Sam Altman: Identify a market that takes you up the elevator ⚡️
In 2018, Sam Altman put his money where his mouth was. No wonder ChatGPT is the rage so far in 2023. Watch what he said and other leading marketing stories this week.
Hello everybody👋
It is a Friday and it is time for yet another jam-packed edition of “Call To Action.”
Like we said before, we love following all the crazy and un-crazy stuff in SaaS Marketing through the week. But, we hate keeping things to ourselves.
So, while we consume loads of great marketing stories, tips and hacks - we curate them endlessly until we pick the real gems that blew us away. We bet it’d blow you away too 🤯
On that note, we’d be forever grateful if you could share this with your friends. That way, all of us learn and grow together. 🚀
Let’s go!
The CEO of OpenAI puts his money where his mouth is 🤟
In 2021, Apple’s App Store revenue was $12.1 Billion.
How much was it in June 2007 when the first iPhone was launched? Almost ‘0’.
That’s why Sam Altman says “startups…must identify a market that’s going to grow every year and ride that up the elevator.”
He knew AI was going to be huge, so it is no surprise he’s invested so much effort into ChatGPT.
If you didn’t already know, Sam was the president of Y Combinator and he’s invested in companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, Asana, Pinterest, amongst others.
Watch this video from >4 years back where he explains how to start and succeed with your startup.
8 Tips to grab your audience’s attention from an actor 🤹🏻♀️
What’s the difference between Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro?
None.
Both are great actors. They do stuff that marketers like us often ignore.
For example, we think speaking quickly will get the point across to the listener.
Wrong!
In fact, we need to speak slowly and with pauses - let the listener absorb and process what you’re saying.
In this thread, Kuba, a former actor lays down the 8 principles of making people listen to you.
P.S. Marketers have a lot to learn from actors.
4 Ways to turn new buyers into repeat customers ♻️
Signed up a new customer? Yay!
Time to milk them to the bones? Nay!!
Most of us think we need to sell to everybody.
But, Pedro Martins says it isn’t a numbers game.
Instead, he suggests building a genuine relationship with buyers - because they want to feel safe, appreciated and valued.
How to become a great writer in 5 threads ✍🏻
Will people still be talking about ChatGPT one year from now?
We don’t know that.
But, we surely want to know more about writing for humans than an English bachelor’s degree can teach us.
Read this thread of threads by Noel Dávila to know what makes George Orwell or living legends like Neil Gaiman great writers.
21 most expensive mistakes to avoid 😳
All of us make mistakes.
Some of them could be harmless, some could be expensive - either ways, you want to avoid them.
Josue Valles spoke to 21 terrific LinkedIn creators on the most expensive mistakes they made. Here’s what he uncovered.
P.S. We loved the first one because we’ve done similar stuff in the past. 😁
Do you need an army to build an empire? 👑
The short answer is NO.
Sample this:
In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 Billion. Instagram had 13 employees.
In 2021, Notion raised $275 Million at a $10 Billion valuation with 200 employees.
Need more reason?
Read this post by Brandon Arvanaghi about how companies have built empires with a handful of people.
Lesson: It is all about growing a community.
How to sell in a recession? 💵
Trust us when we say this - we’ve seen quite a few recessions.
And, different companies react to it differently.
But, the ones that succeed are the ones that:
1. Acknowledge the need to change/pivot
2. Do things that others are fearful of doing
3. Know that recessions do not last forever
So, here’s how you should RIDE a recession than trying to BEAT it.
9 Lessons Genghis Khan can teach you ⚔️
Time for some history lessons, folks.
Some say that Genghis Khan, the “original bad boy of history” killed 1,748,000 in one hour!
We aren’t sure about it.
But, there are lessons to be learnt from one of the most fearsome warlords.
Jim Burgess condenses all of them in this fabulous thread.
What you still need to know…
Don’t tell us you haven’t heard of Harry Dry. If you haven’t, look him up on Google now. He’s the legend behind the Marketing Examples website that gives oodles of marketing tips that have worked for companies, brands etc. Okay, the official news is after working on his course for a while, Harry is back this week with even more awesome value. Here’s the link to subscribe to his newsletter: MarketingExamples.com/newsletter
Want to get 10X views for your post? Jasmin Alić gives out an insane hack to do that. He says “Take the last line of every post → Write it first. Reason? We often leave the "power" statement last.” He’s even shown how he’s swapped it for this post that has gotten him tons of likes.
See ya all with more SaaS marketing stories next week. If you liked what we put together for you, you might want to read our previous editions here.
And do tell us what you’d like to read in future editions so we will focus on that. 🫶🏻
Picture credit: Header image of Sam Altman was used from Vox Media. Source