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

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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

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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/

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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/

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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

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Being marketer #1 at a startup is not for the faint of heart. I describe it as trying to plant the roots of a new tree while standing in the middle of a tornado.

Manuela Bárcenas knows exactly what I mean, as someone who joined Fellow as not just the first marketer, but also the first non-technical employee outside of its founders.

In this episode Manuela shares:

• What she did in Year One
• Which investments Fellow made to build their brand
• How brand and growth intersected

Show Notes:

Follow Manuela Bárcenas on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Learn more about collaborative meeting app Fellow.

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In our first episode of Standout Startup Brands, I interview Jared Henriques, the founder and CEO of Renga, a brand strategy and design agency in Toronto.

Jared shares valuable insights on what it’s like to build a brand from scratch, how has an investment in brand pays off for early stage teams and some common pitfalls that marketers and founders can fall into when establishing their brand strategy.

Show Notes:

Follow Jared Henriques on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Learn more about Renga, Jared's brand strategy and design studio.

Learn more about Float, the much-loved spend management platform for Canadian SMBs.

 

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Dave Kellogg is well-known in B2B marketing circles thanks to his popular and sometimes contrarian blog Kellblog. In this episode, Dave emphasizes the importance of building trust and maintaining professional consistency in brand presentation. He discusses the significance of "hygiene" in branding, stressing the need for professional-looking materials and consistent messaging. He also covers competitive messaging, the importance of thought leadership, and when to invest in higher-level branding efforts.

Follow Dave on LinkedIn and Kellblog. 

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Learn how to build a brand that gets noticed, drives revenue and fosters retention in this podcast for marketers and founders at startups in the Seed to Series B stages of growth. Every episode will feature an in-depth interview with a startup marketing leader, and answer your burning questions about what it takes to build a standout startup brand.

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In this insightful episode, we sit down with Roger, the CMO at #paid, to delve into the intricacies of influencer marketing, brand reputation, and creating memorable customer experiences. Roger, a prominent figure in the greater Toronto tech community, shares his journey and strategies for building and maintaining a strong brand from the ground up.

Learn how to focus on brand reputation and credibility from the very beginning, even with limited resources. Discover the optimal way to organize your marketing team for maximum impact, regardless of your company's size. Understand how to leverage influencers in both B2C and B2B spaces to enhance your brand's reach and reputation.

Follow Roger on LinkedIn.

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Angela Whiteford, a repeat CMO with multiple exits, discusses her approach to brand and communications in Series C or D stage startups.  Angela highlights the importance of having a strong point of view and leveraging partnerships to build a brand. She shares examples from her career, such as working with Intel to validate technology claims, which bolstered her company’s credibility. 

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Meagen Eisenberg is the CMO at Lacework, former CMO at TripActions and MongoDB, and advisor to multiple successful startups. Her career spans 19 successful exits since 2011 as an operator and advisor, including 3 IPOs and 16 mergers and acquisitions.

In today's episode, Meagen shares how the brand leader's job is to get everyone aligned and consistent, how she operationalizes the brand at Lacework, and all the details of their infamous CISO Barbie campaign.

Follow Meagen on LinkedIn.

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As an advisor and board member to high-technology startups, Jamie Barnett has taken on leadership roles in marketing, product, and customer success across top startups in cybersecurity, AI, DevOps, and IoT sectors. 

In this interview Jamie shares

• Which roles that are important in brand work
• The evolution of the role of visual identity in the last 10 years
• The importance of prioritizing brand work and the psychology behind consistency and trust

Follow Jamie on LinkedIn and Medium.

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This conversation with veteran marketing leader Meghan Keaney Anderson explores the importance of brand in marketing and the challenges of integrating brand and performance marketing. It highlights the role of values in shaping a company's brand and the need for goal alignment within marketing teams. Finally, Meghan shares her observations on the shift away from pure performance marketing towards a holistic approach to marketing that leans more heavily on brand for awareness and differentiation.

Follow Meghan on LinkedIn.

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In this episode, we interview Tom Wentworth, CMO of Recorded Future and former CMO at high growth startups including Acquia and Optimizely.

Tom shares his thoughts on everything from building internal brand teams to building brand as a strategic asset to why standout brands go beyond marketing teams to bring together a truly integrated approach to awareness, positioning and trust building.

Follow Tom Wentworth on LinkedIn
Tom's presentation on Brand Fuels Demand

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Maya Spivak is a seasoned marketer who has built multiple beloved developer brands, most recently as the VP of Marketing at Gretel, as well as Mux, the video infrastructure platform, and Segment, joining when the company was only 60 people and leaving shortly after its 10x growth in size and ARR, when it was acquired by Twilio for $3.2B.

In this episode we discuss category creation, brand's impact on demand, and getting buy-in for brand campaigns.

To learn more:

Maya Spivak on LinkedIn
Beloved Tech Brands Conference

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