Madison Long With Clutch

Intro: [00:00:04] Welcome back to the Startup Showdown podcast, where we discuss pitching, funding and scaling startups. Join us as we interview winners, mentors and judges of the monthly 120,000 pitch competition powered by Panoramic Ventures. We also discuss the latest updates in software Web three, health care, tech, fintech and more. Now sit tight as we interview this week’s guest and their journey through entrepreneurship.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:38] Lee Kantor here another episode of Start Up Showdown podcast, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor Panoramic Ventures. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Startup Showdown, we have Madison Long with Clutch. Welcome, Madison.

Madison Long: [00:00:57] Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:59] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Clutch. How are you serving folks?

Madison Long: [00:01:03] Shortly. Yes. At Clutch, we’re elevating emerging brands, digital marketing presence by connecting them to next gen creators. Our creators specialize in graphic design, social media and video content creation. And as we know, the fractional workforce is rapidly growing. So with Clutch, we’re really creating opportunities for both emerging brands and young creators to thrive within it.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:27] So what was the genesis of the idea? How did this come about?

Madison Long: [00:01:31] Oh, yes. Well, we’ve actually been working on this idea for about a little over two years and actually pivoted quite a bit. But it always has had the initial focus on empowering the next generation. We know that there is a massive opportunity to lean into the future of remote work and doing work that is more joyful and more aligned with who you are as a person. And so now that clutch has evolved and what we’ve been able to bring to market not only propels that goal and vision, but also really resonates with both sides of our audience.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:06] So when you have a two sided marketplace like you’re working right now, how do you kind of build up both sides simultaneously? You have to have the creators right. There has to be kind of a good variety of creators. And also you need the people with the money that are hiring them.

Madison Long: [00:02:22] Absolutely. Yeah. And it’s tricky. And I think that’s a huge testament to Marketplace founders who’ve come before to be able to hack that. But what we first noticed was that the supply side of the market was the creators with the talent, and they were coming in droves. We were able to get thousands of sign ups on our waitlist within 12 weeks. We still have about 400 creators coming into our pipeline and applying every time we post something every single like in just under a week. And so we luckily have a really great pipeline to go on board and find fantastic creators on the other side of the spectrum that the business is looking for this digital marketing help and looking for these resources, they often do require a little bit more cold outreach, and we’ve been able to do that successfully as well as most of our businesses have come in through organic channels. And as we continue to hack on our growth and customer acquisition, we are intently focused on channel partnerships and other opportunities to grow the client side of the platform at the same scale as the creator side.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:37] So what is kind of the ideal channel partner look like?

Madison Long: [00:03:42] Yeah, we think it can look a lot of different ways, but we’re actually partnering with some marketing agencies right now. A lot of times marketing agencies struggle when it comes to expanding into new digital marketing offerings, namely Tik Tok. But they know that their clients and the businesses they represent are desperately earnest to expand their reach and go out of the scope of just Instagram and traditional Facebook advertisements to also building a presence on Tik Tok. But Tik Tok requires first person point of view, authentic and very active and daily engagement with that audience to really have a presence. And so that requires resources and talent that it has that time, has that ability and can come in at a capital efficient point, cost point. And so that’s where we think being able to partner with folks like those running marketing agencies and wanting to expand their offers and product line to their clients could be a really great opportunity to introduce them to dozens of our creators.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:47] Now, when this occurs, have you had like what stage are you at or do you have these interactions happening right now? Or are there marketing agencies, you know, reaching out to these creators and they’re doing business? And you have do you have success stories in that regard at all?

Madison Long: [00:05:05] Absolutely. So this is something that we only started really exploring in the last month. Just for context, we launched this business model with Klutch in January and really wanted to understand our ideal end user and our customer persona there before looking for partnerships just so we know exactly who we’re partnering with. So at the top of the second half of the year, in June, we decided to start broaching this conversation with marketing agencies and do have partnerships in the works with three. One of them is already onboarded and is starting to work with students directly and the other two, we’re in the process of bringing them on board. Why we think this is so unique is because these the small brands we represent directly on Clutch, they might not be household names, but the marketing agencies we’re working with are representing products that we all. Have in our home and use regularly. And that’s really fun for these creators to be able to work with and create content for. So it’s it’s really been well received by both sides. But yes, we’re definitely testing it and our starting with a small cohort of agencies.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:10] So what’s your background in startups? Is this your first startup or have you been doing this for a bit?

