Why Experimentation is More Important than Scale at an Early Stage Startup (with Sara Croft of Innovatemap)

What do you think is the best marketing strategy to grow and scale a startup? You probably aren't going to like this, but the hard truth is there is no perfect solution. Everything can change, and to be able to grow, we need to experiment and change for the better. In today's episode, we have Sara Croft of Innovatemap, a digital product agency that helps companies of all sizes dream and delivers valuable digital products and services to the market. Sara was the first marketing hire of the startup and paved her way to becoming one of the marketing leaders as the company's Principal of Growth Marketing. With no marketing background, Sara started as a marketing intern at a non-profit. She fell in love with the idea of blending art and solving client problems through marketing and pursued it as a long-term career. During the conversation, Sara shares her unusual journey to marketing, how she uses art and creativity to uplevel her marketing career, and how aspiring leaders can find marketing strategies and tactics to grow the business and their leadership careers. Episode Highlights: 01:04       Sara's internship in art and marketing 05:57       Being a marketing generalist 09:21       Honing her writing and content marketing skills 11:29       Sara's biggest lesson and win in her marketing leadership career 18:40       Stop focusing on the perfect solution and start experimenting 21:55       Innovatemap background and how Sara got involved 31:45       The LinkedIn post that sparked the podcast 37:12       How to use data to impact the marketing success of the startup 44:49       The strategies and tactics that work for Innovatemap 51:57       Using feedback loops in marketing 57:58       What skills early stage leaders need to uplevel their leadership career 01:05:31  Sara's restaurant and book recommendations LINKS MENTIONED: Connect with Sara Croft on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saracroft Sara’s book recommendation: >> Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement Connect with Grayson Faircloth on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nosyarg/