REBELTALK Issue 1: The founders repainting the world CONTENTS Go on, give us a scroll

LAUNCH The 'soft' new threat facing tech startups The ‘soft’ new threat facing the Our entrepreneurs tackle themes as serious as the toll taken on their mental health as sole founders; rebel economy their struggles with fundraising and their failures with hiring and scaling. Their stories are peppered If founders and entrepreneurs didn’t already face enough challenges, the act of with a mixture of smart insight, grim determination building brilliant and sustainable new businesses is about to get harder. and - at times - gallows humour.

While entrepreneurs and founders - each one For a time, entrepreneurs were onto a good thing. A The truth, as the founders and entrepreneurs in rebelling against some piece of the status quo - golden PR glow surrounded tech startups. An this book will attest to, is that creating the ‘next big always faced such challenges, they enjoyed the alluring and aspirational path to success was visibly thing’ was never easy. Anthony Eskinazi, founder support and admiration of society around them. laid out for any wannabe entrepreneur eager to and CEO of JustPark; Benji Lanyado, founder of participate in the ‘dream’ and for everyone else, the Picfair; Daisy Pledge, founder of Surreal Studios, Stories of how they were transforming the world; theatre played out by young Silicon Valley types was Anthony Rose, founder and CEO of SeedLegals and how we communicate, work, travel and shop; fed a great to watch. Laura Pleasants, head of marketing & PR at Captify keen appetite for change and accorded them a halo speak with brutal honesty of what it took to launch effect. Top graduates shifted their gaze from solid That glow is now fading. and grow their businesses. career paths in the City to fast-talking, exciting startups that promised a ‘rock-star’ culture along with bonuses and share schemes. Investors threw billions of dollars at the most hopeful, impressive and adventurous startups in the market.

Lots of this is still the case but there’s a less supportive wind swirling around conversations regarding both technology and startups. A ‘too much technology is bad’ narrative is growing The Edelman Trust Barometer in January 2018 in volume. Facebook and Google are under almost found that just 24 per cent of the population trusts constant scrutiny from global politicians and media social media giants Facebook, Twitter and alike over the volume of information they have on Instagram when it comes to finding trustworthy individuals and how they use that data. information. Almost two thirds of respondents (64%) were concerned that social media With a scant disregard for the potential virtues of companies are not “sufficientlyegulat r ed”. compromise or the power of a meaningful apology when goodwill is running low among stakeholders, The closing of Cambridge Analytica following the technology executives’ lack of ability to show Facebook data scandal will not prevent further remorse or take responsibility for shortcomings investigations into how our personal data may be paints them in a similar light as bankers after the subject to abuse by commercial organisations. 2008 global crash as far as much of the public is concerned. Picfair founder Lanyado sums up the perspective of many on this ‘Founders Special’ episode of the RebelTalk podcast: “Technology is in severe danger of disappearing up it’s own arse,” he says. “I I absolutely believe that there is a absolutely believe that there is a backlash against backlash against tech coming tech coming, and am frankly amazed that it hasn’t Benji Lanyado, Picfair been worse already.” Indeed, there are signs of such a backlash pretty much wherever one cares to look:

With fake news spearheading the tide that’s turning against the founding fathers (and mothers) of startup culture, the reputation of the entire technology landscape stands to take a hit. A key (if far from surprising) realisation, certainly The tech startup story - technology itself - is in among the business and investor community, has danger of losing its glimmer. Founders may find it been that not all startups or founders are equal. harder to make their startup the one that raises the And even those with strong commercial instincts money, attracts the right people - especially if you can fall into some easy traps. believe the talent data that Linkedin released last A list published by CB Insights in February this year month in its Workforce report - and beats the odds of the top 20 reasons that founders felt their to scale to success. startups failed, revealed that most startups break simply because the market doesn’t need what The number of UK startups launched in 2017 they’re selling. Admittedly not a great advert for the dropped by more than 10 per cent to 589,008, usefulness or value of the startup community. according to data released by Companies House, down from 657,790 the previous year - the first Future-gazing experiments such as cars launched drop in business launches since 2010. into space, once seen as exciting glimpses of things to come, are just as likely to be seen as pointless PR stunts or - worse - crude errors of judgement when benchmarked against everyday real-life problems that need solving.

