Building With Buyers

It’s the last podcast episode of 2022! I just wanted to say thanks for listening, thanks for sticking with me, I appreciate you. In this episode I'm also sharing where I'm taking the show for Season 3 (I've already started recording episodes that I can't wait to share with ya'll). Season 1 and 2 I brought on startup founders, marketing and sales leaders to explore brand, demand, what approaches work well, challenges and category design. For Season 3 we’re going deep into messy creative experiments, marketing innovation, pushing boundaries, how to make creativity achievable at a growing startup, why it’s so important today, balancing creativity with results, and how to sell the CEO on the creative stuff. I’ll also talk to creatives like artists and writers to understand their approach to creativity and what we can learn + apply to marketing at our startups. Happy New Year and I hope you get to enjoy some good old fashioned down-time before we jump right back into things next year! This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. This episode is also sponsored by Riverside, your online recording studio. Visit Riverside.fm to learn more and use the code HOLIDAYS22 for a 30% discount on your subscription. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I’m sharing playbooks and insights and cracking some jokes that will make you smile guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Final full episode of 2022!! Hope you've been having a wonderful holiday season and Happy (almost) New Year! I asked Will Allred (co-founder & COO at Lavender) to join me for this episode and cover some good ole' sales topics that may be top of mind for folks going into 2023. Will is a LinkedIn Top Sales Voice (47K+ followers). Prior to Lavender, Will was co-founder and COO at Sorter and prior to that he was Senior Associate at TopRight, a marketing consulting firm. Lavender was founded in 2020 and based out of NYC. They've got 8 people on the team and hiring for 2 more marketing roles. Lavender is the #1 sales email assistant. Write better emails, get more replies. 9.9/10 on G2 with 10k+ users. Here's what we hit on: Let's start with your website, that homepage header banner (play-doh wizard, listeners please go check it out) it's amazing, who came up with that and how's the performance of your website (HINT: our website converts 15-20% of all traffic); What’s the biggest but not as widely known mistake salespeople make when they write outbound emails; You’re PLG-focused so what’s been working really well for you for growth, how do you increase the chances of spreading WOM. You can find Will on LinkedIn. Find out more about Lavender. This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. This episode is also sponsored by Riverside, your online recording studio. Visit Riverside.fm to learn more and use the code HOLIDAYS22 for a 30% discount on your subscription. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

I thought it might be cool for listeners to hear from a startup that I've worked with. I asked Emilia Herman (Co-Founder and CEO of Seed Classroom) and Zac Herman (Co-Founder and COO of Seed Classroom) to join me on the show and talk about our work together. Maybe some listeners will connect with what they're building, challenges they were having and the value they got from working together. I was Emilia and Zac's coach (together with my colleague Daniel O'Reilly) during a 7-week EdTech Founders GTM Bootcamp that included instruction on both marketing + sales. We did a bunch of 1:1 feedback sessions as Emilia and Zac implemented some of the strategies and drafted a playbook for scalable growth. Seed Classroom was founded in 2017 and provides schools with live data on the amount of time students spend in and out of class through the automation of attendance-taking and hall pass request processes. This is great because it allows teachers to make learning their main priority. Here's what we cover: Background on Seed Classroom; Why'd they decide to do the GTM Bootcamp; What's been the biggest lesson/value from the bootcamp; How have they started to implement the learnings. Find out more about Seed Classroom Find out more about the EdTech Founders GTM Bootcamp This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. This episode is also sponsored by Riverside, your online recording studio. Visit Riverside.fm to learn more and use the code HOLIDAYS22 for a 30% discount on your subscription. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Guess who came back on the show? YUP. One of my faves, Latané Conant. Check out Episode 116 where we dig into how they've been running no forms, no spam and no cold calls at 6sense. Guess who I ran into at Trader Joe's after having her on the show? YUP. You guessed right. Turns out she's my neighbor. It was a wonderful surprise! Latané is CMO at 6sense (4+ years). Prior, she held sales and marketing leadership roles at Appirio (B2B SaaS, raised $111.7M in funding). The new edition of her book (No Forms, No Spam, No Cold Calls) is out now so you can check it out. 6sense was founded in 2013, has 1,000+ people, and is based out of San Francisco, CA. They've raised Series E ($200M total). The 6sense mantra: you can’t guess your way to quota. For sales and marketing teams, 6sense uses AI to capture anonymous buying signals, targets the right accounts at the ideal time, and recommends the channels and messages to boost revenue performance. Here's what we hit on this time around: We talk about the new edition of the book (HINT: there's a new chapter