Testimonials
"We have had the privilege of working with Arlen as our business traction mentor, and the experience has been excellent. Arlen uses an exceptional blend of strategic insight, practical wisdom, and a strong passion and commitment to our business's success. His supportive guidance has provided us with an understanding of how to navigate challenges in this phase of our business and capitalize on opportunities. Arlen brings his wealth of experience and knowledge to support our business growth and is a valuable asset for any entrepreneur seeking to propel their business forward. Highly recommended!"
-Sandra and Idana, I.Liv Co-Founders
"Working with Arlen over this past year has been such an incredible working experience. As a small tech start-up, many of the decisions and tasks we are faced with are new to us, and receiving advice and direction has made a huge difference. Arlen's advice is always comprehensive, actionable, and always implementable.
This year, we hired a Business Development Manager - something we had not experienced before. Arlen went above and beyond to help with the entire process, from reviewing the job ad, scanning the applicants, and participating in the final interview.
Arlen continues to put so much care in how he can best help our company. We aren't just met with answers to our questions - he presents us with options on how he feels he can best contribute to our time together. As we get ready to launch our product, we know that the support we will continue to receive from Arlen will contribute directly to our success.
When asked by others who are starting a business what my best advice is for them, I always say that finding the right advisors who truly understand the risks, highs, lows, and mistakes that come with building a business is invaluable. We are grateful that Arlen is part of that network for us and would highly recommend working with him!"
Amanda Douglas-Young, President
KnowledgeNow Inc.
"Treehouse Medical underwent an unexpected shift in business model due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Defining our new direction was critical to success, and scalability. Arlen was a critical mentor and associate in assisting the Treehouse team in executing a well defined and achievable Go To Market strategy and unique value proposition. A daunting task, however, with Arlen's expertise, guidance and support, Treehouse was able to succinctly and promptly define our new strategy in order to create a timeline that suited quick turnaround.
Working with Arlen has been a pleasure. He is highly articulate, prompt and well-informed about industry best practices and new developments. A truly authentic and honest communicator that would benefit any growing team."
Julia Slanina, CEO
Treehouse Medical
"Strategies from Arlen have been a game changer for MPM's growth. From fixing our value proposition to polishing our product pricing, we have exceeded our revenue forecast and it is all possible just because of his 1:1 sessions.
Arlen has pushed our limits and guided us toward greater heights and taught us the magic of thinking big. We are planning our 2024 sales strategies with Arlen and I can certainly say that he has put us at least 6 months ahead with our business growth! Grateful to have him as our coach!"
Chetanya Sharma,
Co-founder, My Personal Mentor
"I first met Arlen during my pitch practice in one of Invest Ottawa's programs. Within 5 mins of conversing with Arlen, I knew we (at Evoke Health) desperately needed his sales wisdom, expertise, and guidance to push our sales forward, which had previously stalled. Arlen patiently listened to the sales challenges and successes we have had so far (he is a great listener and a note-taker!) and meticulously drafted a go-to-market plan (including branding, pricing, messaging) along with what we needed to do to convert our MQLs into SQLs.
Arlen not only showed us how to build a sales pipeline but also educated us on what we need to do and say during the calls with our leads, how to handle objections and ghosting, build a sales playbook, ask proper discovery questions, get commitments from our leads and how to deliver an effective sales pitch! Arlen was instrumental in giving us sales and pricing tips which landed us with more customers which would not have been otherwise possible.
He has changed the way we do marketing and sales at Evoke Health. To us, Arlen is not just our sales coach but also our cheerleader-helping us set practical and achievable growth goals and cheering for our success!"
Varsha Chaugai,
CEO, Evoke Health
"Working with Arlen has been a highly rewarding journey. His advisory support has significantly contributed to DreamLinked's acceleration in development, allowing us to achieve success milestones faster. It is invaluable as a founder to have someone as seasoned and inspiring to talk to and help guide you along the path to your dream."
Seva Losev,
CEO at DreamLinked
"Arlen has been more than an advisor to QualRecruit, he has been a coach to us in the most holistic sense of the term. He has helped us test, iterate upon, and ultimately establish an effective, repeatable process for converting leads into deals. For any startup, this means transforming an idea into a company through the only form of validation that matters: revenue. These are significant contributions in their own right but I’d be selling Arlen short if that was all I mentioned.
What differentiates Arlen, and why he’s a coach rather than just an advisor, has been his adeptness in building up the confidence of members of the revenue team. He instills in teams the faith that they can accomplish their objectives in the face of the inevitable hurdles of proving product-market-fit. Lots of people can teach sales; few can build people up to meet the task. Arlen is one of the few."
Sebastian Murdoch-Gibson,
Cofounder, QualRecruit
"Arlen is the real deal. Not only has he helped us build a repeatable and scalable process, but he's helped us execute it on a weekly basis as well - keeping us accountable, and providing insights and advice where needed. I would highly recommend him."
Nic Boileau,
CEO, Ekidna Sensing
"In September 2019, SnowM launched its first product called ‘Marker’ and we successfully deployed it for a pilot customers in the snow clearance industry during the winter. As the founder and CEO, I was unsure how to take this product to other vertical markets. While I was clear about the value in the product, I needed help developing a go-to-market strategy and I needed a mentor on strategic steps needed for long term sales success.
In February, 2020 I met Arlen via Invest Ottawa. Arlen put together a go-to-market strategy for different verticals where the product has prospective market fit and he guided me on step-by-step procedures to achieve long term sales success. Arlen also helped me rebrand the company and his input was crucial.
What puts Arlen in a unique position is that he is very hands-on. He understood our product issues and he paved a way for us to see how we could secure multiple pilot customers in different verticals.
In simple terms I feel Arlen is one of the top sales leaders in Ottawa and his results-driven advice puts him in an unique position when it comes to sales mentoring."
Madan Kanala,
CEO, Stratosfy