Growth marketing on a shoestring - hacks for early stage startups
Small Steps Vol. 81: How to do a lot with a little 📈; AI sentiment around the world 🤔; and corporate diversity under threat in the US 👔.
“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”
— George Eliot
Kick start
🏋️♀️ A mark of a great startup founder is the ability to do a lot, with a little. We all know that this is a skill born of necessity, particularly in marketing, where your budget line will likely be far slimmer than you’d like. So what’s an early-stage founder to do?
Giant Leap’s portfolio companies recently had the pleasure of hearing from Daniel Shaw-Dennis on how to supercharge a startup’s growth marketing on a shoestring budget. With over a decade of experience at Yellowfin, a once-bootstrapped software company that achieved global success and subsequent acquisition, and as Director of Slingshot Advisory, Daniel knows every stage of the growth journey inside out.
Daniel shared a key tip, a hack, and a piece of helpful hiring advice for each stage of a company’s marketing journey with us — check them out below.
What we’re thinking about
🥳 We’ve hit 2000+ subscribers! Our Small Steps community reached an exciting milestone last week as we ticked over 2000 subscribers - thanks to all the amazing impact-driven founders, investors, and ecosystem players for your support along the way. It’s great to see how the impact startup ecosystem has grown from when we started this journey 81 editions ago, and we’re excited to see it continue to thrive.
❓ A divided world. Opinions are divided across the globe as to whether AI will ‘mostly hurt’ or ‘mostly help’ us. The global average swings slightly toward the positive, the data shows interesting differences between regions. Check out this breakdown from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll:
Image sourced here.
🇺🇸 Corporate diversity programs in the US are under threat. Republican prosecutors are teaming up to take on over 100 companies’ corporate diversity programs — including large tech companies like Google, Uber and Facebook — aimed at promoting opportunities for minorities. They argue that race-based quotas may be unlawful, pointing to the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last month that Harvard and other US universities could no longer consider race as a factor in admissions decisions. While very different to the Australian legal landscape, this will be an interesting space to watch.
New paths
🤩 Dream job alert!!! Great Wrap is looking for a Head of Operations (Melbourne).
💰 Seer Medical is hiring a Finance Manager (Australia).
🧻 EU-based? Who Gives A Crap is hiring a Logistics Director, EU/UK (Remote, London).
🔥 Also, check out our Giant Leap Fund jobs board for over 80+ available positions or fill out our expression of interest form. There’s even more jobs at ethical companies on the global B-Work job board.
Giant leaps
🎉 Congratulations to Evrnu for being a category winner for recycled materials in the Just Style 2023 Excellence Awards! Evrnu cleaned up in the Business Expansion, Innovation and Product Launches categories.
🙌 Who Gives A Crap founder and CEO Simon Griffiths was profiled in the AFR last week, where he shared the best piece of advice he was ever given: “you can’t do that.” Check it out here for the full story.
🧻 Who Gives A Crap has again shown that they really do give a crap — check out this photo of their Melbourne warehouse’s new rooftop solar spelling out a compelling message to the skies.
👏 Music Health co-founder and CEO Nicc Johnson presented a TEDx Talk at TEDxDaltVila in his childhood hometown of Ibiza last month — and it’s now live on YouTube. Check it out here for Nicc's captivating presentation on how music can save your life… literally.
For the road
⚽ The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicked off last night with the Matildas taking on Ireland in a sold out stadium of over 80,000 fans and the tournament on track to break the attendance record for a women’s sports event. We wish the Matildas the best of luck on their journey to the final in August!
🤖 Missed Sam Altman’s Melbourne visit? We have you covered. Here’s a video of the founder and CEO of OpenAI’s fireside chat.
🇮🇩 Australia ups its commitment to cleantech abroad. We’re investing $50 million in Indonesian startups and SMEs in the Indonesian clean energy sector. It calls for deeper collaboration between Australia and Indonesia on electric vehicle production.
🌏 Australia’s First Nations impact fund raises $15 million. First Australians Capital is now moving into funding impact startups after supporting over 700 Indigenous businesses since launching in 2016.
🌳 Keeping on funding… Dragonfly Enviro Capital, a fund set up by conservationist and biodiversity investor Nigel Sharp, has raised and deployed $7.5 million of its $50 million fund aimed at green-tech innovation.
👶 This post says everything about startup mum life. Christina Hobbs, CEO of Verve Super, is embracing the “super struggle” that comes with ‘super mum’ life.
🫶 We have a favour to ask. Are you a startup founder with 10 minutes to spare? Please consider filling out this quick survey to help Scriibed, a not-for-profit assisting women overcome barriers to gaining employment, particularly family violence.
🌡️ El Niño’s back. Unfortunately this is likely to spell bad news for Australia’s volatile climate. El Niño occurs when sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific are warmer than average, shifting rainfall away from the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Australia. While this will offer a reprieve from the recent floods, its hotter, drier weather patterns may push us back toward water shortages, bushfires and drought.
🗺️ How will climate change affect your suburb? The Climate Council’s interactive map ranks impact by area, showing what percentage of dwellings will be impacted by continued global warming.
🧠 Psychology’s next frontier. Hypnosis is having a moment as a form of non-drug dependant, effective treatment of conditions like anxiety and depression. Aimed at health professionals, this two-day web-based seminar run by Mindset Health in partnership with Dr. Michael Yapko delves into the topic. It examines how anxiety and depression is changing in society and how hypnotherapy can be used to treat it.
🐴 OOO? Let an Icelandic horse reply to your emails. Seriously. https://www.visiticeland.com/outhorse-your-email/
Save the date
📅 26 July: Dream Venture Masterclass. For First Nations founders wanting to take the next step in their business journey, access capital, and learn and connect. The call for applications has been extended - apply now.
📅 27 July. Fishburners Circular Hub Accelerator Program. Join the first cohort, for early-stage founders building inspiring circular economy solutions. Applications now open.
📅 28 July: SBE Life Sciences Program. The program is designed to help the leaders of women-led, research-backed or tech-based life sciences businesses go from scientist to CEO. Applications open now.
📅 29/30 August: Mindset Health’s Depression, Anxiety & Hypnotherapy Workshop - a live event with Dr Michael Yapko. A two-day immersive workshop suitable for all healthcare professionals interested in mental health - CPD available. Register here.
And finally…
🚀🧑🚀 In honour of man’s first small step and mankind’s original giant leap… this week was the 54th anniversary of Apollo 11’s launch day. Nice one Buzz!