About Us
Get to know us and you’ll find that we are a small team making a big impact. And we’re not afraid to have a little fun along the way.
Our Team
-
Jim McVety - Managing Partner
Jim is an experienced sales, marketing and communications specialist responsible for client success in all areas of education. A recognized authority through his research, leadership roles, keynotes and podcasts, Jim has convened with clients in a variety of formats throughout his career.
With his focus on building the capacity of organizations to better support educators and students, Jim’s analysis, strategic consulting, and embedded engagements have helped shape strategy for hundreds of organizations across the education space. Jim seeks clients and partners who value analytical thinking, relationship building, sales acumen, marketing savvy, and steady leadership.
-
Marla Wilson - Senior Partner
Marla is a seasoned marketing and operations leader dedicated to helping education companies turn potential into impact. With over 8 years of experience driving growth for market leaders like ClassLink (single sign-on) and CENTEGIX (incident response), Marla excels at crafting messaging, launching campaigns, and optimizing adoption strategies that deliver measurable results.
As a Senior Partner at First Step Advisors, Marla combines strategic vision with operational expertise, overseeing client engagements, internal teams, and a freelance network to ensure seamless execution and goal achievement. Known for bridging strategy and action, Marla thrives on scaling brands, streamlining processes, and mentoring the next generation of EdTech marketing leaders.
-
Caitlin Kindred - Senior Marketing Manager
Caitlin draws on her years of experience as a data-driven math and social studies educator, curriculum writer, and strong advocate for teachers in her work serving the needs of her clients. Her strong organization skills, love of laughter, and empathy for classroom teachers guides her as she assists in marketing and content creation in addition to hosting and supporting clients during webinar sessions.
Caitlin has been the lead on a number of engagements covering everything from online tutoring to stem, early literacy to enterprise software.
-
Kelly Cline - Content Marketing
As a former ESL teacher, Kelly brings her educator voice to craft highly effective, SEO optimized content aligned to specific marketing campaigns. Kelly has worked on website copy, emails, and content marketing programs for a wide variety of education clients around the world.
-
Paul Kuhne - Executive in Residence
For over 20 years, Paul’s supported go-to-market and growth efforts focused on social impact and high-growth technology. After starting his career at NGOs, he headed up marketing, sales and/or customer success in ed tech settings like BrainPop and eChalk, before consulting on marketing, growth and RevOps for almost a decade across a variety of industries. Marrying creativity and a data-driven mindset, he enjoys helping companies improve demand gen, sales enablement, messaging and positioning, community and thought leadership, partner ecosystems and go-to-market strategy.
Our Clients
Since 2009, First Step has guided organizations from around the world via world-class marketing and market research. Our work is grounded in our lived experiences as sales, marketing, and education experts, enabling clients to elevate their position, build brand awareness, and drive inbound interest.
The First Step portfolio represents over $200M in ARR. From early-stage startups to global brands, non-profit foundations to family-run companies, we seek out partners who understand what it means to do well by doing good.
First Step has partnered with hundreds of education companies across the United States, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and Asia and hope to work with you too.
“We worked with First Step Advisors to put together a marketing and sales strategy plan for our phonics program, and we had a wonderful experience! Jim, Marla, and the team were so easy to work with. They were organized, and the accompanying materials they provided to us were clear and easy to use. Our team has continued to use the resources and insight they provided us, long after we finished working together! Their support and guidance has helped us reach many more schools, providing hundreds of teachers with the right tools so their students can become strong readers.” - Alison Ryan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Learning At The Primary Pond, Inc.
