wcmprofiles wealthcreator .com.au JULY/AUGUST 2010 30 wcmprofiles JULY/AUGUST 2010 wealthcreator .com.au 31 If there was ever a man to champion the adage ‘from little things big things grow’ it would be Startup Marketing’s Andrew Birt. Birt’s marketing strategy agency is itself a startup and works predominantly with startups – a market gap Birt identified more than a year ago. “There are a lot of people who will help you start your business, but they are generalists,” he explained. “They will handle things such as business registration and the actual startup phase whereas what we are concerned with is helping people to build their brand. Most people can’t afford a big agency but they can come to us and tell us where they are at and we will create a solution based on where we think we can help them. “[Startup Marketing is] a market strategy firm that helps new businesses target early adopters. We work out who the early adopters are and what they are reading and what type of messages they will respond to and then really help the entrepreneur hone in on the exact people they want to target.” Birt said many entrepreneurs launching their companies were convinced their product or service had a wide appeal, but the key was to identify a niche market and developing a loyal band of passionate customers as a base for growth. “Probably the biggest thing I have learned is that people need to scale the The snowball effect Startup Marketing managing director Andrew Birt sees nothing but opportunities for growth idea down,” Birt added. “Nearly every time I have seen people fail is when they get ahead of themselves and the idea is too big and they spend too much. If you’re going to fail, fail fast. Make any mistake a small one and learn from it quickly. I have seen customers go too heavy too early, which doesn’t give them a chance to refine their product. “You need to build something lean and mean. It doesn’t matter what industry it is in, just build it lean and create the demand and get some initial customers. Once you are at the next phase then you can dip into the pocket and start spending but don’t go too heavy too early – you are in a new business so you will make mistakes along the way.” The other mistake? Launches, according to Birt. “The other thing nearly everybody wants to do is spend a lot of money on a launch,” he cautioned. “You can spend the money and not achieve a lot. You’re in it for the long haul, so it is not about one big bang, it is about slowly and patiently building credibility and the brand and building that passionate user base.” With perhaps an element of putting his money where his mouth is, in addition to Startup Marketing Birt is also working on Snowballer – an online job board targeting entrepreneurs. “We had a look and we have worked for a lot of startups and realised that you could use [traditional sites such as] Seek or someone like that, but at the end of the day although you will get a lot of enquiries you won’t necessarily get someone who understands what it is like to work in a startup – they will be people who are just looking for jobs,” he explained. “At the end of the day, to succeed in a startup you have to have a certain personality to be able to deal with the uncertainty, you need to be a real multi- tasker and generalist who can deal with it being understaffed. And finally you need to be attracted to that kind of role – you need to be someone who is excited about getting in there and helping to build a company from scratch as opposed to someone who wants the safety and security of a bigger role.” The job board is free for the time being and has already received several postings in its initial months of operation. “With [traditional job board sites] you are paying quite a large sum upfront and the actual roles are quite restrictive,” Birt said. “In traditional job boards it is a real one-to-many situation where there is one employer speaking to many people to select from. With a startup you need more flexibility. So with Snowballer, for example, you are able to post that you are at a concept stage telling people where you are up to and asking for a business partner. That’s what you can do with a startup – it might not necessarily be about attracting people with a salary but it might be about offering equity in the business or part ownership.” The site also allows entrepreneurs to advertise for non-traditional roles – for example looking for a mentor with experience in one particular area. “We want it to be the number one job board for startups in the country,” Birt continued. “We want anyone who is starting a business – regardless of what stage they are at from concept stage to seeking capital – to use that as their preferred option. Sure it is not going to get as many candidates as traditional sites, but it is going to help attract the right candidates with the right skills to build a startup and the right attitude. “Even the process of writing up a job is beneficial. There are a lot of entrepreneurs who claim they are not ready to write up a job posting yet, but the simple act of writing the job post allows them to clarify their business. Writing the position description crystallises the fact that they do need someone to help and maybe they would be prepared to give away 10% or 15% of the company if someone could assist them in that area.” It may only be early days for both Startup Marketing and Snowballer, but don’t be surprised to see them gather momentum quite quickly… “You need to build something lean and mean... just build it and create the demand”
Wealth Creator Profile - July/Aug 2010
Mar 15, 2016
Profile of Andrew Birt featured in July/August edition of Wealth Creator 2010.
