Shape the Conversation

With an emphasis on empathy, vulnerability and transparency Rand's writing style allows readers to see the good, the bad and the ugly of his experience. 

Rand is undoubtedly one of the pivotal figures in modern digital marketing. Moz's early success set them on a path of raising ~$30 million dollars from venture capitalists and forever changing the company to focus on software. Rand writes about his struggles coping with this new phase of the business and what he'd do differently. 

One idea that stood out to us was the concept of a "startup cheat code". 

Rand's best advice for starting a company is to solve a problem you have yourself, that's the cheat code. This way you know what to build early on and have the validation of at least an audience of one. We can echo this sentiment because our platform is built to solve problems our team saw first hand in our careers. Early on especially, this was a huge advantage when building new features. 

Other concepts, ideas and events of the book we discussed:

• Why despite all his negative feelings for the fund raising process, he still chose to raise $1.5 million dollars from investors for his new company. He did tweak the way he went about it this time, but Rand is a realist when it comes to the advantages capital provides early stage companies. 
• Flywheels > Growth Hacks
• We wonder how Moz employees are reacting to the book in which Rand describes the experience as a "mostly horrible, sometimes awesome experience."
• Why entrepreneurs are actually some of the most risk adverse people out there. They don't take risks for risks sake. 
• Why Jon hates stats like '1 in every 150 startups lasts 5 years'.
• The importance of building a diverse team for the health of your product. 

We commend Rand for his "painfully honest guide to the startup world." It can't be easy to describe in detail some of the toughest moments of your life. Will be fascinating to follow the journey of Rand's new company SparkToro and see how he adjusts. 

Check out Rand's book "Lost and Founder".

If you want another perspective on the same story, Rand's wife Geraldine DeRuiter wrote "All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft".

Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!

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People seem predisposed to resist advertising and marketing because they don't want to feel manipulated. People also tend to lump all advertising in with the worst advertising they are exposed to.

Nicole and Jon dug into people's relationship to advertising/marketing and covered topics like:

- How Jon believes people don't hate advertising, they hate bad advertising.
- Bad advertising = wrong person, wrong time, wrong message
- How great advertising can truly enrich someone's life.
- Some of the best and worst advertising Nicole and Jon have seen in the market today. 
- Why search advertising is close to the perfect advertising experience 
- Breaking down the opinion some people hold of "advertising doesn't work on me."
- Why it only takes a few bad ads to change your mindset on advertising as a whole.
- It's important to be more than an Excel Wizard. 

We think bad advertising comes from marketers forgetting there is a human on both ends of the conversation. Having more empathy for who is seeing the ad, when they are seeing the ad and how the message speaks to them is more important than ever. 

Don't get lost in the data all the time. Pick your head up out of the Excel sheet more often and think about the person consuming your advertising. 

Nicole and Jon covered a bunch of ways to improve the communication channels and influence you have over the management of your company including:

• The importance of knowing your boss's motivations and goals when pitching them an idea.
• The importance of knowing your boss's personality to craft a pitch. 
• Why you should invite yourself to meetings where your ideas are being discussed.
• A story of the most unique tactic Nicole has used to get a C-Level manager's attention.
• Why you should never just bring your boss a problem without an idea for how to solve it.
• The importance of trying to never blindside your boss with a problem. 
• Why being self-aware can be a super power when handling a boss. 

It's tough not having complete autonomy. But few people truly do. We all need to get people to see the world as we do and the way it could be to bring new ideas into the world. You'll have a better chance of actually galvanizing support if you have put in the work and bring not just the problem that needs solved, but solutions for how to solve it to management.

Take advantage of the fact that a lot of people like to be editors of ideas, not the ones creating ideas from scratch. Present a version one or a possible path you feel strongly about in these situations and we think you'll see more of your ideas becoming reality. 

Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!

✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]

Under Julie Harrelson's leadership, Cascade Angels has become a go to place for early stage companies looking seed funding in the Northwest. It's no mystery as to why. Julie and her investors have a reputation for being extremely founder friendly during the pitching process. 

In this episode, we dig into what it is like to pitch a room full of investors and how you can prepare. Jon has experience being on the other side of the table. He pitched Julie and her investors (unsuccessfully) in 2015 when Shape was raising a seed round. They compare notes on how to craft your pitch deck to really get attention from investors. 

Julie detailed the challenges that women face in today's environment where less than 10% of VC funds are women led and how she believes true change will begin to occur. 

Julie also covered:

Why Getting Founders Quick Answers Is Important to Cascade Angels
Three months can be an eternity for a startup so time is of the essence when fund raising.

Common Reasons She'll Pass on an Opportunity
It's not always as simple as whether or not the company is built on a good idea. Timing is crucial.

The Shared Trait of Founders They Have Backed
Julie thinks there are founders who want to be "king of the world" successful financially and then there are those that want to be successful on levels in addition to just financials. She talks about which type she invests in.

How Julie Evaluates a Marketing and Sales Plan
Are you telling a story? Are you being authentic? Can you scale this plan?

Why "Operational Strength" in a Company is a Key Factor
Having an idea is one thing. It's a whole other thing to turn the idea into an investable company. 

