This is a 'non-presentation' I gave at the Smart City Startups Festival in April 2015. It dispels the notion that growth hacking replaces marketing (although it is highly valuable for early stage startups). I lay out five mistakes I see startups make as they attempt to move beyond their early adopters. Each topic begins with the problem, presents an inspirational case study (of a tech startup that scaled beyond their hardcore early adopters), and offers a practical solution that aims to set startups down the right path. The presentation served as a prop as I dove into discussions with real startups at the event and helped them work through these problem areas.

1. FIVE THINGS
STARTUPS GET
WRONG
{A MARKETER’S
PERSPECTIVE}
smart city startups | @saneel | finch15.com

2. A BIT
ABOUT ME
_Held agency roles in strategy, creative, media and innovation
_Currently run an incubator-for-hire called Finch15
_Think there’s a distinction between ‘growth hacking’ vs. ‘marketing’
I’M A FORMER MARKETER
TURNED PRODUCT GUY

3. ‘Just get up
there and do a
Saneel rant’-Shaun Abrahamson
CEO, Urban.us

4. Having slides
doesn’t make this
a presentation

5. MISTAKE ONE
OPTIMIZATION
Over optimizing for your
earliest customers makes
your company smaller
over the long-run.
PROBLEM
Quantify the future cost (in
customers) of changes
that improve today’s
conversion rates.
SOLUTION
INSPIRATION
_Started as a camera strap for surfers… but never ‘pivoted’
_Was about special moments from day one
_Surf customers get one pitch, ski customers get another

6. MISTAKE TWO
LOYALTY
Confusing loyalty,
advocacy and referral
underutilizes your existing
customer base.
PROBLEM
Write three different customer
emails asking them to:
1) buy something else
2) introduce new prospects
3) convert someone on fence
Identify what data point lets
you match note & customer.
SOLUTION
INSPIRATION
_Loyalty: up-sold existing customers to Pebble Time via Kickstarter
_Referral: generated $20 credit code upon preorder via Get Pebble
_Advocacy: hijacked Apple Watch event with their fans via Twitter

7. LOYALTY
& ADVOCACY
of Pebble Time pre-
orders were existing
Pebble owners
of “watch” tweets
during the Apple event
mentioned @pebble
50% 2%
Loyalty vs Advocacy

8. LOYALTY
& ADVOCACY
of Pebble Time pre-
orders were existing
Pebble owners
of “watch” tweets
during the Apple event
mentioned @pebble
50% 2%
Loyalty vs Advocacy

9. MISTAKE THREE
FRENEMIES
Letting investors convince
you that partners are evil
makes you ignore easy
scaling options.
PROBLEM
Contact the company that
has the most to lose if
you’re successful.
SOLUTION
INSPIRATION
_Partnered with Samsung who is launching competitive headset
_Smoothed some early-adopter-to-common-customer friction
_Potentially helps create a mainstream market for a nerd product

10. MISTAKE FOUR
VALUE PROPS
Deciding you need a cool
story when you really need
a differentiated value
proposition makes you
much less competitive.
PROBLEM
Identify your category’s
high ground.
Don’t know it?
Make a fake Kickstarter
video. The second
sentence is probably the
high ground.
SOLUTION
INSPIRATION
_Realized all spirit ads are the same (‘we’ve made it, cheers!’)
_Identified the category high ground as progress
_Changed the direction he’s walking without you noticing

11. VALUE PROPS
3 KEY PARTS
RelevanceValue Difference

12. VALUE PROPS
3 KEY PARTS
RelevanceValue Difference
A really good value
proposition aligns your point
of difference with the
category’s high ground

13. MISTAKE FIVE
PR
Turning to PR early gets
you to climb up the tree
when there’s likely still a
lot of low-hanging fruit.
PROBLEM
Type your customer’s
problem into Google
The first page of results is
your media priority list
{Notice TechCrunch isn’t
one of the results}
SOLUTION
INSPIRATION
_Press darling in an unproven market (without a PR agency)
_Avoided the urge to talk ‘robots’ and ‘innovation’
_Today Show & Fast Company coverage led to installs and usage

14. A PLUG
GREATEST GOOD
Access to industry
thought leaders, including
world-famous marketers
WHAT
$150 charity donation for a
30-minute video chat
PRICE
MT Carney
Michael Conrad
Emma Cookson
Kash Shaikh
Rishad Tobaccowala
EXAMPLES

15. GROWTH HACKING IS GOOD
But focusing on short-term
growth at the expense of
building a foundation can hurt
your company long-term
CONFUSING LOYALTY VS ADVOCACY VS REFERRAL
FAILING TO HAVE FRENEMIES
NOT WRITING A VALUE PROPOSITION
OVERVALUING ‘PR’
OVER OPTIMIZING FOR EARLY USERS
STARTUP MARKETING MISTAKES

16. GROWTH HACKING IS GOOD
{BUT MARKETING’S IMPORTANT TOO}CONFUSING LOYALTY VS ADVOCACY VS REFERRAL
FAILING TO HAVE FRENEMIES
NOT WRITING A VALUE PROPOSITION
OVERVALUING ‘PR’
{NOT USING GREATESTGOOD.ORG}
OVER OPTIMIZING FOR EARLY USERS
STARTUP MARKETING MISTAKES

17. SHOW
ME
YOURS
{your scaling issues}
smart city startups | april 2015 | #scs415
@saneel
finch15.com
greatestgood.org/saneel