Why, asked Guardian opinion writer John Harris in April, is nobody in Westminster preparing the economy for an immediate future when automation could claim 10m British jobs? Founders and entrepreneurs contribute much to An alternative view: Anthony Rose, 1. Any clear increase in a mindset that promotes society and the economy that would be hard to CEO and founder, SeedLegals meritocracy, that says you do not have to listen replace: innovation and new products, new to others, that you can make your own future, is business models, rapid growth and above all, a I disagree with the premise of this feature. I’ll clearly positive. badly-needed heroism. True, the heady mix of argue with anyone who suggests the tech vision, fearlessness, speed and ‘kamikaze-can-do’ startup scene is in trouble. The tech scene is 2. Thanks to the government EIS and SEIS tax attitude can often result in stupidity of the highest vibrant. incentive schemes, there is a large amount of order. But when startups work, their approach rubs money available for funding. off on ve ery person and organisation that comes More people are emerging from school with an into contact with them and leaves an impression. entrepreneurial mindset. Once upon a time you 3. The cost of creating something new has left school with the intention of working in the fallen dramatically. You used to spend hundreds Tech startups and the entrepreneur rebels that coal mine or the mill or whatever it was that kept of thousands of pounds on servers. Now create and grow them from nothing, show us what your town alive. When you found that job you’d everything is in the cloud. The cost of launching is possible. be in it for the rest of your life. Now people a startup is a tenth of what it was a decade or believe they can decide their own futures. two ago. We all need them to keep thriving. I remember a survey that said in 1999, 5% of I'm hearing from more founders dreaming up school-leavers said they wanted to run their bigger ideas all the time. Soft new threat? It's own business. In 2016, that figure was 27%. rubbish! Others see a problem. Entrepreneurs That huge change shows people understand see an opportunity. If I see people they control their own destiny. whinging, I just think: 'Your whinge is my opportunity.' Here are three reasons I reckon startup Anthony Rose, SeedLegals landscape is in rude health:

HUSTLE Daisy Pledge, Surreal Studios Name: Daisy Pledge The next big thing Founder of: Surreal Studios What is it? An AR gaming studio reshaping We sat down with Daisy Pledge, founder of early-stage startup Surreal Studios, to networking at large industry networking events discuss seeking funding, staying focused, and bringing the hustle. Stage: Fundraising Read Daisy elsewhere: London and if it goes well the idea is that I’ll launch Tell Me No, I Dare You - Minutehack RebelTalk: Hello, how are you? with them at Advertising Week in New York in Ten Lies Entrepreneurs Tell Themselves - Elite October. Business Daisy Pledge: Yeah, I'm not bad, and you? RT: What's behind Surreal Studios? What's the those events. I’ve gone to so many networking RT: Good thanks. Where are you up to with problem you're trying to solve? events. As a PR I used to go to three a week Surreal Studios? sometimes. It was actually quite horrendous. Some DP: I'm actually solving a problem for three different of them were awful. People stand in a corner, don't DP: I’m right at the beginning. There have been a audiences: brands, events and people attending do anything and don't talk to anyone. When you do few successful tests and I’m in discussion with those events. I’ve gone to so many networking try to meet people you end up talking to the wrong investors about funding a Beta launch of the app. I events. As a PR I used to go to three a week person and it's exhausting. Then you go home and guess you could say I’ve got a vision and I’m working on it. I haven't proven my product yet. It’s not easy.

RT: What’s the next milestone on your horizon, the one that’s keeping you going?

