About Tremolofy
Kris Kieper, Founder and Owner
I have over 20 years of software implementation and digital consulting expertise and specializes in SaaS Product Operations and Customer Value Enablement Advisory Services. After 16 years leading strategic, implementation and operational consulting practices with a digital agency in Minneapolis, I joined a pioneering Customer Journey Orchestrion start-up based in London where I formed and led the North American Customer Success team, then led the Global Customer Success team before transitioning into internal consulting roles leading Customer and Product Operations while advising within the leadership team.
I reside in Northern Minnesota with my husband and two Labrador Retrievers, surrounded by the Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. My favorite past times are creating with fiber art including spinning yarn, knitting and landscape needle felting, playing the piano and fishing and exploring the wilderness with my husband. You can view some of my landscape needle felting art at Feltscaping.com and related social channels.
Tremolofy Advisory Services is focused on helping clients:
- Be realistic and intentional about where their team or business is at and where it is not
- Enable teams to better communicate and align around priorities, goals and strategies
- Identify problems and raise awareness of the need for change
- Uncover subtle trends and patterns toward repeatable, lightweight, efficient processes
- Recommend and inspire incremental changes to help move your business forward
Etymology of the Name
Tremolo + fy
To make or cause to become Tremolo
The name Tremolofy is based on the word tremolo, a musical term that also has a special application in nature.
trem·o·lo
/ˈtreməˌlō/
noun: tremolo; plural noun: tremolos
A wavering effect in a musical tone, produced either by rapid reiteration of a note, by rapid repeated slight variation in the pitch of a note, or by sounding two notes of slightly different pitches to produce prominent overtones.
Source: Google Dictionary ➤
I’ve spent most of my life living in Minnesota and love recreating in the northern wilderness surrounded by seemingly endless lakes, rock islands, trees and wildlife. An icon of the Minnesota Northwoods is the Common Loon, which also happens to be the state bird. During the summer breeding season, loons are found on freshwater lakes throughout Canada and parts of the northern US, and Minnesota has more loons than any other state in the lower 48.
Loons are famous for their eerie, beautiful calls. They have four main calls which they use to communicate with their families and other loons. Each call has a distinct meaning and serves a unique function. (Source: Loon.org The Call of the Loon ➤)
The tremolo call—sometimes called the “laughing” call—is a wavering call given when a loon is alarmed, as a duet between pair members, or to announce its presence at a lake, often when they are flying overhead. The tremolo is the only vocalization used in flight. (Source: All About Birds ➤)
Applying Tremolo Concepts
I’ve found meaningful application for my advisory business in both the musical and the nature aspects of tremolo.
| Reference | Definition | Advisory Application to SaaS Companies |
|---|---|---|
| Loon call | Announce their presence on a lake | Identify and acknowledge where existing product strategies, goals, and objectives are today before making changes or new plans |
| Loon call | Duet between pair members | Empower stronger communication and alignment within and between teams |
| Loon call | Agitated or feeling threatened | Identify and acknowledge current challenges and the need for change |
| Music | Rapid, light, continuous murmuring and whispering of a single note | Embrace iterative and ongoing process improvement opportunities |
| Music | Volume-based modulation by rapidly raising and lowering creating a sense of motion | Be flexible and agile and willing to adapt the pace of change as needed |
Taking Action
Finally, adding the suffix -fy creates a verb with the meaning of the preceding word – how to make or cause to be Tremolo.
Tremolofy
/ˈtreməˌlō-fī/ (tre-mel-oh-fi)
verb: tremolofy
To make or cause to become Tremolo
Source: Kris Kieper