Standout Startup Brands – Details, episodes & analysis

In this last episode of Season 2, Janessa and Amrita take a look back at key themes from this past season.

They cover:
- How CMOs build brand teams
- Memorable brand campaigns
- The intersection of brand and demand

And much more.

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Join Janessa Lantz as she interviews Shafqat Islam, the CMO of Optimizely. Shafqat discusses his unique marketing approach focused on speed, creativity, and risk-taking and shares details of Optimizely's bold campaign at the Adobe Summit.

Shafqat also shares his journey from founding Welcome to leading marketing at Optimizely, offering insights into brand investment strategies at different growth stages. He emphasizes the importance of community, thought leadership, and exceptional content.

Find Shafqat Islam and learn more about Optimizely at:

• LinkedIn: Shafqat Islam
• Website: Optimizely

Thanks for listening!

On today’s episode we are interviewing Jess Iandiorio, a repeat startup CMO currently at StarTree, and previously at unicorns including Starburst, Mirakl and Acquia. She covers how to budget for brand, why brand design matters, and how brand fuels demand.

You can learn more by following us on LinkedIn using the links below:

Jess Iandiorio
StarTree.ai
Amrita Gurney
Janessa Lantz

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Season 2! Today I mix things up with a solo episode, sharing my experience launching my first out of home (OOH) campaign.

I cover:

• When and why to consider running a brand campaign
• How we launched our first OOH campaign for Float
• What I learned, and what I would do differently in future

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Moly leads the Brand Marketing and Communications team at Jobber, one of Canada’s fastest growing companies. She manages a team of 12 people dedicated to growing awareness of Jobber and building a global community of passionate and supportive home service entrepreneurs. 

In today's episode Moly shares how she built the brand team to include community, social media, events and communications specialists. She also shares the practical adjustments required as teams and companies grow. And finally, she shares advice for marketers who have social media in their portfolio.

Follow Moly on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/molymilosovic/

Thanks for listening!

What is like to lead marketing at a public company? Kathy Bryan, EVP and Head of Marketing at Electives joins me today. She shares her experience joining a company as the first marketing leader and through their acquisition and IPO.  In this episode Kathy shares her path to CMO, how she thinks about marketing stakeholders, and how she thinks about brand investments.

Learn more about Kathy at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyhbryan/ 

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Marissa Homère, VP Marketing at Irwin is a true revenue-focused marketer.  She shares lessons learned along her career journey covering everything from marketing leadership titles, where brand building fits in the life of a newer brand, and how to build trust and respect with your finance counterparts.

You can find Marissa at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissahomere/

Learn more about Irwin at: https://www.getirwin.com/ 

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Mitch Solway was one of Canada's first marketing leaders to achieve repeat success building startup brands like Freshbooks, Lavalife and Vidyard. Today he is a respected fractional CMO and coach to other marketing leaders.

In this episode we talk about:

• Whether you should work for a CEO who doesn't "get" marketing
• Common mistakes startup marketing leaders struggle with
• How to grow from being a Director of Marketing to a VP Marketing

Show notes:

Find Mitch on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchsolway/

Thanks for listening!

Marketing today is a broad function. Most marketing leaders start their career in one area of marketing - like demand gen, and then as they progress into leadership roles, they are responsible for brand, demand, product marketing, and sometimes in-house creative. My guest today, Nadia Milani, VP Marketing at Proposify, has done it all, and shares how she transitioned from the brand side of marketing to demand gen to leadership roles at multiple startups.

Show Notes:

Connect with Nadia Milani on LinkedIn
Learn more about Proposify at www.proposify.com 

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What can startups learn from their bigger brand counterparts? That’s one of the questions I posed to Sean Mathews, who left agency life to join RBC Ventures and work with their portfolio of startups. We cover everything from defining brand strategy to putting together your first brand budget. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Show Notes:

Sean Mathews on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening!