Peep Laja, founder of 3 companies (Wynter, CXL and Speero) joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Peep has been building companies for years. He founded a SaaS startup back in 2009 for building and selling online courses (it didn’t work out) and now running these companies. Peep has really grown his audience on LinkedIn and Twitter. 37k followers on Twitter and almost 26k followers on LinkedIn. Wow. People (including me) are following Peep's thought leadership on building companies, experimentation, storytelling and content marketing. Wynter is a messaging optimization platform for B2B companies. What messaging hits home? What falls flat? Customers include Drift, Unilever and GoToMeeting. CXL is a skill-building platform for marketers that uses the world’s top 1% practitioners as instructors. Customers include Google, Cisco, and Hilton. Speero is a customer experience optimization agency. They do CX research and experimentation to measure and improve your customer experience. The short story here is Peep sent out a Tweet: “A podcast booking company is pitching me, saying they can get me on 2 shows/week and nobody else can match their success rate. Let's see about that.” Clearly Peep is an experimenter. And then someone emailed me about it and so here we are :) Here's what we hit on: How many podcast shows have you booked so far? What's your goal with being on so many podcasts; What did you learn from your 2 years building the SaaS startup (that failed) that has helped you succeed with Wynter and CXL and Speero; What are your thoughts on content marketing and how it has changed over the years? What exactly has changed since 2010? What do marketers need to stop / start doing; Who's doing innovative things with their content (HINT: Harry Dry and also Growth.Design with their comic book style case studies growth.design/case-studies); Recommendations for startups on how to differentiate when sameness is the default...what’s the strategy (HINT: innovation, brand and strategic narrative); How Peep stays creative; Some bad recommendations that Peep has heard and wants to set the record straight; Do user research but BE CAREFUL; Top tips for posting content and building an audience on LinkedIn and Twitter. You can find Peep on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/peeplaja On Twitter: @peeplaja Find out more about Wynter: wynter.com Find out more about CXL: cxl.com Found out more about Speero: speero.com  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!

Grace Woods, VP Global Head of Marketing at Patreon, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Prior to Patreon, Grace held executive roles at Flexport, Kloudless (Series A startup), and Salesforce (for 5 years). Patreon was founded in 2013, has over 200 people, and is based out of San Francisco, CA. They've raised Series E ($258.3M total). Patreon is a creator-founded membership platform that helps creators change the way their art is valued through a direct relationship with their fans. Thousands of video makers, podcasters, musicians, writers, game developers, and other creators are making a salary on Patreon. Creators offer their fans a monthly membership. So I’ve been part of DGMG’s Patreon ($10/mo.) for months. $10 seems like nothing, but when you have thousands of fans, that’s amazing recurring revenue. Here's what we hit on: How Grace made her way over to Patreon and the personal significance of working there; First days and weeks at Patreon, what she focused on and then COVID hit and brought various challenges; Marketing is 40 people across Creative, Brand, Demand Gen, Product Marketing, Web Engineering, Marketing Operations, Customer Marketing and Events. How Grace gets the pulse on everything; What it means to set the bar on content (when your customers are content creators themselves); Patreon's very successful creator ambassador program that fuels their content engine; Frequent content is not as important as authentic, valuable content; Grace offers up tips on how to approach virtual events; Top Patreon creators (including While She Sleeps with a link to their PR video); Some super creative marketing ideas from Grace's creative and social team (including visually celebrating creativity plus spreading the word about what we offer); How Grace continues to stay creative; The idea of having a "village of advisors" to help solve different problems; New ideas have to run through the customer obsession litmus test; Grace's story on failures and learnings going forward (HINT: listen to your customer vs. push your own message); How to approach website redesign in a balanced way; How to balance both brand + demand to drive growth; Grace's marketing pet peeve; Grace's mantra to "do what you suck at" and how that relates to marketing. You can find Grace on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gracewoods Find out more about Patreon: www.patreon.com Link to While She Sleeps creative PR video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5mKa0r8Fjk 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!

