Ep. 5: Foundations First — Why Startups Skip the Basics (and Pay for It) with Evelyn Cools скачать в хорошем качестве

Ep. 5: Foundations First — Why Startups Skip the Basics (and Pay for It) with Evelyn Cools

In Episode 5 of What Keeps Marketers Up at Night, host Jeff Spinella sits down with Evelyn Cools, Fractional Head of Marketing and Startup Growth Advisor, to unpack what it really takes to build marketing from zero to one — and why skipping the foundations always comes back to bite you. With years of experience serving as the first marketer at early-stage B2B startups, Evelyn shares a candid look at setting up CRM systems, building attribution from day one, testing channels strategically, and balancing AI efficiency with human creativity. Evelyn breaks down why many startups rush into growth tactics without understanding their customer, how misaligned sales and marketing teams quietly sabotage performance, and why marketing “playbooks” rarely work in early-stage environments. We cover: Why startups shouldn’t jump into growth hacks before building strong foundations The importance of CRM setup, attribution, and clean data from day one Why sales, marketing, and customer success alignment is non-negotiable The real role of AI in marketing — speed vs. quality When AI enhances your impact and when it actually slows you down Why traditional playbooks don’t translate to early-stage growth Using customer voices instead of traditional influencers in B2B How to think about tech stack simplicity without overcomplicating systems Evelyn’s “hill to die on”: there is no plug-and-play marketing playbook — understanding your customer always comes first. Tools mentioned in this episode: ChatGPT, Notion, HubSpot, Zapier, Airtable, Descript, Midjourney, Riverside, WhisperFlow, Canva At its core, this conversation is a reminder that while AI can accelerate execution, foundations, customer insight, and human creativity are what truly drive sustainable growth. 👉 Learn how Darwin helps marketing teams turn chaos into scalable systems: https://www.darwinapps.com/?utm_sourc... 👍 SUBSCRIBE for insights from marketing, growth, and RevOps leaders 📤 SHARE with a founder building marketing from scratch #Marketing #AIinMarketing #StartupMarketing #B2BMarketing #RevOps #MarTech #Podcast #WhatKeepsMarketersUpAtNight