Building With Buyers

Ok, I know I said the last episode was the LAST one, but I just wanted to slide this BONUS one in here if ya don't mind. I asked Christina Pawlikowski (CEO and Co-Founder at Causal) to join me on the show so we could talk about what they're building, the value they've gotten from working with me as their fractional head of marketing, and why they decided to hire marketing before sales. About Causal: Founded in 2021 Funding: Seed Description: Causal is product optimization in a box for data obsessed teams. You can find Christina on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cpawlikowski/ Check out Causal: https://causallabs.io/  I’m officially wrapping up this season but will be back for more in the future, don't forget to leave a review if you've been enjoying the show! You can sign up to get my monthly startup marketing newsletter where I’m sharing playbooks and insights and cracking some jokes >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba You can also find me hanging on LinkedIn, tell me what you're up to this summer >> www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Hey MSM listeners! Anna here, the host of the show. I hope you enjoyed Season 3 of Modern Startup Marketing and all the incredible guests and conversations I had. I'm officially wrapped with this season but will be back for more in the future. In the meantime, make sure you follow me @AnnaFurmanov on LinkedIn and you can sign up to get my monthly startup marketing newsletter where I’m sharing playbooks and insights and cracking some jokes.

Usually I'm asking my guests all the questions, but sometimes they have a question for me. So I created an episode that’s just guests asking me their burning question and then I answer their question. Some really great, thought-provoking questions in here. People do not hold back. Here's the full list of people that had questions for me (in order) along with the episode number in case you want to jump back and listen to the full episode: Chris Walker (Refine Labs, Ep. 154) Lee Anne Grant (babylist, Ep. 103) MJ Smith (CoLab, Ep. 144) Terri Avnaim (Boulevard, Ep. 107) Dave Gerhardt (Exit Five, Ep. 133) Frankie Scerbo (Elude, Ep. 109) Sarah Breathnach (Hunters, Ep. 120) Drew Brucker (LASSO, Ep. 157) Jenn Deering Davis (Gradient Works, Ep. 137) Josh Ades (DwellWell, Ep. 121) Latane Conant (6sense, Ep. 128) Emily Dale (Alto, Ep. 122) Annette Cardwell (Lattice, Ep. 124) Anthony Kennada (AudiencePlus, Ep. 118) Katie Perry (Public, Ep. 135) Natalie Marcotullio (Navattic, Ep. 139) Jay Acunzo (Creator Kitchen, Ep. 151) 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 startup marketing 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 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn >> www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Sprinkling in another customer conversation (love doing these) I asked Tyler Wells (CTO and Co-Founder at Propel) to join me on the show so we could talk about what they're building, what stage they're at, the value they've gotten from working with me as their fractional head of marketing, and how they're ramping their marketing efforts. Tyler is also the host of the podcast "Data Chaos!" so check that out. About Propel: Founded in 2021 Funding: Seed ($4.6M) Description: 99% of product dev teams waste their time and money when they plan, build and support customer dashboards. Propel helps you ship your customer-facing analytics without hiring more people. Beyond dashboards, they're an API platform to build data applications. We discuss: Why'd the team decide to work with me, what were they looking for help with; What are some of the marketing plays you're running now and how's it going; Why'd you decide to start the podcast; How are you thinking about category design for Propel. You can find Tyler on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tylerswells  Check out Propel: www.propeldata.com This episode is sponsored by 43North, a seed-stage startup accelerator that's on the hunt for its next cohort. This year, 43North will make five $1 million dollar investments, each at 5% equity. Visit 43North.org to learn more. Applications close on June 23rd, so get on it! 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 startup marketing 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 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn >> www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Drew Brucker, VP of Growth at LASSO, talks about creative marketing plays, unpacking the equation Marketing = Creative + Revenue, and LASSO's top creative marketing ideas using AI, podcast, and video. They also discuss co-creating content with customers and the importance of incorporating creativity in marketing strategies. Additionally, they share their passion for painting and finding creative outlets through sip and paint sessions.

Udi Ledergor is Chief Evangelist at Gong. He went from marketer #1 to Gong's Chief Marketing Officer and has been there for over 6 years. Udi led the creation of the Revenue Intelligence category, and led the company from zero to hundreds of millions in revenue. He's a 5X marketing leader in B2B startups AND he's also really good at playing the piano. About Gong: Founded in 2015, based out of SF, 1300+ people Funding: $583M total  Hit unicorn status August 2020 Description: The revenue intelligence platform. Gong unlocks reality to help people and companies reach their full potential. In this episode we talk about: What does "creative" mean to you; When have you personally been the most creative (HINT: finding creative ways to solve challenges); How did you run marketing and create content in the very early days at Gong; How do you know that your content is actually good; Are you thinking about content monetization; How do you balance creativity with results; Things you focused on as Marketer #1; On hiring great people to compensate for your weaknesses; When, why, and how did you decide to define your new category Revenue Intelligence; How long does it take to build a new category. You can find Udi on LinkedIn >> www.linkedin.com/in/udiledergor Check out Gong >> www.gong.io This episode is sponsored by 43North, a seed-stage startup accelerator that's on the hunt for its next cohort. This year, 43North will make five $1 million dollar investments, each at 5% equity. Visit 43North.org to learn more. Applications close on June 23rd, so get on it! 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 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn >> www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

