Jennifer Tsay talks with Jason Barnard about scaling smarter.
Jennifer Tsay, CEO and Co-Founder of Shoott, speaks with Jason Barnard about the shift from a growth-focused to a profitability-driven mindset. She explains how tracking customer acquisition costs and KPIs daily has been crucial for adapting to market shifts and staying in control of her business. This data-driven approach helped her company achieve a remarkable 20-fold profit increase in one year.
Jennifer shares with Jason Barnard how her team focused on maximizing revenue by refining pricing strategies, improving customer value, and optimizing revenue from existing clients. She advises businesses to prioritize growth until they reach a point where focusing on profitability becomes essential, ensuring sustainable success in the long term.
Finally, Jennifer reflects on her leadership style evolution, highlighting a shift from hands-off to more detailed, data-backed management. She now challenges her team to think critically about processes, fostering a collaborative environment where everyone owns their roles.
What you’ll learn from Jennifer Tsay
00:00 Jennifer Tsay and Jason Barnard
02:14 What Did ChatGPT Find Out About Jennifer Tsay When Jason Barnard Mentioned Her Name?
02:45 What Did Bing Show About Jennifer Tsay When Jason Barnard Searched & How Much Was From Her Website?
03:28 How Can You Promote Your Personal Brand, Build Credibility & Establish Authority in Your Industry?
04:09 What Does Shoott Do?
04:20 What is the Reason Shoott Is Able to Offer Free Photoshoots?
04:43 What is the Reason Shoott’s Business Model Flips the Traditional Paradigm for Artists?
05:55 What Caused the Confusion When Trying to Find Jennifer Tsay Online?
06:44 How Did Jennifer Tsay Start Shoott?
07:46 What Was the Main Focus When Shoott Was First Launched?
08:02 How Can You Test a New Service With Your Network Before Scaling it?
09:33 Why Does the First Two Years of Entrepreneurship Feeling Easy Turn Out to Be a Fallacy?
09:53 What Factors Led to the Sudden Increase in Customer Acquisition Costs From $20 to Over $200?
10:40 Where Should You Focus First When Facing Business Challenges, Reducing Costs or Increasing Income?
11:00 What Steps Should You Take to Learn Marketing and Drive Growth While Managing Customer Acquisition?
12:06 What Does it Take to Stay Flexible & Adaptable When Facing Challenges That Could Shift at Any Time?
12:32 How Have AI Engines Like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot Changed Your Approach to Marketing?
13:48 What Was the Mindset Shift When You Switched to a Profitability-Focused Approach?
14:05 What Benefits Do You Get From Monitoring Customer Acquisition Costs Daily and Identifying Shifts?
15:06 How Do You Determine When to Adapt Your Strategy Based on Marketing KPIs?
15:41 What Can Be the Secret Behind the 20-Fold Multiplication of Profits in a Year?
16:30 How Does Shifting Focus to Profitability Impact Revenue Maximization After Customer Acquisition?
17:11 Why Do You Recommend Growing Fast First and Then Scaling Profit?
18:40 What Were the Difficult Decisions in Shifting Focus From Growth to Profitability?
19:36 What Are the Challenges of Having a Small Team Take On Hybrid Roles?
20:19 What Are the Differences in Leadership Style Between the Growth Phase and Now?
This episode was recorded live on video June 3rd 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFbSXQdSWiw
Links to pieces of content relevant to this topic:Jennifer Tsay
Transcript from Jennifer Tsay with Jason Barnard on Fastlane Founders And Legacy. Scaling Smarter
[00:00:00] Jennifer Tsay: The first two years of entrepreneurship felt easy. It was just a fallacy. We didn't realize this in retrospect. We were like, oh my God, doing a startup is so easy. And nobody on our team at the time had any background in marketing, so we had to learn it from scratch.