Shows
Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers245 - SEO Hasn't Really Changed (Brendan Hufford, Growth Sprints)Brendan Hufford is Founder at Growth Sprints where he helps take SaaS companies from $10M to $100M ARR using the SaaS Growth Sprint Framework. Brendan is also a Navattic advisor and that's how we met. He has 4 kids which is double what I have so already a ton of respect.Here’s what we cover:Simon Sinek and AI ramblings (oh so good);What's different with SEO today and how Brendan helps companies navigate with success;Companies that incorporate customers as part of their growth;You fi...
2025-07-1651 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers244 - BONUS: Focused Growth Clinic For WordbrewHey builders, it's Anna! This BONUS episode is a focused growth clinic for Georgia Austin, Founder & CEO at Wordbrew. Wordbrew makes it simple for teams to create unique content with expert insights. They have 20 paying customers.In our last episode, Georgia talked about her main challenges: positioning, packaging, distributing, lean team, small budget, and limited manpower for posting on LinkedIn. I'm going to try to help.For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, let me know what episodes...
2025-07-1108 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers236 - Beyond JTBD: Your Customers Are Whole People So Why Isn’t Your ResearchHey, it’s Anna, and today I want to talk about something I’ve been quietly refining over the last five years, working with founders and marketing teams. It’s called Whole-Person Customer Research and it’s the foundation for how I help startups get clarity on their positioning, messaging, GTM and content strategy.For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show. Music by my talented daughter.
2025-05-2810 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers235 - Do You Empathize With Your Customers Socially, Emotionally, And Behaviorally? (Anna Baskin, Co-Founder & CEO at Hightail)It was really fun recording this episode with my longtime friend! We go waaaay back. Anna Baskin is Co-Founder and CEO at Hightail. Hightail is a low-dose THC infused beverage for when you want to sip in some fun. Here’s what we cover:What you're building;Wow I’m just so proud of you;How’re you growing your customer base;What’s hard right now;How you incorporate customers as part of your growth efforts;Customer research and the insights you're f...
2025-05-2129 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers228 - How Customer Events Increase Word Of Mouth (Natalie Marcotullio, Head of Growth & Product Marketing at Navattic)Natalie Marcotullio is Head of Growth & Product Marketing at Navattic. Navattic makes buying easier with interactive demos. Seed funded. Also check out Ep. 139 (be the company that seems to be everywhere), Ep. 180 (podcast, ads, positioning, what’s the ROI) and Ep. 218 (launching the free forever plan).Here’s what we cover:The Navattic Fanatic Customer Event in NYC, what was your goal for the event and did you achieve it;What do you think made the customer event so successful;Anything that surprised you;What will you...
2025-04-1637 min
Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By CustomersBuilding With Buyers TrailerYou're a startup founder. You think your product is amazing and feel like more people should be buying.
But the road is long and slow. You've got some customers, surely you're on the right path? Why aren't deals closing faster? Why does it feel like a slog?
You've tried a bunch of stuff. Or maybe you've tried a couple things, not sure where to go from here. It feels like you're stuck.
There's always one thing I ask startup founders: Have you talked to you...
2025-01-2201 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers179 - MaaS (Marketing as a System) Step #10: GTM StrategyThis episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
It's Season 4 of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast and this episode is me continuing to share MaaS (Marketing as a System) which is the systematic approach to marketing that I built over almost 4 years of working with VC-backed early stage startups.
In this episode I cover Step 10: GTM Strategy including what it is, why it's important, who should own this work, and how to do it right. This is the last step of the...
2023-12-1811 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers178 - Why Your Logical Marketing Content Is Creating More Doubt Than Trust (Peter Light, Co-Founder & CEO at Lumen Energy)This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
Peter Light is Co-Founder and CEO at Lumen Energy. Peter and I worked together back in 2021 and at that time Lumen was just a handful of people and they were building out their GTM strategy, positioning, messaging, and team.
About Lumen Energy:
Founded: 2020
Funding: Series A ($15.3M total)
Description: Lumen enables commercial buildings to generate new income from clean energy.
In this...
2023-12-1141 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers177 - BONUS: Why Happiness Is So Misunderstood In Business (Josh Lowman, Founder at Gold Front)This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
Josh Lowman (CCO and Founder at Gold Front) joined me on the show for the second time for this BONUS episode. Check out Ep. 84 “What I've Learned From Category Designing 50+ Startups” where Josh shares how he's helped startups like Robinhood, Newsela, Uber, Bizzabo, and Clari create and own their category.
In this episode:
Why we leave happiness out of the business equation;
...
2023-12-0828 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers176 - MaaS (Marketing as a System) Step #9: Case StudiesThis episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
It's Season 4 of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast and this episode is me continuing to share MaaS (Marketing as a System) which is the systematic approach to marketing that I built over almost 4 years of working with VC-backed early stage startups.
In this episode I cover Step 9: Case Studies including what it is, why it's important, who should own this work, and how to do it right. I'll be mixing in so...
2023-12-0409 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers175 - How The Things You Do Early Stage Scale As You Grow (Krish Ramineni, Co-Founder and CEO at Fireflies)This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
Krish Ramineni is Co-Founder and CEO at Fireflies.ai and he joined me in this episode to dig into growing from Seed to Series A, top focus areas for growth, their PLG approach from the early days, differentiation in a crowded space, and more.
About...
2023-11-2753 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers174 - MaaS (Marketing as a System) Step #8: Designing Other Website PagesThis episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
It's Season 4 of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast and this episode is me continuing to share MaaS (Marketing as a System) which is the systematic approach to marketing that I built over almost 4 years of working with VC-backed early stage startups.
