Axel founded Generate, along with Kayla Medica, as a space for B2B marketers to support each other to generate more revenue.
Generate achieves community impact for B2B marketers via their 👉
Check out the full length interview with Axel Sukianto.
Skim the show notes from our chat with Axel Sukianto:
“The one thing that has really surprised me since launching Generate is two things. Number one is how much there is a need of people to find their community lowercase C and finding their people is number one. And number two is how open people are to help for a cause that they're not even getting paid for yet they're happy to help. So the first one around finding their people and community is, it turns out that especially post-COVID, people just want to interact with other people in their profession. They want to ask these questions and learn from others. I think there's been a fatigue of like the large companies selling to them, advertising to them. It's like, well, I just want to hear a trusted voice. If I am considering between two pieces of software, I trust people who are in the same seat as me who are fellow marketers and I will listen to them as opposed to whatever ad gets thrown out at them or whatever like webinar that they see. That's sort of like really awesome because it sort of increases the engagement that they have in the community but also just like them wanting to do more in the community.”
“I'll give the SEO answer around whether a company should build their own community. The answer is, it depends. It depends on how much of a focus that is for your type of business or product. It depends on how much bandwidth you can commit to the community building. I generally think that there is more benefits for a startup to lean into existing communities for their space rather than start something in a cold-start fashion. If you're working, say for example, in the construction industry or the ed tech industry, let's use ed tech for an example. If you're marketing to teachers and like school administrators, you could start your own community, but I would bet you there are existing Facebook groups for teachers and school administrators that you can lean into and sponsor. Instead of putting in the time and effort of your team to build something in a cold start fashion, start finding the genuine spaces that people can congregate. Maybe it's called community. Maybe it's called something different. Maybe it's a Facebook group, right? Maybe it's a WhatsApp group. Find that and find opportunities to partner up in an authentic way. Whether that's you, you sponsor like an event, whether that's a drinks event or whether that's like a day out event kind of thing, or whether it's a webinar, the way that you sponsor that. The audience is already there - you don't have to create the community but you could spend exactly the same or probably less effort and money to still reach the audience. Is your goal to reach your audience or is your goal to truly build a community? That's a sort of it depends question I'd say. TLDR for most startups with limited bandwidth and time look for existing communities and to work authentically with them to reach them.”
“I think your point around like top of the funnel, like the AI overview and how Google like pulls it all into the results. There’s still a place for that, right? If I look for the best [insert whatever software] you still want Google to answer that, but people just want recommendations for someone similar to them in their position. If you're a head of marketing for a series A EdTech, a strong recommendation from a fellow head of marketing series A EdTech around what software they use in terms of their stack or what sort of like agency that they use that fits their stage of the company and their problem will be much more relevant than asking Google, hey, what is the best agency in Sydney? Then they're like, yeah, these people know what they're talking about, they know how to serve my audience and my need. I think that's why like there will always be a need for that community and people aspect of it.”
Madison Reidy, Senior Business Journalist at the New Zealand Herald, published a piece this week, calling out the need for more funding of high-risk, early stage ventures.
After meeting a bunch of risky, yet potentially world changing companies at Future House, she interviewed Outset Ventures partner Angus Blair. Blair said, “New Zealand needs more of a risk taking culture.” While 50% of venture back startups fail, investor value is “going to be driven by a small subset of companies.”
Listen to the full interview on Spotify 👉
Looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings in the early-stage investment space.
Wellington SaaS collective is back what’s going to be another banger Christmas party *tomorrow night* 11th of December, 5pm ‘til late @ Dockside, Wellington.
Join the annual celebration of the fastest growing sector in the New Zealand economy. Last year’s event had everything; a beatboxing opera singer, a slam poet, an incredible speaker, plenty of dancing and sold out with close to 300 attendees. Don’t miss out on the festivities 🤸♀️
Buy tickets here.
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