What I learnt from working with the latest startup to be acquired by one of the biggest companies on the planet

What's the one thing I have learnt since starting my own consultancy business?

The world of startups is tough.
Seriously tough. Harder than I could have imagined after being in a corporate job for 13 years.

So when a startup gets acquired by the most valuable company on the planet, that is cause for celebration.

And that is what happened to one of the startups I worked with.

A couple of weeks ago news broke that Apple acquired the award winning music technology startup AI Music.

Before I go any further, this post is not an opportunity for me to insert myself into this story. I can take no credit for that. They had an amazing team and had been working on their product long before and for quite a while after I worked with them.

In fact I would say that AI Music was in many ways instrumental  in the success of my own business (pun intended), rather than the other way round.

Working with Gareth Deakin and his team helped shape my offering and has given me some great learnings which I can now share with the media agencies and startups that I work with.

It’s these that I want to share here:

WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL STARTUP?

The infamous Marketing Technology Landscape chart grew again last year by 13.6% to over 8,000 martech solutions - or at least, the ones they are aware of.

I’ve sat in countless meetings during my time in media being sold the latest and greatest marketing tech solutions - some are amazing, but often the majority are not.

It’s taken kissing a few frogs to find my formula for curating ones that I believe will succeed. 
Working with AI Music helped me to develop a checklist of qualities for my ideal startups that I like to work with:. 

  • Firstly and most obviously they had incredible technology, which I was excited about.  It was innovative, slick, had a clear purpose and something that I would have loved to have put in front of my clients.

  • HOWEVER, people don’t invest in great ideas. People invest in startups that have traction. Not only did AI Music have a successful case study, they also created some award winning work. Whilst most brands claim they are innovative, the reality is that they would like to see someone else try it first. This helps with buy-in as it is proof of concept and also sparks ideas of how it could work for them.

  • They had a strong online presence and took marketing seriously. One of their press features was picked up by Yuval Noah Harari, which led them to be featured in 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

  • I liked them.  Sounds basic but one of the key pieces for me.  I have to like and trust a startup to have the confidence to introduce them to my network.

  • Last, but not least, I believed that I could help them. Whilst I get a kick out of being helpful, integrity is an important value to me and so I will only work with people I believe I can help.

Through developing this checklist, agencies and brands can be confident that the quality of startups that I am working with are carefully curated in line with these criteria.

A large part of my business is my network that I have amassed from my time in the industry.  It is of real importance to me that I maintain trust and reputation with these people and so my consultancy lives or dies by the quality of startups I associate myself with. 

KEEP GOING

The first line of this post won’t be news to any of the startups I work with. A constant treadmill, one foot in front of the other. Just trying to make sure you’re keeping up momentum. I believe that AI Music is an example of what is possible for the incredible startups out there (and maybe for all of us).

I always had belief deep down that AI Music would go on to do something special, albeit this acquisition was earlier than I expected.  

During my time with AI Music, I also had the pleasure of working with the Hubspot king, Howard Bradley, who I then went on to work with at NumberEight and I made a friend for life in Stephen Jenkins, the founder of TooManyDreams. His company was responsible for some of the amazing marketing efforts at AI Music. I cannot recommend him highly enough.

Before I get too sentimental, I’ll leave it there. There’s no call to action, I’m not here to sell anything. I simply want to build trust with you - the foundation of any relationship.

What I will say is that I felt the same way about many of the startups that I met during my time working in agency Good-loop, AMillionAds, SoPost and Flux Outdoor, who continue to grow from strength to strength.

And I also definitely feel the same about the current start ups I am working with - Personalyze and NumberEight.  

The main takeaway is that, out of 8,000 martech companies - these are the startups that I choose to work with because I believe they will go on to do something special.

Cheers,
Chris

Christopher Anandan