S Brian Smith 🪜

Strategy Ladders

At Strategy Ladders, we specialize in driving explosive growth for agencies, consultancies, and B2B service businesses.

Our mission: help founders like you scale from 7 figures to 8 figures and beyond, unlocking your business's full potential.

We work with founders ready to accelerate growth, overcome operational bottlenecks, and build a business that can scale rapidly and sustainably. If your business isn’t achieving 200% year-over-year growth, it’s time to rethink your strategy.

The Strategy Ladder System is designed to do just that. It’s a proven framework that delivers a bulletproof strategy tailored to your business’s unique needs. Our system streamlines operations, drives revenue, and positions your business for sustained, long-term growth.

But we don’t just stop at strategy. We execute.

Our team of 8-figure founders and industry experts ensures every aspect of your business is optimized for scalability. From marketing and sales to operations and leadership, we cover it all—making sure your business is set to thrive as it grows.

Our results speak for themselves. We’ve helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs achieve remarkable success, including:

💥 Scaling an agency from $150k to $4M ARR in just 10 months

💥 Boosting a digital marketing agency’s productivity by 450%, dramatically increasing profitability

💥 Streamlining a SaaS product’s roadmap, reducing development costs by 45% while increasing execution speed by 25%

💥 Repositioning a web development agency to secure a long-term contract with a Fortune 100 company

💥 Growing an app development agency’s recurring revenue from 2% to over 50% of total revenue in three months

💥 Building a sales organization of 65 people in two years

💥 Orchestrating the sale of key SaaS platform assets at a significant premium over market value

If you’re serious about scaling to 8 figures and beyond, let’s connect. We’re here to provide the expertise and execution you need to achieve exponential growth.

Founder & CEO

I host Strategy Ladders, a no-nonsense podcast delivering real-world insights on scaling, optimizing, and thriving as a founder of an agency or B2B service company.

With 17+ years in the field, my team and I tackle core challenges in B2B sales, leadership, and business growth to help owners overcome bottlenecks and build high-performing teams. Think of it as having an outsourced co-founder in your corner, sharing tactical strategies on everything from digital marketing to operations—minus the fluff. Ready to put your business back to work for you? Follow us now!

Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Amazon 🎙️

Podcast Host

Trivr Eats, Inc

Advisor

S. Brian Smith Group, LLC

"Simply put, Brian has an innate ability to cut through all the bullshit/programming/stories and help one identify and achieve their goals. Working with him has made me more successful in business and has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on my personal life." - Serial Founder & Investor

"S. Brian Smith changed my perspective on life. In fact, he just changed my life - full stop. I’m a better person because of the work we’ve done and I will continue to grow because of the way he has taught me to think." - Entrepreneur, Founder, Executive

"Brian's ability to, not only think outside of the box, but to help me approach various situations from multiple angles is simply, genius. His approach is methodical, authentic, and most importantly, leads to tangible results." - Fortune 500 Executive

"S. Brian Smith is the best damn coach I have ever worked with." - Entrepreneur

Business & Mindset Super Coach to Entrepreneurs

Forbes Coaches Council

Founding Member

Institute of Coaching, McLean/Harvard Medical School

The Institute of Coaching, McLean/Harvard Medical School advances research and education in coaching by bringing together leaders in the field to accelerate research progress and disseminate coaching's best practices.

Fellow

Unicorn Puff

Unicorn Puff is a brain trust of experienced entrepreneurs who help B2B agencies grow. We work with B2B service agencies who are ready to grow. If you’re stuck in one of these spots, we’ll help you take your agency to the next level:
- Founders who are focused on sales, rather than building the business
- Revenue growth has stalled or plateaued
- Despite outbound efforts, most of your sales come from referrals

Chief Executive Officer

Have2Have.it

Chief Marketing Officer / Chief Strategy Officer

Soldsie

Social Kapture

Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)

The Founders Organization

Conceived, built, and operated a paid membership group with 1500 founders throughout North America. Responsible for organizing and executing events in 35 cities throughout North America and large activations at SXSW.

COO / Head of Strategy

I free founders from ops, sales, & management | Founder @ Strategy Ladders | Coached 1000s of B2B and Agency owners | Stop struggling, start enjoying business ownership 🏖️

Are you a founder of a B2B service business or agency generating $2.5 million to $25 million in revenue?

