Ahrefs Podcast

Meet Magnus Grimeland - the founder and CEO of Antler - a one BILLION dollar venture capital firm dedicated to investing in startups at the earliest stages.

As of today, Antler has invested in over 14 hundred companies, making it the largest day-zero investor in the world. And they have an audacious goal to invest in 6 thousand companies before 2030.

In this episode, you'll learn:

(0:00) Intro

(02:36) Why are people more important than ideas? 

(06:04) Examples of iterating on ideas

(19:17) Hipster, Hacker, Hustler vs. Spike, Drive, Grit

(29:22) Can marketers be good founders

(34:39) Soft skills vs hard skills

(39:03) The role of marketing in zero-day investments

(46:07) What do experts get out of advising zero-day startups? 

(53:45) Borrowing other people’s platforms

(1:00:54) The first marketing steps for any startup

(1:05:42) Building a brand

(1:15:27) Founder brand vs. building local networks

(1:22:03) How Antler gets referrals

(1:29:52) Why VC firms don’t use SEO

(1:37:33) How Antler decides who to invest in

(1:40:06) Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Magnus:

LinkedIn

Website

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn

X

Website

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Referenced:

• Zalora

• Lion

• Basket of goods

• G&A

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Ahrefs Podcast

Host: Tim Soulo

Podcast Producer: Michelle Lindner

Intro Storyboard: Michelle Lindner & Tim Soulo

Intro Video Lead: George Dolgikh

Intro Video Animations: Ilya Yakymchuck

Filmed at:  @PoddsterSingapore 

What's the key to creating a viral marketing campaign? Meet Delbert Ty, CMO at Coffee Meets Bagel, a popular dating app that sets itself apart by courting only those interested in serious relationships.

And even before that he worked at Procter & Gamble, where he was responsible for such well-known brands as Duracell, Tide & Pantene.

During his time at these companies Delbert has pulled off quite a few hilarious creative marketing campaigns.

Some of them failed, but others brought lots of new customers and tons of brand awareness.

In our interview, we discussed quite a few of Delbert's viral campaigns and tried to deconstruct what made them successful and how you could replicate that success.

In this episode:

(0:00) Intro

(02:17) Three biggest marketing campaigns


(06:44) Vandalizing a billboard

(11:10) Buying out telco contracts (failed)

(13:10) Coffee Meets Bagel tells users to leave

(16:30) "Free money" from a vending machine

(25:01) The cost (not in $$$) of viral campaigns

(30:10) Courage in viral marketing

(35:43) Setting objectives for viral campaigns

(41:13) Measuring the impact of viral campaigns


(47:20) When bad ideas are actually good ideas

(55:23) Structural elements of a viral campaign

(01:15:07) Physical vs digital creative marketing

(1:22:20) Split between creative marketing and other tasks

(1:24:01) Is viral marketing only for consumer brands?

(1:28:10) Why certain campaigns fail

(1:38:00) The difference between celebrity and brand


(1:47:25) Using AI for creative marketing

(01:51:42) Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Delbert:

LinkedIn

Website

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn

X

Website

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Referenced:

Coffee Meets Bagel  @CoffeeMBagel 

Circles.life  @circleslifesg 

Calm app  @calm 

Kanye Super Bowl ad

Coinbase Super Bowl ad

Old Spice  @oldspice 

Drake "God's Plan" music video

Lenny’s Podcast with Lulu Cheng Meservey

Lulu Cheng Meservey

Supermensch

Shep Gordon

Data is Beautiful subreddit

WePay/PayPal stunt

Dan Price/Gravity Payments wages

Coffeezilla:  @Coffeezilla 

Paris Hilton for SodaStream

_______________

Ahrefs Podcast

Host: Tim Soulo

Podcast Producer: Michelle Lindner

Intro Storyboard: Michelle Lindner & Tim Soulo

Intro Video Lead: George Dolgikh

Intro Video Animations: Ilya Yakymchuk

Filmed at: Poddster Studios (Singapore)

Early-stage marketing can be full of challenges, but what if there were a playbook to follow?

