Tech Bound Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Today, I’m unpacking a fascinating conversation with Kieran Flanagan, CMO at Zapier and former SVP of Marketing at HubSpot. This discussion centers on Calendly, a scheduling app used by millions, and its strategic acquisition of Prelude.

We talk about the critical role of platforms in product-led growth (PLG) businesses. AI tools, for instance, are seen not as standalone products but platform features. Canva's freemium text image generator exemplifies a platform disrupting the market. Grammarly and Jasper also come up in the context of branding and market disruption.

Distribution is vital for platforms. Calendly's acquisition of Prelude, an HR enterprise tool, is a case in point. Flanagan compares Calendly's potential growth strategy to HubSpot's approach of building individual hubs around the contact record, each catering to different roles like marketing, sales, customer success, and operations.

We also explore the idea of Calendly morphing into a platform and integrating with other established products to multiply its value, for example, Gong, Outreach, Chorus, Jira, Monday, Asana, Dovetail, and Qualtrics.

Lastly, Flanagan shares some intriguing marketing ideas for Calendly, including acquiring a company like Lyre for its distribution capabilities and using Calendly to understand where time gets wasted or lost within an organization, thereby helping to optimize productivity.

About Kieran Flanagan

Introducing Kieran Flanagan:

* Current Chief Marketing Officer at Zapier and former Senior Vice President of Marketing at HubSpot.

* Known for strategic insights and innovative ideas in the tech industry.

* Expert in product-led growth (PLG) businesses and the importance of becoming a platform.

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieranjflanagan/

* https://twitter.com/searchbrat

Notes on the product, market, company and challenges

Product

* Calendly = scheduling app used by +10M people, from tech workers to yoga class instructors

* Vision: be THE go-to platform for work and leisure life planning

* Basic explanation: you want to schedule time with someone → all you need to do is share your Calendly, and they can pick a time

* You can set a time limit, charge them for your time, and define time slots

Company

* Founded in 2013 by Tope Awotona

* profitable today

* Valued at $3b in 2020 by raising $350M from investors + Awotona’s life savings

Growth

* Massive growth during the pandemic: 50% Y/Y revenue growth in 2021 (about $85M)

* growing faster than companies like Zapier or DocuSign

* 53% market share in the US

Market

* appointment scheduling market: ~$300M in 2021

* 13-19% CAGR (compound annual growth rate)

* predicted to reach $500-$700M in 2027

* Direct competitors: calendar.com, Setmore, Timetrade

* Indirect competitors: Google, Hubspot, Drift

* Trends:

* big players like Google getting into the market

* remote work = accelerant for scheduling software

* More professions use scheduling software, e.g. doctors

Challenges

* Google entered the market: Google Workspace customers ($7.99) can provide scheduling with their Google Calendar

* 2nd largest calendar app after Outlook, > 500M people

* If Google Calendar was a social network, it would be bigger than Twitter or Snapchat

* Calendly needs to win the enterprise segment

* Calendly needs to build more features for verticals like Sales, HR or Productivity

Context of the episode

* Calendly acquired Prelude

* Predule = enterprise interview scheduling app for recruiting

* Prelude raised $2.4M and has hundreds of customers

* makes it easier to schedule a series of interviews (journey) with several stakeholders without the typical back and forth

* more than just scheduling: provides information to applicants, Interviewer prep, and hiring analytics

On their latest investor day, Founder and CEO Daniel EK presented 6 bets for the future, of which 3 are unknown. In this Tech Bound episode, Tommy Walker and Kevin discuss the 3 unknown bets Spotify might pursue as part of its strategy.

They discuss the importance of infrastructure for live streaming and the potential for an incubator program to help discover new artists. They also discuss the possibility of independent artists being able to provide a Patreon equivalent on Spotify and concert streaming.

SHOW NOTES

Spotify investor day

The Content Studio

The Cutting Room show

TIME STAMPS

00:01:25 - The six bets for Spotify's future

00:02:45 - Live streaming

00:11:15 - An incubator program for new artists

00:16:35 - A Patreon equivalent on Spotify

00:21:45 - Concerts

00:27:15 - Data analysis and personalization in the music industry

00:32:00 - Marketing music in the digital age

00:37:00 - How Spotify could test artists for their potential

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Introduction

0:50 Fighting injustice and prejudices with e-commerce

7:44 What it's like to start a DTC business as an SEO

10:48 The vision for Afrodrops

15:25 Improving internal search for e-commerce

20:05 Internal search best practices

21:11 The DTC brands and marketplaces that are killing it right now

26:40 The impact of the pandemic on e-commerce

30:41 Growth categories in e-commerce

35:19 The next generation of e-commerce

37:58 The challenge of going from offline retail to e-commerce

SHOW NOTES

https://afrodrops.com

https://lukecarthy.com

https://www.asos.com

https://www.heinz.com

https://www.fast.co

https://www.shopify.com

https://stripe.com

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/10/walmarts-use-of-tiktok-will-likely-continue-even-if-oracle-deal-unravels.html

https://www.primark.com

FOR MORE

Subscribe to the Youtube channel

Subscribe to the Growth Memo

Follow me on Twitter

iTunes

Spotify

Simplecast channel

TIMESTAMPS

0:31 How to dominate a category in SEO?

