Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers

Anna McVeigh-Murphy, Marketing Manager at Curacubby, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Curacubby was founded in 2016, has 20 people, and is based out of Berkeley, CA. They are seed funded and preparing to raise Series A. Curacubby is an integrated business and payments platform for schools of all sizes. School management shouldn’t be a headache. With Curacubby, schools can focus less on administrative tasks and more on the students. Hurray! We covered: How to prove your company’s expertise through podcasting; How podcasting directly impacts followers on social media; Marketing = relationship-building and providing value through education; Being hired as the first marketer at a 20-person startup with a clean slate - what do you start doing; Who else do you bring onto your marketing team; How to use email marketing with a lean team; Being impatient (to 10x your growth) is normal when you’re at a startup; How COVID has impacted Curacubby's audience targeting and their product roadmap; The concept of giving value, building trust, and growing your audience before you ask them to do something; How to think about differentiating your company and offerings in a cluttered market; Feeling stuck in your marketing role and what to do next (including a mindset shift). You can find Anna M. on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/anna-lillian-murphy Find out more about Curacubby: www.curacubby.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna F. on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

George Wojciechowski, Co-Founder at ShipBob, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. ShipBob was founded in 2014 and has raised Series D ($130.5M total). Based out of good 'ole Chicago, IL, ShipBob has ~650 people. ShipBob is a tech-enabled 3PL (3rd party logistics) that fulfills e-commerce orders for direct-to-consumer brands. You can outsource your logistics, from warehousing to delivery (and more) so you can focus on other aspects of your business. ShipBob was recently ranked #1 on Crain's Chicago 'Fast List' of the Fastest-Growing Companies in 2020. We covered: What George focuses on now in his role as co-founder of a ~650 person company (versus early-stage); How ShipBob differentiates itself vs. other players; Marketing as an expression of your broader mission and values (going beyond utility and features); How ShipBob incorporates culture and trust throughout the entire customer experience; Structuring of teams (a triangle of Revenue, Ops, and Engineering) including Marketing in more detail; Marketing channels that are working well now, as well as in the early days (hint: lots of low-hanging fruit); COVID impacts on the business - both positive and negative - and how ShipBob has leveraged internal data to provide value to customers; George's intriguing career journey, from equity and derivatives and futures to co-founding ShipBob. You can find George on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/george-wojciechowski-870b814 Find out more about ShipBob: www.shipbob.com Also check out: trends.shipbob.com and carriers.shipbob.com George also talked about: www.pachama.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!

Matt Bendett, Co-Founder and VP of Ops & Strategy at Peerspace, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Peerspace was founded in 2014 and has raised Series B ($34.8M total). The team was ~85 people at their peak (currently a leaner team due to the impacts of COVID-19). Peerspace is your little black book for finding unique and undiscovered places to meet, create, or celebrate. Whether it’s a photo shoot, birthday bash, pop-up shop, or team brainstorm, Peerspace gives people the keys to our cities’ best spaces. We covered: How to think about marketing through the lens of Simon Sinek's "start with why"; The marketing team's specific roles and responsibilities (at their peak ~85 people); Brand vs. performance marketing - you shouldn't get started on performance-based marketing if you don't have your brand house in order; The marketing channels that are driving the business - SEO, content marketing, paid and community; How Peerspace does content marketing - blogs, resources, whitepaper, user generated content (UGC); Partnering with United - why it made sense to partner and their go-to-market plan specific to the partnership; How Matt is thinking about riding the content creation wave; How company focus (forced from COVID) is more of an opportunity vs. a challenge; Experimentation as part of your overall marketing efforts; Matt's (almost 9 years!) experience at Electronic Arts and the impact on his work at Peerspace; Some introspection and life changes coming out of this crazy year. You can find Matt on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bendett Find out more about Peerspace: www.peerspace.com Find out more about their partnership with United: https://teamtogether.peerspace.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!

MJ Peters, VP of Marketing at Firetrace, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. We covered: MJ's talent at challenging industrial companies to think differently about marketing; Marketing's focus shifting from trade-shows and sales enablement to driving strategy, segmentation, positioning and demand gen; A unique team structure that includes product marketers focused on specific customer segments; How to use LinkedIn ads effectively; How to think about and test PR successfully at a startup (HINT: think of it as a content channel); Why it makes sense to continuously talk to customers in non-sales scenarios; Building out your team with "generalists" vs. "specialists"; How to integrate your marketing across channels and teams; How to know when to stop testing a marketing channel (keep it or kill it) (HINT: use small data); Small marketing teams may not want to place their bets on virtual events or webinars. MJ Peters is VP of Marketing at Firetrace, founded in 2001 and acquired by Halma PLC in 2015 for $110M. The team is 75 people strong. Firetrace creates fire suppression systems that keep businesses, people, and equipment safe by automatically detecting & suppressing fires. You can find MJ on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mjpeters1 Find out more about Firetrace: www.firetrace.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!

I created a new podcast this year. Want to learn how I did it? Everything from outreach to setup to content and more, I'm sharing it all here. Consider this your ultimate easy-to-understand podcast creation learning module. Why did I start this podcast? For me, it all boils down to this.  I love reading books. In a way, having your own podcast is like having a never-ending library of books. Every time I talk to my podcast guest, I feel like I'm reading a book. And I get to ask the book questions. And the book is a real person (so they answer my questions!) And I get to share this book (person) with you. To me, this is beyond amazing. 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!