from their Head of Sales and his perspective on the "no forms, no spam, no cold calls" methodology); 2023 Marketing Plan - where are you putting your dollars, what channels (HINT: we're introducing a PLG motion in 2023); How do you measure pipeline? Does marketing-sourced vs. sales-sourced actually matter; What are the last 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you/your team has come up with (HINT: when the market changes, your message needs to change); What are your top marketing challenges right now (HINT: this is true across the tech industry, I worry about the team and staying enthused); Goals you want to accomplish (personal, professional) in 2023 (HINT: what makes me want to play?); Latané asks me her burning question to round out the episode. You can find Latané on LinkedIn. Find out more about 6sense. This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Another unique episode for the show! I've never done this before but thought it might be cool for listeners to hear from someone that I've worked with. I asked one of my customers, Matt Barinholtz (Founder of FutureMakers), to join me on the show and talk about our work together. Maybe some listeners will connect with what he's been building and the challenges that he was experiencing. I was Matt's coach (together with my colleague Daniel O'Reilly) during a 7-week EdTech Founders GTM Bootcamp that included instruction on both marketing + sales. We did a bunch of 1:1 feedback sessions as Matt implemented some of the strategies and drafted a playbook for scalable growth. FutureMakers was founded in 2011 and sparks playful hands-on learning for a future fueled by makers. Basically they've created these cool machines that students can make in the classroom and then get to keep. Here's what we cover: Background on Matt's business; Why'd he decide to do the GTM Bootcamp; What's been the biggest lesson/value from the bootcamp; How has he started to implement the learnings. Find out more about FutureMakers: www.kidsmakethingsbetter.com Find out more about the EdTech Founders GTM Bootcamp This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Can you believe 2023 is just around the corner? Trying to pack in a few more awesome episodes for ya before the new year AND before Season 3 of the show kicks off. For this episode I brought back Patrick Campbell (founder and CEO at ProfitWell). I’ve had Patrick on before, Episode 54 (that was 1 year ago!). Go check it out if you haven't yet. We talked a lot about “inbound media” (vs. inbound marketing) and how ProfitWell was building up their marketing engine. ProfitWell got acquired by Paddle (Series D startup) in May 2022. ProfitWell was founded in 2012. They've been bootstrapped all the way through acquisition. ProfitWell helps recurring revenue (SaaS + subscription + DTC) businesses with their monetization and retention strategies. Their tagline: “Drive subscription revenue while you sleep.” Here's what we hit on in this follow-up episode: ProfitWell's Marketing Plan before being acquired, what was your planning process like? Where did you put your dollars; Paddle acquisition - what did you have to get right on the marketing + sales side in order to set yourself up for being acquired? And what allowed you/the team to get those things right. You can find Patrick on LinkedIn. Find out more about ProfitWell by Paddle. This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Hello listeners! I love love love bringing on early stage startups onto the show and Gated is no exception. The thing I love about Gated's team is that they're small and nimble and they ooze good marketing from their bones. Andy Mowat is co-founder and CEO (Chief Email Officer!) at Gated. Prior to Gated, Andy was VP of GTM Ops and Growth Marketing at Culture Amp (Series F employee engagement SaaS, he was there 4+ years) where he drove 10X growth in ARR, and prior to that he led marketing and customer success at Box. Gated was founded in 2020 and has raised Seed funding ($3.3M total). Gated is noise canceling headphones for email. You get too many junk emails. Gated is a free solution that challenges unknown senders to donate in order to reach you. Here's what we hit on: Gated is a free tool and the way you make money is you’re getting a cut from those that donate - how are you growing users; You’ve got a podcast called "Finding Focus" - why’d you start it and what's your goal with it (HINT: our vision is broader than just email, it's about defending your attention); Looking ahead at your 2023 Marketing Plan, where are you putting your dollars; What are your top marketing challenges right now (HINT: we are trying to change behaviors which is difficult); What are 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you/your team have been rolling with. You can find Andy on LinkedIn or send him an email (no, really): andy@gated.com  Find out more about Gated. This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Hello to my wonderful listener peeps! