In this episode of Founders Future, host Ammar Elm sits down with John Chapman, founder of The Marketing Chap, a full-service consultancy helping small-to-medium businesses with strategic marketing, brand transformation, and revenue growth. John shares his decade-long journey from corporate marketing to launching his own agency, emphasizing the importance of balancing SEO, social media, and paid ads while avoiding the pitfalls of rapid, unsustainable scaling. He discusses his hands-on approach—offering free assessments, cold outreach, and word-of-mouth lead gen—and his vision for the next 12 months: refining industry-specific client models and building predictable revenue streams.

John also opens up about the challenges of startup life, from managing operations solo to resisting the temptation to "do everything at once." His advice for fellow entrepreneurs? "Start slow, validate your systems, and prioritize financial stability over vanity metrics." For agencies, he stresses the power of data-driven campaigns and niching down—like focusing on one geographic market per vertical—to avoid competing clients.