Jared Jost, VP of Marketing at PatientPop, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Prior to PatientPop, Jared was at Twistlock (cybersecurity startup that got acquired by Palo Alto Networks) and Smarsh (SaaS). PatientPop was founded in 2014, has ~450 people and is based out of Santa Monica, CA. They've raised Series C ($125M total). PatientPop makes it easy for healthcare providers to attract more patients, manage their online reputation, modernize the patient experience, and automate the front office. From searching for a provider online, to checking their website + reviews, to booking an appointment, to getting an alert, then getting an automated survey, and finally leaving a review online. Enhancing every digital touchpoint along the patient journey. Here's what we hit on: Jared was VP of Demand Gen at PatientPop for almost 2 years, then became VP of Marketing - so what does marketing mean to him; What Jared focused on with marketing efforts when he joined PatientPop 3.5 years ago (they were at Series A); How to thread marketing into the sales process to create pipeline, opportunities, and revenue; How the marketing team is structured now; Marketing channels that are working really well (HINT: PPC + organic but there are nuances); During COVID we learned that breaking up the content funnel makes us better marketers; How we used internal data and thought leadership to increase trust and propel the brand; Challenges related to staying relevant and scaling the company; Taking the company from Series B to Series C funding and what that means for marketing; Building a simple tool to use on your website that addresses the buyer's pain point (quickly) and propels growth faster; Some bad marketing recommendations that Jared can't stand (HINT: it's about leads); How Jared defies convention and tries to take a different approach. You can find Jared on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jaredjost Find out more about PatientPop: www.patientpop.com 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!

Are you ready for this? A twist on the typical Anna + guest format! One of my listeners suggested I ask myself the same questions I typically ask my guests...so basically interview myself. If you ever wanted to learn more about me personally, this will help! And as an added bonus, I ask my 7-year-old daughter some of the same questions. The result is sometimes hilarious and always super cute. In this episode I cover: What does marketing mean to me; Quick pitch about my company, who I'm for, what problems I help solve; How did I start this company; Who's on the team; What's working really well from my own marketing and channels perspective; Quick note on lead gen; Challenges I'm trying to figure out; How has COVID affected my marketing strategy; What did I do early stage (given limited resources) to stand out (HINT: focus on your superpowers); The last 2-3 good ideas I've come up with; How I keep my marketing fresh and stay creative; What's my "favorite failure" (HINT: not just one!); What are some bad recommendations in sales/marketing; Sharing something more personal about myself, maybe a little strange. 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!

Aaron Pollack, CMO at Nanit, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Prior to joining Nanit in 2017, Aaron held various marketing roles at global brands such as Canary, BlackBerry, GreatCall and SiriusXM. Nanit was founded in 2016, has ~65 people, and is based out of NYC. They JUST finished raising Series C! ($75M total) Nanit has created an HD baby monitor that lets you track your baby’s sleep, breathing motion, and growth. So you get the sleep analysis, personalized tips, and immediate alerts, and of course the 1080p overhead view of your baby. And there’s even a digital baby album that's tracking milestones that you can share with your family. An entire baby monitoring solution. P.S. Aaron doesn't have any kids, and that may be the secret to being so successful with his marketing and growth efforts - not falling back on assumptions and continuously learning more from Nanit's buyers. Here's what we hit on: Aaron's "lean and mean" marketing team of 7 people and what they're responsible for; Nanit as both a product + SaaS company and how they think about pricing; Using stage + lifestyle as part of their targeting efforts; How they're using Pinterest successfully (vs. just the typical Facebook and Insta); Working with partners like The Bump that have highly targeted marketing capabilities; Using Criteo for retargeting; Some challenges within the category (customer journey is 4-5 months!) which makes marketing/educating difficult; How Nanit's personalized sleep coaching for parents increases WOM; How parents and the category has changed over the last 5 years so that more people want this (pricier) baby monitoring solution; How Aaron helped take the company from Series B to Series C; Some of Aaron's top marketing ideas; Why the pandemic fundamentally changed the type of plan consumers buy (more than 25% of users are not parents!); How Aaron and team keep their marketing fresh (HINT: there's a Super Parents group); People make recommendations based on what works for them - most of the time it doesn't work for Nanit; What's wrong with being obsessed with "going viral" (HINT: going viral should never be the goal but can be a nice result); Aaron's "favorite failure"; Aaron's secret special ingredient for his winning chili recipe. You can find Aaron on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aaronpollack Find out more about Nanit: www.nanit.com 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!

