A Marketing Sea Change - Andrea Palten

Techstars Vice President, Marketing Andrea Palten refused to play a role that wasn't true to her authentic self. Once she fully committed to bringing her home self to work, everything changed with happier teams, her best campaigns and most meaningful impact. Andrea continuously grows through three key insights: you're probably not that special (and that's okay), your first customers aren't customers (hint: they're everything) and kindness isn't soft, it's strategic. And in the world of startups, it's all about getting back to the basics. "You have to build the foundation before you scale. You cannot start building bricks without a foundation." Andrea sees AI leveling the playing field, enabling entrepreneurs with little budget to actually compete. And through it all, remember that "done beats perfect."