What this reminds me of broadly is just stay focused on the customer and their problems, right? Like don't obsess with who you are. It's who are you selling to and how you make their life better. Maybe Data Dog has done a pretty good job of that. I think where I get excited is when the companies do this in a way that feels less self-serving or less obviously self-serving. That means that sometimes you have to be willing to invest in things that will not have like super obviously immediate ROI for you but they will for building the community.
Zoelle Egner is best known for her time at Airtable (currently valued at $11 billion), where she was the 11th employee and built and led the initial marketing and customer success teams. Currently she’s the Head of Marketing and Growth at Block Party, a company that designs consumer tools for online safety and anti-harassment. In today’s episode, we explore the marketing strategies that helped Airtable punch above its weight and build an established brand. We also dig into how Airtable was able to find its first super-users, how customer success played a key role in getting early traction, and the do’s and don’ts for marketing investments. Zoelle also shares her experience working for VaccinateCA (which ended up playing a massive role in helping get people vaccinated during the pandemic) and several tips for obtaining valuable customer feedback.