4:01 The best book for promoting your first e-commerce store

6:54 Does Google love Shopify?

8:18 How much can you earn as SEO?

9:54 Do topic clusters still work?

11:04 Joining Shopify

SHOW NOTES

Rory Sutherland - Alchemy

Shopify guide

FOR MORE

Subscribe to the channel for more videos

Subscribe to the Growth Memo

Follow me on Twitter

iTunes

Spotify

Simplecast

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Introduction

0:53 Marketing Showrunners

4:09 How to come up with topics that capture people

6:09 The top 3 podcasting mistakes

10:34 Jay's formula for good premises

22:53 How much personality plays a role in podcasting

25:53 Bringing an established podcast to the next level

30:26 The best metrics to evaluate podcasts

35:20 What tools Jay recommends to use

37:46 Examples of great shows

39:38 Jay coaches me for Tech Bound

49:44 The Growable Shows course

SHOWNOTES

https://jayacunzo.com

Jay's Book "break the wheel": https://bookshop.org/a/24650/9781544501055

Helpscout documentary Against the Grain: https://www.helpscout.com/blog/introducing-against-the-grain

3 clips: https://3clipspodcast.com/

Unthinkable: https://jayacunzo.com/unthinkable-podcast

Radiolab podcast: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab

The moment podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-moment-with-brian-koppelman/id814550071

Working it out: https://www.birbigs.com/working-it-out-pod

Reply all: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all

Binge Mode: https://www.theringer.com/binge-mode

Jay's course: growable shows https://jayacunzo.com/growable-shows

FOR MORE

Subscribe to the channel for more videos

Subscribe to Growth Memo for more content

iTunes

Spotify

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Introduction

0:52 The key message of the book Product-Led SEO

3:09 Common misconceptions about SEO

7:37 Getting things done in SEO

10:18 SEO Product Managers

13:29 Should SEO be part of Marketing or Product?

18:18 Is stack ranking projects still up to date?

20:01 How to create more awareness for SEO inhouse

23:18 How to learn from the competition

30:59 Getting better at opportunity sizing

34:54 How much should you invest in SEO?

37:42 The compounding effect of SEO

40:00 The process of writing Product-Led SEO

SHOW NOTES

https://bookshop.org/a/24650/9781544519579

https://www.elischwartz.co/dave-goldberg-the-kindest-leader-i-ever-met/

https://www.elischwartz.co/

https://twitter.com/5le

https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwartze/

https://www.elischwartz.co/product-led-seo/

FOR MORE

Subscribe to the channel for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoQ5uxfxcnObjzLAk1lmM6g?sub_confirmation=1

Subscribe to the Growth Memo: https://www.kevin-indig.com/

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegrowthmemo

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-bound-podcast/id1488939659

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Ze0gqMmuh22rR8rVv0oz8?si=87cysHp3S5yEzNuuUK9Ezg&nd=1

In this Tech Bound podcast, I speak with legendary founder Joost de Valk about the importance of Schema for the web, the CMS landscape, and SEO Fitness. You probably know him from Yoast, the #1 WordPress plugin for SEO, but Joost has to offer way more.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Introduction

0:56 State of the CMS market

3:38 The rise of WordPress

7:32 The biggest challenges webmasters face today

10:14 SEO fitness and dieting

17:28 How important is technical SEO in 2021?

20:05 The future of rich snippets and Schema

24:39 A fully Schema-augmented web

29:08 Trust and Blockchain timestamps

33:38 What it’s like to run Yoast

36:02 The future of Yoast

37:50 Outro

SHOW NOTES

Yoast CMS market share analysis: https://joost.blog/cms-market-share/

NY Times link rot analysis: https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/21/22447690/link-rot-research-new-york-times-domain-hijacking

(Free) duplicate post plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicate-post/

Wordproof: https://wordproof.com/

Schema on Github: https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg

Yoast: https://yoast.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jdevalk

All questions: https://twitter.com/Kevin_Indig/status/1382460583564480512

Timestamps

0:32 How does SEO look like in 3-6-12 months when you land a new job/start a new project in an agency vs startup vs enterprise environment?

3:02 Which low-hanging fruit do you spot most often when checking out new sites? Perhaps divide it into small, SaaS (b2b), and large, inventory-based sites.

4:12 If you could go back 5yrs and say one thing to your past SEO self what would it be?

5:24 What is your most complex enterprise SEO project aside from Shopify? And did this project use Shopify? :)

6:40 When you already have your keyword list, and its volumes/organic CTR based LOOSE traffic potential, how do you create estimates/forecasts that are useful vs unrealistic/impossible?

8:42 When SEO traffic is almost flat line with no growth for more than 6 months, what should I do differently, where to go for ideas?

