5
 min read
In partnership with
Text Link
Matt Jenner
Text Link
Matt Jenner
July 15, 2024
July 15, 2024

Growing my startup by learning from others - outcomes from attending Turing Fest 2024

Founder of Coursensu - the learning design platform, Matt Jenner shares his experience of attending Turing Fest 2024 and what he learned to further grow his EdTech startup.

Founder of Coursensu - the learning design platform, Matt Jenner shares his experience of attending Turing Fest 2024 and what he learned to further grow his EdTech startup.

As an Education Technology (EdTech) founder I’m acutely aware of the importance of learning as I build my business. But I’m not unique: all founders are learning and most businesses prioritise the value of learning. More often than not, I am driven by the stories shared from experienced others, those who have traversed the problem and shared their story. 

With that in mind, this week I attended Turing Fest, an opportunity to network with, and learn from, many experts in the field of growing, building, and leading, transformative businesses. The overall theme of the event, for me, was visibility. 

This can be broken down into four areas, all linked to the marketing and promotion of your business, and how you communicate its vision and solution with your audience: 

  • Brand - the authentic, story-rich, realistic exposition of you and your product/services
  • Communication - the language you use, how it is heard, how it is repeated by others
  • Positioning - how to focus, evangelise problems and show you are the solution
  • Discovery - where, and how, you will be found is changing. Web search is struggling. 

A reminder…

Firstly, founders are new to this. Breaking space for yourself and developing skills, knowledge and behaviours. You can consume ‘playbooks’, reflect and plan but it is hard to measure, identify blindspots and prioritise correctly. So recognise the journey (but keep at it).

That said, some things are obvious - once you hear it. Andy Budd, The Growth Equation author, states, you’ll ‘feel stupid’ as you learn. Perfect. It means it’s obvious, actionable and will improve your business. Get comfortable with the feeling but remind yourself, no-one is stupid, just learning. Discomfort is a byproduct, not the outcome. 

Brand

Brand stood out many times, ahead of anything you can pin a metric to. A lot of brand development is a lagging indicator, which means results are indirect or slow. You can consider your brand strength by thinking of the platforms you’re visible on, the stories you tell and how they help others towards trusting you. Don’t focus just on data like click-through rates (this is a diminishing metric) but instead  live your actual values. Make and share opinions and stories. Make them original, purposeful and aligned with your audience. They’ll engage with this, and therefore you.  

One thing to try...

Write a short, medium and long version for your purpose or the problems you solve. Try to visualise each story as a drawing/image. What stands out? What’s missing? Petra Wille would advise you to nail this. 

Comms

Consider your audience, what problem you solve and how you connect these two aspects. Focus less on what you offer, how great your product could be, or what’s possible in the future. Bring people together and align on the current, most painful, problem - that you (and only you) can fix.

Bethan Vincent helped me think through how I communicate the value of my business and shared that the traditional playbooks are not working. GenAI is changing the landscape of content, search and what people value. Emma Stratton doubled down on this with the message that you need to have ‘BBQ friendly’ ways to talk about your product. This ensures you skip the nonsense language (which never worked) and go directly to how you remove blockers and solve problems. 

One thing you can try ...

Take some of your marketing content and ask yourself if you’d say it at a BBQ? It’s summer (apparently) - so go to an actual BBQ and give someone your website H1/H2 headlines. Do they synergise your transformative potential? Of course not. Rewrite it.  

Positioning

April Dunford’s message is to be the ‘low risk choice’. Why? Because low risk means you’re not pushing anyone outside of their comfort zone. Starting as a single solution means you can work closely with expectations, show value quickly and build a relationship. This retains a partnership where everyone is focused on solving a problem. 

Equally your brand is for now, and the future. Start small, and focused, as recommended by April, but have a plan for growing over time. April’s message is simple - you need to know your positioning and start with a clear focus for an initial audience. Then you explore where, and how, to expand. This may seem simple but it’ll become your entire marketing strategy. 

One thing you can try...

Write down what the low risk option is for your ideal customer and add what value you can add over time (3,6, 12 months, maybe longer). Consider if this changes per customer segment. 

Discovery 

It seems that most marketing playbooks might be relics. What does this mean? Your brand can’t lead with GenAI content; you need to find, then tell, authentic stories. This builds trust which is integral and makes a clearer proposition. You can still use GenAI for broadening reach (such as test and validate copy). GenAI is also capable of supporting tasks that scale (FAQs, provide support, manage workflows) but it’s NOT OK for the core story - who you are, what you offer, the value you create - to be generated by AI. 

Tom Anthony started what Rand Fishkin concluded: Google’s search dominance is over. Their 25 year old product will struggle in the future. Web search has flaws; it can’t search apps, messages, social media or AI models with success. Web search is fading as on-device search grows. Search your phone and you’ll see results beyond the web. Founders can prepare for this, embrace other channels and remain visible. 

Another aspect is how platforms are moats. Social content with links is algorithmically shunned. Social networks reduce impressions of linked content because it sends users away! This is why people ‘link in the comments’, or add no link. Your brand is like a billboard; immeasurable but invaluable. 

One thing you can try...

Spot direct traffic in analytics data - how much traffic comes in as ‘Direct’? This includes social media which omits a referrer. Measure it as a candidate metric for your brand visibility. 