In this episode I cover Step 8: Designin...
2023-11-2011 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers173 - Using Story To Switch From Just A Vitamin To The Painkiller Customers Need (Brad Pedersen, Co-Founder at Lomi)This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
Brad Pedersen is Co-Founder and Chairman at Lomi and Pela. We're focusing on Lomi in this episode (B2C). I always get so many takeaways from talking to B2C startups that I can carry over into B2B, and that's why I love this convo.
2023-11-1352 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers172 - MaaS (Marketing as a System) Step #6 + #7: Homepage Wireframe + DesignThis episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
It's Season 4 of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast and this episode is me continuing to share MaaS (Marketing as a System) which is the systematic approach to marketing that I built over almost 4 years of working with VC-backed early stage startups.
In this episode I cover Step...
2023-11-0612 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers171 - Here's What Happens When You Emphasize Content Versus Product (Devin Reed, Head of Content at Clari)This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
Devin Reed is the Head of Content at Clari. Devin was also at Gong for almost 5 years and what's interesting about Devin's background is that he's got both the deep Sales (AE) + Marketing (Content) experience which made for a really great convo.
In this episode...
2023-10-3051 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers170 - MaaS (Marketing as a System) Step #4 + #5: Brand Design Guide + Mood BoardsThis episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
It's Season 4 of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast and this episode is me continuing to share MaaS (Marketing as a System) which is the systematic approach to marketing that I built over 3+ years of working with early stage startups.
In this episode I cov...
2023-10-2312 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers169 - BONUS: How To Take Bites Of A Conference Instead of Diving All In And Still Convert Into Opportunities (Daniel O'Reilly, Fuel Sales)This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
I’d just like to take a brief moment of silence to remember those innocent lives that have been lost during the terrorist attacks committed by Hamas in Israel. Especially the children, babies, and families that were asleep in their homes. For all the victims of unspeakable terror, let’s please t...
2023-10-2030 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers168 - Technical Seed Startup Leaders Put Their Marketing Hats On + AMA (Tyler Wells and Natan Yellin)This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
I’d just like to take a brief moment of silence to remember those innocent lives that have been lost during the terrorist attacks committed by Hamas in Israel. Especially the children, babies, and families that were asleep in their homes. For all the victims of unspeakable terror, let’s please take a moment.
I ran a bi...
2023-10-1659 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers167 - MaaS (Marketing as a System) Step #3: Keyword ResearchThis episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
It's Season 4 of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast and this episode is me continuing to share MaaS (Marketing as a System) which is the systematic approach to marketing that I built over 3+ years of working with early stage startups.
In this e...
2023-10-0913 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers166 - How Much To Invest In Crazy Marketing Ideas Versus "Boring Marketing" (Mary Keough, Head of Marketing at Map My Customers)This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
Mary Keough (Head of Marketing at Map My Customers) joined me on the show. Season 4 I’m bringing on mostly startup founders but with Mary I made an exception and you'll understand why when you listen. She's the solo marketer at a Seed stage startup.
...
2023-10-0247 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers165 - MaaS (Marketing as a System) Step #2: Marketing Foundation DeckThis episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
It's Season 4 of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast and this episode is me continuing to share MaaS (Marketing as a System) which is the systematic approach to marketing that I built over 3+ years of working with early stage startups.
In this e...
2023-09-2513 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers164 - Why Do Marketing? Plus AMA (Hayes Davis, Co-Founder and CEO at Gradient Works)This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
I'm welcoming my first guest for Season 4 of the show, Hayes Davis (Co-Founder and CEO at Gradient Works). I had Jenn Davis (Co-Founder and CMO at Gradient Works) on the show (Ep. 137 - “Pitfalls to Avoid When Designing Your Startups New Category) so check that out if you haven't yet.
Abou...
2023-09-1828 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers163 - MaaS (Marketing as a System) Step #1: Voice Of Customer ResearchThis episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
It's Season 4 of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast and this episode is me kicking off MaaS (Marketing as a System) which is the systematic approach to marketing that I built over 3+ years of working with early stage startups.
In this epis...
2023-09-1115 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers162 - Kicking Off Season 4!This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna and use the code MSM23 for 15% off.
This episode is also sponsored by PDCflow, payment management made easy. Visit pdcflow.com/flow-billing to learn more.
Happy Labor Day to my listeners in the US!! Hope you're enjoying the time off. Great day to sneak in a little Modern Startup Marketing :)
Welcome to Season 4 of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast. I’m so happy you decided to jo...
2023-09-0411 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers159 - Podcast Guests Ask Anna Their Burning QuestionsUsually 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 (Co...
2023-06-261h 01Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers158 - BONUS Customer Conversation (Tyler Wells, CTO and Co-Founder at Propel)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 d...
2023-06-2322 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers157 - How LASSO Makes Time For Play While Driving Revenue (Drew Brucker, VP of Growth at LASSO)Happy Juneteenth to all my listeners!
Drew Brucker (VP of Growth at LASSO, first marketing hire) has been a longtime listener of the podcast and he's one of the people that's given me some great feedback about the show. I decided to invite him on to talk about what he's been building, creative marketing plays, and more.
Prior to LASSO, Drew was the first marketing hire at Fullsteam (a tech payments company) and prior to that he was Head of Brand and Digital at Rubicon (had a successful unicorn exit).
About LASSO:
...
2023-06-1928 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers156 - Gong's Marketing Evolution From Early Stage To Unicorn (Udi Ledergor, Chief Evangelist at Gong)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 a...
