Study: Startup Mentality Defined By Culture More Than Age Or Size

The lines between startups and corporates should no longer be defined by organisation size, but by the kind of culture they foster, a panel of top marketers have agreed.

Some of Sydney’s top marketers – including Guzman y Gomez CMO Lara Thom, Outdoria CEO Nick Baker, Menulog’s head of marketing Tasman Page and Facebook ANZ’s head of marketing Alexandra Sloane – recently came together for the second meeting of the Launch Marketing Council (LMC), where the topic of discussion was what corporates could learn from startups, and vice versa.

The aim of the Launch Marketing Council is to create a body of content around the topic of launches, to help marketers establish best practice for their own organisations.

The council found that whilst we are in a “golden era” for startups, with improved connectivity allowing people to launch global businesses from their bedrooms, the lessons are being learned by large corporates who are starting to adopt the best parts of startup culture to make their businesses more agile and get products and services to market faster.

LMC founder and Five by Five managing director Matt Lawton said: “One of the biggest outtakes from this discussion was just how important the role of a founder, or inspirational business leader, is in creating an innovative and entrepreneurial culture.

“From Guzman y Gomez to Facebook and Outdoria, we had businesses around the table who are famed for their inspirational founders, and the cultures they have managed to foster in their businesses.

“A big lesson is that whilst maturity brings higher levels of responsibility, it doesn’t have to mean a loss of agility for a company.

“There are some great examples of massive businesses leading the innovation curve by maintaining the best practices from their ‘startup’ days.”

The latest white paper which has just been published also covers case studies in launching from emerging neobank Xinja as well as the launch methods for the new Y-Bell fitness product, under the watchful eye of experienced PR and startup investor John Studdert, who is a founder member of the council.

It also explores the role of PR in a launch, including a nuanced discussion on when brands should look to invest in an agency and in-house capabilities.

The panel is chaired independently by Alex Hayes, managing partner at Bold.

Guest speakers at the meeting were Camilla Cooke, CMO, Xinja; and Maria Loyez, former CMO of Society One.

Download the Launch Marketing Council’s latest white paper here.

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