To wrap - be visible, be authentic, be patient 

Developing a great company isn’t easy or fast. You’ll need to be patient while things grow. You’ll make mistakes, so be patient and consider yourself, your business and your customers as learners, all wanting to be better. 

I also want to thank Techscaler for the opportunity to attend Turing Fest. As a Spring ‘24 Startup Next Steps and a Winter ‘23 Startup First Steps alumni,I have had over half a year so far of support from this amazing organisation. They offer me a community, learning experiences, events and mentorship to support the growth of my business. Anyone in the position of planning, or building, a tech business in Scotland should check them out and apply for membership.

Subscribe to newsletter

Subscribe to receive the latest blog posts to your inbox every week.

By subscribing you agree to with our Privacy Policy.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Related Resources

Oct 10, 2024
10
 mins

Insights from Silicon Valley: what it takes to build something meaningful

Lewis O'Neill, founder of Niovant, shares what it takes to build something meaningful: resilience, community, and a willingness to navigate the unknown.
View All
Sep 26, 2024
10
 mins

Insights from Silicon Valley: AI is not your feature, it’s your core

Hear from Matt Jenner, founder of Coursensu, about his experience of Techscaler Silicon Valley and the growing significance of AI
View All
Sep 26, 2024
5
 mins

Insights from Silicon Valley: We’re all on our own together

CodeBase's Lauren Wilson shares how the Techscaler Silicon Valley cohort forged a founder community
View All
Sep 24, 2024
5
 mins

Unlock growth for your startup with the Techscaler and Scottish Enterprise MVP Grant

We’re excited to introduce a powerful funding opportunity that can help tech startups take the next step: the Techscaler Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Small R&D Grant, offered in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise
View All
View All
Aug 1, 2024
10
 mins

From Spark to Scale: The Essential Stages of Startup Growth

Learn more about the lifecycle stages of a startup as it builds, grows and scales
View All
Jul 24, 2024
5
 mins

Embracing Digital Accessibility: An Interview with Wojtek Kutyla for Disability Pride Month

For Disability Pride Month, we interviewed UX design expert Wojtek Kutyla about how digital accessibility can improve inclusion in tech.
View All
Jul 22, 2024
5
 mins

Meet Dr Matthew Freer, founder and CEO of Infix Support

Dr Matthew Freer shares his experiences as a Techscaler member working in the public sector
View All
Jul 15, 2024
5
 mins

Growing my startup by learning from others - outcomes from attending Turing Fest 2024

Founder of Coursensu - the learning design platform, Matt Jenner shares his experience of attending Turing Fest 2024 and what he learned to further grow his EdTech startup.
View All
Jul 10, 2024
5
 mins

It's a good time to be a generalist

Oli Littlejohn shares the opportunities being a generalist brings, and how AI can support them
View All
Jun 26, 2024
5
 mins

Improve Investability with an Organised Investor Vault

Ian Martin, Head of Startup Experience at CodeBase, shares insights on a crucial part of startup growth: gaining investment.
View All
Jun 12, 2024
7
 mins

Meet Richie Wan, Founder of Seeker

Meet Richie Wan, Founder of Seeker (previously RefermyJobs), a job board that helps startups attract higher quality candidates.
View All
Jun 10, 2024
3
 mins

Celebrating Pride Month: How to plan authentic events and activities

How can you plan events and celebrations that go beyond performative gestures? Notes from the group-led discussion at CodeBase’s LGBTQ+ meetup.
View All
May 30, 2024
7
 mins

Navigating startup funding: lessons from an active investor

Insights from Paul Atkinson, Founding Partner of Par Equity, on how best to approach investors for your startup, and challenges of the current investment landscape.
View All
May 27, 2024
5
 mins

Why do tech startups fail?

‍Destigmatising Failure and Building a Supportive Community for Startup Success
View All
Apr 30, 2024
5
 mins

What is a tech startup?

What exactly is a tech startup and how does it differ from a traditional small business?
View All
Apr 25, 2024
3
 mins

Meet Mike Brown, Co-Founder of rankein

Meet Mike Brown; he is the Co-Founder of rankein, a company focused on measuring and enhancing Emotional Intelligence skills across workplaces globally.
View All
Mar 26, 2024
5
 mins

Why Generalists Shine as Community Builders

CodeBase's Barry McDonald explains why generalists shine as community builders
View All
Mar 13, 2024
5
 mins

Reflections from Techscaler Silicon Valley

VP of R+D, Oli Littlejohn, shares musings on his week in San Francisco with Scottish tech founders
View All
Mar 12, 2024
5
 mins

Where do startup ideas come from?

It’s not the best idea - no joke intended - to try and build your startup from just an idea. Instead, we recommend looking for a key insight instead.
View All
Mar 11, 2024
5
 mins

The Power of Partnerships

"10 months that changed my life" - Genna Masterton, Founder at Gifted Kind
View All
Mar 4, 2024
5
 mins

Stale, Male and Pale: The narrowing investor landscape for early stage startups

Shift in High Net Worth Definition Threatens Women and Underrepresented Investors in Early Stage Tech Financing
View All
Mar 4, 2024
5
 mins

The Community Building Toolbox (and why you'll need more than a hammer)

VP of Community, Barry McDonald, shares his thoughts on community building
View All
Mar 1, 2024
1
 mins

New Techscaler website live!

Techscaler launches new website to improve member experience
View All