Ari Yablok is Head of Brand at Island (Series C). He joined Island in the very early days, back when they didn’t even have their name out in public. His job was to build the brand from zero.

You rarely get the chance to pitch to a CIO/CISO (their target buyer) so the founders knew they needed to enter that world in a way that sent a very clear signal that this is actually a new conversation.

How do you send that signal? What kind of message did they use? How do you attract the C-Level with your product when they're so hard to reach? Why did they need to go against all the playbooks in the industry? How do you prove the impact of Brand on business growth? We tackle these important questions with Ari.

We also cover:

What did Ari work on as Head of Brand early stage;

Who was on the GTM team early stage;

Their unique approach to hiring salespeople;

How Island's brand has evolved over the years;

Why building a new category meant they spent more time educating and less time pushing the product;

What marketing big bets they're taking in 2024 and why;

Why they spent years ignoring Demand Gen;

How sales and marketing can play nice and respect their differences;

AMA: Ari asks me his burning question which I will answer in the next BONUS episode.

About Island:

Founded: 2020
Funding: Series C ($385M total)
Description: The Island Enterprise Browser has all the core security IT and productivity needs of the enterprise built into the browser, so work is naturally smooth and secure.

You can find Ari on LinkedIn: ⁠www.linkedin.com/in/ariyablok

Learn more about Island: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.island.io

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And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. fractional head of marketing for early stage startups >> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.furmanovmarketing.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

2. sponsor my Top 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcast.furmanovmarketing.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

3. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to get my monthly early stage startup marketing newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ where I’m sharing playbooks and insights and cracking some jokes

You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn, definitely say hello and tell me what you're building and how it's going >> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

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194 - Clear Signals That Prove The Impact of Brand on Business Growth (Ari Yablok, Head of Brand at Island)

Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers

194 - Clear Signals That Prove The Impact of Brand on Business Growth (Ari Yablok, Head of Brand at Island)