8. If I Were You: The Next 90 Days
The single most important thing
Get 5 small SEC-registered advisers paying ~$149 a month for exam-ready testimonials before you build more than the minimum.
- Segment: SEC-registered advisers serving individuals, 1–10 advisers, where the owner or a named CCO signs off marketing. Plus outsourced compliance consultants who serve such firms.
- Job: "Collect client testimonials, show them on our site with the right disclosures, and hand the examiner a clean record."
- How: start with a concierge version. Use a form tool, your disclosure template, CCO approval by email, a static HTML block for the firm's site, and a record spreadsheet. Charge from week 3. Automate only what you've done by hand at least 10 times.
- Hours: the plan works at ~15 hrs/week. Full-time, the targets in brackets apply.
Week-by-week
| Weeks | Goal | Exit criteria |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Discovery. 12 (15) calls with RIA owners and CCOs, and 3 with compliance consultants. Ask: do you use testimonials? Why not? What did your last exam ask for about marketing? Which directory or website platform do you use? What would you pay to stop worrying about this? Check whether their website platform already offers a compliant testimonial block. | You can write the top 3 pains in CCOs' words, the share of firms using testimonials, and whether a website platform already solves it. If most firms say "we don't use testimonials and won't", stop here. |
| 3–4 | Concierge pilot. Set up testimonials for 3 (5) firms: request form, disclosure template, CCO approval email, HTML block, record sheet. Charge $149 a month, or a $300 setup fee plus the first month. | 3 (5) paying firms. If fewer than 2 will pay, the pain isn't real at this price. Change the buyer (consultants only) or stop. |
| 5–10 | Build the thin v1 (web only): request form with client-status and compensation questions and consent; CCO approval queue with pattern flags for performance claims and guarantees; disclosure-first widget; widget snapshots; record export (PDF + ZIP); promoter log; roles; security page. | Pilots move to self-serve. Every pilot firm's CCO approves at least one testimonial in the product. |
| 9–10 | Channel groundwork. Sign 1 (2) compliance consultants on a partner offer (free console for their first 2 firms, 20% referral fee). Publish 4 guides: "Marketing Rule testimonial disclosure examples", "Can RIAs show Google reviews on their website?", "Testimonial compliance checklist", "Promoter agreement: when you need one". | 1 (2) consultant partners. 100+ checklist downloads. |
| 11–12 | Measure and decide. | 5 (8) paying firms, ≥1 consultant partner, every paying firm has published at least one testimonial with disclosures. If you hit it, keep going. If you miss it, go back to discovery with consultants as the buyer. |
Kill criteria (write these down now)
If at day 90 you have fewer than 3 paying firms, or no compliance consultant will recommend you, the wedge is wrong for you. Don't respond by adding widget templates or opening a free plan. Respond by changing the buyer once (consultants only), or stop.
Automation-first rules for limited hours
- Book calls through a scheduling link with 3 qualifying questions. No back-and-forth email.
- Every support answer becomes a help article the same day.
- The record export and consent reminders run on a schedule. No manual steps in the monthly cycle.
- Onboarding is a checklist inside the product, with a sample disclosure set pre-filled.
The one thing to stop doing
Stop thinking of this as a "wall of love".
The generic testimonial widget is solved, free, by three tools with years of head start. Every hour spent on carousel styles, imports from 18 sites or a free plan with a badge is an hour spent entering a market you can't win. The buyer you can win is a compliance officer, and what they buy is a record and a control. Build that, and sell it to them before you build anything else.
What stays on the long-term roadmap (only after proof)
- Video testimonials with transcripts and CCO review.
- CRM-triggered requests for one CRM (chosen by calls).
- Google Business Profile import into the approval queue.
- The third-party ratings module ("Top Advisor" lists).
- One RIA website-platform integration.
- Then, state-registered advisers, once each state's rule is checked.