Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers

Have you ever met a workplace futurist before? Well, let me tell ya, they're pretty awesome and very helpful in exploring what's to come in the future of (all) work plus specific to marketers. Marti Konstant is a workplace futurist and best-selling author of “Activate Your Agile Career: How Responding to Change will Inspire Your Life's Work.” She's also the owner of Konstant Change. Prior, Marti h...

A request I've gotten from listeners is to bring on a VC firm to talk through “the view from the VC side” so here we go (again)! I invited Andrew Bluestein, Managing Partner at Bluestein Ventures, to join me on the show and talk about the future of food, how the pandemic has affected food startups, what they're looking for before they decide to invest in a startup, and so much more. I know Andrew...

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 wo...

To all my US listeners, Happy 4th of July 🎉🎉 I first heard Jay Acunzo speak on Mark Schaefer’s podcast Marketing Companion and have been following him ever since. Jay says "Don't market more. Matter more." I agree so so so much with that statement. Jay is a content entrepreneur, host of the podcast Unthinkable, writes the weekly newsletter Playing Favorites, author of the book Break the Wheel, a...

***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"...

I brought back Amy Volas, founder and CEO of Avenue Talent Partners, to talk about how marketing and sales have fundamentally changed (and also what has remained the same). Last time I had Amy on was last summer, Episode 40! So I was so glad to have her back. Love her. Amy helps startups hire sales leaders without the cringe. She has been a sales leader at ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and Yahoo!, she has...

A request that I've gotten from listeners is to bring on a VC firm to talk through “the view from the VC side” so here we go! I invited Elaine Zelby, Partner at SignalFire, to join me and talk about all things investing in startups, building a strong relationship with port companies, product market fit and what that actually means and how that's changed over time, and more. I’ve helped advise and...

TL;DR If you love mac n' cheese and you haven't tried Goodles yet then you're in for a wild ride. Seriously, just had them this weekend and my tummy is happy and my body is thanking me. I invited Jen Zeszut, co-founder and CEO at Goodles, onto the show and we talked about how their small startup has grown so much, so fast. Prior to Goodles, Jen was CEO at Cerebelly (baby food for healthy brain dev...

Time 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 discov...

I had the pleasure of talking to Maya Grossman, Founder of Maya Grossman Consulting, about her experiences as VP of Marketing and how she prioritized her marketing efforts in those critical first 90 days. Maya has 15+ years of marketing experience building brands and driving growth at companies like Microsoft, Google, and most recently Canvas. As the VP of Marketing at Canvas she built the marketi...

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...

Happy Memorial Day if you're in the US!  WOWZA these episodes are popular...so let's keep this going! Sprinkling in another episode for the "Marketing Planning Series" where I invite back top startup founders and marketing leaders to talk about their marketing plans going into 2022. We'll dive into marketing channels, budget, resources and so much more. Kyle Lacy is SVP of Marketing at Seismi...

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 I...

Time 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,...

Hi and welcome or welcome back! You're going to love this episode. I've known about Justin Welsh since I saw him in a video clip with Chris Walker about 2 years ago, and I've been following his journey ever since. Justin Welsh is the founder of Justin Welsh Media. He's an angel investor in B2B SaaS and an advisor for healthcare SaaS. He has built digital courses for how to get followers and custom...

When I say "no fridge needed and 90 second convenience" what comes to mind? Well soon, my friend, you will be seeing Proper Good everywhere. I invited Christopher Jane, co-founder and CEO at Proper Good, to talk about his delicious company and what they're working on with their marketing efforts. Prior, Christopher was co-founder and CEO at Montana Mex (clean label seasonings, sauces and oils carr...

WOW these episodes are popular...so let's keep this going! Sprinkling in another episode for the "Marketing Planning Series" where I invite back top startup founders and marketing leaders to talk about their marketing plans going into 2022. We'll dive into marketing channels, budget, resources and so much more. Rob Singer is CMO at Remitly. Prior, Rob was CMO at Ancestry.com, and at Smule, and at...

We talk about how important storytelling and emotional connection is for really great marketing. But can banking be emotional?  You betcha.  I brought on a creative leader to talk about how and why it's important to nail this. Matthieu Silberstein is VP of Creative Marketing at Lili. Matt works on commercials, PR, influencers, podcasts, social, content, media partnerships, OOH, and creat...

Welcome back!  As you may have heard, I'm intrigued by category design. I've had both Christopher Lochhead and Andy Raskin on the show to chat more on the topic, and those are actually some of the more popular episodes on the podcast.  Josh Lowman helps startups (like Robinhood, Newsela, Uber, Bizzabo, and Clari) create and own their category. I wanted to bring Josh onto the show and dig...

I'm SO excited to bring you this episode on the MSM podcast. Many marketers are struggling to prove the ROI/value from their audio/video content but deep down we KNOW it's the good stuff. It's why we became marketers in the first place! The gems dropped throughout this episode are so valuable. Holly Pels is VP of Marketing at Casted. Prior, Holly was Director of Marketing at Emarsys (Series B SaaS...

WOW these episodes are popular...which tells me that folks are lovin' the series...so let's keep this going! Sprinkling in another episode for the "Marketing Planning Series" where I invite back top startup founders and marketing leaders to talk about their marketing plans going into 2022. We'll dive into marketing channels, budget, resources and so much more. Alvaro De La Rocha is CMO at Bespoke...

Hello and welcome back! On this episode of MSM not only do we talk startup marketing, but Dean also throws in some great life advice. We talk money. We talk kids. We chat about how parents traditionally handle money with their kids and why it's time to revamp that approach. Dean Brauer is co-founder and president at GoHenry (US). Prior, Dean held senior roles at leading advertising and digital age...

I had the pleasure of welcoming Nairi Hourdajian (VP of Communications, Content and Community Marketing at Figma) to the show. Nairi is also the founding member of All Raise (programs to accelerate the success of female founders and funders to build a more prosperous, equitable future). She has held marketing leadership roles at Canaan (early stage VC firm) and Uber. Figma was founded in 2012, has...

These episodes are pretty popular, which tells me that folks are lovin' the series, so let's keep this going! Sprinkling in another episode for the "Marketing Planning Series" where I invite back top startup founders and marketing leaders to talk about their marketing plans going into 2022. I get questions from startups about this a lot (especially as the marketing landscape has changed so much th...

Megan Bowen is COO at Refine Labs. If you don't know her, you're missing out because she's a smart, kind and genuine leader. Prior to Refine Labs, Megan was VP of Customer Success at Platterz, COO at Managed by Q, and held leadership roles at GrubHub and ZocDoc. I’ve had MJ Peters, now at Refine Labs, on the show (Episode 9 - we talked a lot about voice of customer research and insights) and of co...