May 1, 2023: Lessons Learned from Working at Google

What is Long Story Short?

We are a marketing agency focused on developing and launching strategic brand initiatives for the world’s most transformative organizations.

We act as a creative partner and fractional CMO, assisting with everything from brand strategy and campaign development to copywriting, design, web, and video.

We’ve helped more than 100+ companies across 10 countries tell better stories. Our clients range from Seed and Series A level organizations to enterprise-level businesses that include the US Defense Logistics Agency, AutoTrader, and Colliers Innovation.

What was the insight/inspiration that led you to launch it?

Prior to launching LSS, I was recruited to set up the sales and marketing team for a reputable scale-up in the "Big Data" industry in the UK. Pitching Fortune 500 companies, I'd watch as prospects would glaze over as our engineers and data scientists would mention buzzword after buzzword.

I came to the realization that tech companies struggle to communicate their offering in a clear, concise, and strategic way. And that people don't buy what they don't understand.

How has it been received by the market? Why do you think it has been so well received?

Five years in, we've helped more than 100+ companies across 11 countries tell better stories.

We've been able to help our clients grow their businesses by driving sales and awareness for their offerings. We act as an extension of their team vs just another contractor, applying proven best practices from our former roles with big ad agencies and brands to companies that really need help. And we're able to understand the complexity that surrounds their offering, distilling it down into something that gets prospects engaged and excited about what their selling.

How did you know you were ready to found a company?

I had always wanted to start my own business. I spent the first 10 years of my career launching successful campaigns for global brands in the UK, US, and Canada and knew there was a lot of value I could offer to scale-up companies in the tech sector. I finally recognized a real need in the market that married up nicely with my skillset and what I was passionate about. With no financial or personal obligations at the time, I figured it was worth the risk. And I've been enjoying the ride ever since.

How did you meet your founders/know they were the right people to start a company with?

I started the company solo and relied on freelancers to help deliver the associated projects, before landing our first set of retained clients in 2020. My mandate for our first full-time hires (that still stands true today) was to find good people who came from big agency/corporate life and were looking to make a real impact by helping the “companies of tomorrow”.

What has been the hardest thing on your journey so far?

Forecasting work is one of the biggest challenges. We're constantly in a cycle of selling in projects, landing and delivering the work, and then having to go back out to sell in new projects.

The work is becoming more consistent - we've been starting to get more and more referrals over the past 2+ years, which has been great. We also have a number of retained clients that help keep the lights on.

What has been the most pleasant surprise?

How appreciative the founders are. Coming from the big agency world, we were used to dealing with marketing directors who would mistreat their account teams and set unrealistic deadlines. It's been refreshing to work with passionate founders who value the work we deliver and trust our team.

What is your super strength?

Possessing an ownership mentality - I always treat our client’s business like it's my own.

I'm committed to being seen as a trustworthy and dependable partner they can rely on. And ultimately want them to succeed at the end of the day. If we can help grow their business it has a positive impact on our company.

It’s a real “Help me, help you” “Jerry Maguire” -type mentality (not to date myself).

Who is the unsung hero on the team? Why?

There's no one "hero" on our team - we're all accountable for the projects we tackle and our client’s ongoing success.

What are you trying to achieve over the next 12 months?

Over and above growing our Canadian roster of retained clients, we incorporated in the US at the start of 2022 and will be making a big push to bring on more American business in the year ahead.

What advice do you wish you had been given prior to launching?

Don't forget your friends, family, and the moments that matter.

It's easy to get swept up in your company, working all the time - nights, weekends, and everything in between. But balance is key.

The first couple of years I worked all the time - and it took a major toll on my mental health. If it weren't for a few good friends and my wife, I would've been much worse off.

Who are the 5 Canadian startups you like in your market?

Signal 1, Cubby, UP360, Flexday, FirstHX

Learn more about Long Story Short and Alex here

Alex will be taking the stage at tonight's TechTO: Together Event at OneEleven!

Learn more about his journey and best pieces of advice, in real life

TechTO's Founders Journey Series gives you unparalleled access to some of today's top Founders and Leaders from across the Canadian Tech Ecosystem. We chat with our guests about their journey's to building their current business and the lessons they learned along the way.

Our most recent episode of The Founders Journey features Philippe Beaudoin, Co-Founder and CEO of Waverly.

Philippe is the Co-Founder of artificial intelligence firm Element AI, and also the Co-Founder of Waverly, the world’s first AI company that provides people with personalized, curated content across all platforms.

Philippe is currently focusing on and continuing to enhance Waverly to be the tool that is perfecting the content that his audience consumes on a daily basis.

In today's podcast we discuss:

• What a venture scientist is

• Getting your idea off the ground

• Phil's takeaways from working at Google

• Making content better (and healthier) for our consumption

• How AI is shaping his business

• Driving customer acquisition

• How to expand your customers/audience

• The impacts of AI for everyone

Listen now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts

In this episode, we cover:

(0:00) Introduction to Phil and his background

(1:00) What is a Venture Scientist, and why does Phil call himself that?

(3:00) Phil's lessons learned at Google

(7:29) ElementAI

(10:00) Changing the way we view our social feeds

(14:54) Starting Waverly and the journey

(16:00) Meeting the Co-Founders

(22:00) Wavlery and the effects of ChatGPT

(25:59) The future of Waverly

(33:00) Working with talent in Canada

(35:50) How AI can be useful for everyone

Where can you connect with Phil?

Find him on LinkedIn or check out Wavlery here

Help us build the next edition of TechTO's Rocketships List. Leave your feedback and help us spotlight the top companies and startups in Canadian Tech that are taking people's careers to the moon! Leave us your feedback 

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Software Engineer, Plum.io (Canada)

Why is this cool? Plum helps organizations make better Talent Decisions through the predictive power of psychometric data so every candidate is matched with a role in that they have the natural abilities to excel. Join Plum as a software engineer and become part of their Engineering team and build, support, and evolve Plum’s application and infrastructure.

Lead Data Scientist, BlueDot (Ontario | Remote)

Why is this cool? BlueDot protects people around the world from infectious diseases using human and artificial intelligence. In this role (amongst other things) you will lead the technical direction for data science and advance data analytics across strategic projects and cross-functional teams, collaborating and aligning closely with product, science, technology, and your peers.

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Check out the interesting content, events, and happenings for the community here:

• TechTO Together: TORONTO (TONIGHT) May 1, 2023: Learn from the greatest Founders, Investors, and Innovators including Janet Bannister, Alex Gould and Raymond Chik, with an After Party to follow!

• TechTO: Retail May 24, 2023: Learn from Lauren Steinberg, Amber Foucault, Drew Cashmore, Marie Chevrier, Kelly Brawn about all things technology, brands, and retail

• Ask Me Anything with Lori Sussle Bonanni: How to best leverage PR before, during, and after a funding round announcement. Sign up to get the Zoom details for the May AMA here

Want to showcase your company, events, and opportunities to 60,000 subscribers across the Canadian Tech Eco-system? Reach out to [email protected] to learn more!