Oren here, and this week I dive into software marketing, how quick the nature of building apps is shifting and projects I feel everyone should be aware of in the space.  Plus, a recap of the largest food and beverage expo in the US!

If you’re looking for last week’s edition on global marketing you can find that here.

Let’s begin.

The Odd State of Software

Last week, I talked about the software content playbook.  The non-stop conversation in my friends groups is around how many people using AI assisted code tools to

• launch their own small (and sometimes large products)

• more quickly scale the businesses they are working at

• build internal tools

In fact, we (and by we I mean Landforce) built several tools at Cut30 to automate simple content creation tasks (and more) and seen firsthand how easy things are becoming.

With this shift in speed of getting to “minimum viable product”, and the power of assisted execution (or "vibes coding" as the internet is calling it), the biggest leverage point for new software is distribution, and its interesting to see how content is being used differently this early in the cycle.

A few interesting app cases

Levels.io (maniac builder, covering most in public along the way on X) dropping an AI game that has the traditional game industry devs up in arms, but is already nearing six figures in monthly recurring revenue (the below tweet is from when it was at 40k MRR… a week ago).

Mesh Times dropped a photobook app, took advantage of her following and excellent content creation skills to 100k+ uses in a few days.

@meshtimes

Replying to @peanut ᵕ̈ took me a few weeks but i did itttttt 🎞️ littlevintagephotobooth.com

This french dating app Gigi dating running a founder account plus four branded accounts (corporate BTS being one) and plenty of influence. This multi-approach, content at scale model is how I think B2B (a bit differently) and B2C should all be approaching organic marketing now.

Resources:

This site has compiled a pretty intense database of case studies if this is your world:
https://www.socialgrowthengineers.com/

And as always we tackle content creation for entrepreneurs, creatives and social teams in https://cut30.co/.

And the video I put out last week was sponsored by Vanta, who help software of all types work through the compliance and security needs that come with scale, so they can focus on building. Check Vanta out here.

This Week in Marketing

This week, Ashwinn, Jordan and I talk about

• Orka’s official launch

• creating Hoka spec ads

• Sweetgreen’s new fries

• David’s Bridal pivoting to… media?

• and then a deep dive on the new age agency model, RGA going back independent, and how big agencies need to change to adapt to the new world. Plus, working at agencies as a career tool and much more!

You can watch on Youtube, listen on Apple, or stream on Spotify

EXPO West

Last week I attended Expo West, a massive show where food and beverage companies big and small debut their new products, connect with buyers and catch up as an industry.  Video recap here:

My takeaways

Off-show: Our friends at the Snaxshot hosted an excellent event that highlighted small brands who can't justify the cost of a full show presence.  In a packed space, with plenty of influencers and buyers in attendance, brands from Australia, the UK, the US and more sampled and showed off their wares.  I think this curated off-show idea is something more Substackers, small media groups, influencers etc should consider for other industries.  A tradeshow for most emerging brands is a $20k investment (on the low end), but connecting them to a more select group of industry and making it very cheap to activate and working off of cool factor has a lot of upside for all involved.

The trends: It's hard to say anything is a trend in our world of everything happening at once, but it is safe to say that they are putting protein in EVERYTHING (coffee! sparkling water!). Branding is getting considerably better at the show overall, two years ago the brands showcasing almost all felt behind the trend, now there is considerably more polish. More and more alternative channels are activating brands and helping them get traction, and carrying an increasingly wide swath of independent products (coffee shops, gyms, yoga studios, boutiques).  And most of all you're seeing the power of choice, every major category dominated by the big foods groups has 100 competitors chipping away at them on their entrepreneurial journey, making things customers prefer that speak directly to their interests.

What I expect next: things are going to get VERY international.  As palletes get more curious, more small brands rise, and social media raises interest in niche global culture, every delicacy or spice from around the world will make its way into US CPG startups.  One of my favorites on the front end of this is this from Hezi Labneh.  

My other interesting angle is I think we see an increasingly fringe category of drinks that expand upon popular supplements. Creatine, Saffron, Methylene blue, shilajit... the tonic/elixir market is going to get very weird.  My friends Chlorophyll Water have led the charge here for years.

Hyper Reports

Check out our market reports. We spend many hours researching markets, categories, and brands & products within the consumer space so you don’t have to.

• The guide to making great Merchandise — HERE — a guide to finding and producing your own merch

• Reports on Running, Golf, and Tennis — HERE — a guide to each sport, the market opportunities, and how to launch your own brand

Inquiries? Shoot us a note here: [email protected]

-Oren & Clayton