Event Insights: EKA Ventures & Erevena Roundtable Discussion

Erevena and Eka Ventures hosted a roundtable discussion focused on marketing best practices for early-stage consumer and B2B companies. The event aimed to provide guidance on how early-stage venture businesses can build trust, create winning marketing strategies, and drive growth. 

Attendees included a mix of founders, investors, and marketing teams, offering a collaborative platform for learning and sharing insights. The panel featured marketing leaders with deep industry experience, including Roxanne Nejad (VP Marketing at Cleo), Iona Carter (former Chief Customer Officer at Plum, Chief Brand Officer at Olio, and current VP Brand and Marketing Strategy at Wise), and Viktoria Tchoudakov (ex-McKinsey, former CMO at iwoca, and VP Marketing & Growth at Zoe). 

Together, we delved into key themes that define effective marketing in today’s landscape.

1. Contextualising the Growth Role and Success Metrics

The discussion opened with a focus on contextualising the role of marketing within an early-stage company. Panellists emphasised the importance of articulating the business environment when marketing leaders join, including the scale of operations and budget constraints. This allows marketing leaders to frame their impact effectively when communicating with stakeholders, particularly investors.

Roxanne shared her experience at Cleo, where the team used customer feedback to develop the now-famous “Roast Mode,” a feature that humorously called out users’ spending habits. This tool drove massive engagement and organically fueled the brand’s growth. Cleo’s success was built on the notion that viral growth is often the result of understanding customer behaviour and aligning product features with market needs.

The conversation also covered the importance of differentiation. In the highly competitive fintech space, Cleo carved out a niche by positioning itself outside traditional banking structures. Roxanne highlighted that to attract attention and drive user growth, particularly in an organic fashion, early-stage businesses must clearly communicate what makes them different, whether through product innovation or unique marketing channels.

“When looking to drive organic growth through content, we focused on three themes: education for the user, demonstrating our values, and humour” – Roxanne

The panel agreed that early-stage companies don’t need massive budgets to make an impact. Instead, they must focus on maximising the effectiveness of limited resources through content, customer experience, and thought leadership. These approaches can help brands punch above their weight in the marketplace without requiring heavy media spend. Viktoria reinforced this point, explaining how Zoe built credibility and trust by consistently delivering science-backed information through various channels, including podcasts and utilising their high-profile scientific co-founder Prof Tim Spector.

2. D2C and B2B Brand Building

Next, the discussion turned to strategies for building brands in both direct-to-consumer (D2C) and B2B markets. While both markets require strategic thinking, they differ in execution. For D2C brands, a deep understanding of consumer behaviour and preferences is essential. In contrast, B2B marketing often focuses on building long-term relationships and educating potential clients on the value proposition.

At Plum Guide, Iona shared how they launched their own “Michelin star” inspired certification for properties, leveraging a highly selective process to ensure quality. This not only built trust with users but also encouraged organic promotion from hosts who took pride in their status. The certificate ended up being used by hosts on other sites, pushing traffic towards Plum Guide.  This strategy highlights the importance of creating brand advocates who will promote your product without any direct marketing cost.

Iona also discussed her experience at Olio, where the challenge was to build a community around food waste, a relatively new concept for many. She emphasised the need for audience development, especially when building a segment from scratch. Olio experimented with several strategies but found success by tapping into what she called “selfish altruism”—encouraging users to participate by showing them how their actions, such as sharing surplus food, could directly improve someone’s day. By flipping the messaging from the ‘waste is bad’ to ‘sharing makes you feel good’, they were able to shift behaviours and drive supply-side growth within the community. This approach not only fueled engagement but also positioned Olio as a leader in sustainability, driving successful long-term results.

Roxanne spoke about Cleo’s approach to targeting three distinct groups: consumers, investors, and employees. The marketing strategy was highly targeted, with a small above-the-line spend focused on investors and employees rather than the mass consumer market. This strategic focus ensured that the company’s limited budget had maximum impact, particularly in attracting the attention of potential investors.