I’ve cracked the nut on exactly what early stage startups need help with from a marketing and business perspective, and I wanted to share it with you in this episode. I built a systematic approach, and what’s cool is I can use the system I’ve built over and over in many different contexts. For example: client work GrowthMentor calls friend calls VC calls accelerator workshops EdTech GTM bootcamp sessions high school presentations (yep, I’ve done this a couple times too) I always wanted to “productize” my knowledge. So now I’ve got a product and it's called Marketing as a System (MaaS). I just want more early stage startups to apply this system as they're building their companies. Because the results will be MaaSive. Yea. I did that. Here is MaaS in a nutshell: Voice of customer research Marketing foundation deck Keyword research Brand/design guide Mood boards Homepage wireframe with copy Homepage design Other website pages Case studies GTM strategy GTM execution In this episode, I dive into each part of the system. This episode is sponsored by 43North, a seed-stage startup accelerator that's on the hunt for its next cohort. This year, 43North will make five $1 million dollar investments, each at 5% equity. Visit 43North.org to learn more. Applications close on June 23rd, so get on it! 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 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Happy Memorial Day!!! I asked Chris Walker to join me for a second round on the show. Last time he was on was Episode 35 (called “Over-prioritizing sales is your SaaS startup’s biggest mistake”) and that was also a really good one. Towards the end of the episode, Chris has some great questions for me to answer. Chris is Founder and CEO at Refine Labs. Prior, Chris was the Dir. of Mktg at Eversound, a wellness startup. And prior to that he was at Vapotherm, a global medtech startup that IPO’d in 2018. He's got 128k followers on LI and he's the host of the Revenue Vitals podcast (formerly State of Demand Gen). Refine Labs is a demand strategy and research firm focused on growth-stage B2B SaaS companies. In this episode we talk about: What does "creative" mean to you; When have you personally been the most creative; What's your advice for startups that want to experiment more; How should startups think about creating the best marketing content; What's your stance on category design, is it worth the effort; Chris asks me some of his questions. You can find Chris on LinkedIn >> www.linkedin.com/in/chris-walker-41597028/ Check out Refine Labs >> www.refinelabs.com/ This episode is sponsored by 43North, a seed-stage startup accelerator that's on the hunt for its next cohort. This year, 43North will make five $1 million dollar investments, each at 5% equity. Visit 43North.org to learn more. Applications close on June 23rd, so get on it! 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 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

There's been a lot of buzz around PLG vs. Sales-led GTM models. Companies that started with one GTM method are exploring others. So I thought this conversation would be super interesting for many as they're thinking about a more blended approach. Sei Suriyakumar is Head of Marketing at Superhuman. Prior, Sei was Director of Product Marketing at Dropbox and prior to that he held marketing leadership positions at HelloSign (acquired by Dropbox). About Superhuman: Founded 2015 100+ people Funding: Series C ($108M total) Description: Superhuman is the fastest email experience ever made. Customers fly through their inbox twice as fast as before and save an average of three hours every week. More than half hit Inbox Zero within 4 hours of starting. They've recently expanded from an individual product (B2C) to one that's optimized for teams (B2B). In this episode we talk about: How Superhuman has a part PLG + part sales-led model; How that model started with humans and evolved over time; First 90 days at Superhuman; What's working well, what's not; Sei's thoughts on category creation; One big thing Sei learned from his experience at Dropbox that he's bringing into his role at Superhuman. You can find Sei on LinkedIn >> https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiyonne/ Check out Superhuman >> https://superhuman.com/ This episode is sponsored by 43North, a seed-stage startup accelerator that's on the hunt for its next cohort. This year, 43North will make five $1 million dollar investments, each at 5% equity. Visit 43North.org to learn more. Applications close on June 23rd, so get on it! 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 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Obaid Durrani is Head of Content at HockeyStack. He's also Creator Advisor at Cognism (a Series C startup) and he's the co-host of the Cheat Codes podcast with Todd Clouser who I also had on the show (check out Ep. 148). Prior, Obaid was Associate Creative Director at Refine Labs. Prior to that he bootstrapped a 5-person content + animation team to $420k ARR. In this episode we cover: What does “creative” mean to you; When Todd was on the show with me (Ep. 148) he talked about 3 content types. Can you help me understand what else is part of your "Easy Mode" framework to build a marketing content engine; Top 1-2 creative marketing ideas from your past experience; Where do you get your creative ideas. You can find Obaid on LinkedIn >> www.linkedin.com/in/obaid-khan-durrani Check out HockeyStack >> https://hockeystack.com 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 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov