This past week I did a talk with 40+ startups in San Francisco.  The talk was related to something I’m not exactly an expert on . . . women’s beauty products.

Luckily, the conversation involved growth marketing and Shopify.

At the Sephora accelerate program, they bring together the top beauty startups in the world and connect them with various mentors.  I came in to chat with their founders about growth marketing.

It’s always interesting to see what content resonates with various people.  Below are the top 5 slides from my two-hour presentation and the content behind them.

SLIDE 1: The Startup Curve
The truth with startups is that it’s freaking hard in the early days.  After you launch, you hit this thing called the trough of sorrow. It’s when no one cares about your product or service and you have to dig your way out of this through customer discovery and product iteration. But, it’s what makes the journey so rewarding.  This slide got some applause.

SLIDE 2: Make Something that’s Different (Atoms Shoes)
With a competitive market like beauty, it’s extremely important to know why you’re special and why you’re different.  Atoms shoes is a great example of this.  They make shoes in quarter sizes and you can order a different size shoe for your left foot vs. your right foot. Brilliant!

SLIDE 3: Conversion 101 (Beardbrand Landing Page)
When talking about designing a landing page that converts, we hit on Beardbrand.  They’re doing some things very well.  Let me break it down: (1) A headline in the second person that adds value, (2) an aspirational image that supports the headline, (3) a compelling CTA, and (4) a form of social proof below the fold.

SLIDE 4: How to Not Lose Money with Influencer Marketing
How do you not waste money on influencers? I ask because I have made this mistake before. I have had decent success using micro influencer platforms like Cohley, Reelio, and Apex Drop when we do a category takeover.  Similar to how Halo Top took over the fitness category.

SLIDE 5: A Marketing Tech Stack Selector
It’s good to always have your finger on the pulse of what new tools are out there.  I list a few of my favorites and ones that I’m testing.  Check out RightMessage and the one I’m working on Simple Targeting.

And special thanks to all the people that shared the love on social.