Madison Long: [00:06:16] I have one experience running a startup and it is this, but I would say in running this one startup, it’s taken life three different times and so I feel like I have quite a breadth of experience so far, but I’m very, very green and learning every day. Prior to running the startup full time, I worked at Microsoft in a financial rotation program where I was able to not only like travel and see different parts of the business, but learn different skill sets that helped with the tool kit before starting clutch. And then after that, I actually went to a nonprofit run by the former CEO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, called Lean In, where we were able to where I was able to learn how to scale projects and launch global initiatives and research in a way that required massive partnerships and collaboration. And that also allowed me to feel even more equipped to be able to go out on my own and do clutch full time, which I’ve been doing for a little over a year.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:15] So now when you made the leap to entrepreneurship and a startup, was that kind of like culture shock, like, oh, you know, when you were with these larger organizations, you know, there’s a lot of support, there’s a lot of team members. Everybody kind of knows the deal. But when you’re doing this, you got to kind of build your own team. You got to get other people excited about your dream. Was that transition difficult?

Madison Long: [00:07:38] Yeah, I think that’s why I actually left Microsoft to join Lean In, even though it is a nonprofit, many nonprofit organizations in the Bay Area are truly run like startups. Most of the employees are Xstrata employees or have a startup themselves. And in a lot of ways that really equipped me to being in this position where the culture shock wasn’t so severe.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:04] So you were able to kind of make that transition pretty easily?

Madison Long: [00:08:09] Yeah, I think that was that middle step of working at the nonprofit helped with that transition. Now, is it still there? Is it still a shock every day just how different this world is? Absolutely. But at least from an internal operations perspective, I do feel like that experience right before this equipped me to be ready.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:28] Now, any advice for other founders out there? When you’re building a team, how do you kind of transfer your passion and your vision, you know, to other people?

Madison Long: [00:08:39] Yeah, I think that can be very difficult and I think it’s twofold. I think, one, having realistic expectations that when they’re applying and going through that process, their passion might not be 100%, and that’s okay. But are they showing kind of that intellectual curiosity and deep desire to be able to get on the same page? And if the answer is yes, then I say take the take the leap, bring them in the fold, especially if they have all the qualifications. Obviously, that’s a no brainer. But what I’ve seen is. We lead by example here at Clutch. No matter what you see on the marketing website or what you might read in an article until you’re on the team internally or until you’re even a creator on our platform, we want you to feel our values, and our values are balanced safety and transparency. And I think the future of work requires more balanced safety and transparency in what we and what occurs, and that is how we operate internally and with the people that operate on our platform. And so knowing that, you might need to continue to convince new employees of why it’s such a great place to work, but being open to that and being vulnerable with them and letting them get on board as they are onboarding, I think is the best strategy and we’ve seen that work really effectively.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:04] Now, is there a habit or a trait or characteristic of you and your makeup that is a superpower that you think separates you from others?

Madison Long: [00:10:14] Yeah, I think there’s two. One of them is the fact that I’m very, very, very open to feedback. We’ve pivoted three times because we are constantly listening to our customers, listening to experts in the industry and listening to the market conditions and doing research on what we think our solution is and what the solution actually needs to be. And so having taking the ego out of the way of being a founder is essential for me and my co-founder, because we’re not building a solution to make ourselves feel great. We’re building a solution to really change the world. And that can happen with or without my co founder at the helm of it. But we need to make sure we’re fully equipping that solution to be what it needs to be to be able to operate independently as a full fledged startup. The other thing is a characteristic of delayed gratification. I think that I have from a young age, I was a long distance runner and just even how I grew up with my parents and stuff, there was always an emphasis on. You know, you really can’t have your cake and eat it too. And some things are better appreciated when waited for. And so the sacrifice that comes with being a founder and understanding that it’s worth it in the end is something that I am very comfortable with. And so this transition to being a founder and everything else has been tough. But I always know that the bigger goal on the other side will be worth it once we get there.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:45] Now, you mentioned pivoting several times in this journey. What are some of the clues you have now that you’re on the right path and that your startup is going to be one of the ones that make it?

