About Dan Kalis

I'm Not a Web Designer Who Learned Marketing. I'm a Business Advisor Who Learned What a Great Website Can Actually Do.

25 years advising 7 and 8-figure entrepreneurs. Thousands of hours in rooms with the best marketers in the world. One conclusion: most small businesses are invisible online, and it doesn't have to be that way.

Dan Kalis, Founder of UpgradedWebsites.com

For the better part of 25 years, I've sat across from hundreds of 7 and 8-figure entrepreneurs, executives, and investors as a trusted advisor: first in financial services and mortgage, then in commercial finance and capital advisory, and most recently through FullyFundable, where I've helped business owners at every stage find the fuel to grow.

Along the way, I got a different kind of education.

While my peers were grinding through degrees and agency jobs, I was spending weekends in rooms with Jay Abraham, Ryan Deiss, Frank Kern, Parris Lampropoulos, Brian Clark, and Noah Kagan. At War Room Masterminds, Traffic & Conversion Summits, and private events that most business owners never hear about, I absorbed something that can't be taught in a classroom: how the world's best marketers actually think about persuasion, positioning, and conversion.

I became obsessed. Not with design. With what makes a business actually win.

And what I kept seeing, over and over, as I evaluated hundreds of businesses for funding and growth, was the same problem: brilliant people running real businesses with websites that were silently working against them. Not because they didn't care. But because they'd never been in those rooms. They'd never read Hopkins or Ogilvy or Schwartz. They'd never heard of StoryBrand or the Grunt Test or reason-why copy. They were doing what most small business owners do: staying in the owner's box when the game was being played at a completely different level.

Most small business owners are self-employed. Very few are true students of business. The gap between those two things is enormous, and it shows up most visibly on their websites.

UpgradedWebsites.com is my answer to that gap.

Every site we build is architected using the same StoryBrand framework and Direct Response principles I spent years learning from the best in the world. We build the homepage before you pay a dollar, because we'd rather show you what's possible than ask you to trust a promise. And we price it at $1,500 because the model works, and because a great website should not require a $10,000 leap of faith.

I'm also a formerly Certified Value Builder advisor, which means I've spent real time studying what makes businesses sellable, scalable, and attractive to acquirers. In a world where the Silver Tsunami of Baby Boomer business exits is just getting started, a website isn't just a marketing asset. It's a valuation asset. That lens informs everything we build.

I grew up in Chicago, escaped the cold with my wife in 2011, and we now live in the Phoenix area with our teenage daughter. I'm a lifelong Cubs fan, a proud Gen-Xer, and an avid reader of history, politics, business, and culture. Classic rock and 90s grunge are always on in the background. In the past year I've become a serious student of AI, which is why the AIO foundations we build into every site aren't an afterthought. They're a conviction.

I built UpgradedWebsites.com because I kept watching great businesses lose to worse competitors. Not because of the quality of their work. Because of how they showed up online.

That's what we fix.

See How It Works View Our Methodology

In Good Company

A career spent in rooms with some of the sharpest minds in marketing, entrepreneurship, and business growth.

With Jay Abraham, one of the greatest marketing strategists alive and one of my greatest influences. Jay has generated an estimated $21 billion in revenue for his clients over his career.

With my brother Joe and the legendary Frank Kern, one of the most celebrated direct response marketers of his generation, at a private War Room Mastermind gathering at Pelican Hill, Newport Beach.

With Parris Lampropoulos, one of the living legends of direct response copywriting, whose work and influence runs through everything we write at UpgradedWebsites.com.

With Ryan Deiss, Roland Frasier, and Perry Belcher, co-founders of DigitalMarketer and Traffic & Conversion Summit, three of the most influential figures in modern digital marketing, 2017.

With Michael E. Gerber, author of The E-Myth, at a private meeting in Carlsbad, CA.

With John Warrillow, founder of The Value Builder System and author of Built to Sell. As a formerly Certified Value Builder advisor, this relationship remains one of the most meaningful of my career.

With Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger and pioneer of content marketing, at his private event in Denver, 2018.

With Rand Fishkin, founder of Moz and SparkToro and one of the most respected voices in SEO and digital marketing, at Brian Clark's event in Denver.

With Noah Kagan, founder of AppSumo, at War Room Mastermind 2018.

With Ryan Deiss, co-founder of DigitalMarketer and one of the most prolific builders in digital marketing.

With Syed Balkhi, founder of OptinMonster and one of the most prolific entrepreneurs in marketing technology, at Content & Commerce 2016.

With Sam Khorramian, serial entrepreneur, Inc. 5000 honoree, and co-founder of Big Block Realty, at Content & Commerce 2016.

With Dave Asprey, founder of Bulletproof Coffee, at Traffic & Conversion Summit.

With Jeff J. Hunter, friend, mentor, and one of today's most recognized AI influencers, at Traffic & Conversion Summit 2018.

With Brad Costanzo, entrepreneur, podcaster, and widely recognized AI and marketing expert.

With Mark Anthony Bates, who has trained many of the most recognized business platform speakers in the world, at War Room Mastermind 2018.

With Vinnie Fisher, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of FullyAccountable, at War Room Mastermind 2017.

With Tony Grebmeier, friend, mentor, and co-founder of ShipOffers, heading home from War Room Mastermind.

With Dan Kuschell, entrepreneur and growth strategist, at Traffic & Conversion Summit.

With Kevin Thompson, recognized as one of the most elite connectors in the digital entrepreneur community, at Traffic & Conversion Summit.

With Jason Hartman, prominent real estate investor and podcaster, at a marketing technology conference, 2017.

With my brother Joe at Pelican Hill Resort, Newport Beach, during War Room Mastermind.

Engaging with some of the sharpest minds in digital marketing at Traffic & Conversion Summit, 2017.

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