7 Key Takeaways from #Hypergrowth19 in Boston
Heather Monahan moderates a discussion between husband and wife entrepreneurs Jesse Itzler and Sara Blakely.
This post was originally Published on September 4, 2019 on LinkedIn
——
1. Have a compelling story — look I’m obviously a little biased here (StorySprints.com if you didn’t know), but this was the core theme that came through for the day from multiple speakers, and especially from Jen Rubio of Away, Billy Gene Shaw, Ryan Deiss, along with the capstone of the day Jesse Itzler and Sara Blakely.
What’s your story?
2. Know why — One of the key takeaways from Leela Srinivasan on her journey to CMO was to know why. Specifically, she mentioned being able to get close to the customer at LinkedIn and bring those unique insights into the weekly monetization meeting and how it changed her career.
Do you know why your customers are feeling the pain you want to help solve?
For Dave Gerhardt’s prep notes from his session with Leela, be sure to check out the google doc he shared here.
3. Always be ready to zag — Ryan Deiss and Billy Gene Shaw both focused on pushing marketers in the audience out of their comfort zone and to find new ways to zag while everyone else zigs from leaning back into “the cockroach of marketing” — Email — to creating entertaining videos for your business on social which is easier than everyone thinks.
Where can you and your business zag?
4. Customer Obsession — A common Drift theme that was touched on by just about every successful person on stage, perhaps best articulated by Danny Meyer when talking about the recipe for business success. It takes just two ingredients — performance and hospitality. Even if they perform perfectly, say serve you up the best roast chicken you can find in NYC, your entire experience will still be shaped by their hospitality and how they make you the customer feel during your meal.
Do you know what your customers are feeling when they interact with your company?
5. Commit, and will it to happen. — Whether it was Todd Seniff talking about making it through the Navy Seals BUDS training or Jesse Itzler talking about running 80-miles over 20 straight hours at the ripe young age of 51, the success of all on stage could be tied back to committing to a goal and finding a way to make it happen.
What are you committed to making happen for your business?
6. Make big bets — Anita Elberse of Harvard Business School hammered home the importance of making big bets just like the Superstars — The Rock, LeBron, and Beyonce as examples — do in their careers. Playing it safe with small bets is not a recipe for success and as Billy Gene left us with, “Those on the standing on the sidelines, get slaughtered.”
What big bet are you making?
7. Rip up the playbook — Drift showed us firsthand how they do this day in and day out by putting on a conference like no other marketing & sales conference you’ve ever seen. Sara Blakely talked about her rule at Spanx is to ask employees, “If no one showed you how to do this/reach this goal, how would you go do it?” and Jen Rubio of Away reinforced that there’s no right way to do things, just be worried about doing it right however you do it. Perhaps it was best put by Anita Elberse though: “Do as The Rock does — true superstars never just play the game. They change the way the game is played.”
How are you going to rewrite the rules today?
—-
I’d be remiss without thanking Drift co-founders David Cancel and Elias Torres, Dave Gerhardt and the entire marketing team, and a special shout out especially to Janna Erickson for absolutely rocking it and putting on yet another Hypergrowth that somehow, someway continues to live up to the hype.
