Startup Advice from Patreon CEO Jack Conte

Opening: Marketing is a constant challenge for startups and established businesses alike. Jack Conte reflects on the evolving nature of marketing strategies. Quote:

"...I think that challenge never goes away for businesses. It's not like you get good at it and then you're great at it and then you don't have to worry about marketing anymore... The world just changes, attention changes. And so marketing is this kind of never ending, always evolving challenge..."

Takeaway:

• Accept that marketing requires continuous effort and adaptation.
• Stay agile to respond to changes in platforms and consumer attention.
• Recognize marketing as an ongoing priority throughout the business lifecycle.

Opening: Effective marketing often hinges on strong brand recognition. Jack Conte emphasizes the importance of brand building for startups. Quote:

"...building a brand and investing in that brand. To me, when I... hear you talk about this, I'm like, gosh, you should be focused on brand building because that's where it seems like you're going to have like a lot of impact."

Takeaway:

• Invest time and resources in building a strong brand identity.
• Recognize that a compelling brand can enhance marketing efforts.
• Use branding to create market pressure and increase sales conversions.

Opening: Penetrating enterprise markets can be challenging. Jack Conte discusses how startups can leverage bottom-up strategies to gain enterprise clients. Quote:

"...there are some great businesses that built enterprise businesses by not selling to the enterprise but by selling to the individuals within the enterprise... I believe this was a strategy of a company called Figma, where the way that they sold into the company was by getting the employees to use the product first."

Takeaway:

• Encourage individual users within organizations to adopt your product.
• Leverage internal advocates to create demand for your product at the enterprise level.
• Use a bottoms-up approach to ease into enterprise adoption.

Opening: Shifting from direct-to-consumer to enterprise sales presents unique challenges. Jack Conte explains the adjustments needed in strategy and approach. Quote:

"...that is the challenge of like moving from a direct to consumer business to like an enterprise business, is that like the go to market approach on that type of... motion if you want to call it that, is like totally different."

Takeaway:

• Recognize that enterprise sales require a different sales process and strategy.
• Be willing to adapt your approach entirely when targeting enterprise clients.
• Understand that selling to organizations involves new stakeholders and decision cycles.

Opening: Engaging your audience is key to building a loyal community. Jack Conte shares strategies from Zoe Fraade-Blanar's book "Superfandom" on cultivating super fans. Quote:

"First is pilgrimages... that trek, that output of work and buying a plane ticket and going to like that in and of itself changes my brain as a fan... Another thing is content creation... getting the community to generate content and create content helps turn a fan into super fans."

Takeaway:

• Organize events or experiences that encourage fans to connect deeply with your brand.
• Encourage user-generated content to increase engagement.
• Foster community by allowing fans to contribute and participate actively.

Opening: Expanding into new markets can risk diluting your brand. Jack Conte offers advice on how to reach new audiences while maintaining brand integrity. Quote:

"She may have a bit of like a segmentation problem when it comes to the brand... It might be that putting up landing pages for different demographics... could be one approach."

Takeaway:

• Consider creating separate branding or landing pages for new market segments.
• Test new audiences with targeted campaigns to gauge interest.
• Maintain core brand identity while exploring new markets.

Opening: Standing out in a commoditized market is challenging. Jack Conte discusses the importance of brand and storytelling for effective distribution and marketing. Quote:

"In commoditized markets where the product is relatively undifferentiated... the biggest factor is brand, and nowadays, what that means is story. Why should people buy your coffee?... Nailing that story and starting with that why and getting it to feel differentiated is really an important part."

Takeaway:

• Focus on building a compelling brand story to differentiate your product.
• Connect your personal narrative to your product to engage customers.
• Understand that in commoditized markets, brand and story are key differentiators.

Opening: Achieving product-market fit is crucial for startups. Jack Conte shares his perspective on the most effective strategy to reach it. Quote:

"The most important part, I think, just remember, like, what you're talking about is finding product market fit, and the right strategy, I found, the right strategy for finding product market fit is actually no strategy at all. It's speed of iteration."

Takeaway:

• Focus on rapid iteration to discover what works.
• Accept that some intuitions will be wrong; learn quickly from mistakes.
• Prioritize getting to your first sale to test and refine your product.

Opening: In today's crowded digital space, breaking through can seem daunting. Jack Conte shares insights on how startups can leverage new platforms for effective distribution and marketing. Quote:

"The internet has really shifted away from the follower model. And it's shifted into an interest-based model that's hyper focused on discovery, and the net impact of that is people who don't have a million followers can upload a TikTok video and get 10 million views."

Takeaway:

• Utilize discovery-focused platforms like TikTok to reach new audiences.
• Prioritize community and brand building to sustain interest.
• Recognize that initial virality is possible, but retention requires ongoing effort.

Opening: Building a strong community is essential for distribution and marketing of a product. Jack Conte shares insights on how founders can authentically engage their audience. Quote:

"Really leaning into who you are as a person and fearlessly being that person, even if it turns a lot of people off along the way. That's, it kind of has to start there."

Takeaway:

• Embrace your authentic self to connect deeply with your audience.
• Don't dilute your message to appeal to everyone; focus on being genuine.
• Study how others build communities to learn effective strategies.