About Dean Waye
B2B Positioning & Marketing StrategistThe person behind the Boss Test, the Upstream Test, and the First Contact Model.
Philosophy
Market Leadership Through Upstream Problem Solving
Every framework on this site came from the same place: nine years carrying enterprise deals through buying committees at Nokia and Openet, where the pitch that won the room and the story that survived the trip back to procurement were never the same document. I built the Upstream Test to close that gap, then built Simulmatica, an AI buyer-simulation tool, to catch the objections a real buyer would raise before a real buyer ever sees the message.
The Boss Test
I write the sentence a champion says to their boss, not the cleverest line in the deck.
The Upstream Test
Copy has to survive the room after I'm gone. That's the only test that matters.
Outside-In
I tell prospects their own story, with your company as the character that shows up right on cue.
Tested, Not Guessed
Every message runs through Simulmatica before a real prospect ever sees it.
How It Works
The Methodology
- 01
Diagnose the negative present
Before anything gets written, I map where your buyers actually are today: the objections, the internal politics, the reason the last vendor got shelved.
- 02
Find the asymmetric position
Not a unique claim nobody believes. A true one your competitors are structurally unable to copy.
- 03
Build source copy
One foundational document every campaign, deck, and sales call pulls from, so the message stays the same every time someone repeats it.
Background
Enterprise Experience
Nokia & Openet
Sales, Enablement & Engineering
I was an award-winning account executive, enablement director and sales engineer across the US. I watched good pitches die in rooms I wasn't in — that's where the Upstream Test came from.
Kronos
Complex Problem Solving
As a project manager, I ranked in the top 2% of 105 PMs for turning around distressed projects. It taught me most ‘people problems’ are diagnosis problems wearing a disguise.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is Dean Waye's background before copywriting?+
I was an award-winning account executive, enablement director and sales engineer at Nokia and Openet, across the US. Before that, I was a project manager at Kronos, ranked in the top 2% of 105 PMs for turning around distressed projects. That's where the Upstream Test and the rest of these frameworks actually came from, not from a marketing textbook.
What is AI-driven buyer simulation?+
It's Simulmatica, the tool I built: AI models that behave like your specific ICP, with their objections, language, and buying constraints built in. I run proposed messaging through it before it goes to market, so you see exactly where it holds and where it loses the buyer. Tested, not guessed.
Does Dean work with agencies or direct clients only?+
Both. I work directly with B2B companies, and with the fCMOs, agencies, and Private Equity operators who market on their behalf, the same audience the rest of this site is built for.
What does 'asymmetric messaging' mean?+
It means finding the one true thing about your company that your competitors are structurally unable to copy, then building the position around it. It's not about sounding unique, it's about being different in a way that's provable.
Close the gap between plan and pipeline.
Get sales and marketing messaging that will work for years.