Nikolaus Volk, co-founder and CEO of Kyte, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Here's what we covered: How the Kyte team formed in 2019 and is already onto their second round of funding (wow!); How they've been able to achieve 20-40% MoM growth; Their sharp focus on retaining current customers through paid search, paid social, PR, email reactivation, and partnerships; Exciting opportunities with business travel for next year; Challenges with figuring out the Kyte-specific brand DNA; Challenges with multi-touch marketing and long-term strategy; The making of the (scrappy and fun) surfer video - you need to check it out here; The power of story and how Nikolaus is investing in himself to nail Kyte's story internally and with their target audience. Nikolaus is co-founder of Kyte, founded in 2019 and based out of San Francisco (CA). Prior to Kyte, Nikolaus was an engineer at Uber. They've raised $3.8M+ in funding so far, and are about to close another round! What is Kyte? Glad you asked. Let’s say you don’t want to buy/own a car. Kyte gives you easy access to cars on demand. Rental cars delivered to your door. Kind of like ordering food, but instead you’re ordering a car. You can find Nikolaus on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nikolaus-volk Find out more about Kyte here: www.drivekyte.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify podcasts (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!

Jen Saxton, Founder and CEO of Tot Squad, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. Here's what we covered: Partnerships and relationships as a growth hack (versus paid ads); Intriguing and funny founder's story on how the company got started; The case for doing more of those things that you're passionate about on the job (versus not so much); Growth that's dependent on marketplace liquidity (enough demand and enough supply); Marketing strategy to help clear the noise, prioritize and create a structured approach; When working with partners, give them your marketing materials (make sure it's meaningful to their audience); Questioning your customer targeting assumptions based on traction signals coming from another direction; COVID's impact on family dynamics - running a business, taking care of a toddler and another baby on the way. Jen is Founder and CEO of Tot Squad, founded in 2010 and based out of Los Angeles (CA). They've raised $3.3M+ funding and the baby gear cleaning part of the business just got acquired this year! Tot Squad is a baby services marketplace that connects new parents with health, wellness and safety services like car seat installation, lactation consultants, sleep consultants and more. Tot Squad offers virtual and in-home consultations which can be purchased through Amazon and Walmart.com when buying a related baby product. Because every parent needs a squad! You can find Jen on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jenbsaxton Find out more about Tot Squad here: www.totsquad.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify podcasts (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!

Laura Kendall, VP of Marketing at MadKudu, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. We covered a lot, including: The team you need to set up in your company - the Customer Love & Community team; Who your first marketing hire should be (reporting into the Head of Marketing); How to ensure your brand is seen and heard in a noisy world, and especially during COVID; Narrow your focus on your specific target segment and pick 2-3 main growth levers; Using webinars effectively to engage with prospects; Personalization wins over automation, especially for follow-up; Transitioning jobs during COVID and how to make that process smooth; Using empathy during crisis (and beyond) to see your prospects as a whole person (not just employees). Laura is VP of Marketing at MadKudu (www.madkudu.com). MadKudu was founded in 2014 and is based out of Mountain View, CA with a total of 30 people. They've raised Series A funding ($5.5M). MadKudu is a lead scoring platform for marketing teams looking to create frictionless B2B customer journeys. So you can do things like identify the 10% of accounts that will make 90% of the revenue, put VIP visitors in touch with sales without friction, or personalize outreach based on what the customer needs. Customers include Outreach, Drift and InVision. You can find Laura on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/laura-kendall-48556911/ Find out more about MadKudu here: www.madkudu.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify podcasts (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov) or visit this website (www.furmanovmarketing.com)

Michael Klozotsky, CMO at IMO, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. We covered: How storytelling makes the marketer's work authentic; On team building and starting from a place of care; How to swim downstream with your marketing when others are swimming upstream; How to ensure your MQLs are quality leads that the sales team will follow up with; How sales and marketing can become successful partners in crime; Marketing simplicity will allow you to more easily shift and steer your ship; How marketers will need to think about engaging buyers differently going into 2021; Using ABM to approach key decision-makers; How to systematically make the time to be creative. Michael is CMO at IMO (www.imohealth.com). IMO is based out of Chicago, IL with ~270 employees. IMO received significant investment from Warburg Pincus (PE firm) and leading U.S. health systems in 2016. They've developed the most widely-accepted medical terminology solution for the management of medical vocabularies and software applications at healthcare organizations worldwide. You can find Michael on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michaelklozotsky Find out more about IMO here: www.imohealth.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify podcasts (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!

Alexander De Ridder, Co-Founder and CTO of INK, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. We covered: Marketing is a competitive sport and marketing campaigns can be as awe-inducing as great art; Why have 15 software developers at a 30-people total bootstrapped startup; Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to organize the inner-workings of the business; How 64 blog articles brought 100,000 site visitors in 5 months; Top marketing channels used to launch and grow INK including Product Hunt and contests; How to leave "trail of breadcrumbs" so people can find your company; How to think about and get exponential growth; The future of sophisticated content creation and how search engines will need to morph. Alexander De Ridder is the Co-Founder and CTO of INK (www.inkforall.com). INK is based out of Houston, TX,  started in 2019 and has been completely bootstrapped (so far). INK is patented AI software meant for content creators and writers. Writing your content with INK increases your chances of ranking on the first page in Google by 400% - and it’s completely free.   You can find Alexander on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/adridder/ You can get INK for yourself for free: www.inkforall.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify podcasts (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!