Startups & Strategy: The Cost of Ignoring Marketing

If you had $100,000 to grow your startup, how much would you spend on marketing?

Chances are - not enough. And you wouldn’t be alone.

In this episode of Think: Business Futures, Ali Aitken is joined by Dr Ofer Mintz, Associate Professor and Associate Head of Marketing at UTS Business School, whose research uncovers a surprising truth: more than half of startups don’t invest in marketing at all.

Ofer discusses:

• Why marketing is often misunderstood - and misused - by founders
• How skipping marketing hurts product-market fit, funding chances, and long-term growth
• Why adding a marketer to your founding team could double your odds of getting funded
• When to invest in marketing (and what that investment should look like)
• How to use AI tools wisely, without falling into the ‘shortcut trap’

So what’s going wrong? And what does it really mean to be customer-centric in a fast-moving, resource-strapped startup?

Hosted and produced by Ali Aitken