Scale of One to Tech

As an Asian woman, Mai Fenton has leapt over her fair share of hurdles through her rich and varied career, and as Superscript’s CMO she’s illustrating the opportunities available for multi-skilled female marketers like herself.

Mai’s 20-year career includes stints with Unidays, TKMaxx & Pentland Brands; she’s taken the industry-specific skills from wildly different sectors and channelled them into her role at this rapidly growing startup. 

On this month’s episode of Scale of One to Tech, we learn how Mai has developed her conversational interview style, the emphasis she puts on collaborative, T-shaped marketeers, and the inspiring self-confidence that will see more women finding success in CMO roles.

This episode covers:

• Superscript’s unique take on flexibly de-bundling insurance
• The transferrable skills permeating Mai’s extensive and diverse history in marketing
• The barriers that Mai has broken as a successful, Asian, female CMO
• How creating T-shaped marketing team encourages better collaboration
• Tips for finding success with a more conversational interview style

This episode of Scale of One to Tech is sponsored by eOpinion, who are on a mission to change the face of the survey industry by captivating and entertaining your users and customers. They use 30 seconds speedy polls to create interesting stories, actionable insights and increase engagement. Get a half price Speedy Poll at https://eopinion.org/alex/.

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]

Considering the number of current channels and platforms that didn't even exist at the start of James Hamlin’s marketing career, it’s evident that the emergence of new technologies is presenting opportunities to disrupt sectors.

James, now CMO at online EdTech marketplace Tutorful, joins Alex on the Scale of One to Tech podcast to discuss how the necessary tech shift that we’ve seen in the past two years has changed marketing strategies, the need for an authentic and transparent voice, and creating career opportunities when entering a startup.

This episode covers

• James’ illustrious career prior to Tutorful
• Catalysing opportunities to work in a startup
• The focus on being authentic, upfront & transparent
• Changing your marketing proposition/approach for the effects of Covid on the industry
• How to alleviate common solopreneur/startup mistakes

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]

Leadership is not the same as it was 12 months ago, regardless of industry - with the past year’s events CMOs have been forced to adapt to keep their teams collaborating effectively and their messages cutting through. 

As CMO in a thriving D2C powerhouse, Trinny London’s CMO, Shira Feuer, is taking the pandemic in her stride, employing the incredible experience she’s amassed at giant brands like Burberry and The Walt Disney Company.

Join us as we discuss the differing approaches to marketing within massive scale companies and fast-growing startups, the need to continuously invest in culture, and hiring new team members who believe in your brand’s vision.

This episode covers

• The biggest challenges facing CMOs in the coming year
• Continuous investment in culture
• Curating a community which posts more than marketing content
• Brand marketing vs performance marketing at various growth stages
• Major differences between large corporates and small, speedy startups

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]

Breadth of experience is a formidable tool in any CMO’s arsenal. Between startups, scaleups, international roles and varying industries, it’s safe to say that Molo Finance’s Dennis Volkmann fits the bill perfectly.

Dennis has held management positions and CMO roles for an impressive period of his career spanning renowned brands like Depop, Airbnb and Mettle, and it’s this range of roles that have delivered with them lessons on ideal leadership traits, choosing the most effective channels, and how to grow a team that share your business’ values.

This episode covers

• What startups and scaleups stand to learn from each other
• Turning failures into learning points
• How Dennis’ attraction to storytelling in advertising has shaped his career
• The ideal balance between skills and experience in a leadership role
• Brand marketing vs performance marketing - which is more important for startups
• Airbnb’s value-based hiring - how it’s done and why it helps the team

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]

Welcome back to the CMO series of the Scale of One to Tech podcast! We’ve been lucky enough to speak to some incredible CMOs with an array of experiences under their belt, and today’s guest is no different. Formerly at ClearScore, Wonga, uSwitch, and most recently SO-SURE, Nicola Vidal has enjoyed a prosperous career in marketing spanning over 20 years.

With such a plethora of knowledge and experience, we hear Nicola weigh in on what makes a great marketing leader, FinTech’s increasing appeal to Gen Z, diversity in the FinTech & CMO space, advice for CEOs hiring their first CMO - and that’s just scratching the surface...

This episode covers

• Attributes that make a great marketing leader
• FinTech’s shift towards appealing to Gen Z-ers and Millennials
• Making the most of influencer marketing
• Advice for CEOs hiring their first CMO
• Boosting diversity in the FinTech CMO space
• Writing better, clearer, more inclusive job ads
• Killer interview questions

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]

Welcome back to the next episode in our CMO series of Scale of One to Tech, and we’re continuing with a guest whose incredible career path has seen him in top marketing positions at Google, Badoo, Emma, and now Appear Here, one of Wired Magazine’s 100 Hottest Startups.

