Lately, I’ve been having conversations with people on all sides (founders, investors, journalists, and more) about why companies do — or don’t — have a marketing-focused founding team member. I’ve been astounded at the number of brands (including some with significant venture funding) that consider marketing an afterthought. We’ll invest in engineering and product…and then we’ll think about how to use it.
I can’t tell you enough what a mistake that is for any company.
When I first started talking with my co-founders about our aspirations for Cofertility, we all agreed: in order to succeed, the company would need a significant focus on marketing and education. For many women in their 20s, Cofertility was the first entity to talk to them about their fertility, let alone egg freezing or donation. And for intended parents in need of an egg donor to help grow their family, they needed to understand how and why Cofertility was different than what was out there already.
Launching a startup is a thrilling, yet challenging, endeavor. And during this building phase, founders are faced with difficult decisions daily. To me, one decision should be for certain: bringing on a marketing-focused co-founder — or, at the very least, a marketing leader on the founding team. While technical prowess and product development are undeniably crucial aspects of a startup’s journey, it’s often the strategic and impactful execution of brand storytelling and acquisition initiatives that propels a company towards sustainable growth and success.
In this blog post, I’ll dive into some of the core reasons why involving an early-stage marketing leader should be considered a non-negotiable, whether your startup is venture backed or not. Here are just a few compelling reasons why this should be a priority:
1. Understanding your audience to achieve product/market fit
The foundation of any successful business lies in its understanding of its target audience and its needs. A marketing co-founder brings invaluable expertise in market research, customer segmentation, and persona development. They delve deep into consumer behaviors, industry trends, and the competitive landscape to uncover insights that should really shape product development and positioning.
Without a clear understanding of who your product or service is intended for, achieving product/market fit becomes a daunting challenge. A marketing leader ensures that every aspects of your offering resonates with your target audience however they’re reached.
Bottom line: you can’t build a product if you don’t know who you’re building it for. And you certainly can’t achieve product/market fit if you don’t understand the needs of those markets.
2. Effective brand storytelling across stakeholders
You can’t get others on board if you don’t know how to effectively tell your brand’s story.
We’ve seen it play out before: a compelling brand narrative can make or break a company. Storytelling is a powerful tool for building brand equity and fostering emotional connections with stakeholders. And a marketing co-founder usually possesses that storytelling acumen to articulate the brand’s mission and vision in a compelling manner across media.
Whether it’s crafting a captivating brand narrative, developing pitch decks for investors, getting prospective talent excited about “who we are,” or creating engaging content for users, marketing leadership is instrumental in shaping the brand’s perception. Investors are not just funding a product; they’re investing in the vision, TAM, and potential impact of the company. A strong brand story ensures that this vision is effectively communicated, hopefully garnering support in the form of capital and growth.
3. Strategic user acquisition and scalability
Beyond the initial launch phase, startups face the challenge of scaling their operations and acquiring a broader user base. If you build it, well…they won’t necessarily come. Instead, you need a comprehensive marketing strategy that helps your company fish where the fish are — again, depending on your marketing leader’s research into target personas, where/how they engage, and how you’ll reach them.
A marketing co-founder brings expertise in optimizing that marketing mix, reducing CAC (which will be essential to maintain for future fundraising), and maximize ROI from marketing campaigns. Moreover, as startups expand into new markets or introduce new products, marketing leadership plays a pivotal role in adapting the marketing strategies to suit evolving business objectives. They analyze data, track KPIs set forth collaboratively with the rest of the leadership team, and iterate strategies to drive sustainable growth and market penetration.
Summing it up
The presence of a marketing-focused founding team member is not just advantageous; it's a strategic imperative for startups aiming to thrive in competitive markets. Having synergy between technical innovation and marketing excellence will fuel your company’s trajectory of success. Strong marketing leadership enables startups to build meaningful relationships with their audience, attract top talent and investors, and scale their operations efficiently.
If you're embarking on an entrepreneurial journey or reassessing your startup's strategic direction, consider this your invitation to prioritize marketing leadership from day one. But it’s never too late to give a marketer a seat at the table.
If you could use some help building and scaling a high performance marketing team — including leadership — I’d love to help. You can reach out here.