2023-06-1250 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers155 - Anna SOLO episode on productizing my knowledge to help early stage startups (MaaS)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...
2023-06-0526 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers154 - To Push Into Creativity, Remove Constraints That Drag You Down (Chris Walker, Founder and CEO at Refine Labs)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 follow...
2023-05-2942 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers153 - How Superhuman Is Changing Habits Using Part PLG & Part Sales (Sei Suriyakumar, Head of Marketing at Superhuman)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...
2023-05-2226 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers152 - Simple Frameworks To Define Good Content & Create A Memorable Experience (Obaid Durrani, Head of Content at HockeyStack)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 unde...
2023-05-1529 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers151 - Are You Spending Enough Time At The (Creative) Gym? (Jay Acunzo, Content Entrepreneur)I asked Jay Acunzo to join me (again) on the show because he's a writer and content creator and I believe that we (startup marketers) can learn a lot from people that focus on creative work.
Jay is a writer, podcast host, speaker, and lifelong storyteller on a mission to help you make what matters most. Here's what Jay is up to:
Host of the podcast Unthinkable
Newsletter “Playing Favorites” that's helping people push themselves creatively
Co-Founder of the Creator Kitchen, a membership program helping people push themselves creatively
Prior, Jay worked in marketing and media...
2023-05-0854 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers150 - Emotion Is Still The Single Most Powerful Thing That Will Get People To Use Your Product (David Hooker, Brand Lead at Printify)I got connected to David through Gidi Pridor (Workvivo) who I super respect, David and Gidi both worked at TravelPerk and Gidi raved about David so of course I wanted to bring him onto the show.
(Check out Ep. 146 where I talk to Gidi about why many startups stop being exciting too early and the advantages of hiring a Creative Director early. Workvivo just got acquired by Zoom.)
David Hooker is Brand Lead at Printify. Prior, David was Head of B2B Content at Gett (a Series F startup). David also built Prezi’s Evangelism an...
2023-05-0131 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers149 - How To Build A Fanbase Like Taylor Swift When You're A Small Startup (Paul Earle, Entrepreneur and Educator)There is so much I love about Goodles and so much that both B2C and B2B startups can learn from them.
So I brought on Paul Earle because he was very deeply involved in Goodles' creative work. Paul works with brands on their creative and he teaches innovation, new ventures, and new brand creation at the Kellogg School of Management (go Kellogg!!).
Prior, Paul was the co-founder and executive director of global creative agency Leo Burnett’s “Farmhouse” (its innovation and new venture center).
Jen Zeszut (Co-Founder and CEO at Goodles) joined...
2023-04-2424 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers148 - The 3 Types Of Content You Need For A Creative And Effective Content Strategy (Todd Clouser, Worst Marketer In The World at Lavender)Todd Clouser is The Worst Marketer In The World at Lavender. He's also Co-Host of the Cheat Codes podcast. Prior, Todd held marketing leadership roles at Refine Labs (demand strategy and research for B2B growth stage startups).
Why would I bring on the worst marketer in the world? I guess a better question to ask is, why would you want to call yourself the worst marketer in the world? Well, maybe you should just listen to this episode.
Will Allred (Co-Founder and COO at Lavender) joined me for Ep. 130 (this was before their next...
2023-04-1726 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers147 - Why A Great Buyer Experience Is The Only Thing That Makes Us Relevant As Marketers (Kyle Lacy, CMO at Jellyfish)I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend!
Lately I've been thinking about this simple equation: Marketing = Experience + Revenue
(credit: Drew Brucker)
I just love the simplicity of it. Something you can explain to a 7-year-old.
I brought back Kyle Lacy (CMO at Jellyfish) to talk about creativity, testing new ideas, brand vs. demand, giving your team the space to be creative, and more. Kyle is also an advisor to startups including Demandwell and Postal.io. Prior, Kyle was the CMO at Lessonly (got acquired by Seismic). Kyle has led teams...
2023-04-1026 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers146 - Why Many Startups Stop Being Exciting Too Early And Don't Make It (Gideon Pridor, CMO at Workvivo)Hey listeners! Hope you had a wonderful Spring Break and if you're still on it enjoy those last few days!!
I brought back Gideon Pridor (CMO at Workvivo) because he is just the coolest to jam with. We always have a great time. Prior to Workvivo, Gidi was the VP of Marketing at TravelPerk and prior to that he was the VP of Marketing at Perfecto Mobile.
Check out Episode 59 “Your Story Impacts Your Go-To-Market And Inspires Your Product Development.” That was when Workvivo was Series A (now they're Series B). We talked about how thei...
2023-04-0352 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers145 - Stop Running Your Old School Webinars And Make It Feel Like A TV Series (Katie Mitchell, Brand and Content Leader and LinkedIn Top Voice)Katie Mitchell is one of the smartest brand and content marketers I know. She was the Sr. Director of Marketing (Product Marketing, Content Marketing, and Brand/Communications) at Sprig for 2+ years and in 2023 she's taking some time off before she jumps back into things. I met Katie back in 2020 on Chris Walker's Demand Gen Live (DGL) Tuesday night virtual events.
Sprig is a Series B startup based out of San Francisco that has raised $88M in funding total.
Here's what we cover:
What does creativity mean;
How the team approached creative...
2023-03-2724 min
Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers144 - How CoLab Launched Their ABM Campaign In One Day (MJ Smith, VP of Marketing at CoLab)One of the big reasons why I love working with startups is because they're so nimble and fast! Having a small team is a huge benefit to moving quickly.
