Emma Lo Russo on AI Marketing, Digivizer and Sustainable Growth | Ep 261 | DevReady Podcast

In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, host Anthony Sapountzis welcomes Emma Lo Russo, CEO of Digivizer and Founder of goto.game, for a candid conversation about AI marketing, the creator economy and sustainable growth. Emma shares how Digivizer helps brands measure and improve performance across social, search, web, organic and paid channels for clients including Lenovo, Barilla, and major banks. She also explains how goto.game helps endemic and non-endemic brands build authentic engagement in gaming and esports communities.

Emma traces her journey from senior corporate marketing roles to building data-driven businesses. She highlights Twitch as a rare live medium where creator-led, long-form streams cultivate loyal audiences, noting that genuine influence cannot be scripted or bought. The lesson for marketers is clear. Work with creators as partners, respect their voice and lean into improvisation and roleplay that audiences return to week after week.

Emma then unpacks the leap from corporate to founder. As social, mobile and cloud converged, she saw a gap for real-time digital insight, completed an MBA to rebuild her Australian network and applied every subject directly to the venture. Early traction followed. A $1.5 million Sensis contract, focus on Digivizer and a $2.1 million raise off her MBA strategy paper helped the company serve B2C and B2B brands at global scale.

Emma and Anthony compare founder realities with salaried certainty. Launched in 2010 among 87 local social analytics startups, Digivizer is one of two that remain from that cohort, with Local Measure acquired by Zendesk and Digivizer continuing as the independent survivor. Culture, hiring and the ability to sell into enterprise became foundations for growth, while Emma echoes Mike Cannon-Brookes’ advice that financial pressure never stops, it simply scales.

On funding, Emma prioritised control and customer value over reporting theatre. She raised selectively, provided investors read-only access to Xero for transparency and kept conversations focused on advice that moved the business forward. That discipline underpinned profitability and self-funded growth through changing market cycles, from growth at all costs to today’s profit first reality.

Looking ahead, Digivizer is growing at around 30% year on year and expanding a hybrid model of SaaS reach plus agency expertise, supported by top-tier partnerships such as LinkedIn Marketing Partner in Australia and premier badges across Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft. Emma sees AI opening new possibilities but says winners will combine AI with human storytelling that is authentic, contextual and useful. Measure everything, learn what resonates and double down on content, formats and timing that create real value.

#AIMarketing #DigitalMarketing #Leadership #SaaS #CreatorEconomy #EsportsMarketing #DataDriven #ScaleUp