Candor · Customer Discovery Case Study 44% SQL rate and 100% to SQO with the highest fit ICP.
- Industry
- Fintech
- Engagement
- Customer Discovery
Candor helps public companies transform employees into responsible shareholders by addressing critical challenges in equity management.
The Challenge
Initially, Candor’s founder-led approach focused on account-based strategies, leveraging conferences and personal networking to close a handful of deals. While this method yielded results, it was unscalable, exhausting, and lacked clarity on the ideal customer profile (ICP). Candor identified three potential ICP Functions (HR, Finance, and Legal) but needed to determine which group offered the highest likelihood of advancement in the sales process.
The Solution
JJELLYFISH launched a targeted outbound motion to test these three ICPs and quickly identified the most responsive audience. This group not only generated significantly more meetings but also demonstrated genuine purchase intent, advancing to demos and third calls. By targeting this ICP, Candor gained a critical foothold in organizations, enabling them to identify decision makers and tailor their messaging to the appropriate Function (HR, Finance, or Legal) based on the organization’s structure.
Through these conversations, JJELLYFISH uncovered key challenges within Candor’s ICP. Employees struggled to maximize the value of their stock-based compensation due to knowledge gaps in tax implications, financial planning, and basic equity literacy. Broader issues, such as low engagement, declining ESPP participation, and retention challenges came to light. These insights clarified that Candor’s role wasn’t to replace brokers but to fill critical gaps, especially in education and financial planning.
The Results
By refining the outbound and sales strategy, JJELLYFISH helped Candor generate 11 high-quality conversations. These meetings not only validated Candor’s value proposition but also provided a clear path for scaling. Candor is uniquely positioned to complement existing brokers by addressing knowledge gaps, enhancing employee engagement, and improving equity outcomes, solidifying its role as an indispensable partner in employee stock management.
Niya Dragova, Co-founder & CEOThank you so much for all the hard work that went into this. The engagement was enormously helpful. My wheels were spinning in so many different directions after the capstone. I really appreciate that you put it together in multiple ways, like both from a data perspective but also from a collateral perspective, strategy perspective. You gave us a ton to work with here!