I asked MJ Smith (VP of Marketing at CoLab) to join me on the show again. She’s been VP of Marketing 3X. Prior, MJ was VP of Growth at Refine Labs and prior to that she was VP of Marketing at Firetrace.
Please also check out Episode 9 “MJ Peters, VP of Marketing at Firetrace, challenges industrial companies to innovate their marketing.” It was one of my ver...
2023-03-2030 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers143 - How To Run Brainstorming Sessions To Increase Creativity And Business Impact (Andy Raskin, Master of Strategic Narrative)Andy Raskin is the storyteller of Silicon Valley, the master of strategic narrative. Andy helps CEOs align their teams around a strategic narrative in order to power success in sales, marketing, fundraising, product and recruiting. Clients include VC-backed companies funded by top VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, Google Ventures, and First Round Capital. He’s also led strategic narrative training at Salesforce, Uber, Square, Yelp, VMware, Intel, General Assembly and more.
On Andy's podcast "The Bigger Narrative" he talks to CEOs from companies like Zuora, Grin, 360Learning, and Contentful about the power and impact of strategic na...
2023-03-1326 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers142 - Answering The Top 15 Questions I Get With Nick Bennett, Sr. Director of ELG & Evangelism at AirmeetA bit of a different flavor for this episode, I wanted to share answers to the top 15 questions I get in a kind of rapid-fire model.
I asked Nick Bennett to join me for this episode, Nick is the Sr. Director of ELG & Evangelism at Airmeet (Series B startup). He’s also host of the podcast "The Anonymous Marketer." Prior, Nick was the Director of Evangelism and Customer Marketing at Alyce (Series B startup).
I’ve known Nick for a while, he's always sharing useful content on LinkedIn, he's always trying to be super helpful, and...
2023-03-0625 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers141 - Mistakes To Avoid When Hiring Your First Head of Marketing (Emily Kramer, Co-Founder at MKT1)I love bringing on other startup marketing experts and Emily Kramer is no exception. Plus she's just super down to earth and was fun to talk to.
Emily Kramer is Co-Founder at MKT1 (helps founders and marketers build and scale their marketing functions through their fund MKT1 Capital, advising & consulting, and content and courses). She's like a “CMO investor” because she's got a fund (MKT1 Capital) that’s focused on early-stage B2B startups. Prior, Emily led and built marketing teams from the ground up at Carta (now Series G), Asana (IPOd), Astro (acquired by Slack), and Ticket...
2023-02-2725 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers140 - Reverse Podcast Episode On Creativity With Anna Furmanov And Her 9-Year-Old Special GuestA twist on the typical episode!
This is something I did two years back with Episode 23 (Reverse Podcast Episode with my then 7-year-old daughter where we talked about marketing) and so I decided to do it again but have a different flavor. I brought on my 9-year-old daughter to ask her some questions around creativity...and I answer those same questions. It's so fun to compare how we answer. The result is sometimes hilarious and always super cute.
In this episode we cover:
What does being creative mean to you;
How d...
2023-02-2015 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers139 - To Be The Company That Seems To Be Everywhere You Need To Eliminate The Funnel Mindset (Natalie Marcotullio, Head of Growth & Ops at Navattic)Natalie Marcotullio is Head of Growth and Ops at Navattic. I’ve been working with Natalie and the Navattic team for 4+ months now as a Marketing Advisor so I personally have seen some of the creative work they’re putting out, and especially as an early stage B2B startup! Prior, Natalie held various roles including Marketing Director and Chief of Staff at Map My Customers (a Series A SaaS).
Navattic was founded in 2020 and is based out of NYC. They've raised $5.4M funding (Seed). Navattic helps you instantly create interactive product demos. Customers include Mixpanel, Google Clou...
2023-02-1326 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers138 - BONUS Anna Synthesizing Insights On Creativity So FarI’ve been having some very insightful conversations on the podcast about creativity, pushing boundaries, marketing experiments and innovation
and I’ve had some time to think about the stuff we covered so far and just wanted to share these 5 points with you guys:
1. Creativity comes in two forms:
- for the sake of creativity (in art, writing, music, etc.) and
- in business
2. Creative means: trying new things, sharing new ideas, connecting seemingly unrelated concepts to share new ideas. It's gotta be NEW TO ME and hopefully to you as well.
2023-02-1003 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers137 - Pitfalls To Avoid When Designing Your Startup's New Category (Jenn Deering Davis, Co-Founder & Head of Marketing at Gradient Works)What is up everyone? Sharing out another amazing episode with ya'll.
I asked Jenn Deering Davis to join me on the show. Jenn is Co-Founder and Head of Marketing at Gradient Works. I actually first listened to Jenn talk to Cassidy Shield on the Stacking Growth podcast (always got my eye out for innovative early stage startups!) and I really wanted to bring her on because she has a lot of experience with category design which is a creative process in and of itself.
Prior to Gradient Works, Jenn co-founded Union Metrics, a social media...
2023-02-0650 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers136 - Why Treating Your Creative Marketing Like It's Not Tied To Revenue Will Get You More Revenue (Christopher Lochhead, 3X Silicon Valley CMO)I asked Christopher Lochhead to come back on the show (3rd time!) because I'm a really big fan and I know my listeners are as well. This time we talked about creativity, plus got a little personal!
(please note there's some swearing so listen to this one without the kiddos)
Christopher makes content (podcasts, books, newsletters) for entrepreneurs and marketers with a different mind. He's got a newsletter called "Category Pirates" and podcasts (Follow Your Different, Lochhead On Marketing) and books ("Play Bigger" is on category design, "Niche Down" is about how become legendary by b...
2023-01-3045 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers135 - How To Bake In A "Wouldn't It Be Cool If..." Culture At Your Startup (Katie Perry, General Manager, IR Innovation at Public)Hey hey hey listeners hope everyone's kicking off a great week.
I asked Katie Perry to come back on the show and jam with me some more (check out Ep. 51 “Bringing Humanity into the App Experience”).
Katie is General Manager, Investor Relations Innovation at Public (she moved from the B2C side to the B2B side).
Prior to this role Katie was VP of Marketing at Public. Prior to Public, Katie held leadership roles at media/creative agencies including 360i and Comscore, and she was Head of Brand Marketing at Suzy (a Serie...
2023-01-2329 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers134 - Vidyard's Playbook For Creativity That Drives Results (Tyler Lessard, VP of Marketing at Vidyard)I asked Tyler Lessard to come back on the show and jam with me some more because their marketing approach is super creative and as you know, I'm pushing more into creativity and marketing innovation for Season 3. Welcome back Tyler Lessard! (check out Ep. 115 “Why You Need To Hire A TikTok Creator Instead of Another Writer” if ya haven't yet).
Tyler is VP of Marketing and Chief Video Strategist at Vidyard (he's been there 8+ years). Prior, Tyler was CMO at Fixmo (a mobile security startup) and held leadership roles at Blackberry (10+ years).
Vidyard was founded in 2...
2023-01-1631 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers133 - The Most Creative Startups Build Marketing Into Their Company DNA (Dave Gerhardt, Founder of Exit Five)WOWZA. Guess who came on to jam with me? YUP. Dave.
You're gonna love this episode as we dive into what it means to be creative at your startup, why it's so important today and way more. We ran over because there was just so much to talk about (thanks Dave!).
Dave Gerhardt is Founder of Exit Five. He's a former marketing exec at Drift ($1B valuation) and Privy (Series A) and now he's got his company of one. Exit Five (started as DGMG back in the day) is a community for B2B marketing p...
2023-01-091h 05Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers132 - How AI Is Changing Marketing Forever And Why Creativity Matters More In 2023 (With Special Guest Mark Schaefer)Season 3 kicks off!! Happy New Year to all of my listeners, and cheers to a wonderful and fulfilling 2023!
So with a new season, I brought on a special guest to kick things off. Mark Schaefer is a Marketing strategist, keynote speaker, university educator (at Rutgers University), and bestselling author of "Marketing Rebellion" and "Cumulative Advantage." His podcast, The Marketing Companion, is one of the top 10 marketing podcasts on Apple. And his blog {grow} is often cited in lists of the top marketing blogs of the world. Huge respect.
Here's what we hit on:
...
2023-01-0228 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers131 - BONUS Anna Raw Unfiltered Last Episode of 2022 And What's Coming in 2023It’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...
2022-12-3004 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers130 - How We Get 35%-50% Response Rates From Our Sales Emails (Will Allred, Co-Founder & COO at Lavender)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...
2022-12-2623 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers129 - BONUS EdTech Founders GTM Bootcamp Customer Conversation (Seed Classroom)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...
2022-12-2313 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers128 - Your Buyers Are Hungry, So Where's Your Product Snack? (Latané Conant, CMO at 6sense)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 Sp...
2022-12-1948 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers127 - BONUS EdTech Founders GTM Bootcamp Customer Conversation On Challenges, Value And Impact (Matt Barinholtz)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...
2022-12-1621 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers126 - How We Created A Valuable Content Machine And Then Got Acquired (Patrick Campbell, Founder and CEO at ProfitWell)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 201...
2022-12-1226 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers125 - Podcasting Helps Our Startup Think Out Loud And Informs Our Product Roadmap (Andy Mowat, Co-Founder and CEO at Gated)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...
2022-12-0525 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers124 - Your Content Should Be Building Fans Instead Of Leads (Annette Cardwell, VP of Corporate Marketing at Lattice)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 bu...
2022-11-2853 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers123 - Virtuance's Curb Appeal Podcast (Interview w/ Rachel Gombosch)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...
2022-11-2150 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers110 - BONUS 2-Minutes Anna Unfiltered: New GTM Bootcamp For EdTech Founders Launches Next Week!*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA
Here's a TikTok video I made for LinkedIn this week, also sharing with my listeners on here.
I'm launching the new EdTech Founders Go-To-Market bootcamp next week (together with Dano who I worked with previously) in case you're an EdTech founder and listening and interested. Companies like Seesaw, Branching Minds, Pear Deck, Yoga Ed, Thimble, Graspable Math, Marker Learning and more have loved the program but it was very sales-focused so now we're adding the marketing...
2022-09-0901 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers106 - How To Navigate Through Marketing Chaos (Interview w/ Spyros Tsoukalas at GrowthMentor)*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA
In this episode I’m getting interviewed by Spyros Tsoukalas (Head of BD at GrowthMentor) and we talk through how to navigate through marketing chaos by prioritizing marketing efforts for early stage startups.
I've been a mentor on GrowthMentor for 8 months and have really enjoyed having 1:1 conversations with founders and marketers that have very specific marketing and growth questions related to what they're building and I can spend 30 minutes just helping them out. It's a wonderful co...
2022-08-1516 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers100 - 100th Episode! How Your Digital Content Becomes Your Sales Team (Interview w/ Kap Chatfield)Thanks for your patience, I usually post these episodes on Mondays MUCH earlier but we just got back from a road trip and I rushed over to the computer almost as soon as we got back :)
WOW! 100 episodes, I can't even believe it. Thank you to all my listeners, my fans, my guests, for being a part of something that I wanted to build so I could share what top startups and leaders are doing, what’s working, what’s not, just being very transparent. Truly a labor of love.