Why Not All Succesful Companies are Investable Companies
A company can be a success but also a bad fit for investors.

The Challenges Faced By Women Entreprenuers
Studies have been done that show when pitching investors, male entrepreneurs are asked about the opportunity and female entrepreneurs are asked more about the risk. "Turns out it’s much more difficult to defend risk then promote opportunity."

Why Julie Believes Women Are Over-Mentored and Under-Sponsored
Julie challenges mentors to take the extra step of being a sponsor to a women entrepreneur, not just a mentor, and getting more skin in the game.

The Biggest Changes Julie Has Seen in Marketing Over the Last 15 Years
There is more noise and data then ever before. But scaling marketing and sales in often the differentiator Julie sees in her portfolio companies that are able to "break through the growth curve."

Checkout Julie on Twitter @JulieHarrelson

Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!

✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]

Facebook has undergone scrutiny and allegations regarding their business and Nicole and Jon cover many topics around them like:

• The congressional hearings and Zuckerberg's message to congress about advertising
• The "core" of Facebook's revenue
• How Facebook has successfully monetized Instagram and WhatsApp
• The influence of bots on the ad ecosystem
• Keeping ad platforms from being "spammy"
• Facebook's influence on the fabric of society
• Predictions of where Fecebook will go from here

Nicole and Jon believe that Facebook will continue to thrive even after all issues of 2018. But the big question is what will Facebook do next? Maybe a search engine? Facebook has been on the forefront of the social media industry for over a decade. But there are still many sectors they haven't delved into yet. 

Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!

✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]

Michael talked in depth about how he views growth, marketing and competition. The reality is,

The status quo isn't an option for Deschutes and craft brewers like them. But, finding ways to continue to build a brand and invest in marketing when attribution is sometimes non-existent isn't easy. Michael goes into specifics around how they face these challenges as an organization.  

Why if You Don't Grow You Die in the Beer Business
The costs of making beer are rising faster the beer prices. The only way to survive is to continue to find ways to improve gross margins.

The Biggest Change to Marketing According to Michael
Focus groups don't work. The consumer no longer behaves like they say they will when in a focus group. This means they have to do more experimenting in public and can't really predict what will happen.

The Marketing KPI's Deschutes Uses to Make Decisions
They look at Net Promoter Score and a few metrics to judge brand awareness but one unique to Deschutes is 'purchase frequency per household'. Even a small percentage shift in that KPI is a huge win for their company.

The Non-KPI Goals Deschutes has for Their Marketing Efforts
Michael wants their marketing to focus on the stories and values that make them who they are as a company. If their videos and content are doing this they are on track. 

Michael's Biggest Struggle With Marketing
There is no ROI or it's almost impossible to see the ROI of any one marketing effort vs another in the beer world. Deschutes has had to make peace with certain blind spots in their tracking.

The Surprising Way Deschutes Views Their Competition
There are 7,000 breweries in the U.S., one in every congressional district but Michael views their competition not as other craft brewers but the non-craft breweries that still make up 85% of beer sales.

Why Deschutes has Never Purchased Another Brewery
Management has evaluated a few potential acquisitions but Deschutes has always felt their clearest path to growth was focusing on how they could get better, not adding new breweries.

Why Deschutes Has Never Sold
Michael discusses how the values of their founder still feed the decision to stay independent today.

Taking Over for a Legendary CEO
Being mentored by Gary Fish and what he learned from the way he ran the company was huge for Michael. The biggest lessons he took from Gary were to question everything along the way and don't be afraid to always ask why.

How Deschutes Grooms Their Future Leaders
Promoting people from within means nurturing them along the way. Michael uses his one-to-one meetings with his direct reports and people throughout the company to ensure that they are always thinking about the next generation that will lead the company.

Sending Employees to Work at Other Companies to Learn
Deschutes has a really cool employee swap program with Clif bar and others that let Deschutes employees do a tour of duty at another company to gain perspective. Michael thinks that it's a great way to see your own challenges through a new lens.

Podcast Recommendations
Michael loves listening to podcasts. his favorite right now is "How I Built This". The podcast covers stories from founders and CEOs about building and growing their companies. 

Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!

✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]

Michael talked about how he found his way to Bend and a lot of the core values that make Deschutes Brewery tick. He believes deeply that,

How He Got his First Job with Deschutes
Despite the "worst interview" of all time, Michael still landed the job as CFO of Deschutes more than 10 years ago because of how he handled a tough situation at a previous job.

Craft Beer Industry and Deschutes Brewery 10 Years Ago
Michael goes through the challenges and opportunities facing craft beer during this important period of growth for Deschutes.

KPI's
The key performance indicators and stats that Deschutes uses to measure success.

Why Deschutes Decided to Build a Pub in Portland, OR
The company was failing to meet it sales goals. Even though the numbers didn't look good, management decided to call up the bank and ask for a line of credit to build a pub in Portland. Michael shares the thinking behind their decision.

The "Halo Effect" of the Deschutes' Reserve Series
How concentrating on their reserve series pushed their brand to a new level.

