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Hi there 👋
Hope everyone’s September is going great. I’ll be trying an experiment later this month, publishing an AMA newsletter and I’d love to collect questions. If there’s anything you want to ask me — anything about branding, startups, team-building, strategy, Idaho life — feel free to drop me a reply at hello@kevanlee.com, and I will add your question to the list. Should be fun!
Wishing you a great week,
Kevan
This week’s newsletter is an ode to my dad whose birthday is in September. Thank you for indulging me the chance to reminisce. If you’d prefer some startup stories and marketing strategies, here’s one about brand and one about product marketing. I’ll be back next week with more hard-hitting (j/k) marketing stuff.
It’s never too late to start
I came to startup marketing rather late.
After graduating from college with a degree in journalism, I bounced around a couple of newsrooms, I worked the front desk at an animal hospital, and I wrote magazine stories to help sell green-barley nutrition drinks (tl;dr on the drinks: taste = 🤮, health = 💪) . In other words, I had a bunch of jobs. I had not yet found a career.
Around this time, my dad was diagnosed with cancer, and we spent the next year-and-a-half making the most of the time he had left. My wife and I started our family so he could meet his first grandchild. We traveled when we could. We saw each other often.
It was this period of life that helped me realize that I no longer wanted to float through a series of jobs. I wanted to spend my time meaningfully and joyfully and to make every day count.
This was the impetus for me turning a corner. I grew my small website into something worth the attention of Vox, ESPN, and others. I applied for a job at Buffer — didn’t get the job — but kept grinding until the Buffer stars aligned again.
My dad never got to see what I’ve become.
But there’s no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t be where I am without him.
His birthday falls this time of year, and there are many many things that remind me of him. The changing of the seasons, the start of football, the upcoming holidays. About seven years ago now, I went on my first Buffer retreat to meet the team in-person in New York City. On one of our team outings we took a ferry through the Upper Bay to see the Statue of Liberty. On the way back, I walked to the rear of the boat and sat there by myself, letting the moment soak in and remembering my dad. Every team retreat since then I’ve done the same exercise, finding a moment to share together. Walking the streets in Sydney. Touring a volcano in Iceland.
I say all this not to bring out the waterworks. It is sad, yes. But also now part of my story.
I say all this because every year around this time I’m reminded of how valuable it is to fill your life with purpose, and it’s never too late to start.
As we’re hiring lots and lots at Oyster (we’ve grown the team 3x in the three months I’ve been here), I get the privilege of meeting a ton of great people through the hiring process. What I admire most is the courage it takes to apply to a new thing. There are plenty of folks like me who are applying in order to begin something new. I hope that Oyster will be a place where people can live out their purpose and embark on new chapters — it’s why we’re building a team with a variety of seniority across our open roles, and it’s why our product exists, period: to create a more equal world by making it possible for companies everywhere to hire people anywhere.
Possibility.
That’s such an apt word for what I see in the people I work with at Oyster and the folks I meet through these roles. And in order to see possibility, sometimes someone has to show it to you. I’m lucky to have my wife, my son, my mom, my friends and coworkers inspire me to see all the many, exciting possibilities ahead. I’m forever grateful for my dad who gave me the strength, the desire, and the example to pursue.
Sometimes it takes a big event to put you on a new path.
Sometimes it takes the inspiration of others or the courage to go first.
(Sometimes it takes twice the effort it should because society is working against you. Let’s fix that.)
If any of this resonates, I’d love to encourage you that it’s never too late to make the change, and that I’d love to do anything I can to help. My startup career is still new, in the grand scheme, and who knows, I may have more, different paths ahead.
Wishing you al the best in your journeys, new or old.
About this newsletter …
Each week, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world. If you enjoy what’s in this newsletter, you can share some love by hitting the heart button at the top or bottom.💙
About Kevan
I’m a marketing exec who specializes in startup marketing and brand-building. I currently lead the marketing team at Oyster (we’re hiring!). I previously built brands at Buffer, Polly, and Vox.
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