ve lost a big client (the trigger event) before they even got a chance to get access to their accounts that they finally decided to do something about it.

I know you're a fan of my Lord of The Rings reference, so allow me to explain this concept further, just to be sure. You know when Sam gets irritated with Gollum (the struggle), whom he doesn’t trust one bit, on their way to Mordor? He doesn’t really do anything about it until… the little hairless weasel betrays them, and Frodo gets stung by a massive spider (the trigger). That’s when Sam decides to fight back, reclaim the Ring, and rescue Frodo.

Is it super clear now?

Okay, back to you, Leadsie. You do a good job of reaching digital agency owners who might be considering client onboarding. For example, around 1/4 of your customers come from search, mostly to your blog and SEO-specific pages like this one. And around 1/5 come from social ads like this one:

You do a good job of highlighting pain points (like forcing clients to deal with ugly PDF instructions). You also offer real-life stories (case studies) about how your tool saves time and headaches:

But do you get in front of potential customers who are out-market? Not that much. This is where triggers come in. We’ve found a few of those together:

• They sign a new client, which prompts them to take a fresh look at their onboarding process.

• The process for sharing platform access (on Instagram, for example) has changed.

• They failed to get the right access and deliver results for a particular client, which resulted in losing that account.

Next, let’s take those three triggers to bring channels to life. This is how you get in front of potential customers before they’re actively thinking of improving their onboarding.

This is where the magic really happens. It can be very overwhelming to think about all the possible ways to get in front of the right people at the right time. Still, if you start with the cross-section—where each trigger and segment intersect—you will naturally drill down into precise channels.

For example, let’s take the “The process for sharing platform access (on Instagram, for example) has changed.” trigger and map it out contextually.

Leadsie's Trigger Context Map

When is this trigger happening?

• Whenever Big Tech makes a change

Where is it happening?

• At work

• Working from home

With what is it happening?

• On Slack or another messaging platform

• Via email

With whom is it happening?

• With colleagues

• When requesting access to a client

Could you be the first to shout about platform access changes? You told me it’s a trigger that leads agency owners to reconsider their onboarding. Can you monitor those changes across the most popular ad platforms (Meta, TikTok, Google, etc.)? And then, build a system to communicate about it super fast where your customers tend to hang out? You can (and should!) do the same exercise for every trigger to reach those folks out-market.

(Note: for a more in-depth explanation of triggers, head over to Chapter 12 of my book.)

Anddddddd finally, we’ve come to the last ingredient of the Stand The F*ck Out Methodology: the offers. Yet, this is where most teardowns (and marketing books, for that matter) start and end. It’s the most visible part of any business and seems to generate the moneyzzzz. But it’s short-sighted.

Without foundations—without a unique positioning, a distinctive brand, and continuous reach—the best offer in Middle Earth would not stand the test of time. Just like when Saruman bets everything on mass-producing Orcs (the offer), tearing every living thing in its wake, thinking this will crush Rohan. But then the Ents literally flood the f*cking place, and Saruman's entire operation crumbles like a house of cards (no foundations).

Leadsie, you offer a 14-day unlimited free trial with no credit card required. And, even if customers cancel, they still have access to their clients’ marketing accounts. This is a very generous offer, and it seems quite reasonable for this type of SaaS business. But let's talk about the offer you've put together for… "my" people.

Exclusive offer for Louis’ audience:

• 1:1 'A-Game Onboarding' Session – Tailor Leadsie to your workflow

• Double the trial – 28 days instead of 14

• 20% off your first year

• Limited-edition ‘One Link To Rule Them All’ T-shirt – for the first 20 subscribers

It stands the f*ck out, doesn't it? You’ve worked hard on this one, and it shows.

Okay, Leadsie, we’ve got everything we need to put together a clear plan to reach more customers.

Leadsie's Plan for Continuous Reach

For Folks Who Are Not Ready to Buy (Future Category Buyers)

Show up continuously in the right context, without trying to convince them to buy. Keep talking about the frustration of dealing with clueless, non-technical clients. Do it in Slack groups, LinkedIn posts, podcasts… wherever agency owners lurk.

Stay visible around early triggers (like losing a client or tools changing). Be top-of-mind with fun, shareable content (like quick demo GIFs highlighting “one link to rule them all”).

If Big Tech changes how account access works, shout about it first. When agencies lose a client in the onboarding phase (e.g., they never got the right access), be the brand they’ve already seen in their feed—so you’re the obvious solution next time.

Double down on proven channels (search, social ads), but expand your message beyond onboarding. Talk about why it sucks to “babysit” non-technical clients. Emphasize the emotional costs of staying stuck in slow-ass onboarding.

Make it super clear you’re a client onboarding tool, and share consistent branding once you’ve worked on it. With your brand refresh (colors, ring symbol, “halo” vibe), be unmistakable. Show them how you’re too magically fast.

For Folks Who Are Ready to Buy (Current Category Buyers)

Show how you solve ignored struggle(s) to get the job done. Then, explain the “cost” of staying with the alternative(s). Then tell them what you are—your category—and who you are for—your segment. Finally, show them what to do next with an offer.

Keep doing what you’re doing, but double down on the emotional toll of slow onboarding.

Verdict: 2.5/5. The offer is strong, but there are huge opportunities to reach out-of-market potential buyers.

Key Takeaways

Final verdict: 11.5/20. You’ve started strong by gathering the right insight. You’ve developed a positioning that gives digital agencies a compelling reason to pick you. And then, the sh*t has hit the fan.

• You’ve started strong by gathering the proper insights. You know your clients’ pains like Gollum knows his Precious.

• You’ve nailed the rational side of “get me my damn accounts.” But don’t forget people are messy (and vain). Appeal to their ego.

• (Un)distinctive brand. Epic fail. It’s like you’re wearing one of those Elven cloaks that make you blend in with your surroundings. And maybe change your name?

• You’re ghosting out-market customers. Show up where those agencies spend time and proudly showcase your brand.