9:51As a startup, Should you first invest in SEO or Paid ads?

11:50 If there’s anything I learned from this post, it’s that SEOs like talking about the idea of SEO rather than actually doing it. Search landscape is always changing, adapt or get out. Time spent complaining is time better spent working.

12:45 How can I grow SEOTesting.com with a bootstrapped budget?

13:56 What areas do you think SEOs do not spend enough time talking or researching about?

14:54 SEO tips every early-stage founder should know!

16:22 If you had to pick one, what change are you/or have you implemented at Shopify that you're most excited about?

17:04 How can you grow in a competitive industry without buying links?

18:32 Where is the industry headed? Will SEO be a thing in 5 years?

19:55 Have you ever tried reverse engineering google algorithms to know how they actually work?

20:54 Where do ideas come from? Can we train our brains to be idea machines (big or small)?

22:00 The most persistent piece of SEO advice out there that you flat out disagree with?

23:14 What leads to a healthy SEO team culture? (And does "healthy" evolve with the company stage/size?)

Shownotes

First 90 days by Michael Watkins: https://bookshop.org/a/24650/9781422188613

Subscribe to the channel for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoQ5uxfxcnObjzLAk1lmM6g?sub_confirmation=1

Subscribe to the Growth Memo for more content: https://www.kevin-indig.com

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Techbound2

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-bound-conversations/id1488939659

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Ze0gqMmuh22rR8rVv0oz8?si=87cysHp3S5yEzNuuUK9Ezg

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kevin-indig

Guillaume Cabane comes on the Tech Bound podcast to talk about investing your time like a VC, building Growth roadmaps, and running experiments. A true master of his craft, Guillaume is the former VP of Growth at Drift, Segment, and Mention, current VP of Growth Gorgias, and advisor to G2, Abstract, Metadata, Madkudu, MonkeyLearn.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

1:23 Be the VC of your time

4:28 The risk-taker and tinkerer mindset

8:57 The first things Guillaume would look at when growing a company with strong PMF

12:18 When to be CAC-efficient and when not

15:16 Building a Growth roadmap

17:32 The master's tools

20:43 EVELYN - Experiment Velocity Engine Lifting Your Numbers

24:49 What distinguishes good from bad experiments

27:47 Creating value where others don't see value

31:36 Guillaume's Zone of Genius

31:56 Teams over Self

32:16 How failure set Guillaume up for success

Show notes

https://twitter.com/guillaumecabane?lang=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cabane/

www.kustomer.com

www.madkudu.com

EVELYN: https://airtable.com/universe/expZpCNVlkaoLGNAr/evelyn-experiment-velocity-engine-lifting-your-numbers

Cialdini - Influence: https://bookshop.org/books/influence-the-psychology-of-persuasion-revised/9780061241895

Shackleton - Voyage: https://bookshop.org/books/endurance-shackleton-s-incredible-voyage-anniversary/9780465062881

Subscribe to the channel for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoQ5uxfxcnObjzLAk1lmM6g?sub_confirmation=1

Subscribe to the Growth Memo for more content: growthmemo.kevin-indig.com

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kevin_Indig

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-bound-conversations/id1488939659

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Ze0gqMmuh22rR8rVv0oz8?si=87cysHp3S5yEzNuuUK9Ezg

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kevin-indig

#growth #growthmarketing #vc

Nigel Stevens, CEO & Founder of Organic Growth Marketing and former Head of SEO of BigCommerce, talks to me about using SEO data the right way, SEO forecasting, and how agencies can provide real value to their customers.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

1:16 How SEOs should think about data

2:53 SEO opportunity sizing

5:55 Translating traffic potential into Dollars

7:16 Slicing traffic forecasts into scenarios

8:46 Forecasting for different business models

11:00 Micro conversions

14:02 Nigel's tools

15:37 Projecting traffic inhouse vs. agency-side

18:30 What SEO agency clients care about

21:38 Client retention for SEO agencies

25:38 What in SEO can you prove with data and what not?

29:37 How to think when working with imperfect data

31:33 Good hypothesis formulation

33:02 How to sell imperfect data to clients

34:48 Planning for the year ahead

36:52 rapid-fire questions

Show notes:

www.similarweb.com

www.ahrefs.com

Nassim Taleb - Black Swan: https://bookshop.org/books/the-black-swan-second-edition-the-impact-of-the-highly-improbable-with-a-new-section-on-robustness-and-fragility/9780812973815

Hotjar: www.hotjar.com

Nigel on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/nigel-stevens-67218068

marketingog.com

Subscribe to the channel for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoQ5uxfxcnObjzLAk1lmM6g?sub_confirmation=1

Subscribe to the Growth Memo for more content: https://growthmemo.kevin-indig.com/

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegrowthmemo

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-bound-conversations/id1488939659

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Ze0gqMmuh22rR8rVv0oz8?si=87cysHp3S5yEzNuuUK9Ezg

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kevin-indig