Deschutes' High Standards
Why they dumped $250k worth of product because it didn’t meet their own criteria aesthetically, even though it tasted great.

How They Chose What to Brew Back in the Day
Michael describes the legendary Friday meetings where a small team of management and brewmasters tasted beers and thought about what was next.

How They Choose What to Brew Today and the Influence of Technology
How a beer idea gets through the gauntlet and actually brewed in a more modern world. Micheal sheds light on the new technology that is changing what beers hit the market.

The Power of Transparency
Micheal tells the story of how Deschutes made it through some tough internal struggles by being transparent with where every dollar was going with all employees.

Don’t just ask for feedback but hear it and take action.
The Deschutes strategic planning process is unique in the sheer amount of information they take in from consumers and employees. Michael talks through some of the the questions they ask on their employee surveys and the process for making sure action is taken on the feedback.

Having Company Wide Q&A's
Deschutes routinely has an open Q&A’s with the whole company of 571 co-owners. Micheal stresses why its important to be open to the fact that you can continually get better when handling feedback.

Deschutes' Message to Employees on Day One
Always be looking for things we can be doing better and speak up about it. 

Next week, Michael and Jon continue the conversation and breakdown how Deschutes thinks about marketing and the crowded world of craft brewing today.

Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!

✉️ [email protected]
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In this episode, Nicole and Jon cover a bunch of topics surrounding Google/Alphabet including:

• Jon's blog post, "Still the Best Analogy for Google's Business Model I've Ever Heard." (Here is Jon's self proclaimed 'heroic tweet' about it)
• They talked through a Business Insider article breaking down Alphabet's Q2 earnings
• Nicole's ongoing frustration that every year, for the last 10 years, has been labeled "The Year of Mobile"
• Google's ability to feed constant innovation with massive amounts of cash created by search advertising 

Nicole and Jon believe that Alphabet is well positioned to continue as a dominant force in tech and society at large. No major indicators show competitors have the ability to execute on small parts of Alphabet's business undertakings such as Google Maps.  With search advertising and Google becoming even more of a part of people's lives, it's important to question what will Alphabet do next? What more can they do to continue to innovate and push the limits? The decisions they make over the coming years will create ripples that affect nearly every business that exists today. 

Reach out to us with any ideas, questions, or feedback on the podcast!

✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]

In this episode, Jon and Michael go through three defining events in Michael's career and how they demonstrate his core beliefs.

Event #1 - Leaving Bain to Found a Company
In his 30's, Michael made the decision to leave his consulting job at Bain to do something radically different: open up restaurants. It was the 80's and he believed American society was about to embrace a healthier way of life. He believed so strongly in this mission that he set out to find a restaurant making food matching his vision and spread it nationally.

Jon dug up this LA times article from 1986 where Michael and co-founder Tony Brooke are described as, "The two young entrepreneurs hope their all-you-can-eat, self-serve Souplantation, which they bought two years ago, will ride the coattails of the health-food movement and propel them into the big leagues of the restaurant industry."

Micheal reflects on these days and how they had the confidence to make a small company larger.

Event #2 - Being Fired from the Company He Founded
At 39, he had taken the company public and seen success few entrepreneurs do. But, with growth slowing and costs rising the pressure was intense going into the 90's. The board, which included his father, would eventually decide to fire Michael from his position as CEO.

This article from HBR details the day he was given the news and how it rocked his world. Micheal digs into what it was like that day and the weeks, months and years after. He offers advice on how to navigate your own thoughts or 'head trash' as he calls it and make the decisions that are best for you and those around you.

Micheal credits his willingness to be vulnerable during those times as the main factor that lead to Event #3...

Event #3 - Being Rehired as CEO
Instead of just retreating into the shadows, Michael remained as a board member and actively helped transition the new leadership into power. By continuing to be a positive force he fostered trust in those around him. Years later the board voted to rehire him as CEO.

He has since left Gardenfresh group but he talked about how his time away from the job of CEO in the 90's changed him and helped him successfully lead the company in his second tenure as CEO.

Micheal's journey demonstrates the power of humbleness and vulnerability.

Where to find Michael:
LinkedIn
His Website

Reach out to us with any ideas, questions or feedback on the podcast!

✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]

It's common to hear there are ‘riches in niches’.  But you should be on the lookout for signs that indicate maybe you should look beyond whatever niche you find yourself in. Jon and Nicole talked through some of the indicators there might be good reasons to venture out:

• Your niche is limiting your growth potential in painful way.
• Your niche is at risk of being fundamentally altered by a shift in the market beyond your control. 
• Your product has a customer base submitting feature requests that overwhelming indicate you should build something outside of your niche.
• Your team is bored with solving the challenges of your current niche. 
• Your niche creates seasonal revenue spikes that are tough to manage. 
• Your niche is being better served by a bigger, faster, stronger competitor.

The best takeaway from this episode is, beware of mirages. Really really prove it to yourself before you make the big decision to leave a niche. Use data, get feedback from your team, talk to advisors. Do the work to prove to yourself that the effort to go outside of your niche is worth it. 

Reach out to us with any ideas, questions or feedback on the podcast!

✉️ [email protected]
✉️ [email protected]