DP: An image recognition and advertising company is looking into holding a test-event for me in London and if it goes well the idea is that I’ll launch with them at Advertising Week in New York in try to meet people you end up talking to the wrong person and it's exhausting. Then you go home and feel you’ve completely wasted an opportunity. If we started seeing senior Especially if you’ve paid for a ticket. In this scenario management becoming more diverse, everybody loses; the event owner, the sponsor and I’d like to think that our augmented the delegate. reality Nerf Gun battles helped. Daisy Pledge, Surreal Studios It gets worse. When I started looking around for a solution and talked to people about networking it became clear that others felt the same. I read a all of a sudden we started seeing senior Harvard Business School study that basically said management becoming more diverse, I’d like to many people avoid professional networking despite think that our augmented reality Nerf Gun battles knowing it could benefit their careers because ‘it helped that. makes them feel so dirty’. RT: Sounds cool. So what’s the priority at the So I want to help make networking easier and more moment? enjoyable for everybody. The idea is by using games we can create a neutral playing field so that DP: I’ve taught myself to code and I’m building the everyone's in the same boat - even those that are app. We’ve done ok so far without it but we now terrible at networking. If we succeed we might find need the tech. I’ve done a few Nerf Gun networking that different types of people will start progressing battles - some for clients and some private ones through organisations because they will start that I organised myself at universities and co- growing networks they never had access to before. working spaces.

I don't know if we'll ever be able to claim we were The idea is to use the battles to connect people. responsible but maybe if a few years down the line Everyone gets a wristband with their names on all of a sudden we started seeing senior them and then if you shoot someone you get their management becoming more diverse, I’d like to wristband and have the right to claim their contact them and then if you shoot someone you get their or two later we can send you a little push wristband and have the right to claim their contact notification - just a fun sort of onc versation starter details which we share after the event. There’s like: ‘You shot John nine times - maybe you should more to it but that’s the basic premise. apologise!’ We find people are really bad at following up after events so we want to help them. It’s going brilliantly and people love it. I need the tech because I just couldn’t streamline it for 400 RT: You taught yourself to code? people at a time which is what I’ve been dealing with - taking details and directing participants into DP: Yeah, I taught myself a basic level in three teams and so on. months so I could build the prototype. I couldn’t sell myself as a developer - my coding is pretty ugly but Now when you go into the app you login and the prototype works. choose the event and type of people you want to meet. For example you can specify whether you RT: What sacrifices would you say you've made want to meet PR or media agencies or brand to get Surreal Studios this far? of people don't really get that. When I tell mates I owners or whatever. We then use that information don't have any money to go out or away for the to put you into teams with or against people you DP: My social life has definitely suffered. I have a bit weekend that means I really don't have any money. actually want to meet. Everyone who plays in your of one, I probably socialise once a week if I'm lucky. I And there’s not a lot of time to relax with people game goes into a connection page that's there live at home or at my sister’s place. I’m often only either so yeah, some friendships have kind of forever with notifications va ailable in case you want going out with my step brother but I need to leave dropped off which is hard. to remind yourself to contact someone later, the house as I get cabin fever. favourite them, or put them into a list. There's a Unless you’ve tried to start a company button to connect through LinkedIn if you want or I have lost friendships. Unless you’ve tried to start a it is very hard to understand how much email and so on. company it is very hard to understand how much stress and pressure you are under stress and pressure you are under, especially once Daisy Pledge, Surreal Studios If you haven't done it through the app then a week you've quit your job and you've got no income. A lot or two later we can send you a little push of people don't really get that. When I tell mates I notification - just a fun sort of onc versation starter don't have any money to go out or away for the RT: In an article you wrote for Elite Business magazine, you say founders make the mistake More needs to be said about the The making of a rebel: Daisy Pledge of creating products nobody wants. Are you journey, getting there; those days sure that people want Surreal Studios? when you don't want to talk to anyone “I flunked school. Completely blew it. From age because it all just gets a bit too much. 17 I worked at Waitrose whilst living at my DP: I hope so! All the research we’ve seen states Daisy Pledge, Surreal Studios grandparents' house and elsewhere. Every job that it makes sense. All the things I did to prove that interview I attended ended in rejection. I went it works shows people are willing to play games to from full-time team leader to a part-time make it easier to meet good people so yeah. It will delivery driver for Waitrose and used the time to RT: You quit a job? be hard because I'm changing people's behaviours learn Mandarin and got myself a CELTA but I’m determined to make it work. qualification; that’s a certificate in teaching DP: Yes, a PR job. I was working as an account English to speakers of other languages. manager for a PR agency called Simpatico.

Once I got my CELTA I moved to Changchun in RT: What’s the secret too few people know China, which I thought was basically hell on about being an entrepreneur? Earth. I came home after a few months and fell into a job as a PA for a PR agency and within 3 It’s sometimes a very lonely journey. I don't think years had worked my way up to Account that people really talk about this enough. All we Manager. hear are the great stories of the amazing entrepreneurs who made it big and made tonnes of "I've been used to rejection from a young age, money transforming something. More needs to be which is probably why hearing people say ‘no’ to said about the journey, getting there; those days me doesn't scare me. It’s also maybe a big driver when you don't want to talk to anyone because it all of my need to succeed and prove myself.” just gets a bit too much. RAISE & CLOSE Staying afloat: two founders describe the daily thrash of startup land Listen to the RebelTalk Founders Special The thrash and swell of it podcast with Benji Lanyado & Anthony Eskinazi Anthony Eskinazi, founder of JustPark, and Benji Lanyado, founder of Picfair, open up about the realities of being a successful tech founder - the good, the bad & the --:-- / --:-- scary.

Anthony Eskinazi and Benji Lanyado could’ve done Benji launched Picfair aged 29 with backing from anything they wanted in life. The pair have much in Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, who he'd stalked common. They're smart, articulate and boast down in a New York coffee shop to pitch to. unusual emotional intelligence. Fast forward a decade and JustPark and Picfair are Yet an urge to push boundaries, to break and shake both successful businesses that continue to evolve things in pursuit of the world they want to live in, has while still disrupting their markets and pushing pushed Anthony and Benji past their many other boundaries. Neither Benji or Anthony though are could-be lives. Instead the pair chose to found their ready to accept the label of 'success' however. own businesses - a path that would mean long Neither claims to be anywhere near 'finished'. nights, huge responsibility and a strong likelihood of mental health concerns - all before either of them hit 30. Being an entrepreneur is a lifestyle choice. The ups and downs, the rollercoaster ride you go on... It’s extremely lonely. Aged just 23, Anthony decided to quit his Deloitte Anthony Eskinazi, JustPark job - a role he’d held for six weeks - to launch JustPark. Benji & Anthony on the side of success we rarely hear about... It can’t be healthy to burn out two, three, four times Listen to the podcast for the full interview a year - as I did at the beginning; to not physically be able to get out of bed or tap on a keyboard. Anthony Eskinazi: Mental health. Being an entrepreneur is a lifestyle choice. The ups and Benji Lanyado: That’s it. It f**ks with your head. downs, the rollercoaster ride I’ve been on over the last 11 years. The decline in your social life initially, There’s that constant feeling that you’re not doing the impact it has on relationships. good enough - it comes back to the mental health issue. I don’t know if there have been any studies into the mental health of entrepreneurs and what kind of It’s a double-edged sword because on the one crazy crackpot idiot you have to be to go on this hand, you probably need to feel like that to keep business successful in the first place. On the other journey, especially sole founders like Benji and pushing a business forward, and even just make the hand, it’s quite draining to permanently feel like myself. business successful in the first place. On the other you’re not doing good enough. hand, it’s quite draining to permanently feel like It’s extremely lonely. Avoid the founder burnout It f**ks with your head. There’s that The advice I’ve given to so many people who are Join a group like ICE - the International Conclave constant feeling that you’re not doing looking to start their business: get a cofounder. of Entrepreneurs - a non-profit group of 200 good enough. You'll want to share the ups and the highs and go founders, investors and startup leaders. Benji Lanyado, Picfair out for a drink and have an excuse to go out with someone. You may want someone to hug when you “It’s about sharing problems, sharing solutions, lose that deal or you don’t get that term sheet. just having someone to talk to and share the Someone to share the tougher experiences that experience,” says Anthony. will definitely come your way. It was a huge product mistake. Not enough quality On their greatest screw ups... assurance, not enough testing. We rushed it out. AE: Back in 2012, we did what you should never do You can do that when you’re a small business; when I was thinking... we’re dying this when you’re running a tech company - we decided you’ve got 1,000 customers, something like that. weekend. Six years of hard work is over. to do a big bang release. (That’s basically saying We had a 150,000, 200,000 customers at that Customers were emailing our we’re going to effectively relaunch the entire point. investors, calling our investors. It was technology of our website.) We did it right before a carnage. huge game at Wembley Stadium and a huge game BL: We were once ten days away from running out Anthony Eskinazi, JustPark at Twickenham the day after. of money.

The technology failed. We found out on Friday we I had a team of six that needed paying. The had 1,000 cars booked into the same 10 parking frustrating thing was that the money was I remember thinking: 'Has this guy died, or has spaces. So 990 cars full of football and rugby fans committed. It was just a case of getting an investor something awful happened? Because if I don’t get were about to be very unhappy. over the line and making them wire the goddamn his money within ten days, I can’t pay my staff.' That money. At exactly that time, the investor went was my mistake. I should never have let it get even We had to commission an entire carpark close by. AWOL for a week. close to that. We just basically did whatever we could think of. On fundraising... I remember going home on Friday night, BL: I was so clueless when I started out. I wasted the closest I’ve been to a heart attack. loads of time. I think it’s probably the hardest part of running a business at the early stages. Certainly, I was thinking: 'I’ve dedicated my life to this business once you’re more mature as a business, lots of for six years. We’re dying this weekend. Six years of other problems start to become challenges too. hard work is over'. Customers were emailing and calling our investors. It was carnage. But in the early stages of a start-up cash is king, especially a startup like Picfair where we were very It was a huge product mistake. Not enough quality clear we needed to focus on building the non- assurance, not enough testing. We rushed it out. revenue generating side of our marketplace - the clear we needed to focus on building the non- a VC on one side - they can ask for preference directors of large accounting firms, directors of revenue generating side of our marketplace - the shares and additional rights; and then the crowd on large property companies, people who can open up photographers and the images - before we fully the other. They'd get ordinary shares and can have their black book of contacts and really help speed went to market. a lot of power in terms of an ambassador base as up your sales cycle or become an advisory board. well as the PR you can generate off the back of it. When you get that list of investors through and you So we've been reliant on investor money for the jump on to LinkedIn to find out where they all work, past few years. I decided not to raise through VCs So we played those two against each other. In the you find this incredible network of really small and do big tickets. I did lots of smaller tickets which end, we did a hybrid, where we got the VC angels who you can choose when you want to meant I’ve spent most of my time raising. investment plus we got the crowd raise on top of it. reach out to. When you need them, they're there for you, wanting you to succeed. In between I wrote a blog - A rookie's guide to raising With the crowdfunding, it’s not just retail investors engagements you have thousands of advocates investment - that I hope has helped other people you’re getting. You’re getting people who are talking up your business. I'd recommend the raise money. I wanted to share what I've learnt. directors of large accounting firms, directors of crowdfunding route. large property companies, people who can open up AE: Back in 2015, we were looking to raise money. We got a term sheet from Index Ventures, one of Europe’s largest and most respected VCs. But we only had one term sheet and the golden rule is when you’re trying to raise money, ideally have more than one offer on the table. It obviously helps your negotiating position.

The term sheet was good, but it wasn’t exactly what we were looking for. We’d heard of crowdfunding and thought, rather than getting two VCs to square up against each other, why not have a VC on one side - they can ask for preference shares and additional rights; and then the crowd on

SCALE Lessons on scaling 'from the inside' Business: Captify Lessons in scaling 'from the Founded: 2011 What is it? Search intelligence and sentiment inside' powering insights and media for the world’s biggest brands We took five with Laura Pleasants, head of marketing & PR at Captify, to find out Founders: Adam Ludwin and Dom Joseph what it's like to live and breathe the world of startup to scale-up - and how she's HQ: Covent Garden, London managed the journey. Markets: UK, US, France, Spain

Today there’s more of a focus on the bigger picture. RebelTalk: Captify has grown considerably in the The founders are willing to let go and trust each last few years. What was it like to experience team to do its job well. When Captify began, there those growth stages first-hand? were grads and interns that relied on Dom and Adam a great deal. Many of those people are still LP: In the early days, the company was hugely here but have learned to become their own ‘bosses’ dependent on the founders for everything - for within the business. strategy and culture, for ideas and so on. When I joined three years in, marketing was already Constant change at such a pace is incredibly underway and there was a reluctance on the part of exciting. But fast growth is hugely challenging and others to let go. you need to build the right marketing infrastructure to support it. And rightly so. They’d built a business from the ground up and how it’s represented to the market is My job was to communicate that growth externally incredibly important. and a big part of that is the brand identity - we had to move it from a start-up vibe to a more grown-up Today there’s more of a focus on the bigger picture. brand whilst also retaining our unique identity. The founders are willing to let go and trust each RT: Do you sometimes have to ‘wrestle’ things RT: Do you find it easy to keep people? from the founders? It's up to us to make sure the founders LP: Our retention rate is 97 percent. You very rarely are using their time more wisely LP: Not so much anymore. Adam (Ludwin) and get one-to-one interaction elsewhere like we do Laura Pleasants, Captify Dom (Joseph) have worked hard to make that shift. with the founders and I make sure my team know Their role now is to be on the business, not in it. how lucky they are. A lot of people are not builders. Essentially what they're getting to is a point where They like the security of a stable structure. Startups every function can behave in the way that it should I have found myself learning more about the however need to find people that eallyr want to without reliance on them. economics of growing a business - outside of build it. You need entrepreneurial people. It's not for marketing. It means I can better handle the the faint hearted. I think I was (and am still) in a unique position. Firstly demands and opportunities, through its stages of the guys understand the value of marketing and growth. This has made me a better marketer. Hiring for startups secondly, they are both very marketing savvy. Marketers need to think more like entrepreneurs. “Up until the point where you can start to bring in layers of more senior people, you've got to I was really looking for that when I moved to Captify. You're brought in to a startup during the incredibly find proper ‘doers’ who are just going to put It can be very hard to find in the orldw of B2B intense growth stages so it’s perhaps natural that their hands around it and build it. There wasn’t a marketing. you see yourself as part of the business. You’re job description when I joined Captify, which I employed as someone who can get stuff done. The found refreshing. There were already some RT: What have you personally had to learn in need for you to go above and beyond what you great ideas underway so I had to get things order to equip yourself better for the job? might do in a regular job is immediate. This idea done, as well as put everything in place in order that you build it together, which is one of our values, to scale at pace. We make a lot of mistakes LP: In the early days it was mainly about pivoting - is the only way to look at it. I know that I find it hard along the way, but you just dust yourself off and being nimble and reactive - in order to grab hold of to let go, but it’s difficult whenou’v y e built it from move on. I love that we have the freedom to try the opportunities as they came your way. That’s still the ground up and are so protective over it. You new things and make those mistakes in the first important but now it’s more about forecasting and stop seeing it as ‘just a marketing job’. You’re fully place.” predicting, and leaving time to ‘react’. vested. oozes from our marketing. We know our voice, which means if we go to a huge trade show with Startup marketing “We invested earlier in marketing than most bigger players, we’ll do something different companies of our size. We also invested heavily RT: How is Captify different when it comes to because we have the opportunity to be daring. in design, which is another element that marketing and getting its story out there? entrepreneurial tech companies tend not to If you’re a Series A or B tech startup and you’re focus on early. LP: I would say that Captify operates more like a trying to cut through in a market full of huge We engaged a creative agency when we were B2C brand than a B2B company. Some tech American companies with multi-million dollar just two years old to help us build a visual brand. companies think they should be faceless - glossy budgets, you've got to find a aw y of presenting your A lot of companies tend to invest exclusively in and white and corporate - because it makes them values to the world. It also massively helps when their tech rather than on how the brand looks look bigger. In doing so they can forget to get their you have a very differentiated product. and feels, and what it represents. personality across. Our culture and personality If you invest in marketing as soon as you can, oozes from our marketing. We know our voice, We’re also very lucky in many ways: we have an you’ll find it will pay off in dividends.” which means if we go to a huge trade show with innovative product as well as a very honest data set that is search, as ammunition at our disposal. It’s our most valuable currency. We’ve got very ‘PR- Also from a marketing approach, we really focus on able’ founders and a super-savvy and PR-focused communicating what we’re working on - it’s senior management team. All this makes for a important to get buy-in across every department. strong ‘marketing climate’. We literally spend about a week working on it behind the scenes: myself and the founders Dom and RT: As head of marketing, how much Adam. information are you exposed to? We share updates on everything from financial LP: Everything! We’re incredibly transparent as a performance to partnerships; how we’re doing management team. Each quarter we present to the against our goals, where we need to put extra focus whole company to make sure everyone is told and what's coming up. It's a two-hour marathon of everything they need to know. information. That means I'm privy to a lot of information. It’s much easier to understand certain decisions when you’re close to the numbers. You’re a lot less likely to get annoyed if you understand the reasons behind certain decisions.