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
wcmprofiles
wealthcreator.com.au JULY/AUGUST 2010 30
wcmprofiles
JULY/AUGUST 2010 wealthcreator.com.au 31
If there was ever a man to champion the adage ‘from little things big things grow’ it would be Startup Marketing’s Andrew Birt.
Birt’s marketing strategy agency is itself a startup and works predominantly with startups – a market gap Birt identified more than a year ago.
“There are a lot of people who will help you start your business, but they are generalists,” he explained.
“They will handle things such as business registration and the actual startup phase whereas what we are concerned with is helping people to build their brand. Most people can’t afford a big agency but they can come to us and tell us where they are at and we will create a solution based on where we think we can help them.
“[Startup Marketing is] a market strategy firm that helps new businesses target early adopters. We work out who the early adopters are and what they are reading and what type of messages they will respond to and then really help the entrepreneur hone in on the exact people they want to target.”
Birt said many entrepreneurs launching their companies were convinced their product or service had a wide appeal, but the key was to identify a niche market and developing a loyal band of passionate customers as a base for growth.
“Probably the biggest thing I have learned is that people need to scale the
The snowball e�ectStartup Marketing managing director Andrew Birt sees nothing but opportunities for growth
idea down,” Birt added. “Nearly every time I have seen people fail is when they get ahead of themselves and the idea is too big and they spend too much. If you’re going to fail, fail fast. Make any mistake a small one and learn from it quickly. I have seen customers go too heavy too early, which doesn’t give them a chance to refine their product.
“You need to build something lean and mean. It doesn’t matter what industry it is in, just build it lean and create the demand and get some initial customers. Once you are at the next phase then you can dip into the pocket and start spending but don’t go too heavy too early – you are in a new business so you will make mistakes along the way.”
The other mistake? Launches, according to Birt.
“The other thing nearly everybody wants to do is spend a lot of money on a launch,” he cautioned.
“You can spend the money and not achieve a lot. You’re in it for the long haul, so it is not about one big bang, it is about slowly and patiently building credibility and the brand and building that passionate user base.”
With perhaps an element of putting his money where his mouth is, in addition to Startup Marketing Birt is also working on Snowballer – an online job board targeting entrepreneurs.
“We had a look and we have worked for a lot of startups and realised that you could use [traditional sites such as]
Seek or someone like that, but at the end of the day although you will get a lot of enquiries you won’t necessarily get someone who understands what it is like to work in a startup – they will be people who are just looking for jobs,” he explained.
“At the end of the day, to succeed in a startup you have to have a certain personality to be able to deal with the uncertainty, you need to be a real multi-tasker and generalist who can deal with it being understaffed. And finally you need to be attracted to that kind of role – you need to be someone who is excited about getting in there and helping to build a company from scratch as opposed to someone who wants the safety and security of a bigger role.”
The job board is free for the time being and has already received several postings in its initial months of operation.
“With [traditional job board sites] you are paying quite a large sum upfront and the actual roles are quite restrictive,” Birt said.
“In traditional job boards it is a real one-to-many situation where there is one employer speaking to many people to select from. With a startup you need more flexibility. So with Snowballer, for example, you are able to post that you are at a concept stage telling people where you are up to and asking for a business partner.
That’s what you can do with a startup – it might not necessarily be about
attracting people with a salary but it might be about offering equity in the business or part ownership.”
The site also allows entrepreneurs to advertise for non-traditional roles – for example looking for a mentor with experience in one particular area.
“We want it to be the number one job board for startups in the country,” Birt continued.
“We want anyone who is starting a business – regardless of what stage they are at from concept stage to seeking capital – to use that as their preferred option.
Sure it is not going to get as many candidates as traditional sites, but it is going to help attract the right candidates with the right skills to build a startup and the right attitude.
“Even the process of writing up a job is beneficial. There are a lot of entrepreneurs who claim they are not ready to write up a job posting yet, but the simple act of writing the job post allows them to clarify their business. Writing the position description crystallises the fact that they do need someone to help and maybe they would be prepared to give away 10% or 15% of the company if someone could assist them in that area.”
It may only be early days for both Startup Marketing and Snowballer, but don’t be surprised to see them gather momentum quite quickly…
“You need to build something lean and mean... just build it and create the demand”
Related Documents