With international marketing experience, two Master's degrees and 8 languages under his belt, Gaston Tourn has demonstrated at the highest level how to combine creative writing and storytelling skills with the more analytical side of marketing.

This episode is truly packed with thought provoking debate around which brands are nailing their marketing campaigns in light of business mistakes, opportunities opening up in an ever-evolving high street, and how you can apply the successful ethos behind Google’s infamous hiring process in a business of absolutely any size...

This episode covers

• Shifting the misplaced perception of marketing as deception to a form of storytelling
• Adjusting to regional differences in dating culture at Badoo/Bumble
• Creating Appear Here, and how businesses use it as a whole new marketing channel
• How marketers should combine analytical and creative skills (left brain vs right brain)
• The lessons businesses can learn from each other about exciting marketing and effective storytelling
• Google’s hiring strategies, and how to bring objectivity into recruitment
• Leadership through transparency and giving context rather than taking control
• How retailers are adapting to change, and the future of the high street

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]

As the need for sustainable hygiene products grows ever-stronger, the space in the market for an environmentally friendly, convenient way to rid the bathroom of plastic waste has opened up for the incredible Wild Cosmetics. 

With a focus on innovating beyond their initial, highly successful natural deodorant, the Co-Founder and CMO behind their marketing strategy - Charlie Bowers-Lyon - joins Alex on this episode of Scale of One to Tech to detail the story of their turbulent two year journey as a D2C brand.

We hear how Wild Cosmetics has diversified their channel mix to avoid any massive impacts to their strategy, what they look for when hiring new team members, and constructing their marketing campaigns without coming across as ‘preachy’.

This episode covers

• Wild Cosmetics’ USPs in a growing, environmentally conscious market
• The massive range of channels that help Wild to grow
• Marketeers maintaining their edge by staying hands on with new technologies
• Hiring with skills, experience, attitude and diversity in mind
• Tips for starting a D2C business
• Whether to prioritise a great product or a great brand

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]

With an almost immeasurable series of variables that come with setting up a growth framework, there are numerous, invaluable lessons to learn from the experience that Oren Greenberg has amassed, nurturing massive growth in startups and corporates alike.

From the considerations of building in-house functions vs enlisting the specialisms of an agency, to identifying the right skills in budding growth marketeers, and much more, we hear from Oren - a Growth Marketing Advisor and Founder of Kurve - on the next, insightful episode of the Scale of One to Tech podcast.

This episode covers

• The varying experiences advising in scaleups vs corporate environments
• Making a switch from traditional marketing to growth marketing
• Qualities that make a great growth marketing team
• Attributes of a good leader
• Deciding between building an in-house team or considering agencies
• How internal education becomes a block for marketeers
• Whether to look for generalists or specialists

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]

Whether you’re bootstrapping or boosted by seed funding, crafting a marketing strategy to scale up requires patience to reap the rewards. As it turns out, Lucy Woolfenden - a growth marketer with incredible credentials including Yolt and Skype - has refined the concept into a growth formula of her own: her 7 Steps to Scale.

Now the Founder of The Part-Time CMO, Lucy joins us on the podcast to talk about the strategies that help her clients through early stages of seed funding, and maximise their resources, as well as her ideal tools to implement when in the early stages of lead generation.

This episode covers

• Upskilling and supporting bootstrapped tech startups
• Adopting similar marketing methods in B2B and B2C
• The tools Lucy would recommend for promoting content
• Allowing a marketing strategy time to work properly
• Lucy’s 7 steps to scale
• Collaboration across functions

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]

We’ve all been through our personal hell recently. So how do you adapt your leadership style to make the most of your team when they’re battling the stresses of home life? In Gareth Knight’s view, a small show of vulnerability and a healthy dose of empathy go a long way to earning your team’s respect.

Having held numerous senior and CMO roles at TransferGo and PayAsUGym and bringing his expertise to Trainline, Gareth goes into detail in this episode of the Scale of One to Tech podcast on tailoring campaigns for local markets, the varying utility of Facebook and Google’s technologies in different regions, and the conception of his incredible and unique ‘Heuristic Growth Formula’...

This episode covers

• The method behind Gareth’s ‘Heuristic Growth Formula’ 
• Identifying the skills and traits that best fit your growth marketing team
• How leadership styles have adapted to recent adversity
• Getting people on board with you as a new senior leader
• How FinTech differs from other high growth industries
• Facebook vs Google in different territories
• Combining messaging, channel and localisation for maximum results

Links and references at: https://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]