You've tasted success, but you know there's more potential.

You believe your business can reach 8 figures and beyond, but...

😒 You’re the primary strategist for clients.  
😧 You lack a high-level operations leader.  
😖 You’re the main revenue driver.  

You’re exactly who we help.

Imagine a business that thrives without you. A business where your team drives growth, not just maintains it. A business that gives you freedom—not more stress.

❌ Your team struggles to run the business without you.  
❌ Your growth isn’t on track to meet your goals.  
❌ Your team is solid but not equipped to scale to the next level.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

At Strategy Ladders, we’re not just another option—we’re the only serious option for founders ready to scale their 7-figure business to new heights. Our team is unparalleled—every strategy advisor is an 8-figure founder who’s been in your shoes, scaled their businesses, and knows how to help you achieve explosive growth.

Our program provides direct access to a handpicked team of world-class experts in marketing, sales, operations, project management, finance, HR, and more. These aren’t just consultants—they’re industry leaders who’ve built, scaled, and exited businesses like yours.

With Strategy Ladders, you’ll do more than scale from 7 figures to 8 figures—you’ll transform your role in the business. You’ll step out of the daily grind and into true business ownership, where your business works for you, not the other way around.

Here’s what we deliver:

✅ A growth system that injects rocket fuel into your business 🚀  
✅ Strategies that make your business work for you, not the other way around 💎  
✅ Freedom from being irreplaceable ⛓  
✅ A clear path to becoming an owner, not just an operator 💪  
✅ Maximizing the value of your business 💰

Our results speak for themselves:  
"Working with Strategy Ladders has transformed my business and my outlook on life. Their expertise and insight are unparalleled."

"Thanks to Strategy Ladders, I went from 60-hour workweeks to 40, with a clear plan to reduce further. Their guidance is worth every investment."

If you’re ready for exponential growth and a real transformation in your business and life, let’s talk.

One final note: We’re not here to make you corporate. We challenge the status quo, and we will challenge YOU to achieve greatness.

🪜 Visit www.strategyladders.com to schedule a call and discover how we can elevate your business to the next level.

Founder & Head of Strategy

The Strategy Ladder Program delivers MASSIVE results to agencies, consultancies, and service businesses.

If your business is 25-85 employees, partially or fully remote, and you're stuck trying to "level-up," I will transform it with you.

The Strategy Ladder System will get you UNSTUCK. You'll develop a bullet-proof strategy that grows with your business, streamlines operations, scales your revenue, and sets your business up to continue to grow without you.

The Strategy Ladder System doesn't just change your business. It will transform YOU. You'll undergo a mental reset that frees you from the anxiety and beliefs that tie you to the day-to-day in your business. You're the leader of your business - if you don't change, your business never will.

The Strategy Ladder System has worked for over 400 entrepreneurs, delivering & implementing strategies that have:

💥 Scaled an agency from $150k to $4mil ARR in 10 months

💥 Increased a digital marketing agency’s productivity levels by over 450%, dramatically increasing profitability

💥 Streamlined a SaaS product’s roadmap, reducing development costs by 45% while increasing execution speed by over 25%.

💥 Developed and executing a repositioning strategy that landed a web development agency a long-term contract with a Fortune 100 company

💥 Repositioned of an app development agency that grew recurring revenue from 2% to over 50% of total revenue within three month

💥 Built a sales organization of 65 sales people in two years

💥 Orchestrated & executed a legal & and business strategy that lead to a sale of key assets of a SaaS platform for a significant premium over the market value of the company

Vendavo

Everything I did as the director + partner marketing oversight and member of Vendavo's 2025 Extended Leadership Team Program. Lots of AI stuff.

Senior Director of Content and Web Strategy

I direct content strategy, content production, website strategy, SEO, customer storytelling, PR and media, communications, brand, design, social media, video, and influencer marketing.

I'm responsible for developing a strategic plan around content that informs, inspires, and differentiates Vendavo in the market.

I'm a player-coach. I manage a designer and a content specialist in-house. Externally, I manage a PR consultant, SEO firm, web developer, and videographers. It's a mix of strategy and execution.

Director of Content and Web Strategy

Art is the New Wall Street

I am the host and producer of a new podcast called, Art is the New Wall Street. 