RT: How is the marketing team changing as you scale?

LP: I head up everything including events, PR and comms and product marketing too - across the UK, US, France and Spain. Now though we’ve started to build the team into functions, which has really In a company like Captify where you see trends and RT: That sounds like a lot of stakeholders. How helped. We’ve started hiring specialist roles - we listen to a market that never stops moving, you do you manage the feedback loop with so many recently hired a product marketer from IBM. have to accept that some evolution in the stories people involved? you’re telling will be fairly constant. RT: What are the challenges of telling a story LP: My rules are simple. Give feedback if it's about a company that keeps evolving? If you've got a very nimble, fast-moving product business critical and absolutely necessary. I love roadmap you've got to move with it and take hearing everyone’s viewpoints but when we have a LP: Everywhere you look in tech you hear from everybody with you. That's hard when the company lot of people with different ideas on the look or companies that boast ‘a unique data set’, or a is also growing fast. We’re global now so we’re what it says, there is no room for personal ‘magical algorithm’. For us though the tech and creating product and messaging that fit multiple preferences. It has to be based on business value product teams are genuinely pushing out the most markets. There’s a need to work in different and on facts. There is no way that marketing can amazing stuff almost onstantlyc . Our challenge is in languages too. As you scale it gets bigger and wider, address everyone's idea or opinion. Sometimes you grabbing hold of it and making sure it’s packaged up and the reach and cost of that message gets have to serve the masses. It can be difficult but I and communicated in the right way. bigger. I think that's been the biggest challenge. had to get good at it when I was a team of one. RT: What’s the biggest current challenge when it In the past I've suffered from sales functions not comes to marketing Captify? getting the role of marketing and not seeing the value in it. I think in a lot of companies the sales LP: I think the challenge that we have now is scale. team are seen as heroes because they bring in the Everything we did before at the start to amplify money. We don’t have that 'sales first' culture. Captify was very personalised. Our style was different and included a lot of one-to-one As marketers we put ourselves in the shoes of our marketing. Now I look at it and think “can this commercial teams and listen to their opinions and scale?” or “can I execute this project globally?” feedback. After all they’re out in the field - they’re our ears on the ground. Operating in the UK is one thing, having your team around you, but then having to work with other countries that don’t have face-to-face time with There is no room for personal opinion you is another thing entirely. Laura Pleasants, Captify

RT: Marketing and sales teams are notoriously known for ‘butting heads’ - how do you work with sales at Captify? At Captify, we are peers and work on the same level. LP: As a team we’ve been told we’re “the glue that Myself and the senior sales leaders set the goals holds it altogether” because I have to make sure the from the outset. We're open and transparent in message is right for the market and that it's true shouting about our wins and losses. It’s a from a product and data perspective. But you've continuous work in progress, but we have a very also got to present it in a market-friendly way. strong sales and marketing relationship.