Mark Kilens, VP of Content and Community at Drift, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Drift was founded in 2015, has ~400 people, and is based out of Boston, MA. They've raised Series C ($107M total). Drift helps companies (specifically, marketing and sales) engage in real-time, personalized conversations so they can build trust and accelerate revenue. Drift combines chat, email, video, and automation to remove the friction from business buying and make it more enjoyable and human. They came up with the categories “conversational marketing” and “revenue acceleration” and just announced a year of record-breaking growth. Here's what we hit on: 3 different eras and the evolution of brand, demand gen, and now a revenue focus across marketing and sales; What are the pain points that sales/marketing teams have where Drift comes in; Sales/marketing team alignment vs. actioning; How the marketing team is structured inside Drift - the hub of the customer experience AND employee experience; What makes Drift unique (from other martech SaaS companies); What marketing channels are working really well for Drift (e.g. LinkedIn, virtual events); How to think about SEO in an effective way - narrow targeting and entertaining media formats; LinkedIn marketing means using the power of real people within your business; Drift on gating content (HINT: they don't); Just because someone reads your content does not mean they're qualified - what else matters; Drift's marketing challenges (e.g. expansion, focus, etc.); You can't just buy martech and expect revenue to follow - need the strategy; Some of Mark's best marketing ideas (micro-content, reposition your content to different audiences); The vast majority of websites suck because they serve the marketer vs. customer; How Mark stays creative. You can find Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markkilens/ Find out more about Drift: www.drift.com 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!

Jonathan Metrick, Chief Growth Officer (CGO) at Portage Ventures and Fractional CGO at Wealthsimple, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Lots of gold nuggets shared in this episode because Jonathan brings the insights from both a VC firm and startup perspective on growth. Portage Ventures is an early stage fintech investor, formed in 2016 and with a presence in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Europe and Southeast Asia. Wealthsimple is one of their portfolio companies. Wealthsimple was founded in 2014, has ~500 people, and is based out of Toronto, CA. Wealthsimple is "investing on autopilot." They build you a personal, low-cost portfolio and put your money to work like the world’s smartest investors. Wealthsimple manages $8.4 billion and has more than 1.5 million users. We hit on a lot of important topics, including: Jonathan's marketing experience across brands (including P&G, Live Nation, Policygenius) and what he most enjoys about marketing and growth; How emerging fintech companies should approach marketing, education and connecting with their users; The need for brand + growth teams to be better integrated in order to differentiate and leave competitors in the dust; New and emerging channels (like TikTok and Clubhouse) can help you get in front of your target buyers, cheaply; How influencer marketing helps new brands explain themselves and build trust; The importance of being clear about who you are and what you do so that your target audience connects with you; Startup brands that are willing to test in new and emerging channels have a leg up over established brands; Education and value creation as the main challenges to tackle within fintech; How will consumer behavior evolve in another year or two, and making sure your marketing and growth efforts align; Startup fundraising and advice from Jonathan (HINT: people really matters, here); Jonathan's marketing and growth efforts for Portage Ventures. You can find Jonathan on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmetrick Find out more about Portage Ventures: p3vc.com  Find out more about Wealthsimple: www.wealthsimple.com 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!

Michelle Heath, Founder and CEO at Growth Street, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Mixing it up! I usually have venture-backed startup founders and marketing leaders come on as guests. This time I brought on a fellow marketing superstar to share her experience and wisdom.  Michelle and I are clearly spirit animals, once you listen to this episode you'll understand why. Michelle started Growth Street in 2013, based out of Boston, MA. When businesses need to achieve the next level of growth, Growth Street is the growth strategy consulting firm that creates the tailwind for success. Moving quickly is a big-time competitive advantage. They don’t like wasting time or money. No politics, BS or over-processed approaches. And their motto: giddy up! We hit on a lot of brand, marketing and growth concepts, including: Growth Street's very own growth story; Brand strategy vs. branding vs. marketing, the key differences and why does it even matter, especially for startups; Michelle's new book about the power of brand as business value and how brand is often misunderstood; The holy grail of brand is consistency; How to prove that your brand strategy is working (HINT: what do you want brand to do for your business?); 3 big mistakes that Michelle sees companies make repeatedly; How to get the marketing flywheel going (HINT: start with the customer mindset); Do you actually need an industry-specific consultant (with experience in your industry) to help with your marketing and growth. You can find Michelle on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michelleheath Find out more about Growth Street: www.getgrowthstreet.com 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!

Sometimes I like to sprinkle in some raw and unfiltered thoughts.  In this episode I cover: The purpose of content; Before you come up with a content strategy, you need to figure out what your target buyer cares about, their challenges, goals, where they spend their time, etc; What is a content engine and how to think about creating content for the full funnel; Daily/weekly marketing ops activities to feed your content engine; How to think about sales materials as part of your content strategy; How to measure your content efforts; How to measure your podcast efforts. 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!

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.