The show explores how capitalism often forces creators to prioritize algorithms and profit over genuine expression. We spotlight artists who resist that pressure, showing how they protect their creativity from being compromised for commercial gain. We talk about artistic freedom in a world driven by clicks, sales, and algorithms empowering creators to find value in their work without selling out. Putting our passions before practicality. This show helps artists reconnect with their true purpose.

I get to connect with brilliant creatives of all kinds - musicians, designers, writers, photographers, videographers, etc. Hit me up if you want to come on the show!

Podcast Host & Producer

Superpath

Pro Member

Avtex Solutions

Planned, developed, executed, and delivered content that built the Avtex, VoiceFoundry, and TTEC Digital brands. Managed and supervised a team of content specialists and content strategists, ended my time at Avtex with 4 direct reports.

*Avtex was acquired by TTEC Digital.

Manager, Content Strategy & Production

Senior writer and brand content strategist focused on telling stories about CX transformation, digital experience, interaction experience, and experience innovation, while positioning and promoting the Avtex brand through content, collateral and sales enablement.

Some projects I worked on:
-Wrote stories of our clients' exceptional CX transformations
-Spearheaded the strategy, framework, and concept for a brand series called Last Best Experience
-Launched a brand called Elements bringing Avtex IP to market
-Wrote cornerstone brand assets and lead magnets including ebooks, guides, and white papers
-Ghostwrote articles and communications for executives and subject matter experts
-Developed storyboards for brand, product, and promotional videos
-Designed messaging architectures and content strategies for key industries 
-Created sales enablement content including sales decks, battle cards, sell sheets, and more
-Built a comprehensive, year-long content strategy including messaging pillars, content templates, an editorial calendar, creative brand concepts, SEO and web strategies, content landscape definition, and more

Content Strategist

Optimizely

Led the development and implementation of a global brand strategy and publishing discipline within Episerver, and its acquired organization, Optimizely to build brand preference, audience engagement, digital authority and inbound traffic. Created organizational interlocks and supported content needs for brand and communications, product marketing, demand gen, customer marketing, field marketing and sales enablement. Developed a content calendar and owned the creation of content assets like blogs, white papers, videos, thought leadership and other forms of content. Created a foundation and campaign themes for global to local campaign team.

Global Content Strategy Manager

I generated excitement for our products and served as a customer advocate/cheerleader. I wrote customer stories, white papers and guides to drive demand, product information to enable sales, and thought leadership on B2B ecommerce, digital experiences and content management. I focused mainly on creating content for the manufacturing and distribution industries as part of the Product and Audience arm of the marketing department.

-Interviewed, profiled, migrated and wrote case studies for more than 30 manufacturing and distribution customers leveraging Episerver B2B Commerce Cloud

-Supported the manufacturing and distribution sales team helping them to achieve record sales numbers in Q2 and Q4 2020

-Rewrote and created more than 200 pieces of content in order to roll the Insite Software brand into Episerver

-Led and organized the agenda, speakers and sessions for Episerver's first ever virtual customer conference, Ascend B2B influencing nearly 1400 registrants, double the initial registration goal

Content Marketing Manager - Product & Audience

I managed the marketing calendar and the content specialist. Our marketing team was small but mighty (5 of us) so I wore many hats across areas of marketing including: content, demand generation, customer marketing, partner marketing, product, digital, events, PR, sales enablement, BDR outreach and more. 

I worked on hundreds of content projects at Insite. Here are some of my favorites:
Captured man-on-the-street interviews at our annual customer event, Engage.
Led production of Legacy Builders magazine sharing stories of B2B future shapers.
Reworked customer case studies, interviewed customers and created their profiles.
Wrote countless eBooks and guides on topics like B2B marketplaces, roles in B2B, ecommerce, trends in manufacturing and distribution and more.

Content Specialist Lead - Insite Software (acquired by Episerver/Optimizely in 2019)

I developed a content and editorial calendar and created blogs, eBooks, podcasts, videos, webinars, events, customer stories and more. I drove the corporate website relaunch and built out a brand hub. I produced a podcast series, ghost wrote on behalf of thought leaders and supported more than a dozen events. To sum it up, if you consumed media about Insite Software, chances are I wrote it, reviewed it, or contracted it out to someone I worked closely with.