Meet Madhav Bhandari, first marketing hire at Hubstaff and one of the first marketers at Close.io, and Weflow, all of which he helped to cross $10M+ in ARR.

He's currently the CMO of Storylane, where he has helped grow their ARR by 250% in 2024 alone.

In other words, Madhav has pretty much mastered the art of scaling SaaS companies from $5M to $15M+ ARR.

Here's what you'll learn in this episode:

(00:00) Intro


(1:01) Early-stage marketing playbook


(12:25) Why Madhav only scales to $15M

(15:42) The average tenure for a CMO

(19:50) The ideal CEO/CMO fit

(26:46) Earning your CEO’s trust

(36:01) Employee advocacy as a marketing tool

(49:10) Easing friction by bringing community together (Demo Days)

(56:16) Creativity in community awards (Demo Dundies)(1:05:40) 10xing traffic in 6 months through demo-led SEO(

1:13:36) Hot take on backlinks

(1:15:41) Strategies for growing a brand

(1:24:08) Defining and codifying a brand

(1:31:20) When rebranding makes sense

(1:34:18) Founder brand vs company brand

(1:40:50) Is testing multiple tactics in a short period of time a good idea?

(1:45:17) The best channels for early stage founders

(1:47:47) Fixing burnout in marketing

(1:52:45) Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Madhav:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhavbhandari/)

Website: https://earlystagemarketing.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

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Referenced:

• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com

• Canva: https://www.canva.com

• Notion: https://www.notion.so

• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com

• Slack: https://slack.com

• Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com

• Hubstaff: https://hubstaff.com

• Close: https://close.com

• Weflow: https://www.getweflow.com

How can you rise to unicorn status in an industry dominated by legacy players? Jon Stona, VP of Global Marketing at B2B global payments processor Airwallex shares his insights into growing the company from a coffee shop in Australia to a dominant player in the fintech space. 

Today, Airwallex has a $5.6B valuation and handles $100B in processing volume. So, what's the marketing machine behind this financial challenger brand? 

00:00 Intro

01:29 What is the marketing budget for a $5B company?
02:55 Sponsorships and the theory of economic value
10:48 Celebrity partnerships

22:04 The mechanics of sports marketing
23:48 Bringing structure to a marketing team
26:53 The role of product marketing within a company
33:14 Transforming company culture
35:47 The difference between leadership and therapy
45:17 Building a sustainable brand
59:43 Measuring growth through branded search

1:06:20 Are operating principles important for a company?

1:12:01 Differentiating yourself as a commodity
1:14:08 Building out PMM teams for different products
1:16:57 Allocating SEO budget
1:18:48 The usefulness of industry reports
1:26:11 How to use case studies in marketing
1:31:04 Getting your name in the press
1:34:33 Driving growth through industry events
1:41:17 Industry awards

1:46:48 Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend). 

Where to find Jon:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstona/)

Website: https://www.airwallex.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

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Referenced:

McLaren: @mclaren
F1: @Formula1
Lando Norris: @LandoNorris
Shifted Perspectives: https://www.airwallex.com/airwallex-mclaren-racing-shifted-perspectives
Michael Murphy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Murphy_(sculptor)
Mere exposure effect (psychology): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect
Forrester: @forrester
Edgar, Dunn & Company: https://www.edgardunn.com/
Skift: @skiftnews
YouGov: https://www.yougov.com/
David Fallarme: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dfallarme/)

Stripe Sessions: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcoWp8pBTM3CYTQho8i-a_lzx4cq7-ePh
Beyond Black Friday
eCommerce Champion Awards: https://www.airwallex.com/newsroom/amid-online-spending-resurgence-airwallex-unveils-inaugural-airwallex
Money20/20: https://www.money2020.com/

Cloud 100 list: https://www.forbes.com/cloud100/list/

Neil Patel, one of the most recognized names in digital marketing, pulls back the curtain on how he scaled his agency, NP Digital, to over $100 million in revenue. Neil shares his insights into building and managing a global agency, transitioning from small business clients to enterprise giants like LVMH, Panasonic, ESPN, and CNN, and the strategies he uses to reduce churn and maintain client relationships.

