Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers

17 - How Rob Singer, CMO at Remitly, Leads Marketing at a 900+ People Startup

Feb 8, 2021

Rob Singer, the CMO at Remitly, a fintech trailblazer in international money transfers, shares his insights on scaling marketing in a 900+ person startup. He discusses the importance of building a strong team culture and the intricacies of adapting marketing strategies across geographies. Rob emphasizes data's complexity and the challenges of interpreting incomplete stories. Additionally, he reveals his daily spreadsheet ritual to track key metrics, and he highlights the shift from static marketing to a more engaging, customer-centric approach.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

Empowering Immigrants through Financial Services

01:32 • 24min

Navigating Data Complexity in Marketing

25:45 • 6min

Key Metrics for Marketing Success

31:32 • 7min

Transforming Marketing: From Flags to Human Connection

38:42 • 4min

Brand Development in Startups

42:52 • 8min

Rob Singer, CMO at Remitly, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast.

Remitly was founded in 2011, they've raised Series F (just raised another $85M July 2020), and have ~900 people.

Remitly is a fintech company that leverages digital channels, including mobile phones, to send money internationally. There are millions of immigrants around the world that make the huge sacrifice of leaving their families behind to live and work in another country. Remitly is helping them send money across borders.

Here’s what we covered:

Rob's experience joining and growing companies during key inflection points;

How getting traction across geographies shook up the marketing team's structure;

What marketing channels worked well for getting traction early stage;

Architecting the marketing team for scale;

How Rob leads marketing at 900+ people company (HINT: includes a daily morning spreadsheet update and hiring phenomenal people);

Rob's background in marketing (HINT: his first job as a marketer was straight to CMO);

As CMO, you're the head of HR for marketing - hire, retain and engage world class talent;

As CMO, you're helping the team stay focused and prioritize;

Rob's experience and advice when the data tells you an incomplete story;

Rob's magic spreadsheet - exactly what does he track and update every morning??;

How to measure and think about CAC across geographies;

Marketing channels working well today;

Transitioning from an app-first to an app company;

From static marketing to video creative to cut through the noise;

Positioning the brand around 'peace of mind';

Marketing is analytics + connection + emotion;

Rob's personal opinion on building brand early stage (including his experience at Ancestry.com);

Rob's advice on how to approach marketing early stage vs. later stage companies;

Rob's approach to staffing (e.g. early stage use boutique agencies as your marketing team).

You can find Rob on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rob-singer-313131/

Find out more about Remitly: www.remitly.com

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You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com

Thanks for listening!