51 - Bringing Humanity Into The App Experience With Katie Perry, VP of Marketing at Public

Katie Perry (no, not the singer) is VP of Marketing at Public.com.

I'm so pumped about this episode because Public has plowed through and grown SO much since launching in 2019. They've raised $310 million to date at a $1.2 billion valuation. 100 employees and based out of New York. No wonder they're so fast.

Prior to Public, Katie held leadership roles at media and creative agencies including 360i and Comscore, and was Head of Brand Marketing at Suzy (a Series C tech startup).

Public is an investing app on a mission to make the public markets work for all people. They're taking a different approach by focusing on features built directly for retail investors, like Town Halls with public company leaders, a community of 1 million members to discuss trades and trends, and a live audio feature called Public Live. They reached 1 million members in Feb 2021.

Here's what we hit on:

What are some of the big marketing/content trends you're seeing today that every startup needs to be on top of (HINT: start with why you exist and who you're for, then build customers and turn them into loyal fans);

You joined Public in 2019 - what did your marketing efforts look like early stage (HINT: packing SWAG boxes while watching TV);

What worked early stage that surprised you (HINT: partnering with micro-creators);

We covered some really cool marketing campaigns including creative ads and limited-edition Airbnb IPOats cereal boxes...that CEO Brian Chesky tweeted about;

Marketing and growth: what’s been working well for you;

Who’s on the marketing team now;

Marketing and growth: what are the challenges, what are you trying to figure out (HINT: we talked about strategies for creating more focus);

There are others in the space. How do you differentiate?

How has a failure / mistake set you up for later success (HINT: the story involves posting on the company's Twitter account instead of personal account).

You can reach Katie on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/katherineperry

Find out more about Public: https://public.com

This episode is exclusively sponsored by Manifest Commerce, helping merchants with earth friendly e-commerce fulfillment. You can check them out here: www.manifestcommerce.io

For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen).

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

Thanks for listening!