Content Specialist - Insite Software 

Crew2

I coordinated Crew2's marketing efforts including branding, web, design, photography, online reputation, community management and social media. I supported the brand identity through the creation of print and digital material. I developed recruitment strategies to grow Crew2's installation sub-contractor network. I wrote content including email marketing, landing pages, advertisements and blogs.

Marketing and Media Manager

Candeo Creative

Candeo Creative was a marketing/advertising agency located in the heart of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I created digital, website, brand and integrated marketing strategies on behalf of more than 15 clients. I also planned brand launch events, pitched big ideas, created media plans and placed buys, wrote responses to RFPs, edited and proofed communications and conducted research.

Some of my highlighted achievements in the role:
Won team award for strategy work on Alchemyst Forms
Co-led the rebranding strategy for Miravida Living (previously Lutheran Homes of Oshkosh)
Renamed a local Glass Nickel Pizza to Zaroni's Pizza and Mac
Oversaw a vehicle wrap project for 6 large blood center vehicles
Developed a platelet donation campaign for the local Community Blood Center
Led the web and rebranding strategy for Reach Counseling
Created a marketing and content strategy for Evergreen Credit Union and its sustainable initiatives

*Candeo Creative closed its doors in 2019.

Creative Strategist

Bluespire Marketing

I worked on copywriting projects for clients like Navy Federal Credit Union, Prestige Credit Union, and Cornerstone CU League. Projects included digital advertisements, scripts for radio, social media content, email marketing and direct mail pieces.

Copywriter/Content Intern

CUNA Mutual Group

I created a promotional strategy for CUNA Mutual Group’s 5th annual Online Discovery Conference resulting in registration of over 2,000 credit union professionals. I created promotional and event content and communications and planned logistics for the live event day including accommodations for speakers, assigning roles for quality control, creating virtual how-to videos and more. 

I also led a team of interns in planning an intern showcase and networking event, encouraging CUNA Mutual Group employees to learn about the responsibilities and accomplishments of each intern.

Virtual Events Intern

Buffalo Wild Wings

Wing Certified Trainer

Multi-passionate creative human. Director, poet, storyteller, strategist, podcaster, content marketer.

You know you’re capable of big things. You've spent years building skills, chasing ideas, and showing up with heart. But somewhere along the way, the joy started getting squeezed out.

Optimizing every move. Learning every new tool. Wondering if the work will perform instead of trusting that it matters. Trying to keep up with AI, even as part of you grieves the craft being lost. Feeling the pressure to turn every creative impulse into a business plan.

When someone asks, "What's your story?" you freeze. Not because you don’t have one, but because you have been too busy producing for the machine to stop and tell it.

That is where I can help. My superpower is helping you find yours, especially when you are burned out, stuck, or doubting if it is still in there.

I help brands, creatives, and founders articulate what makes them different so they can show up with confidence, clarity, and a story that sticks.

At Vendavo, I lead content and web strategy, managing in-house creatives and agencies to build our brand, tell our stories, and fuel our content engine. 

I’ve also held content and creative roles at TTEC Digital, Optimizely, and Candeo Creative translating complex ideas into compelling, market-moving stories and strategies.

Here are some things I believe about marketing and creativity:
✔ Creativity is our birthright
✔ Knowing your audience is the first step to moving them
✔ The craft of storytelling will outlive the algorithms
✔ The best trait you can have as a content marketer is curiosity
✔ AI can help you move faster, but it can’t replace creativity, curiosity, or human connection
✔ The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron is a must-read for any creative person
✔ As a creative in the workplace, you have to decide how much of your creativity is for sale

On that last note, I started a podcast called Art is the New Wall Street where I explore how artists stay true to their craft while navigating the pressures of monetization, career growth, and creative fulfillment.

Some nice things people have said:
"Morgan is one of the most brilliant and strategic creatives I know." - Gabrielle L
"Morgan creates a space for clarity and empowerment which is truly a gift." -Chelsea K
"Morgan is one of the best content strategists working in SaaS at the moment." -Mike B

Personality fun: 
Myers-Briggs: ENFJ 
CliftonStrengths: Strategic, Discipline, Individualization, Connectedness, Relator
Enneagram: Type 3 - The Achiever
Human Design: Manifesting Generator
Zodiac Signs: Scorpio Sun, Virgo Moon, Virgo Rising (yes it matters)

taplio

The Battle

S Brian Smith 🪜

Morgan Short

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