Susan Sciacca is the Founder and CEO of How To SaaS, a Marketing Strategy Consulting firm. As an advisor, consultant, and fractional CMO her enterprise value with marketing and demand generation has helped numerous B2B companies create millions of dollars. She works closely with Private Equity Investors and CEOs.
She was born on April 22nd, 1972 in Canada and got her early education from Harbord Collegiate Institute. After high school, she pursued a Bachelor's in Business Management at the Toronto School of Management. Her interest in marketing and communication led her to further her studies with a Master's from Rotman School Of Management, Toronto.
After graduating, she began working for BrandLume, Inc., a management training firm. This first business exposure was beneficial to her in many ways. With hard work and dedication to education, she was promoted to Assistant Manager at MOTUM B2B, one of Ontario's top B2B marketing firms in less than two years.
In 2005, she relocated from Canada to Florida, where she was able to collaborate with industry leaders such as Dream Factory and OneRail. Susan Sciacca was named CMO of Apricot Marketing in 2014 after 20 years of experience and understanding. It took her four years to leave her 9-to-5 job and start her own business finally.
Susan Sciacca has established a reputation for herself as an industry expert. Her areas of expertise include Account-Based Marketing, Pipeline Generation, Marketo, Sales Development & Inside Sales, and Salesforce.com. Her client organizations have benefited from her experience in ROI analysis, Marketing Attribution, LinkedIn Ads, Google AdWords, Online Retargeting (Google Analytics), Lead Flow management, and campaign optimization by earning millions of dollars in B2B marketing.
In her free time, Susan Marie Sciacca enjoys hiking with her husband Darren Ross, visiting local thrift stores, and playing with her pet dogs.
Exclusive Interview with Susan Sciacca
How do you bring ideas to life?
My way of working is simple. I keep a notebook with me all the time. I keep writing my random ideas in my notebook. When I feel the most creative and productive during the day, I sit down with my notebook and try to work around each idea. Most of the time I discard my ideas as they are not very practical and more imaginative but for really good ideas, I spend some time elaborating them, and then the next morning I bring them in front of my team to have a brainstorming session. I believe two heads are better than one, which helps me bring ideas to life.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Vertical SaaS is on the rise. It is software created for a very specific niche and this is a really exciting trend. The best thing about SaaS is it’s dirt cheap compared to building software from scratch. The entrepreneurs that create software products specifically for niche markets have the potential to grow super quickly due to this trend.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Inspiration is what will keep me going and makes me more productive as an entrepreneur even through tough times. When I hit a mental roadblock, I seek inspiration to look outside the box. I believe even astute entrepreneurs need a creative ingredient in their daily routine to ignite their creativity. There is not a single right way of getting inspiration for me, I can find it anywhere online or offline. I spend some spare time reading and bringing out some quiet time for creative juices to flow.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Success doesn’t come overnight, keep yourself motivated and inspired. It will help you remain stimulated and achieve success with hard work.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
I believe in an open-door leadership policy. I always allow and encourage my employees to express ideas, feedback, and concerns that will help them feel like a valuable part of How to SaaS. This also encourages them to work hard and strive to personally excel. I recommend everyone else to follow this practice because it will help your business thrive more.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
My surefire strategy to grow my business is hiring the right team. Before I can even think about my company’s growth trajectory, I need to have a solid staff to help me achieve my goals. Undoubtedly, hiring the absolute best people is a great way to ensure fast growth.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Before founding How to SaaS, I co-founded a traditional marketing agency with my colleague but it failed badly. Although it was a failure, I cherish that experience a lot as I learned a lot in those struggling times and that learning helped me make How to SaaS a success from the very beginning.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
I recommend The Lean Startup by Eric Ries to every SaaS founder. This bestseller goes deeper in explaining all the ins and outs necessary for a lean startup. I love this book because it introduces concepts for constant experimentation to test, validate, and improve ideas.
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