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving and your turkeys all turned out moist and delicious. I am so excited to share this episode with you, this is one you'll want to listen all the way through. I reached out to Annette Cardwell because I read this article on why brands have been investing in podcasts and I saw her quote in there and it really resonated with me. I’m fascinated by how podcasts are becoming part of the entire company strategy and helping startups get deep insights, expertise, help build out their thought leadership, impact their product roadmap plus also drive sales. Annette is VP of Corporate Marketing at Lattice. Prior, Annette was VP of Content at Brit and Co. which is one of the largest digital media companies for women with a community of 175M+!! Lattice was founded in 2015 and has raised Series F funding ($174.2M total). Lattice is the complete people success platform that helps you put people first. When people succeed, your business succeeds. Customers include Slack, Imperfect Foods, Reddit, and Asana. Here's what we hit on: Tell me more about your show “All Hands,” why’d you start it, who’s it for, what content are you sharing (HINT: it's grown from 10k downloads to 49k downloads through Season 3); What have been the podcast results, why are you going to continue doing it; What were you working on back when you first started at Lattice summer 2019 - just closed Series B (HINT: "There were buyers but without an audience for why anyone should care, there’s not much you can do."); How has your marketing evolved since then; Looking ahead at your 2023 Marketing Plan, what are you starting to think about for Q1 next year (HINT: 18K members Slack community); What’s working really well for marketing/growth - specific channels, specific content (HINT: 25K HR professionals subscribed to our newsletter); How do you break through the noise (HINT: make them feel like you're paying attention); What are your top marketing challenges right now; What are 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you/your team have been rolling with; Goals you want to accomplish before 2023; Annette asks me a cool question. You can find Annette on LinkedIn. Find out more about Lattice. This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Happy Thanksgiving to all my listeners! I don't think I need to say this because you already know but I will say it - I am super thankful for you. For listening to the episodes I put out, for sharing your favorite episodes with others, for being a part of this podcast community that I started back in 2020. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. And if you're making turkey, I'll be thinking of you because I'm going to be making turkey too. May our turkeys turn out flavorful and moist. In this episode I’m getting interviewed by Rachel Gombosch (Community and Content Marketing Manager at Virtuance). Virtuance is a real estate tech-focused company based out of Denver, CO. They’re building out their podcast as part of their content marketing strategy which of course I love. Specifically we talk about: Why is going digital and investing in content creation so important today; What is the value of content and how can people think about content as useful; Why is there such a disconnect or hesitation with creating content or investing in digital marketing; Where do most people or businesses go wrong when measuring their content/marketing efforts; Obviously content takes time to gain traction, how can people judge the success of their content during this phase of waiting; Is there any way for businesses to get a faster ROI while they wait on their content to start gaining traction; What are some unconventional ways that someone who isn’t a marketer by trade can approach marketing? Said another way, how can people reposition their mindset for how they approach content. Find out more about Virtuance: www.virtuance.com/ You can follow them here: Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/virtuance/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/virtuance_photography/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/virtuance This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com   2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

I welcomed Emily Dale, Performance Marketing Manager at Alto, onto the show because it was a unique opportunity to talk about paid ads and measuring attribution coupled with brand and creative. Emily is a paid marketing guru. Her past clients include Fossil, PayPal, Michelin, Starbucks, The Bouqs Co., Lagunitas, Ferrero Brands, and Organic Valley. Alto is Series B funded ($59.5M total) and based out of Dallas, TX. Alto is ride-sharing, redefined. From their website: “Some people get there. Others arrive.” By hiring vetted, professional drivers and managing a dedicated fleet of 5-star crash rated luxury vehicles, Alto offers the safest, most consistent, and most personalized passenger experience on the market today. Here's what we hit on: Your marketing plan - where are you putting your dollars in Q4 and what are you starting to think about already for Q1 2023; What’s working really well for your marketing/growth (HINT: influencers); Paid ads - what have you tested and what have you found works well (HINT: our brand is our car); Top marketing challenges right now (HINT: attribution); How do you think about paid media attribution vs. other marketing tactics (HINT: we use a variety of metrics and trial/error); What are 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you/your team have been rolling with (HINT: gold boots involved); What are some goals you want to accomplish (personal, professional) before 2022 is over; Emily asks me her burning question "what are some of the trends you’re noticing for startups + marketing?" You can find Emily on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/emilygreen12/ Find out more about Alto: www.ridealto.com/ This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. GTM bootcamp for EdTech Founders (sign up for the next cohort) >> https://gofuelsales.com/edtech-bootcamp/ 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov