Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers

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...

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...

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 Br...

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 di...

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, ma...

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...

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 Y...

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 star...

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 Peter...

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...

A 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 Al...

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 Cap...

A 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....

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). Navatti...

I’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 busine...

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...

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 g...

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 hel...

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...

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...

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 on...

It’s the last podcast episode of 2022! I just wanted to say thanks for listening, thanks for sticking with me, I appreciate you. In this episode I'm also sharing where I'm taking the show for Season 3 (I've already started recording episodes that I can't wait to share with ya'll). Season 1 and 2 I brought on startup founders, marketing and sales leaders to explore brand, demand, what app...

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...

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...

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 marketi...