Seattle Startup Week: October 8-12, 2018

Techstars Startup Week™ Seattle offers five days of exciting events to connect and empower our local entrepreneurial community. Organized by volunteers who are experts in their fields, this annual celebration of our vibrant startup culture is powered by our great local sponsors.

Check out the Marketing lineup at Seattle Startup Week!

Increase your marketing savvy every day of Seattle Startup Week by checking out the following speaker sessions.  

Monday
​10/8

11:00 AM: The Economy of Ideas: How Startups and Agencies Should Work Together

​Nathan Young
Crown Social

​Smart. Nimble. Creative. Many of the same words used to describe leading startups also describe leading creative agencies. However, early stage cash-strapped companies can find it difficult to work with the $200 hourly bill rates top agencies tend to charge. And it's a shame, because the most impactful startups are those who combine disruptive innovations with attention-grabbing branding and advertising.

In this talk, we discuss the relative value of ideas on both sides of the relationship and the new models of agency-startup partnership that empower deeper, better collaboration without breaking the bank.

3:00 PM: Startup Lessons From the 5 Hottest Marketing Campaigns in 2018

Berrak Serikaya
Amplify Your Biz

Splashy marketing campaigns are a dime-a-dozen these days, but there are a few that stand out in 2018 because they were out of the box, interesting, and funny (in a smart way). When it comes to smart and tongue-in-cheek marketing, a lot of startups can miss the mark. 

In this session, I'll walk you through:

• The key successes and failures from some of the most memorable campaigns of 2018
• Tips to scale big name marketing campaigns for your startup without a huge budget
• Action items you can begin implementing the second you get back to business

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Tuesday
​10/9

2:00 PM: 10 Lessons You'll Learn Launching ABM

​Jori Saeger
​​Koru

​While ABM has been one of marketing's biggest buzz words the past 3 years, very few Seattle companies have figured out how to do it well — and scale. That's because it's hard. You need your entire marketing, sales and leadership team onboard to radically change your customer acquisition strategy. Is it worth it? Is it for you?

​This talk will go over 10 lessons learned launching ABM with teams big and small. This isn't a step by step guide the launching ABM. You can find a million online resources to guide you there. This is a peek into the behind the scenes that happens once you dive in. The hard lessons you'll inevitably learn and what to prepare for as you re-think your marketing and sales strategies.

3:00 PM: How to Rock Your Brand Like a Hurricane: Cheap Tricks to Help You Design Great Content Marketing

Rob Christianson

No matter the size of your organization, you can make your customers into not only FANS, but SUPERFANS with a few simple steps. Get them sharing your content AND your brand in less time than it takes to make a killer mixtape. 

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Wednesday
​10/10

1:00 PM: Are You a Lover or a Fighter? Find Your North Star for Brand Storytelling

Catherine Carr
Vitamin C Creative

Is your brand more about community and belonging, or autonomy and independence? Does it promise stability or change? Is it a Hero, an Explorer, a Ruler, or a Rebel? Focusing your brand around one clear archetype is a powerful tool for connecting with your audience, standing out from your competition, and accelerating creative expression. 
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This fast-paced, participatory session will introduce 12 archetypes for deeply resonant storytelling and explore how they apply to brands, from articulating a clear purpose and establishing brand personality to shaping messaging, imagery, products, and company culture. The archetype model applies to all kinds of brands—consumer, B2B, non-profits, and personal brands. 
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We’ll take a look at real examples from the Seattle startup scene, and we’ll work through exercises right in the room to help you find your north star, whether you’re building a new brand, refocusing a messy one, or ready for some fresh inspiration.

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Thursday 10/11

11:00 AM: It's Not Really OK to Fail (Unless You Do It Right)

Jesse Fowl
Solomon Solution

The phrase “it’s OK to fail” has become the rallying cry of every organization that wants to encourage innovation. No matter how good a company’s intent, however, innovation can never flourish when employees are still constrained systems designed to enforce the status quo: fear of rocking the boat—or worse, losing a job—quashes new ideas before they ever have a chance to succeed.
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So how can organizations truly invest in new ideas, in a way that both creates a safe space for innovators and keeps fiscal responsibility front and center? Jesse Fowler coaches clients to help them build exactly these kinds of environments, and will share with attendees how they can:

• Recognize “failure” as a vital part of the cycle of idea development
• Establish teams with clear roles that create a culture of innovation
• Set goals around the volume of ideas, not outcome
• Tie big ideas to business goals and plan for ROI that includes “failed” attempts

​1:00 PM: Bringing Home the Bacon: Cultivating Thought Leaders to Break Down Trust Barriers with Prospects

1​Maureen Jann
SuperDeluxe Marketing

Bombarded by fake news and "alt-facts," people are, more than ever, questioning who and what they can put their faith in--and companies aren't immune to this skepticism. The fastest way to build trust and create conversation around your products and services is to put thought leaders out in the world: intelligent dot-connectors who are passionate about your customers' challenges. If you aren't flush with multiple six-figure hiring budgets, then cultivating the seeds of evangelism within your organization is the right choice.

In this session we'll talk about:

• Identifying thought leaders within your organization
• What foundational items you need to set your leaders up for success
• How organizations can give their thought leaders room to bring home the bacon

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Friday
​10/12

11:00 AM: Why Startups Suck at Marketing​

Rand Fishkin
SparkToro

​One of the biggest reasons startups fail is the inability to scalably attract customers at low cost. In this presentation, Rand covers 8 reasons startups miss out on marketing success, and tips for how to overcome these pitfalls.