Marketing is your rocket fuel when scaling up REPEAT Serial founder Anthony Rose on how to 'rewind and replay' Name: Anthony Rose, Founder & CEO The art of the startup replay Founder of: SeedLegals What is it? A SaaS platform founders use to Serial founder Anthony Rose, founder and CEO of SeedLegals, shares insights he's learned from a lifetime of simplify UK funding rounds starting up, hitting pause and playing again. Rebel record: - Board Director, Vizrt because you’re then focusing on a hyper-curve - Founder & CEO, 6Tribes Sometimes you just get it wrong. rather than building a sustainable business. It’s a - Co-founder, QJAM It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve done this high risk strategy and less rewarding than doing - Co-founder & President, Beamly for, or how focused you are on constantly trying to something you love. - CTO, BBC YouView and Head of iPlayer improve. Once I hired a software guy who performed excellently on a very tough technical Not everyone makes the cut. test. By day two it was clear he was struggling. On You have to be able to embrace the fear and the In a large company there is always someone you day three he came to me and said: "I just can’t cut it struggle that comes along with launching and can turn to but as a founder, particularly of a startup here. It’s best if I go before you fire me.” running a business. It’s both a fantastic freedom where time and cash is limited, you have to get to and also incredibly stressful. scale in order to get to the next round just to I’ve never launched a new startup with an exit in survive. mind. I’ve built and sold a few startups. With each one you As an entrepreneur, every decision is yours. go on a journey so if an exit opportunity arises You have major decisions that you need to make. that's worth taking, you take it. It was never on my You can ask outsiders for advice but the advice Companies that really do innovate mind at launch stage though. you’ll get is ultimately useless. Certain decisions rarely talk about it. They just focus on just have to come from the gut. Your gut. There is letting their teams get on with it. Sometimes I talk to founders who have an intent to no science or maths and only in the fullness of time Anthony Rose, SeedLegals found a company and flip it. It’s a bad approach will you know whether you got it right. because you’re then focusing on a hyper-curve rather than building a sustainable business. It’s a Decide or die. Agility is measured in the number of people you Give your people creative freedoms. Not making a decision is not an option. At the BBC need to check with. We created a startup within the BBC. I liked to build there are people who can go through their day or One of the things I hear in large organisations is teams that were inspired to come up with good week or year without making decisions. At a people moaning about needing sign off orf the ideas that lay beneath the ‘minimum checks’ level. startup, if you don’t make a decision, you are dead. I most minor of decisions. That’s what makes them We tried to create a playpen where the rules were love the thrill of having to do something. so slow. A measure of how agile your organisation is clear to the team members. If you want to do how many people need to say ‘yes’ before you can something at a certain level of ‘severity’, just do it, You learn quickly which informs your instincts. do something. If the answer is 17 you’ll never do not ask anyone else. If it’s a bigger thing then ask Often as a founder you feel like you’re winging it develop anything new. If the number is zero then me or maybe one your colleagues. which feels to many like an irresponsible way to run you probably have complete chaos. If the number is a business. But instinct draws on the sum of your one or two that’s probably about right. Everything is an opportunity. experience. It’s like crossing the road - you If you’re worried about something, a downturn, instinctively know to look both ways for cars comes Brexit, whatever, then dude, you are not an coming - you don’t need to read a manual every entrepreneur. Because an entrepreneur is thinking: time you do it. “Hmmm, Brexit that might mean less of something; so what am I going to make that fills the gap?” Focus. I learnt this the hard way over the years. It’s a red Get on with the job. flag if I meet a startup planning all the amazing set Any time I hear companies talk about innovation, I of things they’re going to be doing. The more know they are not innovative. Companies that really features they tell me about, the more red flags I do innovate rarely talk about it. They never say the see. I’ve come to the conclusion you can do one word. They just focus on letting their teams get on thing really well or several things badly. Investors with it. know this. They look for laser focus on one thing that can be scaled. ABOUT US Let's get you to the finish line

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