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Some seasons in startup marketing are about growth. Others are about tightening the bolts while the plane is still in the air. This week, we’re talking about what that looks like in practice: why being “social” on social still matters, what Gmail’s 50–150% unsubscribe spike means for your lifecycle strategy, and why Stripe is seeing twice as many startups hit $10M ARR in record time.
IN THIS ISSUE
✍ The Ink Well
📍 SUM Community Events
🌎 Around the Web
📝 SUM Poll
💼 SUM Job Board
😂 In the Meme Time
THE INK WELL
Meet Anthony Morell
This week, we caught up with Anthony Morell, the Senior Digital Marketing Manager at MRC. With more than a decade of experience driving growth through email and social marketing, Anthony breaks down the power of speaking up, showing up, and responding back. Because marketing only works when you’re willing to be part of the conversation.
Startup Marketing Isn’t a Job Function. It’s a Mindset.
Startup marketing has nothing to do with company size. It’s a mindset defined by speed, experimentation, ruthless prioritization, and the willingness to adapt fast, whether you’re at $5M or $500M. The marketers who win aren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones who still think like startup marketers even when they don't have to anymore.
Time to Formalize Your AI Policy
Our recent poll shows just half of startup marketers have an AI policy in place. In a world where new tools drop daily, an AI policy can’t be a dusty doc in a Google Drive. It needs to be a living, breathing guide your team revisits as use cases, risks, and expectations evolve.
If you need a place to start, HubSpot has a solid template. And if your team has built a smart, practical policy that works in the real world, share it with the SUM community!
Have a strong POV? Submit your pitch to get published in The Ink Well.
How Marketers Are Scaling With AI in 2026
61% of marketers say this is the biggest marketing shift in decades.
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Download your 2026 state of marketing report today.
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SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS
Block off every Thursday at 1 pm ET for SUM events—consider it your weekly power hour for growth, insights, and community. These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member? 👉 Join now 👈
Expert Session
Join Alex Stonehouse, founder of Brilliantly Wrong and Longplay, for a Q&A unpacking the cost of constant urgency: burnout, shallow thinking, reactive decision-making. If you've ever felt like you were moving too fast to do your best work, this session will give you language, perspective, and practical ways to rethink how you operate.
AROUND THE WEB
Canva acquires startups working on animation (Cavalry) and marketing (MangoAI) to bolster its position as a marketing solution. [TechCrunch]
Replying to Threads comments boosts engagement by 42%, according to a Buffer analysis of 128,000 posts. That’s the highest lift across any major platform. [Buffer]
TV and social media ads are the most effective at driving purchase behavior, while they’re also the most disruptive. [eMarketer]
Reddit has shared the top trends that are boosting engagement for brands: nostalgia-driven storytelling, UGC social proof, niche-inspired campaigns and campaigns that unfold, not just launch. [Social Media Today]
Six months after Gmail’s “Manage Subscriptions” rollout, unsubscribe rates are still up 50–150%, pushing brands to curb over-sending and double down on smarter segmentation and engagement-based automation. [MarTech]
According to Stripe, 2025 saw double the number of fledging startups hit $10M in ARR within three months compared to 2024. [TechCrunch]
💼 SUM Job Board
Our Job Board is built for how you actually search: filter by seniority level, connect with other job seekers, and apply directly. Updated daily with fresh opportunities from companies that value scrappy, resourceful marketers.
💪 Coming Soon…
You don’t have to learn everything the hard way. Next month, we’re launching exclusive training for startup marketers who don’t have time for a 47-slide “framework” that makes you question your life choices.
IN THE MEME TIME