How do you transform a brand into a household name, especially when that brand has a lot of regulatory restrictions?

When Fery Kaszoni first ventured into the world of SEO, he had no idea that 10 years later, he would be the CEO of a thriving digital PR agency on track to make £10M per year.

Fery's success is largely driven by his personal brand, and his fun, goofy spoofs of popular songs have become a hit in the SEO community.

But it wasn't always that way. Fery shares his ups and downs as an agency owner, what he wishes he could have done differently, and how others can replicate his success.

00:59 Fery's background as a developer

04:00 First steps into the SEO industry

11:22 Finding the passion to create an agency

15:31 Shifting to digital PR

18:19 How to scale an agency to 8 figures

27:18 Success without eating your own dog food

30:13 The true ROI of sponsorships

37:49 Fery's competitive advantage

43:49 Finding and onboarding solid employees

50:38 Expansion and team structure

52:46 Fery's role at Search Intelligence

54:46 The value in creating viral videos

58:55 Balancing humor and seriousness

01:01:45 Four day work weeks

01:08:38 Are social media and brand building the future of SEO?

01:11:43 Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Fery:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferenczkaszoni/

Website: https://search-intelligence.co.uk/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

Is it actually possible to make AI content in one go with minimal human involvement that is as good as what a human can produce? Zac Harris, former Head of Demand Gen and SEO at Copy.ai and founder of Rankd., thinks so.

Bryan Harris first became known for Videofruit, his industry leading blog and online course business. But these days, he has shifted focus to his new business Growth Tools and scaling 1:1 coaching.

A master at organization, leadership, and customer generation, Bryan shared tons of gold nuggets during this episode of Ahrefs Podcast, including:

01:02 Shifting from courses to coaching


06:30 Ascension ladder vs descension ladder


15:31 A cautionary tale about sharing revenue


17:45 Free tools as a growth strategy


19:41 How to scale non-commodities


23:45 Finding the right CEO-marketing director fit


31:07 How Growth Tools structures its marketing department


37:40 BOPA (Borrowing other people’s audiences)


42:22 Causes of stress and complexity in marketing


45:28 Guilt by association


48:30 Choosing what to promote


58:34 The key to generating customers


1:07:15 The right way to “Figure it out”


1:11:34 Bryan’s ChatGPT history


1:14:36 Outro

We hope you enjoy our first in-person episode of Ahrefs Podcast!

As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Bryan:

X: @Harris_Bryan

Website: growthtools.com/ahrefs

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

_______________________________________________

Referenced in the episode:

Ryan Deiss: https://www.ryandeiss.com/

Russell Brunson (Dotcom Secrets): https://dotcomsecrets.com/getdcsfree-1


Nathan Berry: https://nathanbarry.com/

Brennan Dunn: https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/


John Lee Dumas: https://www.eofire.com/


Pat Flynn: https://patflynn.com/


Glenn Hill (Connection Codes): https://www.connectioncodes.co/


Jim Collins (Good to Great): https://www.jimcollins.com/index.html 


One Minute Manager: https://www.amazon.com/The-New-One-Minute-Manager/dp/8195246893/

Seth Godin (Purple Cow): https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-Transform-Business-Remarkable/dp/014101640X


Noah Kagan: https://noahkagan.com/


Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki): https://www.richdad.com/


Supermensch: https://www.amazon.com/They-Call-Supermensch-Backstage-RocknRoll/dp/0062355953


Figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPa3E8yis0I


John O'Nolan worked as the Deputy Head of UX for WordPress for several years before he got fed up with the direction it was taking.