Don't forget to leave a revie...
2022-07-1240 min
Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers98 - BONUS 2-Minutes Anna Unfiltered: Don't Do The Podcast To Get Leads!***This was my most engaging LinkedIn post across 2 years of posts***
Time for another solo episode! I started creating TikTok videos and posting them to LinkedIn. So I'm stripping out the audio and adding it to the podcast.
People asking me: “Anna, does your podcast drive leads?"
Me: “No."
People: "Then WHY are you doing it??"
Most people think about marketing in terms of "will this get me leads" (lead gen)
Few think about marketing in terms of "will this be really good content for my target audi...
2022-07-0101 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers94 - BONUS 3-Minutes Anna Unfiltered: Your Marketing Should Span The ENTIRE FunnelTime for another solo episode! It's fast but packs a punch. I started creating TikTok videos and posting them to LinkedIn and so far it's going well and I love how it takes less than 5 minutes to record, add a title, and add captions and do it all myself. Talk about scrappy AND engaging. Video works, ya'll. So I'm stripping out the audio and adding it to the podcast.
I was asked on a recent discovery call: “Where should we prioritize marketing in the funnel, TOF? Middle? Bottom to help close? With Customers to grow WOM and re...
2022-06-1002 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers92 - BONUS 3-Minutes Anna Unfiltered: What Marketing Channels Approach Works Best in 2022?Time for another solo episode! It's fast but packs a punch. I started creating TikTok videos pretty much weekly and posting them to LinkedIn and so far it's going well and I love how it takes less than 5 minutes to record, add a title, and add captions and do it all myself. Talk about scrappy AND engaging. Video works, ya'll. So I'm stripping out the audio and adding it to the podcast.
As a mentor at Growth Mentor I talk to a few startups every Friday about their marketing challenges and specific questions they have for me...
2022-06-0302 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers90 - How To Get People That Will Never Buy From You To Passionately Recommend You (Kathleen Booth, SVP Marketing at Tradeswell)I invited Kathleen Booth, SVP Marketing at Tradeswell, to the show and we had a blast talking about how to do marketing the way it SHOULD be done - with a customer/audience-first approach focused on community, great content, and building a brand that people love, whether they buy from you or not.
Prior to Tradeswell, Kathleen served as CMO at clean.io (Series A). She's also the host of The Inbound Success Podcast and Board-level advisor to several tech startups.
Tradeswell was founded in 2019, is based out of Baltimore (MD), and has 38 people. They've r...
2022-05-2345 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers89 - BONUS 2-Minutes Anna Unfiltered: Your Positioning Is The Fire And Fuel For GrowthTime for another solo episode! This one's fast but packs a punch. I started creating TikTok videos weekly and posting them to LinkedIn and so far it's going well and I love how it takes just 4 minutes to record, add a title, and add captions and do it all myself. Talk about scrappy AND engaging. Video works, ya'll. So I'm stripping out the audio and adding it to the podcast.
In this quick episode, I cover my conversation with someone I know at a super cool VC firm that helps his portfolio of companies with marketing and...
2022-05-2001 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers76 - BONUS 20-Minute Unfiltered Solo Episode With Anna (10 Marketing Questions From Tech CEOs Answered)Hey everyone. So I have not done a solo episode in a WHILE and I thought "hey, it's time."
I did a OneGuide Marketing Roundtable a while back and answered these 10 questions from CEOs of tech companies. What's OneGuide? OneGuide is like your on-demand advisory board >> expert calls and written how-to guides for fast-growing B2B companies. Check them out here: https://askoneguide.com/
Here are the questions I answer in this episode:
1. What are best practices to convert leads into customers with minimal direct human interaction (e.g. focusing on digital)?
2022-02-2521 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers72 - Treat Your Startup Like a Media Powerhouse (Interview With Kap Chatfield, Host Of B2B Podcasting)This was a fun interview I had with Kap Chatfield, Host of the B2B Podcasting podcast.
In this episode, Kap and I talk about:
Marketing needs a mindset shift to evolve in today’s digital age;
How to find your ICP (ideal customer profile) and what questions to ask;
Most common marketing problems that I hear from startup founders;
Biggest issues startups have with their marketing;
Why you should start your own thought leadership podcast;
Why storytelling is so important for startups;
Ho...
2022-01-3140 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers69 - Forever A Creator (Interview With Harry Duran, Host Of Podcast Junkies)This was a free-flowing interview with Harry Duran, Host of the Podcast Junkies podcast. He did not send me questions in advance! :)
In this episode, Harry and I talk about:
My background in business and marketing;
How I think about marketing and the psychology behind the field;
Why I decided to start my podcast;
My passion for helping startups build powerful brands and businesses;
How I have grown as a podcast host since launching in November 2020;
Why I would NEVER sell to the guests that...
2022-01-1048 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers68 - How To Get More Attention From Your Marketing (10-minute Episode With Anna & Zineb)Happy New Year to all my fantastic listeners!!
I hope everyone enjoyed some time off with family and friends while staying safe and healthy. Cheers to 2022!
I spoke with Zineb Layachi on the topic of ATTENTION. How little time we focus on the attention part of our marketing efforts. People have to NOTICE the content, ad, video, email, etc. that you're sharing with them. How do we get the right people to notice?
Zineb works heavily with startups. She's the founder and chief marketer of Raise The Runway and she's co-host of PitchSLAP (p...