Viktoria added insights on B2B brand building from her time at iwoca, where trust was built through a focus on customer success. Iwoca relied heavily on excellent Trustpilot reviews, using customer feedback as a way to silently build trust. This allowed iwoca to grow its credibility and customer base without the need for costly advertising campaigns.

One of the attendees started an interesting discussion on how to best manage customer experience, and in particular negative reviews. They talked about responding to negative reviews personally and emphasising the “I” when talking about how the issue would be fixed – demonstrating care and the escalation to CMO for the consumer and successfully turning negative reviewers into repeat customers and advocates.

3. UK vs. US Market Expansion

One of the most intriguing parts of the roundtable was the discussion on geographical expansion, particularly the differences between the UK and US markets. Roxanne from Cleo provided an insightful case study of how Cleo expanded into the US market. The company initially tested a small budget on Meta ads, which yielded a lower cost-per-acquisition (CPA) in the US compared to the UK. The success of this test led Cleo to significantly ramp up its US marketing efforts.

However, Roxanne cautioned against blindly expanding into new markets. Cleo’s decision to enter the US was customer-driven; they followed their users to a new geography. She also spoke about the rapid shift from Facebook Messenger to a full-fledged app once Cleo reached 1 million users, a necessary move to scale the product for a broader audience. This type of flexibility is critical for startups entering new markets.

The discussion also covered the cultural differences between the two regions and the need for tailored marketing strategies. It was noted that the timing of hiring local talent is also crucial when expanding abroad, as market expertise can dramatically improve the effectiveness of a company’s efforts.

4. Evaluating Success in Brand and Marketing

Evaluating marketing success is critical but often challenging for early-stage companies. Panellists discussed measuring both unaided and aided brand awareness. The conclusion was that while tracking these metrics can be expensive, they provide valuable insights into a brand’s market position and can be a useful tool to take to investors. An attendee pointed out that it’s not necessarily a bad sign if a company has low unaided awareness but strong unit economics. This could indicate significant growth potential as awareness increases.

Viktoria from Zoe added that understanding why customers nearly purchase but then abandon the product is invaluable. By talking to potential customers who didn’t convert, Zoe was able to refine its messaging and identify key differentiators that brought people to the product in the first place. This type of feedback loop can help early-stage companies build trust and refine their go-to-market strategies.

The group also discussed how to build trust in disruptive industries. Plum Guide, for example, worked hard to get featured on “Top 10” lists in the press and app stores. This tactic allowed them to position themselves as a trusted authority in a competitive market, particularly in the early stages when customer trust was still being built.

5. Hiring and Scaling the Marketing Team

The final topic of the discussion was how to scale marketing teams effectively. A key point raised by several panellists was that founders should try to run marketing themselves initially. By leaning into “Founder Mode”, founders can gain a better understanding of the function and what kind of leadership will be required as the company grows.

There was also debate over whether branding and performance marketing should be siloed or integrated. Most panellists agreed that a unified marketing function leads to better communication, higher confidence, and shared success. By avoiding silos, companies can ensure that their brand and performance marketing efforts are aligned with the overall business goals.

Viktoria highlighted some of her experience in building marketing teams at Zoe and iwoca and in supporting her angel investments – she described the value in hiring generalists at the beginning and then, as marketing investment grows, you learn more about which channels and strategies work best for your company and you then build expertise in those areas.

Conclusion

The roundtable provided an enriching exchange of ideas on how early-stage companies can excel in marketing while navigating constraints. Whether building trust with consumers, expanding into new markets, or scaling teams, the panellists emphasised the importance of being strategic, flexible, and customer-focused. By leveraging organic growth, engaging deeply with customer feedback, and aligning marketing efforts with business goals, startups can build brands that not only survive but thrive in today’s competitive landscape.