Madison Long: [00:12:01] Yeah, I think that the fact is we when we pivoted the last time, we pivoted from students to connecting the other students with their side hustles. So let’s say you need a student to take your grad photos. You could connect with another student to actually opening it up to those local small businesses and emerging brands. Things started happening organically, rapidly, rapid organic growth. The word of mouth has been phenomenal for us. We’ve even had customers who were like, Hey, I just have a short little project, you know, maybe one month of work for a creator to do. We set them up on that. But that client for the last six months has introduced us to three or four new clients who are doing 4 to 6 month long projects with these creators. So it’s such a massive testament to the fact that we are meeting a really, really tough pain point for people. And as we all know, like Google’s coming out with a lot of data and HubSpot about how short video content creation is truly the future of marketing. And young people are making 40% of their buying decisions based on Tik Tok before they go to Google. So it’s really a this sense of urgency when it comes to being able to keep up with the digital marketing trends that I think people are desperately looking to solve.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:28] So how did you hear about start up Showdown and Panoramic?

Madison Long: [00:13:32] Absolutely. So I’m actually part of the capital factory network, which is the largest active investor in Texas, and they expanded to Houston last year and we got looped in into the fold and became a portfolio company and capital factory and panoramic partnered on the startup show Showdown in Austin. And the yeah the network I have with Capital Factory, they put it on my radar and I was like, Oh, this would be great. And I reached out directly to learn more and then was able to apply and become a finalist.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:05] So what do you find was the most beneficial aspect of going through that process?

Madison Long: [00:14:11] Yeah, I think that there is a couple, but I think the biggest one is being able to really refine my pitch with the coaching that I got directly from the partner. We had a call prior to a few days before the pitch competition actually happened, and the way that he walked me through my pitch deck was just, you know, with the pure intent of just making sure that I was clearly articulating what our business does and how effectively we do it right before presenting to that big audience. And I feel like a lot of feedback that you get on pitch decks can vary, but I’ve never had feedback that was just so specific and detailed and swift for what we needed in the moment. And that was really, really helpful.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:58] Now, any advice for other startup founders out there since you seem to have your finger on the pulse of digital marketing and especially tick tock maybe on how to leverage tick tock?

Madison Long: [00:15:10] Yeah, I think that the first thing to do is start whether there’s a lot of data out there that says both or B2B companies actually have a higher ROI using tick tock than even B2C companies. But we already know B2C companies definitely need to have a presence on all social media platforms. So just for context, any sort of startup, in my opinion, should have a presence there, whether it’s just showing off your internal team to build up a rapport with your audience who maybe want to eventually work there or actually showing talking about your product or service, I’d say just get started. There’s a whole slew of startups that I see on TikTok that are just educating the public. Maybe they’re an insurance tech startup, but they don’t focus on selling you that technology. They focus on educating you on insurance trends and how to make sure you’re fully covered in the ways you need to be. And then eventually customers will come in and look to them as a resource and guide and eventually turn into customers. And so the fact that people are using short term video content as a way for information and news and culture and everything else means that any business could thrive by using the platform.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:24] And if any business needs help in this area, they may want to get on to clutch and find some creator that can do it for them.

Madison Long: [00:16:31] With and that’s clutch. Com Don’t forget it. Yes. Because it does take almost daily content to really be able to beat the algorithm. And that’s not a good use of your time as a founder unless you’re, you know, really, really like strapped for cash. But because our creators are college age young, 18 to 25, their rates are super affordable and reasonable for even the smallest business to be able to start getting out there.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:57] Well, Madison, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the website?

Madison Long: [00:17:06] Yes, of course. So it’s that’s clutch to a it’s clutch. Tc And you can also reach out to me directly on LinkedIn at Madison Long and of course follow me on Twitter and everything else that Madison Long and long is spelled L, zero and G because regular Madison, Wisconsin. Well, get in.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:30] Touch. Well, Madison, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Madison Long: [00:17:35] Thank you so much, Lee. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:37] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Startup Showdown.

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