2022-01-0311 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers64 - How To Make Your Newsletter Newsworthy (15-minute Episode With Anna & Ashley)Ah, newsletters. You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. Either way, they’re important if you’re a marketer (an email subscriber is like getting an invite to someone’s backyard during COVID!) so you gotta know how to do them well. It seems like everyone plus their mother is coming out with newsletters. How do you make yours shine?
Ashley and I met on Chris Walker’s weekly Tuesday night Demand Gen Live!
Ashley is the Director of Marketing at Simple Focus Software (portfolio of SaaS tools). She gets to work with newsletter creators via...
2021-12-0616 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers60 - 10-Minute Episode On Biggest Marketing Pet Peeves With Anna & SergeyAlright, folks. People that know me know that I'm a super, duper positive person. But sometimes? It's OK to vent a little!
So, if you want to come join me (and Sergey) vent on some marketing topics, we'd love to have you. Take a little break, grab a cup of coffee.
Sergey works on podcast and video production at Crowdlinker. He's also the host of the Media Camp podcast plus he's building out his Youtube channel (SRE Live).
Here's what we're venting about in this short episode:
People telling you to...
2021-11-0812 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers57 - BONUS 10-Minute Episode On Finding Your Content “Tilt” To Differentiate (Anna & Jess)Hi everyone! We're back with something a little different, fun and fast. Sorry about the sound on my side, it's totally my fault and we've since fixed it for future episodes, but I had a glitch connecting my microphone for a few episodes. Forgive me!!
This is a BONUS 10-min. episode with Jess Goss on how to find your content "tilt" and differentiate from a sea of sameness. Jess joined me from Australia and it was midnight her time, so you KNOW this is gonna be good. Jess is Marketing Director at Tribal Habits (ed-tech). She’s a...
2021-10-2211 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers53 - BONUS 10-Minute Episode On Making Content Without A Solid Strategy (Anna & Kourtney)And we're back with something a little different, fun and fast!
This is a BONUS 10-min. episode with Kourtney Simons on making marketing content without having a solid strategy.
I met Kourtney way back in 2006 at Accenture. Kourtney has worked on marketing at MSNBC, Disney, and Netflix. And now she's at MasterClass (Series F) helping them with brand marketing!!
Here's what we hit on:
Making content without a purpose or strategy - what's the risk;
What does a good marketing/content strategy look like;
What does a...
2021-10-0115 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers49 - BONUS 10-Minute Episode On Fastest Ways To Understand How Marketing Works (Anna & Sergey)Prepare for something different, fun and fast!
This is a BONUS 10-min. episode with Sergey Ross on the fastest ways to understand how marketing works. Because when your marketing is working, you'll know it. And this goes beyond attribution.
Sergey is the host of the Media Camp podcast and now he's building out his Youtube channel (SRE. live) Sergey works on podcast and video production at Crowdlinker.
Here's what we hit on:
Don't forget to ask your customers "where did you find me?"
WOM is still the biggest driver;
2021-09-0311 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers45 - BONUS 10-Minute Episode On What You Need To Do When You're Hired To Head Up Marketing (Anna & Sergey)Prepare for something different, fun and fast!
This is a BONUS 10-min. episode with Sergey Ross on what you need to know and do when you're hired to head up marketing at an early stage startup.
I met Sergey on LinkedIn! Sergey is the host of the Media Camp podcast and now he's building out his Youtube channel (SRE. live) Sergey works on podcast and video production at Crowdlinker. He's been makin' podcast video clips for me for months...he's my go-to for video.
Here's what we hit on:
Do not...
2021-08-0911 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers43 - How To Better Understand Your Target Audience With Anna Furmanov and Nicholas ScaliceYou can and should do voice of the customer research at your startup, ongoing.
Ongoing, because things change pretty quickly in the world, and you want to have a good pulse on what's happening in the world of your target audience.
In this episode I spoke with Nicholas Scalice, host of the top-rated Growth Marketing Toolbox podcast, on the topic. Nicholas and I talked about the process to use to better understand your target audience including:
What is voice of the customer research;
How to collect feedback (I created a resource for...
2021-07-2628 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers41 - BONUS 10-minute Episode On Perfectionism With Anna & KourtneyPrepare for something different and fun and fast!
This is a BONUS 10-min. episode with Kourtney Simons on perfectionism.
I met Kourtney way back in 2006 at Accenture. Kourtney has worked on marketing at MSNBC, Disney, and Netflix.
Here's what we hit on:
What does perfectionism mean;
I asked Kourtney if she's a perfectionist...and also shared myself;
Why perfectionism is particularly hard when you're a marketer at a startup;
How do you know you're stuck in the "perfectionist" mindset;
Why is perfectionism killing y...
2021-07-1512 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers39 - BONUS 10-minute Episode On Low Budget Marketing For Impact With Anna & KourtneyPrepare for something different and fun (and fast!). Switching it up like I love to do, this is a BONUS 10-min. episode with Kourtney Simons on how to do marketing when you have a shoe-string budget or no budget.
I met Kourtney way back in 2006 at Accenture. Kourtney has worked on marketing at MSNBC, Disney, and Netflix. She has a wonderful personality and is a wonderful person.
Here's what we hit on:
Starting from a place of "let's get our foundation right, first" vs. marketing channels;
Marketing includes both content + channels;
2021-07-0216 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers38 - Sharing Your Point Of View In Solo Podcast Episodes With Anna FurmanovIn this episode I was interviewed by Tristan Pelligrino, host of Recorded Content and co-founder of Motion, about a hidden treasure that’s within every podcast episode – beyond just the audio file.
A podcast provides a way to have amazing conversations. And it also provides a way to present raw & unfiltered thoughts through solo episodes.
But that’s as far as most podcasters go. B2B podcasters don’t realize there’s often a hidden treasure within every episode – beyond just the audio file.
Here's what we hit on:
Your unique voice is what make...
2021-06-2843 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers29 - Modern Demand Gen Interview With Lesley Crews on the B2B Growth PodcastI spoke with Lesley Crews from Sweet Fish Media on the B2B Growth podcast.
They've been going deep into the world of demand generation for the month of April - sweet!
In this episode we discuss modern demand gen for startups and the playbook I wrote up that outlines key themes in more detail, including:
The difference between lead gen and demand gen;
Old vs. new demand gen and the key differences that will get you results;
Your demand gen strategy should focus on the buyer, not you;
2021-04-3025 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers26 - How To Differentiate When Sameness Is The Default With Peep Laja, Founder of Wynter, CXL and SpeeroPeep 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 co...
2021-04-1249 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers25 - Rediscovering Intimacy In A Remote World With Grace Woods, VP Global Head of Marketing at PatreonGrace 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...
2021-04-0550 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers24 - How To Thread Marketing Into Your Sales Process With Jared Jost, VP of Marketing at PatientPopJared 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...
2021-03-2947 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers23 - Reverse Podcast Episode With Anna Furmanov And Her 7-year-old Special GuestAre 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...
2021-03-2219 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers22 - Challenges With Short Customer Journeys in the Baby Industry with Aaron Pollack, CMO at NanitAaron 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. An...
2021-03-1547 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers21 - Marketing Challenges and Wins with Mark Kilens, VP of Content & Community at DriftMark 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...
2021-03-0845 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers20 - Jonathan Metrick On How To Leverage New and Emerging Channels Like TikTok and ClubhouseJonathan 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."...
2021-03-0138 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers19 - Three Mistakes That Michelle Heath, Founder & CEO at Growth Street, Sees Companies Make Way Too OftenMichelle 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 t...
2021-02-2252 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers18 - How To Simplify Your Content Strategy And Measure Impact with Anna Furmanov (unfiltered)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;
2021-02-1512 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers17 - How Rob Singer, CMO at Remitly, Leads Marketing at a 900+ People StartupRob Singer, CMO at Remitly, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast.
Remitly was founded in 2011, they've raised Series F (just raised another $85M July 2020), and have ~900 people.
Remitly is a fintech company that leverages digital channels, including mobile phones, to send money internationally. There are millions of immigrants around the world that make the huge sacrifice of leaving their families behind to live and work in another country. Remitly is helping them send money across borders.
Here’s what we covered:
Rob's experience joining and growing companies during key in...
2021-02-0851 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers16 - Dan Frohnen, CMO at Sendoso, on How We Leverage Our Exec Team for PR and Thought LeadershipDan Frohnen, CMO at Sendoso, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast.
Sendoso was founded in 2016, they've raised Series B ($54M total), and have ~370 people.
Sendoso provides new ways to engage with customers throughout the buyer journey, including with personalized gifts, branded swag, eGifts, Cameos, virtual experiences & more. This directly impacts pipeline and revenue.
Here’s what we covered:
How to approach gifting prospects effectively (to help with relationship-building, reminders, and just as a nice surprise);
What marketing was up to 1.5 years ago when Dan joined a team of...
2021-02-0148 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers15 - How To Prioritize Your Startup Marketing with Anna Furmanov (unfiltered)Sometimes I like to sprinkle in some raw and unfiltered thoughts.
In this episode I cover:
Startups don't have a lot of people, time or money. So how should you think about prioritizing your marketing efforts? I break it down into three parts;
1. Foundation - clean up your house;
2. Owned Channels - create beautiful spaces within your house;
3. Awareness - let people know you have this clean, amazing house;
Quick note about the 1-page marketing plan, not being overly complex so that it's useful for you and t...
2021-01-2504 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers14 - Paige LaNasa and the "Make Good Stuff" Philosophy Around Content CreationPaige LaNasa, Head of Marketing at Forager, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast.
Forager was founded in 2018, they've raised Series A ($10M), and they're 75 people strong.
Here’s what we covered:
Logistics is the backbone of global e-commerce. Millions of dollars of goods move between the US, Mexico and Canada (cross-border). Despite that, it still happens to be a logistical nightmare to move commerce across these countries;
What Paige worked on with Forager's marketing efforts in the early days to stand out;
The "Make Good Stuff" philosophy ar...
2021-01-1841 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers13 - Nemanja Zivkovic Explains Why to Focus on SQLs and How to Build a Powerful Content MachineNemanja Zivkovic, CEO at Funky Marketing, joined me on the Modern Startup Marketing podcast.
Mixing it up! This episode is a little different. I usually have venture-backed startup founders and marketing leaders come on as guests. This time I brought on a fellow marketing business owner to share his experience and wisdom.
Nemanja started Funky Marketing in Jan. 2020, with a total of 6 employees at the time of the conversation. Funky Marketing is based out of Novi Sad, Serbia. They're helping B2B tech companies generate revenue growth, primarily through inbound and content strategies and scale.
2021-01-1250 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers12 - Anna McVeigh-Murphy on Being Hired as the First Marketer at a 20-Person StartupAnna 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;
2021-01-0343 minBuilding With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers11 - George Wojciechowski, Co-Founder at ShipBob, On How To Incorporate Culture And Trust Throughout The Entire Customer ExperienceGeorge 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...
2020-12-2945 min